A wall of earth tore through the tree line and kept going.
Trunks snapped in half. Roots ripped free from the ground. Entire sections of woodland lifted several meters before collapsing beneath their own weight, sending dirt and splintered timber rolling toward the first row of houses bordering the town.
Ariel ran across the collapsing terrain.
She never looked hurried.
Her sword remained low in one hand while the world beneath her shifted like water. One moment there was solid ground beneath her feet. The next, a ridge of stone erupted upward and tried to carry her into the sky.
Ariel stepped onto it.
Ran three strides up the rising rock.
Then jumped.
Jouna watched from farther down the slope.
Tall even at a distance, she stood between the last trees and the first damaged buildings with one hand raised. The earth around her obeyed every movement of her fingers.
She closed them.
The ridge beneath Ariel exploded.
Chunks of stone filled the air.
Ariel twisted between them.
One passed beneath her arm.
Another scraped her sleeve.
A third came directly for her chest.
Her blade moved once.
White flame bloomed along the edge.
The stone split cleanly in two.
Ariel passed between both halves and landed on the roof of a small restaurant at the edge of town.
The tiles cracked under her feet.
Jouna moved her hand again.
The entire building lurched.
Ariel's eyes narrowed.
She jumped before the structure folded inward.
The ground beneath it collapsed into a sudden pit, taking the restaurant with it.
Ariel landed on a streetlight.
Balanced for less than a second.
Then launched forward.
She closed the distance fast enough to make the air crack.
Jouna raised a wall.
Ariel cut through it.
White fire traced the sword's path.
The wall separated into glowing halves.
Jouna created another.
Ariel cut through that too.
Then a third.
Ariel didn't bother slowing.
Stone fell around her as she advanced.
The fourth wall rose at an angle.
Not to stop her.
To redirect her.
Ariel recognized it too late.
She stepped onto the slanted surface and suddenly found herself being launched upward as the entire slab accelerated from beneath her.
Jouna followed with both hands.
The street broke open.
Six stone pillars erupted one after another, chasing Ariel into the air.
The first missed.
The second forced her sideways.
The third came from below.
Ariel planted one foot against it as it rose and pushed away.
The fourth struck where she had been.
The fifth came from the side.
Her sword flashed.
White flame cut a trench through it.
The sixth was enormous.
Too wide to simply avoid.
Ariel crossed her sword in front of herself.
The pillar hit.
The impact sent her flying across the boundary between forest and town.
She tore through the upper floor of a house.
Burst through the opposite wall.
Crossed an alley.
Then crashed into the side of another building hard enough to cave in the exterior.
Dust swallowed the street.
Jouna walked forward.
The ground shifted beneath every step she took.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to remind the island who currently controlled it.
Then the rubble moved.
Ariel stepped out.
Blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
Her yukata had torn along one shoulder.
She wiped the blood away with her thumb, looked at it, and sighed.
The white flames along her sword brightened.
Jouna's gaze hardened.
Ariel disappeared.
The road beneath her first step fractured.
She crossed the block in an instant.
Jouna raised both arms.
A stone dome formed around her.
Ariel's blade struck it.
White fire spread across the surface.
The dome split.
Ariel entered through the opening before the pieces could fall.
Jouna barely got her forearm up.
Ariel's shoulder hit her.
The vampire strength behind it launched Jouna through the other side of the dome.
She hit the street and bounced once.
Ariel followed.
Jouna caught herself with one palm.
The earth rose beneath her body and threw her sideways before Ariel's sword could reach her.
Ariel's slash passed through empty space.
Jouna landed against the side of a building without touching the ground.
A slab of earth had risen beneath her feet like a platform.
She kicked off.
The entire wall of the building behind her erupted.
Brick and stone poured toward Ariel.
Ariel moved through it.
Not away.
Through.
Her sword became a streak of white fire.
One slash cut a boulder.
Another split brick.
A third tore through a slab of foundation.
She kept advancing while debris passed around her shoulders and face.
Jouna saw her coming.
The street lifted.
All of it.
Nearly a hundred meters of road rose at once.
Cars slid backward.
Street stalls tumbled.
Utility poles snapped from their foundations.
The entire avenue became a steep artificial hill.
Ariel ran up it.
Jouna pushed both hands forward.
The hill collapsed toward her.
Ariel jumped.
The street folded in on itself beneath her.
She landed on a falling car.
Used its roof as a step.
Jumped to a broken street sign.
Then to the side of a chunk of pavement still tumbling through the air.
She moved from debris to debris as though the collapsing town had been built specifically for her footwork.
Jouna tracked her with narrowed eyes.
