@BananaYuki watched the battle. It was quite interesting, honestly. The shadows that they used were surprisingly similar to some video game characters that she remembered from the time of humanity. As the fight progressed, Yuki wondered if Claire had sent the gift of music with her, as music played. It was Megalovania, but only one version of it. In any case, she was shocked when Xoxi began losing. Her shadow was defeated, and she suffered all manner of dangerous and painful attacks. One of her eyes was even taken in the progress.
Yuki jumped in to help, but a shadow had already sent Ixox somewhere else. Yuki immediately went to work, trying to heal Xoxi's wounds with regenerative waters and silver wind, unfortunately she did not have the power to bring her eye back.
"
Don't worry, Xoxi. I'll heal you as best as I can, so please be still..."
Meanwhile...
The first thing that Claire did after the initial shock was calm herself. It was easy, since all she had to do was cope with the fact that it was an evil version of her half-sister...It was still awkward to see her naked, and trying to seduce her for whatever reason, but it wasn't the true Yuki. The second thing was to find a way to tell the two apart.
"
Okay, I'm gonna call you 'Yukiko', from now on."
"
Hm? why?"
"
Because you're evil, and Yukiko matches you perfectly."
"
Oh, sister" blushed 'Yukiko.' "
Calling me by my full first name instead of HER. I'm so happy that you think I deserve that name more than Yuki!"
"
Wait! You're getting the wrong idea! I just-"
Yukiko teased her by giggling. The clone knew exactly what Claire meant, but didn't care. Her goal wasn't to replace her counterpart, but to become something more, and have both of them play a part in it.
"
I'll take it as a confession! You finally want to do it with me!"
"
What?! NO! Nonononononono!! I don't want to have se-"
"
You want to merge with me!"
Claire was silent for a moment. Part of her was relieved that she wasn't talking about incest. Her mother might have been proud to see that there was still some Greek goddess in her if she saw that, and Claire didn't want to give her that satisfaction. The rest of the music goddess, however, was in shock that the clone even knew about their contingency plan, and that she wanted to go through with it regardless. It was made to save each other's lives should they face death against other deities, not fulfill some sort of sick fetish that an evil clone wanted.
Claire glared at Yukiko, who responded with a cute smile and tilt of her head.
"
If you think I'll just let you-"
Claire was cut off when she felt something pulse on her body. She looked down on her hand, and found that something was glowing. By the time she realized what it was, the bastard deity that placed it on her shot out like a bullet, and landed in the ruined village, destroying some of what was left.
"
That son of a bi-"
Claire was immediately cut off again, this time by Yukiko, who took the chance to glomp her. Claire flailed about, trying to get the clone off of her, while said clone was dancing on and around her, forcing the music goddess into being an unwilling dance partner. This was to allow Yukiko to manipulate the elements as she wished to attack and weaken Claire, while also giving her no chance to physically react.
Claire, in an effort to recover and counterattack, began emanating music to control the light and darkness.
(MUSIC WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE NEXT POST)
At the Samoan Islands...
Somewhere on the ocean, the islands of Samoa were filled with cheers. The Slimilili race was holding a grand festival, celebrating an event the likes of which probably did not fit with the current state of the rest of the world. Though there were no game stalls, there were plenty of food stalls. Each and every one of them was working quickly to serve the customers, while also preparing to watch the spectacular event. Hundreds of uniquely-crafted meals were prepared, each consisting of metal, rock, wood, dirt seasoning, rust flakes, crunchy leaves, and whatever else that the Slimilili found edible.
The event was so grand, that large ships surrounded the island and had stalls there as well. Why was this? Because literally all of the Slimilili race had come to this festival. Even the ones that had to separate themselves from their previously giant, unified forms. Large holographic screens, created from a combination of tinkered devices and illusory magic, hung in the sky and showed an empty field. It was on an uninhabited island.
Suddenly, The middle part of the field began to crack. The Slimilili hushed themselves. The ground continued to crack, until something burst forth from it. That something was the Slimilili Queen, a beautiful slime-lady that had devoured powerful creatures and structures and materials. She was the first of her race, accidentally crafted from a blood clot that the Blood goddess herself had sneezed out...the race was fine with that knowledge.
"
Everyone!"
Her voice resounded through the illusory magic, allowing her to be heard through the screens.
"
Today is a momentous occasion! For our goddess, Miriam, has once more blessed us with the honor of witnessing another battle!"
The Slimilili cheered in response.
"
However, this will also be a special battle. For our goddess will not merely be fighting a monstrous beast, but rather she will engage in a battle against a clone of herself!"
The crowd cheered even louder at this.
"
So now, without further ado...Let the match begin!"
The Slimilili continued their ear-bleeding cheers as the Queen cast a spell to make way for the combatants. Mist surrounded the outside of the initial arena. From it stepped out Miriam and her 'evil' clone. They both had a small smile on their face, and a hunger in their eyes. This would be a battle that none would want to interfere.
With the bandits...
A shadow had appeared in front of the bandit group. They had been trying to investigate the rift, but they had no such luck. Until now, of course. From the shadow spot, rose someone that looked a lot like the girl that was with the group from before. The exiles recognized the difference, and said that it was not the same person. Still, the mere sight of her pissed Cherry off enough to cause Resin to snicker a bit. The Duskician stepped forward.
"You..." said the Duskician to Ixox. "You're from that rift in the sky. What are you doing here?"