In a battle between mystical combatants with similar Authorities, the concept of Compatibility held no sway over who would come out victorious.
The only things that mattered were each Combatant’s level of Authority and their corresponding Understanding of the domain they held Authority over.
Hence the reason Ana saw the battle ahead as a troublesome affair.
Perhaps, if Thera had stuck to just using her own Authority, Ana would have been able to suppress her, leaving the Mystic weak enough to be easily subdued.
Unfortunately, the Abyss Wheel Mystic had gone ahead to borrow the Authority of the Timeless Serpent which was easy considering her proximity to his location, ensuring that Ana would ultimately be on the losing end should they attempt to go into a battle of Wills.
It also didn’t help that this was Ana’s first time going against an opponent with the same Authority as her which meant she had no prior experience to draw upon.
Based on prior events that she’d learned of, she missed out on the chance to gain some experience during the Blood Feast, but then again, it was best not to focus on the past.
Of course, if that were all, perhaps there wouldn’t be a reason to worry.
But then one last thing stood out which was the source of Thera’s Authority, the Timeless Serpent.
Due to this uncanny source, Thera could do things that Ana wouldn’t dare to attempt due to the mental strain.
She was also capable of bending the temporal rules of Eventide established by the Tenets of Order, giving her more Abilities to draw from.
Of course, even with all this, the worry that Ana felt did not stop her from acting as she immediately unleashed a temporal domain with Thera exerting her Will on the aether while drawing upon five cards simultaneously.
Her body began to flicker all over the place, almost like she was phasing in and out of space.
At the same time, the sky above began to darken as dark clouds congregated and red lightning flashed intermittently.
The moment the sight appeared, but vanished with Ana the reason for this.
Following this, several green temporal orbs shot out in a bid to catch Thera only for those orbs to vanish, and some to even backfire.
Time froze and continued, almost in an instant while Elena watched on, barely able to keep track of the battle between those two.
Ana clicked her tongue as she forcibly restitched time just as Thera severed their time from the rest of the time stream.
An attempt to lock each other in time resulted in both canceling each other out, with neither able to maintain hold over the other.
Both saw into the future, predicting their opponent’s attack and responding accordingly, until soon enough, the flow of time around them began to stutter, unable to keep up with the rest of the world due to the chaotic battle taking place.
Thera grinned as she attempted to travel into the past to damage Ana’s past self only for Ana to drag her back into the present, preventing her from leaving.
At the same time, Ana also tried to do the same only for Thera to rewind time, forcing her to return to the moment just before she went into the past.
The area around them was actively turning to dust as a massive crater formed, the entire environment subjected to the cruel whims of time.
An attempt at temporal displacement was met with an alteration that ended in both ending up in the past.
Then, they moved to the future and then, returned to the present before moving into time itself.
The concept appeared as a vast winding river that moved towards a destination.
It appeared to have an end though neither bothered to regard it.
For Ana, it was for fear of madness, for Thera, it was because she was already aware of the end.
Above and all around them, similar rivers flowed, with all converging at the same endpoint as the one they floated over.
"You are one of them," Thera remarked.
Ana offered no response as she prepared to attack.
"You and your cohorts would preach about the madness of the Abyss, yet we only seek to survive the end, an end that you and your cohorts shall bring about."
Still no response as Ana clenched her fist while taking peeks into the future in a bid to figure out her opponent’s reaction to what she had planned.
Though she was limited, Ana couldn’t find a clear avenue to put her down cleanly.
Any attempt to do so only ended up with Thera responding with something insane.
"Listen to me, the Abyss is the only way to save us all," Thera said. "Accept its rule and we can all survive the end of all things."
Ana couldn’t help but scoff at this juncture, the mere thought of regarding the Abyss as a savior baffling her completely.
Thera sighed. "Fine then, I have tried my best, but you do not wish to listen. In that case, I shall put an end to this."
Then, she moved, with Ana doing the same.
They swiftly returned to Eventide and just as Thera made to follow up with another strike, Ana collapsed time around her, forcing her to phase away.
Once she reappeared, Thera was about to attempt a temporal erasure when Ana suddenly slowed down the effects of time around herself before proceeding to attempt something she’d never done before.
Just as Thera has several unknown cards, Ana had hers as well, with one being the Innate Talent that granted her Authority over Fate.
As it was, their exchange would continue until they had completely disrupted the flow of time at their location which would surely end in a shattering of reality, in other words, the creation of a void.
Such a happening would cause the loop to be swallowed up by the emptiness, which basically dooms Alex and Arwen.
For that not to happen, she needed a means to instantly end their battle, a means that wouldn’t be easily countered like the rest of her arsenal.
For that reason, she called upon Fate while also withdrawing herself from the river of time, leaving her future unknown, her past in shambles, and her present displaced.
Now all that remained was weaving a thread.