The earth beneath Ariel's next landing point suddenly turned to spikes.
Ariel changed direction in midair.
Her sword struck the side of one spike.
White fire erupted.
The force redirected her.
She spun and came down on Jouna from above.
Jouna raised a stone shield.
Ariel cut through it.
The sword kept going.
Jouna twisted.
The blade sliced across her side.
Blood appeared.
Ariel landed behind her.
Jouna immediately drove her heel into the ground.
A shockwave of earth exploded outward.
Ariel was thrown through a wooden storefront.
Jouna turned.
Ariel burst back through the wall before the debris hit the floor.
The two collided in the street.
Sword against stone.
Ariel attacked three times.
Jouna formed a short blade from compressed rock around her forearm and blocked twice.
The third strike shattered it.
Ariel stepped in.
Jouna raised a platform beneath Ariel's feet.
Ariel was lifted violently.
She jumped off before it could throw her away and cut downward.
Jouna leaned back.
The blade passed across her chest, opening another shallow wound.
Ariel landed.
Jouna slammed both palms together.
The buildings on either side of them groaned.
Ariel looked left.
Then right.
The foundations shifted inward.
Both structures began collapsing toward the street.
Ariel ran.
She moved between falling beams, sliding walls, and clouds of dust as the road disappeared beneath thousands of tons of material.
Jouna remained inside the destruction.
Earth folded around her body.
Ariel found her through instinct more than sight.
Her sword flashed.
White fire crossed the dust.
Jouna raised a barrier.
The slash split it.
Ariel came through behind the flame.
Their faces came within a few feet of each other.
For the first time, Jouna smiled.
Jouna: "Still hiding, Dragon Empress?"
Ariel's expression hardened.
She said nothing.
Her knee drove into Jouna's stomach.
The hit lifted Jouna off her feet.
Ariel grabbed the front of her clothing and threw her.
Jouna crashed through the remains of a house and disappeared into the forest beyond it.
Ariel followed immediately.
The battlefield crossed back into trees.
Jouna hit the ground.
The forest answered.
Roots tore upward.
Not living roots moved by nature.
The entire soil beneath them had been forced upward, carrying roots, rocks, and trees together.
Ariel sprinted between them.
A tree fell.
She stepped onto the trunk while it was still dropping.
Another rose beneath it.
She jumped.
Stone spears erupted from all directions.
Ariel's sword burned brighter.
White flames painted curved lines through the darkness.
Each slash broke another spear.
Ariel landed.
Jouna had already moved deeper into the forest.
The ground beneath Ariel sank.
A massive crater opened.
She jumped for the edge.
Jouna raised one hand.
The walls of the crater folded inward.
Ariel was buried.
For a heartbeat, the forest went still.
Then white light appeared beneath the earth.
A line.
Then another.
Then dozens.
The entire mound erupted.
Ariel launched from the debris with her sword blazing.
She crossed the distance before Jouna could rebuild her defense.
The blade came toward Jouna's neck.
A stone plate formed just in time.
Ariel cut halfway through it.
Jouna stumbled backward.
Ariel kicked the damaged plate into her chest.
Jouna flew through three trees.
The fourth stopped her.
The trunk split behind her.
Ariel came again.
Jouna swept her hand upward.
The ground between them rose into the shape of a giant fist.
Ariel cut through the knuckles.
The hand closed anyway.
Stone wrapped around her waist.
Jouna tightened her fist.
The earth compressed.
Ariel's body disappeared inside it.
Jouna raised the stone hand high.
Then slammed it into the ground.
The forest shook.
Birds scattered from trees for hundreds of meters.
A crater spread outward.
Jouna lowered her arm.
The stone hand remained buried.
Then it trembled.
A crack formed.
Another.
White fire spilled through.
The entire fist exploded outward.
Ariel emerged from the center.
Blood ran down her forehead now.
One sleeve was gone completely.
Her breathing had deepened.
But her eyes remained clear.
She still hadn't changed.
No red eyes.
No exposed fangs.
No monstrous transformation.
Nothing that would openly tell the Hunters fighting elsewhere what she truly was.
Only swordsmanship.
Vampire strength she could still disguise as exceptional physical ability.
And the beautiful white fire burning along her Alter Blade.
Jouna watched her carefully.
The smile on her face faded.
Ariel adjusted her grip.
The white flames condensed.
They stopped spilling wildly from the sword and tightened against the edge until the blade looked almost colorless beneath the brightness.
Jouna widened her stance.
The forest floor around her began rising.
Trees lifted with it.
Ariel moved first.
She crossed between them before the terrain could fully form.
Jouna threw up a wall.
