Laticia screamed out in pain and agony as her right foot was bitten off by the jaws of the golden contraption as she crashed back. The pain, even nullified by the effects of her power, was simply insulting to Laticia, who struggled in the cramped rotating space. She knew she had to react fast before the blocks of the conjured space reorganized into a new killing trap.
"Damn it all!!" she cursed, struggling to hold herself. To make matters worse for her, Clara stood opposite, having dodged silver blades that attempted to skewer her from the wall. A nasty cold smirk could be seen in Clara's eyes before she spoke: "I told you, didn't I? You will answer for your crimes and will die here. It's as simple as that."
The words echoed in Laticia's ears as her expression contorted into rage. "SHUT THE HELL UP!! Who the hell do you think you're threatening, bitch?!" Laticia shouted, but suddenly, Clara dashed forward, shattering parts of the strange contraptions being formed in the rotating room. She flashed to Laticia in an instant, her eyes fierce as she aimed and delivered a powerful punch to Laticia's face.
"Dragon Nail Fist!" she mentioned, naming her technique as the attack collided.
Laticia's eyes rolled back as she spat blood before being hurled back and falling. Beneath her, the strange domain of the Dead Man's Chamber shifted as the flooring turned into moving buzzsaws, threatening to grind her into pieces the moment she made contact—a fact that terrified Laticia as she struggled through the air desperately. A sense of fear and disbelief had forced its way into her mind at this point.
Meanwhile, Clara limped on a broken platform above, dodging falling spikes from the roof but keeping her sharp eyes focused on Laticia. "Now fall," she muttered quietly beneath her breath.
To be honest, she had resigned herself already. Albert had made it very clear that this technique would guarantee the death of whoever was caught in it, which is why he'd been hesitant to trap her into it with the witch. But Clara knew how much of a schemer the red-haired witch was. She knew that Laticia would've somehow found a way to survive even this deadly technique, so she planned on forcing her into it and keeping it that way—this would take her out with her.
Clara solemnly closed her eyes, knowing all too well of this fact. The only thing she regretted was that she'd never be able to visit her ancestral homeland if she died, but to avenge Kran and Laticia's many victims, this was worth her life. Behind her, the wall shifted into dozens of mechanical teeth that spun like a tornado and enclosed Clara, though she simply smiled.
Suddenly however, her eyes sprung open with shock in response to a loud clanging noise she heard. Leaping away from the teeth that were seconds from killing her, she looked down to the grinders where Laticia had helplessly fallen.
"What?!" she questioned. To her surprise, instead of countless blood stains and a gruesome mutilated corpse, there was nothing. In fact, the grinders seemed to have been destroyed. Before she had time to think, a swift kick from a boot dug into Clara's back as she moaned before falling forward, coughing saliva.
There, Laticia stood with a crazed expression, her hair disheveled, panting, her breaths ragged.
*Impossible… how?! How is she alive? Damn it!* Clara thought as she struggled up.
Laticia merely smiled creepily. Straight away, Clara could tell something was different. Laticia had a few cuts and lacerations, but they were already regenerating, and even faster than usual from her Second Tier. Laticia's veins were flexing as her hair flowed, drool escaping from her wide smile as her eyes glowed red and shook.
"Did you really think you could kill me that easily?! HUH?!" Laticia questioned with a voice of venom, making even the usually hardened Clara shudder.
*This doesn't make sense. She couldn't have survived that,* Clara thought as she struggled.
Laticia merely grinned before opening her mouth and pointing to her tongue. There, Clara could see blueish stains on her tongue as the veins around her forehead bulged, reflecting an azure colour. Dodging another spike dislodged from the chamber walls, Laticia twisted and smiled, dancing and laughing hysterically.
"Hahahaha! This feels magnificent!" she proclaimed.
Clara could see the red witch's Passion Mark glow bright as her body shifted.
"You wretch! What is that?!" Clara questioned as she jumped forward, attempting to spin and kick Laticia only to be forced to dodge as the red witch swung a broken chain whip, shattering part of the platform and colliding with blades spanning the walls.
Laticia's expression turned into a menacing smile as she lifted a syringe with a needle out. Some strange blue substance could be seen within.
"Plasmium Orthox. It's a special drug produced in Ishania country. My boys and I had the fortune of buying it from the black markets… oh! It's just beautiful! As soon as it enters your bloodstream, it has quite the ripple effect! Your body muscles grow at an alarming rate as your physical power increases. It artificially enhances body cells, promotes regeneration… and performs a controlled devastation of your neural network!" Laticia explained in depraved ecstasy as the two women dodged the various traps within the chamber that was still changing shape.
