Lucy walked through the large, glowing portal of dark magic and raging torrents of demonic black lightning. She found herself standing in the middle of a large golden platform beneath a black sky illuminated by a single silver moon.

The divine and demonic magic rushing through the ground and air was so dense that for a moment, Lucy almost mistook this place for Kali’s heaven. But she was certain that the moon in the sky had something to do with the goddess of the moon, Luna.

Beside her, Kali stepped in, still in her little girl form. "Welcome to the temple of destruction. This is where I was born, and where my father died. To demons, it’s a sacred place that no one ever visits. I never came here once in the past ten years."

The Temple of Destruction was the holy place dedicated to Destruction, the primordial concept itself.

Lucy frowned. "Then why are we here?" Kali told her they would train a bit, but she didn’t expect to be taken to such a place. Just looking around was enough for her to see what made this place so important.

"This is the heart of the abyss." Kali replied and looked around with a smile then started talking. "The abyss is always growing, infinitely becoming a deeper hole. Why is that? Isn’t the abyss the domain of destruction, so why isn’t it getting destroyed all the time?"

Kali looked at Lucy with a smile. "To achieve balance. That is the reason. Destruction can only be contained in infinite creation, and creation can only be contained with harrowing destruction. Entropy can only be housed in a place of absolute stillness, and Stillness can’t manifest without the contrast of chaos and entropy."

It made some sense in Lucy’s head. If she had an object that constantly destroyed anything it touches, then she would need to create infinite matter to keep it contained, because it keeps destroying its housing.

The same for creation that keeps growing and creating new matter, it needs to be constantly chipped and broken so it won’t grow out of control.

It quickly explained why Limbo was a still, calm black sea that extended infinitely. A plane of pure stillness, used to house Entropy.

She took a step away from Kali, "But, why are we here?"

"To fight, of course. Here, no one would bother us." Kali took a step back, threw her shoes away, and started dancing. With each step she took, Lucy took a step back.

"I don’t like where this is going..." Lucy lifted her arms. She was terrified, finding herself here, locked alone with the goddess of destruction was nothing but stressful.

"Hehehe." Kali giggled and suddenly jumped toward Lucy with a clenched fist. "No magic is allowed, just use your divine physical strength!"

Kali’s fist hit Lucy square in the chest, bent her like a piece of paper, and sent her flying back faster than the speed of sound.

Lucy spat a mouthful of blood and almost felt her back explode from the punch. Kali wasn’t going hold back against her, but... this wasn’t her first time getting beaten to a pulp.

At that instant, Kali was already beside Lucy, swinging a kick at her face. And if Lucy doesn’t do anything, she is going to lose a few teeth.

Lucy’s legs moved, her arms twisted, and her torso spun in the air as she jumped over Kali’s kick, grabbed her by the face, and rammed her knee into her nose.

Kali got hit hard, but she didn’t move an inch; instead, her face slipped right past Lucy’s knee. With her hand, she grabbed Lucy by the neck and smacked her to the ground hard enough to shake the entire temple.

"You’re good, but not good enough." Kali glared at the coughing Lucy. "I’m only using the divine strength that I get from being the goddess of orphans. If you can’t handle this, there is no way for you to tank anything from destruction."

Lucy didn’t reply, instead; she wrapped her legs around Kali’s torso, threw her arms forward, and grabbed her by the face again. "Gojo would’ve stomped my face to the ground instead of talking shit!" She headbutted Kali hard enough to send her flying.

Kali did a few flips and then landed on her feet, bleeding a bit from her nose. "Now that was a good hit, but watch your mouth, little girl. Who taught you to speak like that?"

Lucy growled, spitting a mouthful of blood, then threw her shoes away, cracking her knuckles with a frown. "Huh? Bitch if you’re looking for a fight, then bring it on! I’ll cave your ugly face back to your brain."

Kali smiled. "So, it’s Liliana... That girl always had a foul mouth..." But before she could finish speaking, Lucy was already on her with a clenched fist. Kali blocked the attack with a grin and threw a punch of her own.

"You move like Gojo, speak like Liliana, and even are as violent as them both combined. Good, you’re chaotic enough for a start." Hearing Kali speak, Lucy only got more and more irritated and enraged. But she wasn’t angry at Kali; she was angry at herself.

Kali was already powerful, and thanks to that power, she has the luxury of not taking things too seriously. But Lucy herself, the fact that Kali could speak while fighting her, only meant Lucy wasn’t powerful enough to make her shut up.

Lucy couldn’t take that insult.

Kali, on the other hand, found Lucy amusing enough. Unlike most people she fought to train, Lucy had a very good base. Gojo had trained her well enough; she wasn’t a master by any means, but she was probably as skilled as any mortal could get.

Her feints were on point, her attacks were powerful, and her pain tolerance was scary for a girl her age. Kali could punch Lucy in the face, and Lucy wouldn’t even blink. But what was more stunning was that even though she looked angry, Lucy was extremely calm and calculated, always aiming for Kali’s face, eyes, throat, or liver.

But something was off.

"Aren’t you holding something back? Your moves are weird." Kali grabbed Lucy’s hand and glared at her with a smile. "It is like you’re not used to fighting in that body."

Lucy paled for a second, growled, and kicked Kali away. "You’re the one who said no magic!"

Kali flew back and landed on her feet with ease. "Fine, you can use magic, but only to take whatever form you’re used to fighting in."

Lucy glared at her with a grin. "Oh, I’m going to make you cry." She didn’t transform and just jumped at Kali with a clenched fist. Kali dodged the punch with ease and pushed Lucy away with a kick, only to get smacked to the ground with a round kick that came out of nowhere.

As Kali hit the ground and stood back up, she could see something strange around Lucy’s body. Lucy had started to shift, grow taller, paler, and in seconds, had turned into a ghostly wraith of pure grey mist, an ethereal woman covered with a veil of shimmering light.

Kali smiled, "So you’re finally out, it’s been a while."