Ariel split it.
Another rose behind it.
Split.
A third.
Split.
Jouna shifted the ground beneath Ariel.
Ariel leapt.
A stone lance came from below.
She redirected it with the flat of her sword instead of cutting it.
The lance changed course.
It struck another rising pillar.
Both shattered.
Ariel landed on the fragments.
Ran across them.
Jouna created a massive wave of earth.
Ariel jumped directly into it.
White fire erupted.
The wave opened around her.
She came through its center.
Jouna barely blocked the first slash.
The second cut her shoulder.
The third opened her thigh.
Jouna retaliated with a spike from beneath Ariel's blind side.
Ariel sensed the movement through the ground.
She twisted.
The spike grazed her instead of piercing her.
She landed beside Jouna.
Their eyes met.
No dialogue this time.
Jouna attacked with the earth.
Ariel attacked with steel.
For the next several seconds the forest became impossible to recognize.
Stone rose.
White fire cut it apart.
Trees fell.
Ariel ran across them.
The ground overturned.
She adjusted.
Jouna buried the field in debris.
Ariel carved a path through.
Every attempt to trap her only gave her another surface to move from.
Every wall became a step.
Every pillar became cover.
Every falling tree became momentum.
Ariel's sword never stopped.
And slowly, Jouna began giving ground.
They broke through the tree line again.
Back into town.
Ariel landed in the middle of a ruined intersection.
Jouna emerged opposite her.
Behind Jouna, the forest had been torn open.
Behind Ariel, half the street had collapsed.
The boundary between the two no longer existed.
Town had become forest.
Forest had become rubble.
The entire area looked like the island had been split apart by an earthquake.
Ariel raised her sword.
White flames curled gently around the edge.
Beautiful.
Almost serene.
Jouna stared at her.
Ariel still hadn't shown what she really was.
And that seemed to bother Jouna more than any wound she'd received.
Jouna wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
The ruined intersection around them had almost ceased resembling a street. Half the pavement had been folded upward into jagged shelves of earth. Trees from the forest had been uprooted and thrown into buildings. White scorch marks from Ariel's Alter Blade crossed walls, stone, and broken road in long elegant lines.
Ariel stood opposite her with her sword resting lightly at her side.
Neither woman looked comfortable.
Neither looked close to finished.
Jouna studied Ariel for several seconds.
Jouna: "I think you're underestimating me a bit too much."
Ariel tilted her head.
Ariel: "Just waiting for you to reveal your trump card. I can tell, you're really strong."
That part was true.
Jouna had been dangerous from the beginning.
Ariel could feel it in every exchange.
The earth manipulation alone was powerful enough to dominate most battlefields, but Jouna's control was what concerned her. She never simply threw rocks. She changed angles, footing, distance, elevation. She turned the terrain into an extension of her own body.
And Ariel had already been caught off guard twice tonight.
That was twice too many.
Her thoughts tried drifting toward Chifuyu.
Where was he?
Was he hurt?
Had he found the others?
Was he—
No.
Ariel shut the thought down.
She couldn't keep doing that.
Chifuyu was strong.
Stronger than when they had first met.
Stronger than when she had saved his life.
He had people beside him.
And if she spent this fight worrying about a battlefield she couldn't see, Jouna would punish her for it.
Ariel tightened her grip.
She needed faith in him.
The enemy in front of her deserved her full attention.
Jouna smiled.
Jouna: "It's an honor to hear praise from you. Let's see how my full power fairs against the Dragon Empress."
Something moved beneath her skin.
Ariel's expression changed.
Dark brown scales emerged along Jouna's forearms first.
They spread upward in overlapping rows, covering her shoulders and running across sections of her neck. More appeared along her ribs, thighs, and cheekbones, thick enough that the firelight reflected from them like polished stone.
Her fingers lengthened.
Nails stretched into curved claws.
Then the ground cracked beneath her feet.
Jouna leaned forward as her legs transformed.
Bones shifted.
Her feet elongated and rose, becoming powerful hind legs resembling those of a dragon. Thick claws dug into the broken pavement.
Ariel raised her sword slightly.
The transformation continued.
Two enormous wings tore outward from Jouna's back.
Not feathered.
Leathery.
Dark.
Their surfaces carried the same earthen coloration as her scales, with ridges resembling stone running along the joints.
Jouna opened them.
The resulting gust swept dust across the intersection.
Ariel's hair whipped behind her.
Jouna's smile exposed sharper teeth.
Jouna: "Come. Let's see if you can slay the Umber Dragon."
Ariel closed her eyes.
One breath.
Slow.
Controlled.
Then she opened them.
