Chapter XIII: The Snow Crow vs The Black Wolf – From Easy to Wrath – Part III

"How about we call this, the [Wrath] mode?!!" proudly declared [Wrath], her teeth in full display.

Looking at her with half-closed eyes, Alexandra was struggling to stay awake. She couldn't move anymore and the lingering pain in her body was atrocious. Yet, she was thankful for just feeling that as without the [Pain, Pain, Go Away] straps, it would be way worse.

Nevertheless, she was probably going to need heavy medical treatment after this. Which meant that she couldn't depart today even if she somehow didn't lose.

Seeming conscious of that, [Wrath] provoked her a last time. 

"Do ya want to give up now, mate? Ya can't really fight in yer state. Just give up, will ya?"

"... I… I… re… refuse…", Alexandra painfully replied.

"Haaah?! Listen here mate, yer condition is concerning, ya might die if ya don't give up now. Look at yerself! Ya can't even make me angry in yer sorry state, and Grimm's know that I'm always angry!!" [Wrath] retorted, squinting her eyes.

"Ah, [Wrath]..." called [Sloth].

"What now? Can't ya see I'm busy?"

"But I do~... just that~... ever since you hold me like that~... my skirt has been flipped~..."

"... And what's the problem with that? Ya wear pantyhose, don't ya?"

"Blood is flowing in my head~... isn't that bad? Well~... not that I care…"

"... Shuddap."

[Wrath] turned to Alexandra again. 

"Hey!! Where's yer reply?!"

"..."

The girl didn't answer, but in her eyes Zazzera could see great determination. No matter her injuries or how desperate the situation was, she realized this girl would never give up. She knew that expression, that was the same she had herself when she decided she would do anything to stop Alexandra. Words couldn't convince her. Brute strength either. If she wanted to stop her…

"... 400…" Zazzera breathed.

After looking at her original's face for a few seconds, [Wrath] closed her eyes in resignation. 

"[Sloth]!!! Ya weight 1 kg!!!" she yelled. 

"Okay~..." the other replied before being thrown in the air. 

[Sloth]'s body turned and turned in the air. From its trajectory, Alexandra could easily tell – it aimed to fall on her. Looking at Zazzera, Alexandra saw the girl was tightly gripping [Wrath], her eyes stubbornly closed. It was as if she was… afraid of something?

Even [Wrath] seemed bothered by something. She was clenching her teeth while stubbornly looking at the ground in front of her.

Why was that? Didn't they have the advantage? Was that why they were lowering their guards?

"[Sloth]!!! You are a 400 kg stone statue!!!" [Wrath] yelled, closed her eyes. 

"Okay~..."

"(Well, no matter the reason…)", Alexandra thought. "(This is an occasion I can't miss!)"

[Sloth]'s body seemed to harden and fell just above Alexandra's body just like a rock. Seeing what her body did to the ground earlier, Alexandra could easily picture being crushed by [Sloth]'s overwhelming mass. If she understood correctly, the clone should be around 400 kg right now, which meant she probably couldn't push her easily, if at all. Besides, she couldn't move any of her arms, so that was clearly not an option.

There was only one solution she could see, but there was no guarantee it would work at all. If she misinterpreted, then the fight would be over, but she had to try first.

"[Sloth]!!! I, [Wrath], is the ground!!!"

As [Sloth] was about to fall on Alexandra, she heard [Wrath] yelling at her. Mysteriously, the girl's body stopped mid-air. 

"Eh? The ground?" she asked, her eyes wide open as her body suddenly started 'falling' toward [Wrath] who opened her eyes just quick enough to realize what was happening. 

However [Sloth] was too close, and at her speed, she didn't have the time to dodge. In a desperate last move, she threw Zazzera a bit farther and braced herself for the imminent impact.

The shock sent [Sloth] and [Wrath] flying like bowling pins and the two fell on the ground, one on the other, unmoving. 

Gravely wounded, [Wrath] started to laugh for some reason. "Yes!!!", she said. "That was clever, that's what I like!!!"

Her body and [Sloth]'s started dissolving in many ink crows returning in Zazzera's grimoire. 

As usual, [Sloth] didn't seem much alarmed as her arms dissolved into the birds. 

"Oh well…" she sighed before taking a serious and cold tone. "Don't lose now, okay? I am giving you a chance here. Don't waste it."

Alexandra eyes widened a moment but she ended up understanding. 

"O… Okay…" she replied.

"Ha ha ha ha!!! Why so serious all of a sudden, dimwit?!" [Wrath] asked.

[Sloth]'s eyes narrowed, "I am going to sleep now... Let's go, [Wrath]..."

"Don't ya dare lose now!!!" [Wrath] yelled as she finally disappeared. 

Alexandra closed her eyes for a second. 

It seemed she guessed right – [Sloth]'s power was extreme sensitivity to hypnotic suggestion. Zazzera only used it to change the clone's body mass, but that was already a ridiculous feat by itself, totally ignoring the law of physics. Alexandra wasn't sure it wasn't the only application possible since it was already a sort of cheat, but she tried to use it to her advantage.

