Tiamat's Death? Part Two

"Only later did I realize that I'd accidentally wasted a very good opportunity. Although you're Beast II's vessel, there's actually a huge gap between our strength."

"If I'd acted back then, even if I'd been seriously injured by being surrounded, I could've killed you at least once... but only once."

Aya struggled to rise from the ground. "What exactly... are you talking about...?"

Tamamo-no-Mae also stood up and brushed the dust from her legs. "You really are a difficult opponent..."

Aya retreated step by step, while Tamamo-no-Mae advanced step by step.

"Clearly, I'm stronger, yet every single time, you were always one step ahead in preparation—or even several steps ahead." Tamamo-no-Mae said faintly. "And those cheat-like items of yours actually let you escape somewhere I couldn't pursue at all."

"..." Aya's expression immediately grew heavy upon hearing Tamamo-no-Mae's words.

Tamamo-no-Mae looked at her and smiled slightly. "You've realized it too, haven't you? You can't use that method to slip away anymore, can you?"

Aya possessed a theoretically flawless means of escape—using [Reverse Summoning] to summon herself to the Temple of Life in another dimension.

However, she could no longer use that method, because the ring marked with the Temple of Life's coordinates was not on her hand.

Moreover, Aya had no way to equip that ring.

"This [Curse] was developed especially for you~" Tamamo-no-Mae laughed happily.

With a curse that prevented equipment from being changed, she had sealed away Aya's strongest trump card.

Reverse Summoning was accomplished using a world-class item. Aya never let that item leave her equipment slot, and it had caused Tamamo-no-Mae more trouble than anything else.

"My original plan was to destroy your heart before you could escape with Reverse Summoning," Tamamo-no-Mae said. "Then I'd guard your corpse. Every time you revived, I'd kill you again."