Ariel: "Let's go."
Jouna disappeared upward.
The pavement exploded beneath her launch.
Ariel looked up.
A shadow crossed over her.
She moved.
Jouna crashed into the intersection where Ariel had been standing.
The impact ruptured the street.
Ariel was already sprinting along the side of a tilted slab of pavement.
Jouna tore one claw through the earth.
Three stone spikes erupted ahead of Ariel.
Ariel cut through the first.
Jumped the second.
Stepped onto the third while it was still rising.
She launched herself upward.
Jouna met her in the air.
Claw against sword.
The impact drove Ariel downward.
She twisted.
Landed against the side of a building.
Her feet planted vertically against the wall for a fraction of a second.
Then she pushed off.
Jouna descended toward her.
Ariel's sword ignited.
White flame condensed along the edge.
She swung.
Jouna raised one scaled forearm.
Steel struck umbral scales.
Sparks and white fire erupted.
Ariel's eyes narrowed.
The blade cut slightly.
Not deeply.
Jouna's scales had hardened at the point of impact.
Only there.
Ariel noticed.
Jouna's other claw came toward her stomach.
Ariel turned sideways in midair.
The claws missed by inches.
She struck again.
This time toward Jouna's exposed ribs.
Scales formed there instantly.
The sword still opened a shallow line.
Jouna kicked.
Ariel blocked with the flat of her blade.
The force launched her across the intersection.
She hit a rooftop.
Rolled.
Rose immediately.
Jouna flew after her.
Ariel jumped from the roof just before Jouna crashed through it.
The building collapsed.
Jouna erupted from the debris with her wings spread.
Ariel landed on another roof.
Then another.
Jouna chased from above.
Her wings made straight pursuit faster.
Ariel compensated with direction.
She ran toward the forest.
At the final building, she stepped onto the ledge and dropped instead of jumping.
Jouna overshot.
Ariel caught a balcony beneath her with one hand, swung underneath it, and launched backward.
Jouna turned.
Ariel's sword was already there.
The blade cut across Jouna's side before the scales fully hardened.
Blood scattered through the air.
Jouna retaliated with one wing.
The strike caught Ariel's guard and hurled her into the trees.
Ariel tore through branches.
She landed low.
Jouna vanished underground.
Not into a hole.
Straight through the earth.
The surface swallowed her.
Ariel stopped.
Silence.
The forest shifted gently around her.
Fire crackled in the distance.
Ariel's eyes moved across the ground.
Nothing.
She stepped once.
The earth beneath her erupted.
Ariel jumped.
Jouna came out beneath her with both claws extended.
Ariel barely twisted around them.
Jouna passed through the space beside her.
Ariel cut toward her neck.
Scales hardened.
The sword bounced shallow.
Jouna dove again.
The ground swallowed her before Ariel could follow.
Ariel landed.
Waited.
Nothing.
Then the tree to her left lurched.
Ariel moved right.
Wrong.
Jouna erupted from behind her.
A claw raked across Ariel's back.
Blood sprayed.
Ariel stumbled forward.
Jouna followed.
Ariel spun beneath the next swing and cut upward.
The blade opened Jouna from hip to ribs.
Jouna roared.
Her wing smashed Ariel sideways.
Ariel hit the ground and slid through dirt and leaves.
Jouna went underground again.
Ariel stood.
Her back burned.
She ignored it.
The second burrowing attack had worked because Jouna had manipulated the trees before emerging from a different location.
A false tell.
Good.
Ariel smiled faintly.
She liked that.
The earth trembled.
This time Ariel didn't look at the obvious movement.
She looked at the untouched ground.
A mound rose twenty meters away.
Ariel ignored it.
The attack came directly beneath her.
She stepped aside at the final instant.
Jouna burst upward.
Ariel caught the dragon-woman's wrist.
Vampire strength surged through her arm.
Jouna's eyes widened.
Ariel yanked her out of the ground completely.
She spun.
Threw her.
Jouna crashed through several trees before opening her wings and recovering in midair.
Ariel was already coming.
Her sword burned white.
Jouna hardened both arms.
Ariel attacked the same point repeatedly.
One slash.
Two.
Three.
The scales held.
Four.
A crack appeared.
Jouna tried countering.
Ariel slid around the claw.
Fifth strike.
The scales shattered.
Ariel's sixth slash cut into flesh.
Jouna pulled away.
Ariel followed relentlessly.
They crossed above the forest floor.
Jouna used her wings to change altitude.
Ariel used trees.
One foot against a trunk.
Then a branch.
Then a stone pillar Jouna had created herself.
Ariel moved upward through the battlefield without wings.