Her plan was two-fold. 

First she used her wind manipulation ability to make [Sloth] believe that [Wrath] has given her an order – here, it was to consider her as the ground. Logically, an object has to fall to the ground and even if she was probably lazy in her logic, [Sloth] was still Zazzera so she wouldn't do something nonsensical like not falling on it ([Wrath]).

However, she could actually be lazy enough to not listen and still fall on Alexandra. Or… her power could just be to change her mass and nothing else.

To counter that, the girl planned a second thing – use her last nail and to ask [Sloth] to weigh 1 kg again should she observe no changement in her behavior. She didn't even have half a second to estimate that and there was no guarantee she would actually hear the whole sentence before crushing her, but that was a last resort anyway. She would either succeed or die.

In the end… It turned out okay. She couldn't really believe it, but it somehow turned out okay. 

She had shivers just thinking about the true extent of [Sloth]'s power. She was afraid of [Wrath] and the others, but [Sloth] could easily be the most frightening of the lot. Thankfully, she seemed to need external input from Zazzera or her clones, otherwise, this fight would have turned into a massacre.

"(Right now, there's only one problem left…)" she thought as she opened her eyes. 

Crawling toward her, Zazzera was still determined to fight.

When [Wrath] and [Sloth] asked her to not lose, she instantly understood what it meant – Zazzera wouldn't let it end that way.

"You… sure are stubborn…" Alexandra said after a sigh.

"As if… as if you can talk!" Zazzera replied, still crawling toward her in a painful looking way. "I… I won't let you!"

"... I won't lose…" Alexandra replied, glaring at the girl.

Zazzera stopped.

Alexandra still had one nail. That was more than enough to beat her. She couldn't do anything. 

Her body trembling with what could either be pain or anger, Zazzera clenched her fist. To Alexandra's surprise, her eyes became wet and she started to sob.

"Is… Is that so?!" she painfully asked. tears in her eyes. "Then… then!"

"This… Cosa è successo qui*?"

the woman's voice interrupted.

//*What happened here?

A woman in a white and golden tea gown walked toward the girls, followed by 74 and two fully armored people. Her mouth was hidden behind a golden fan, but her silky ash blonde hair and green eyes were still visible. 

74 advanced and bowed, "Um, if you don't mind, High Bibliomancer Zezzola—"

"74! I said you can forget about the honorifics, this situation, non è buono*!" the woman scolded. 

//*it isn't good!

She stretched her left arm and one of the people wearing armor gave her a book. The book then started to glow as its page flipped rapidly. 

"I, Zezzola Cenerentola Aschenputtel, chief of the Aschenputtel household request a [Cessation] without conditions!"

As soon the word left her mouth, white doves flew toward Alexandra and Zazzera. 

[Duel – Ceased]

Those were the words written above the girls' heads. Once they disappeared, the woman ran toward them,  with a worried expression.

"Le mie ragazze! Quello che è successo?! Stiate bene entrambi?! Dov'è Fresne?! Sta bene?! Perché non ti ha fermato?! Ah, cosa posso fare?! Cosa posso fare?!"

//*My girls! What happened?! Are you both okay?! Where's Fresne?! Is she fine?! Why didn't she stop you?! Ah, what can I do?! What can I do?! (author's note: Um, yes… Aschenputtels everyone…)

The woman stood between Alexandra and Zazzera, looking left and right as she couldn't decide which she wanted to help first. 

"Ha… Happy to see you, mother-in-law…" Alexandra said.

The woman pouted as she threw her fan on Alexandra.

"Non osare chiamarmi così, Adultera!! Avrò qualcosa da dirti dopo questo!!" she fumed, raising her arms.

//*Don't you dare call me that, Adulteress!! I will have something to say to you after this!!

As usual, Alexandra didn't quite understand what that woman was saying, but with the context, she kind of knew. Nevertheless, she was happy she ended up coming. 

A few minutes earlier in the corridor, Alexandra asked 74 to contact Lefresne's mother, Zezzola C. Aschenputtel. The duel only restrained interventions from both the participants' family members which meant someone from another family had to come and stop the fight. 

As 74 explained the clauses, Alexandra was afraid that Zazzera would notice this hole and refuse to proceed with the fight until it was changed. To avoid that, she chose an obscure reward like "devouring" Zazzera which she expected the latter would find strange enough to ask about, diverting her attention from the rest.

Well, it didn't exactly work as planned, but she still ignored it. Or maybe she knew, but was sure she could beat Alexandra before anyone else intervened? That seemed like the kind of thought the Zazzera she knew could have….

Anyway, even though she came way later than she expected, Zezzola ended up saving her. Actually, she was struggling to stay conscious and seeing how Zazzera was still able to do things like crawl toward her, she was afraid she would have lost if the fight dragged any longer.

"(Talk about a close one…)"

As she looked at Zezzola going between languages and between behaviors like a lost child would, Alexandra finally let her eyelids close.