Suddenly, a vent appeared and opened, unleashing some slow-moving purplish cloud that began expanding. *Poison gas,* Clara thought as she jumped away, her eyes narrowed as she looked to Laticia, who had already recovered to peak condition. The red witch herself was busy dodging a cluster of spiraling golden blades dancing around her. With a swing, she repelled them all with her free chain whip before facing Clara again with a deranged expression.
"Damage to the neurons of the body? Why? And how did the wretched black market of Cryohara possibly even attain such a drug?" Clara asked as she dodged a falling spike which cut part of the bandages that wrapped her breasts.
Laticia laughed maniacally before answering: "You didn't listen, Clara dear! I said *controlled* devastation… the drug targets and annihilates certain parts of the nervous system and alters your body entirely! Causing a genetic mutation to occur! That mutation forces the body to develop C.I.P syndrome…"
Clara's breath caught at the revelation as she jumped over a slashing large blade that moved from a block platform in the ever-changing room.
"A body that's brought to peak condition and isn't bound by worthless hesitation from pain! That's what the wonders of Plasmium Orthox can bring! Isn't it lovely?!" Laticia said before dashing forward in a swift motion. Immediately, she swung her wrists in a wild frenzy as the chain whips slashed out, shattering parts of the platforms as Clara dodged helplessly.
*Her speed is accelerating! Damnit,* Clara vented in her mind as Laticia kicked her knee, breaking it with a laugh.
"It's not me who's dying in here today! Have you forgotten who the hell you're dealing with?!" Laticia said before slashing apart chunks of the wall with her chains as it fell on Clara, who caught it with her arms in time.
"Nghh!" Clara grunted in pain as she strained under the weight of the rubble. The fact that her left knee was now broken and causing immense pain did not help, neither did the shifting surroundings within the Dead Man's Chamber. Clara bit her lip, drawing blood as she forced her energy into her upper body, using her muscles to push the chunks as she came inches from saws threatening to cut her apart.
Laticia jumped on a platform in the chamber as she looked down at Clara's struggling form before smiling coldly. *That's right, struggle all you want. Deciding to trap yourself in the pretty boy's trick with me wasn't your first mistake. Your first mistake was thinking that this battle was pointless to begin with,* she thought before leaping up.
The strange quartz stone platforms mixed with the newly transmuted metal in the walls as it converged and mutated, forming a colour of white and gold. Not that much could be seen, however—the chamber was rather dark with only a few cracks for light.
Laticia stopped abruptly in her ascent as the rubble beneath her shook and exploded. For a moment, the silhouette of an eastern dragon could be seen in the dust cloud before it cleared. Clara dashed through, parts of her kimono torn as she forced her wounded body upwards, her lean muscles flexing hard despite her severe injuries as she wore the facial expression of a warrior with grim determination.
Laticia clicked her tongue. "So stubborn! Just die already!" she yelled in frustration before slashing with a chain whip from her left hand. But to her shock, Clara caught it and pulled. Laticia felt her body being jolted as Clara swung the chain up, forcing Laticia to collide with some shallow spikes on the roof of the chamber as they dug into her back, causing a blood spray.
Laticia coughed blood as she struggled, though her smile remained—even more deranged from the thrill. Her pain was nullified by the effects of the Plasmium Orthox that ran through her veins now. Her veins could be seen wrapping under her skin, like many snakes, azure in colour and glowing as she grinned. The wounds on her back were already regenerating.
"Die? No… I could… I could simply die here telling myself I did my best… but that wouldn't undo the horrors you've committed. The lives you've stripped of the very concept of will. It wouldn't undo the fact you'd escape and slaughter my comrades who trusted me. So until your breaths stop, mine won't either. That is my resolve!" Clara declared with a thunderous voice despite the unimaginable pain she must've felt as her legs shook.
Laticia stepped out of where in the wall she'd been plunged and watched as a golden railing formed in the chamber, twisted into sharp blades before falling toward her. She twisted her neck a bit to dodge it. An uncaring, wicked smile stretched across her face as she spoke: "I see. Then you'll just have to watch as I kill those brats and those worthless insects you people fucked up my business to save. Dominance is my birthright! And it's the very power Vesterious gifted me! So don't lecture me!" Laticia declared.
The two terrifying women clashed in a series as they leaped and flashed around inside the dark chamber full of death traps, both no longer caring what happened to their body as long as the other suffered. Clara landed numerous punches and strikes on the red witch just for Laticia to either dodge or block before swinging her chain whip. Clara flipped back but was unable to dodge completely due to her injured knee as it slashed part of her neck, drawing a spray of blood as Clara held the wound and jolted.
Laticia's body bulged before returning to its normal state as she felt the drug flow in her body. She lost all sanity and moaned before embracing herself. *This feels amazing! I'll have to thank you properly for this gift after all this… Fraizan,* she thought.