Jouna flew.
Ariel climbed.
Their paths crossed.
Sword and claw collided.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Jouna's scales hardened wherever the sword threatened something vital.
Neck.
Chest.
Forearm.
Temple.
Ariel began changing targets too quickly for them to keep up.
Feint toward the throat.
Real slash to the thigh.
Jouna hardened late.
Blood.
Cut toward the stomach.
Scales formed.
Ariel stopped halfway and redirected toward the wing joint.
The blade opened it.
Jouna recoiled.
One wing faltered.
Ariel kicked her from the air.
Jouna hit the ground.
The forest floor erupted outward.
She rose from the crater furious.
Then she inhaled.
The sound that followed wasn't merely a roar.
It entered the ground.
The earth vibrated beneath Ariel's feet.
The vibration traveled outward faster than she could run.
Ariel's eyes widened.
The forest ruptured.
Stone spikes burst upward in chaotic sequences.
Cracks split through the ground.
Trees tilted.
Entire sections of earth lifted and dropped as though something enormous beneath Hanabi Island had awakened.
Ariel ran.
A fissure opened beneath her.
She jumped.
An earth spear erupted from the opposite side.
She cut it.
Another rose behind her.
She twisted.
The roar continued.
The attack wasn't being individually aimed.
It was turning the entire surrounding region into a weapon.
Ariel landed on a tree trunk.
The tree itself was ripped upward.
She jumped before it snapped.
Stone formed beneath her.
She landed.
It exploded.
Ariel was thrown across the forest.
She struck the ground once.
Rolled.
A crack chased her.
She pushed up and sprinted.
Jouna flew overhead.
The roar ended.
Then Jouna descended through the destruction she had created.
Ariel raised her sword.
Claws met steel.
The force cratered the ground beneath Ariel.
Jouna pressed down.
Ariel's arms trembled.
The dragon-form strength was far beyond what she'd shown earlier.
Jouna's claws pushed closer.
Ariel's eyes sharpened.
Her feet sank into the earth.
Then Ariel pushed back.
Slowly.
Jouna's expression changed.
Ariel forced the claws upward.
White flame bloomed between them.
She twisted the blade.
Jouna's hand slipped aside.
Ariel stepped in.
A shoulder strike hit Jouna's chest.
The scales absorbed some of it.
Not enough.
Jouna flew backward.
Ariel chased.
Her sword struck the abdomen.
Scales.
She switched instantly.
Throat.
Scales.
Wing.
Too slow.
The edge cut deep.
Jouna lost altitude.
Ariel grabbed the damaged wing.
Pulled.
Then drove her knee into Jouna's side.
The impact folded the dragon-woman.
Ariel threw her into the forest floor.
Jouna disappeared through the earth the moment she landed.
Ariel stepped away.
A claw erupted where her ankle had been.
Ariel cut downward.
Jouna withdrew.
Another eruption behind her.
Ariel sidestepped.
A third.
She jumped.
Jouna came out fully this time.
Ariel had predicted it.
Her sword was already swinging.
Jouna crossed both scaled arms.
The white blade crashed into them.
The scales fractured.
Jouna was thrown through the tree line and back into town.
Ariel followed.
Both burst into another district.
Jouna stabilized with her wings.
She landed on the side of a ruined building, claws digging into concrete.
Ariel landed below.
For several seconds they stared at each other.
Both bloodied.
Both breathing harder.
The difference remained small.
But it remained.
Ariel had more cuts than before.
Her clothing was torn.
Blood ran along her back and forehead.
Yet Jouna had taken the worse damage.
One wing was cut.
Several sections of her scales had been broken.
Blood ran from her side, thigh, shoulder, and forearms.
She understood it too.
Her transformed state had narrowed the gap.
It had not erased it.
Jouna launched again.
The fight blasted deeper into town.
Her claws ripped through walls whenever Ariel slipped away.
Ariel cut through earthen barriers before they could trap her.
Jouna burrowed beneath streets and attacked from impossible angles.
Ariel learned the minute vibrations preceding each emergence.
The first surprise attack had cut her.
The next barely grazed her.
The next missed completely.
By the fourth, Ariel punished it.
Jouna erupted beneath a wrecked intersection.
Ariel stepped onto her rising shoulder.
Jouna looked up.
Ariel kicked her face and flipped backward.
White flame followed.
The slash cut across Jouna's chest.
She hit a building.
Ariel landed.
Jouna burst from the rubble with another Earthshatter Roar.
The street ruptured beneath them.
Buildings leaned.
Stone erupted.
Ariel disappeared into the chaos.
Jouna flew above it.
