Matilda hit the ground with a loud crunch and then growled in pain for a few seconds. Her entire body burned in agony, and her bones felt as if they were on fire. A normal punch to the liver would’ve been painful enough, but a divine cleaver just made her want to shit herself and cry for the rest of the day.

"I thought you saw me as a big kitty. Is abusing animals your type of fun?" Matilda smiled as she pushed herself off the ground, puked her bloodied guts out, and giggled. "But I’ve been hit by worse."

Last time she fought Arad, he punched her so hard that she passed out. After fighting him, any regular kind of pain felt mild, with the exception of Dalla’s slaps.

With how badly injured the two of them are, it would’ve been wise to call it now and stop this fight, but they knew better. This is where the real training starts. Most fights are lost not when the fighters are healthy, but when they are struggling within an inch of their lives.

Matilda had to focus, let her void rush out, that state she was in when she ripped the Tallneck’s tongue out. She had to focus on her pain, agony, and the fear of death. If she doesn’t go all out, if her body doesn’t push beyond its limits, she’ll end up a cold corpse.

VROOOOM! As her heart rumbled like an engine, Matilda’s void magic started to work beyond her limits. A desperate struggle for survival against an overpowered divine being.

As Mira heard Matilda’s heart ramping up, she smiled and didn’t heal her wounds. That would be unfair. She’ll face the injured Matilda while still injured herself. Her divine magic sparked, and her eyes burned golden. The wound on her chest wanted to heal, but her will spoke against that.

Golden lightning sparked in Mira’s right palm, extended forward, and a radiant sledgehammer emerged.

[Divine Hammer]

Mira’s divine hammer was a weapon created from her divine magic. It weighed nothing, yet it hit like it weighed a metric ton. This weapon was a perfect replica of her sledgehammer that she used to drive wedges into the ground while building fences and homes, a tool that she was already used to and could swing like a part of her own body.

ZON! Matilda disappeared the moment Mira lifted her sledgehammer, and the second round of the fight started before the maids could ask them to stop.

Mira didn’t know where Matilda would teleport to, so she didn’t try catching her. Instead, the moment before Matilda teleported, her sledgehammer was already rushing down toward the ground.

The moment Matilda appeared beside Mira, trying to pay back the liver shot, the sledgehammer kissed the ground, and a radiant blast of divine magic exploded like a bomb.

[Divine Blast]

While using a weapon, not only would Mira’s attacks have divine power, but the shockwaves resulting from them as well would be made of pure divine magic. On top of the usual concussive damage of the shockwaves, the divine magic now also deals an extra damage that is just a little bit less than a divine smite.

Matilda, who got caught by the shockwave off-guard, growled as the impact rattled her wounds and almost cracked her bones. It felt like a belly flop on electrified water from a five-floor fall. It hurt like hell, but she knew the real pain was coming right after.

^Damn, I ripped her chest muscles... so how could she still use so much force.^

The answer to Matilda’s thought was simple. While Mira needed her chest muscles for the downward slam, they weren’t the most important, and aren’t even fully torn. Her powerful back and juicy abs did most of the heavy lifting, except the sledgehammer weighed nothing.

Mira coughed blood and could see Mira jumping out of the dust to finish her off. But that cough was an act, alongside the red blood that left her maw, came a harrowing gust of pure darkness.

Mira suddenly couldn’t see anything. She was caught directly in Matilda’s [Void Breath], and before she could even react, the void erased all of the air, and the entire weight of the atmosphere inside Merlin’s labyrinth came crashing down on Mira’s body.

As the pressure suddenly shot up outside her body, Mira felt as if she was smacked with a hammer in every little corner of her body. Her eyes turned red, her ears, nose, and gums bled, and from her lower half, blood-red piss gushed out. Internal damage, torn skin, and disoriented senses. Getting hit directly with a void breath wasn’t fun at all.

But a god’s senses aren’t tied to just their bodies, eyes, or skin. Even without her eyes, Mira would still be able to sense everything around her with terrifying clarity, and amidst the pain, she extended two fingers toward Matilda with a smug, bloodied smile.

[Divine Saw]

Before Matilda could know what hit her, a large wound appeared on her torso, and blood exploded out as pain engulfed her entire body. That wasn’t a clean cut, but a jagged, unrefined saw. It was messier, hurt more, and caused a lot more bleeding.

With how fast Matilda’s heart was beating, this much bleeding would leave her unconscious in less than five seconds. She knew that, and so attempted this one last desperate measure.

ZON! A direct void step toward Mira, and not just to appear by her side, but to occupy the same space as her.

While [Void Step] was easy enough to use, it always provided resistance when the target location was already occupied. When punching the disgusting monster beside the bridge, Matilda could clearly feel that the recoil on her wrists from her punches was more than twice what she usually felt when punching.

There is an upper limit to what kind of creatures she could damage directly with her void fist. So, trying to now occupy the same space as a demigoddess with her entire body was nearly impossible, and she felt like she hit a wall at full speed.

But with sheer spite, it worked. Matilda and Mira occupied the same space for a fraction of a second, and then were ejected away from each other with a violent shockwave. Unlike Matilda, who braced herself for the impact, Mira didn’t, and so she received far more damage.

Matilda’s time was over; the impact compounded with her bleeding, causing her racing heart to almost have no blood to pump up to her brain. Her vision darkened, and her body felt numb. She could hear Mira’s body hitting the ground with a violent splatter, but was certain that even this much damage wouldn’t be able to keep a demigoddess down for long.

She hit the ground, and for a second, could only take one pained breath.

[Divine Sanctuary]

A veil of radiant light rained from the sky, and Matilda’s wounds started rapidly healing. Her blood replenished, and her tired muscles felt colder. Looking up with one eye, she could see Mira on the ground just like her, but she was already releasing divine magic to heal them both.

The fight was over, and while Matilda managed to clutch this one, the fact that Mira never used her healing powers proves that in a real fight, the demigoddess would reign supreme.

Camilla, who watched from the side, stayed pale. Arad’s wives weren’t sane at all. In a fight, they’ll spill blood and cause mayhem. Mira, the hardworking and gentle carpenter, was able to keep fighting with her chest ripped open, and Matilda was able to endure direct punishment from a demigoddess and still fight.

A dragon picks their mates based on pure power and violence. Beauty, elegance, and status certainly didn’t play a role when Arad chose his brides. She could remember the moment when she asked Mira about Arad’s preference in women.

Mira’s reply sounded strange at the time. But now, Camilla understood why most of the maids would never get to become wives if they didn’t change.

"Arad would love a woman who can kick his ass. Or at least one that would try to."