She searched.
White flame flashed below.
Ariel came through a collapsing wall.
Her sword struck Jouna's damaged wing again.
Jouna roared and smashed her downward.
Ariel crashed through a roof.
Jouna dove after her.
The building exploded outward.
Both emerged through opposite walls.
Ariel landed first.
Jouna hovered.
Her chest expanded.
Something changed.
The air around her mouth distorted.
A dark glow gathered deep in her throat.
Not fire.
Not ordinary earth.
Dense energy compressed smaller and smaller until the surrounding light seemed to dim around it.
Ariel stopped.
Her instincts screamed.
Jouna's wings opened to their full span.
The surrounding rubble began lifting from the pressure.
The glow in her mouth intensified.
Ariel understood immediately.
This was the real trump card.
Jouna aimed.
Ariel tightened both hands around her sword.
White flames spread along the blade.
She still didn't transform.
She still didn't call upon her curse.
She simply lowered her stance.
The Umber Dragon had finally shown her everything.
Now Ariel could stop waiting.
Jouna fired.
The blast left her mouth like a beam torn from the center of the earth.
Dark energy compressed inside the breath became a roaring column wide enough to swallow the street below. Buildings trembled before it even reached them. Windows shattered from the pressure alone. Rubble lifted from the ground and vanished into the blast's wake.
Anything caught directly in its path would have been erased.
Ariel didn't move.
She raised her sword toward the sky.
White flames ignited along the blade.
Then kept climbing.
Ten meters.
Twenty.
More.
A pillar of brilliant white fire stretched dozens of meters overhead, bright enough to wash the ruined town in pale light.
Ariel gripped the hilt with both hands.
Then swung down.
The flame followed.
A massive white arc crashed into Jouna's breath head-on.
For an instant, both attacks fought for the same space.
Dark energy tore against white flame.
The ground between them split.
Buildings on either side buckled from the pressure.
Then Ariel's attack pushed through.
Not slowly.
Completely.
The white fire cleaved through the center of Sun Devourer and erased the breath blast as it advanced.
Jouna's eyes widened.
There was nowhere to go.
The arc struck her directly.
White fire engulfed the Umber Dragon.
Her scales blackened.
Then cracked.
The hardened sections covering her chest, arms, and legs burned apart under the impact.
Her damaged wings took the worst of it.
The membranes ignited.
Jouna screamed as the blast drove her out of the air.
She crashed into the remains of the street and tore through stone before finally stopping against the base of a shattered building.
Smoke rolled off her body.
Her wings twitched once.
Then went still.
Ariel lowered her blade.
The flames faded.
She breathed heavily.
Jouna was still alive.
Barely in fighting condition.
Ariel could tell from one look.
That attack had shut her down.
She didn't waste time celebrating.
White fire wrapped around the blade again.
Ariel stepped forward.
Then launched.
She crossed the ruined street in a blur and jumped, sword already raised for the finishing strike.
Jouna looked up.
Too slow to defend.
Ariel came down.
Sparks flashed from the side.
Ariel's eyes widened.
The projectiles struck her before she could change direction.
They exploded on impact.
The first blast hit her shoulder.
The second caught her ribs.
The third detonated against her side.
Ariel was thrown out of the air.
She hit the ground hard, bounced once, then slid across broken pavement through a cloud of smoke.
Her sword scraped beside her.
For several seconds, the street disappeared behind dust and flame.
Another figure stepped into view.
A woman.
She stood between Ariel and the injured Jouna, small sparks drifting from her fingers.
?: "You alright, Jouna?"
Jouna forced herself upright against the rubble.
Jouna: "Great timing, Astrid. You saved me."
Ariel coughed.
She pushed herself onto one knee and waved the smoke away from her face.
Her eyes found the newcomer immediately.
Then narrowed.
Astrid noticed.
Astrid: "What's with that look, traitor?"
Ariel stood.
Slowly.
Her grip tightened around her sword.
Jouna was badly hurt.
But still alive.
And now another vampire had entered the battlefield at exactly the moment Ariel was about to finish her.
Two opponents.
One fresh.
One wounded.
The fight had just gotten longer.
Again.
Ariel's patience finally began to thin.
She raised her blade.
Ariel: "I really do hate surprise attacks."
Astrid stood between Ariel and Jouna with sparks rolling from her fingers.
Behind her, Jouna was already recovering.
Burned scales cracked and fell away. Fresh ones pushed through beneath them, dark and hard, spreading across her arms, chest, thighs, and face. Her ruined wings twitched, bone extending as new membrane stretched into place.
Ariel watched the regeneration finish.
Then looked at Astrid.
Fresh opponent.
Recovered opponent.
Two different fighting styles.
And no more room to pretend this was manageable with restraint.
Ariel lowered her sword.
Her eyes turned red.
Her fangs lengthened.
Then she activated her curse.
Black veins emerged immediately beneath her skin, spreading from around her eyes and across portions of her face and neck as dark fire ignited around her free hand.
The flames were nothing like the ones carried by her Alter Blade.
The white flames were beautiful.
Controlled.
Almost elegant.
The black flames were violent.
Dense.
They swallowed the light around them.
Ariel raised the sword.
White fire curled along the blade.
Black fire gathered around her other arm.
Jouna's posture tightened.
Astrid grinned.
No fear.
Only contempt.
Ariel vanished.
The street cracked beneath her first step.
She reached Jouna before the Umber Dragon could fully spread her wings.
White flame came from above.
Jouna crossed both scaled arms.
The sword crashed into them.
Cracks spread immediately.
Ariel twisted the blade away before the scales could completely absorb the hit, stepped around Jouna's flank, and drove her black-flamed fist into the vampire's ribs.
The impact launched Jouna through a building.
Ariel followed.
Sparks flashed from the side.
She turned.
Astrid fired five in rapid succession.
Ariel cut through the first with white flames.
The spark disappeared.
The second detonated before reaching her.
The shockwave knocked Ariel sideways.
The third came low.
She jumped.
The fourth exploded above her.
Ariel crossed both arms before her face.
Heat and pressure slammed her toward the street.
The fifth was already waiting where she landed.
Ariel's eyes widened.
Explosion.
She disappeared into smoke.
Astrid didn't wait.
Another volley entered the cloud.
One detonation rolled into the next.
The street vanished beneath fire.
Jouna burst from the damaged building and flew above it.
Ariel emerged from the smoke at speed.
Burns covered one shoulder.
They were already healing.
She went straight for Jouna.
Claw met sword.
Jouna's scales hardened around the point Ariel targeted.
Ariel withdrew before the blade could catch.
She changed direction.
White flame cut toward the thigh.
Scales.
Black fire came immediately behind it.
The hardened plates cracked.
Ariel stepped inside and shoulder-checked Jouna out of the air.
Jouna struck the ground.
Ariel descended after her.
Astrid fired.
Ariel felt the sparks before she saw them.
She twisted in midair.
One passed beside her.
The second changed her entire trajectory when it exploded nearby.
Ariel was thrown through the upper floor of a house.
Jouna rose.
Astrid fired into the building.
The first explosion removed the roof.
The second erased half the front wall.
The third collapsed the floor.
Then black flames burst through the debris.
Ariel came out low.
Her sword followed.
Astrid leaned away.
The blade passed inches from her throat.
Ariel immediately reversed the cut.
Astrid created a concussive blast between them.
The shockwave hit Ariel in the chest.
She flew backward.
Astrid slid only a few feet.
Ariel landed hard.
That irritated her.
She had been close.
Not close enough.
Jouna came from above.
Ariel rolled.
One claw cratered the pavement.
Ariel's white blade came across Jouna's back.
Scales hardened.
The edge cut shallow.
Ariel followed with black flame.
The scales buckled.
Jouna spun.
A wing struck Ariel across the face.
She stumbled.
Jouna pressed.
Claw.
Claw.
Tail of the wing.
Ariel blocked one.
Slipped the second.
Caught the wing with one hand.
Her fingers tightened.
Vampire strength surged through her body.
Ariel pulled.
Jouna lost balance.
Ariel slammed her into the road.
The impact cratered the street.
Astrid fired instantly.
Ariel looked up.
Dozens of sparks.
She released Jouna and moved.
The first cluster detonated around the crater.
Jouna hardened her entire upper body.
Ariel escaped the blast radius by only a few meters.
The pressure still caught her.
She slid backward.
Astrid advanced.
Ariel watched her.
That was becoming the problem.
Jouna was dangerous.
But Ariel could read her.
The burrowing.
The scales.
The wing beats.
The way her feet shifted before earth attacks.
She had already fought Jouna long enough to understand the rhythm.
Astrid had no rhythm.
Or rather, her rhythm was destruction.
She didn't need to approach.
Didn't need to commit.
Every spark could explode early.
Late.
On impact.
Near Ariel.
Behind Ariel.
Above her.
Into the ground.
Into a wall.
Into debris.
Even a miss could become an attack.
Ariel rushed her.
Astrid smiled.
Sparks appeared around both hands.
Ariel changed direction.
The first blast tore apart the road she had intended to use.
She jumped to a wall.
Astrid fired there too.
Ariel kicked away before impact.
The building exploded.
She crossed through the dust.
Astrid created a flash.
White light filled Ariel's vision.
She reacted on instinct.
Her sword came up.
An explosion struck the blade.
The white flames absorbed some of it.
Not enough.
Ariel was sent spinning.
Jouna caught her in the air.
Claws wrapped around Ariel's shoulders.
They flew through a wall together.
Ariel hit first.
Jouna tried pinning her.
Black flames erupted between them.
Jouna's scales hardened.
Ariel pushed.
The fire cracked them.
Then Ariel drove her forehead into Jouna's face.
Jouna recoiled.
Ariel kicked her through the opposite wall.
She followed.
Astrid was waiting outside.
Spark.
Ariel ducked.
Explosion behind her.
Another.
Ariel twisted.
Another.
She cut through it.
Astrid stepped back.
Ariel lunged.
She was finally within range.
Her sword came toward Astrid's shoulder.
Astrid slapped her hands together.
A concussive shockwave exploded outward.
Ariel's blade stopped inches short.
The force lifted her from the ground.
Astrid sent three sparks into her before she could recover.
One hit the ribs.
One the stomach.
One the shoulder.
Each exploded separately.
Ariel flew through the street and crashed into a storefront.
Her body hurt now.
Not enough to slow her badly.
Enough to be annoying.
She stood.
The wounds closed.
Burned skin repaired itself.
Black flames returned around her hand.
White flames curled across the sword.
Astrid looked unimpressed.
That irritated Ariel more.
Jouna erupted from beneath her.
Ariel felt the vibration.
She jumped before the claws reached her.
Jouna followed into the air.
Ariel turned.
Their blades and claws met.
Ariel immediately gained control.
She redirected Jouna's arm.
Cut toward the neck.
Scales hardened.
Ariel changed angle.
The sword sliced one wing.
Jouna dropped.
Ariel kicked her downward.
Jouna hit the road.
The ground ruptured beneath her.
Ariel landed beside her.
A downward slash.
Jouna blocked with both arms.
White fire cracked the scales.
Black fire struck next.
The defense broke.
Jouna hissed and rolled away.
Ariel pressed.
She was winning this exchange.
Every time they fought directly, she was winning.
Jouna attacked with a claw.
Ariel stepped inside.
Cut the forearm.
Jouna hardened too late.
Blood.
Ariel pivoted.
Another slash opened the side.
Jouna beat her wings and retreated.
Ariel grabbed one before she could escape.
She threw Jouna back down.
Astrid fired.
Ariel released immediately.
Sparks exploded between them.
The blast swallowed Jouna too.
Ariel came through the smoke.
Jouna emerged from the opposite side, scales scorched but intact.
Astrid remained safely beyond sword range.
Ariel went for her again.
Fast.
Faster than before.
She crossed the ruined intersection.
Astrid fired horizontally.
Ariel cut through two sparks.
Dodged a third.
The fourth exploded beneath her feet.
She jumped with the blast instead of fighting it.
That carried her farther forward.
Astrid's eyes narrowed.
Ariel came down.
White flame traced the blade.
Astrid flashed the area.
Ariel's vision disappeared.
She swung anyway.
Nothing.
She heard Astrid move.
Ariel turned toward the sound.
Wrong.
A spark struck her back.
Explosion.
Ariel hit the ground.
Astrid had created the sound from another direction.
Ariel rolled before the next barrage arrived.
Fire tore across the street behind her.
Her sight returned.
Astrid stood farther away.
Still untouched.
Not even a scratch.
Ariel's expression hardened.
She hated ranged fighters.
Jouna came again.
Ariel met her almost angrily.
Jouna's claw came toward the chest.
Ariel knocked it away.
Her black-flamed hand struck the scales.
The armor cracked.
Ariel's sword came through the opening.
The white blade cut across Jouna's stomach.
Jouna staggered.
Ariel stepped forward.
Another cut.
Shoulder.
Jouna blocked late.
Ariel's edge tore through scales.
Jouna tried to take flight.
Ariel grabbed her ankle.
She slammed her back into the street.
The road broke beneath her.
Ariel raised her sword.
Astrid fired.
Ariel had expected it.
She jumped aside.
The explosion saved Jouna again.
Ariel landed.
Astrid fired another stream.
Ariel sprinted through it.
Explosions chased her.
She changed direction.
The blasts followed.
She jumped onto a ruined vehicle.
It exploded beneath her.
Ariel was thrown upward.
She twisted.
Astrid fired into the air.
Ariel created a wall of black flame.
Sparks detonated against it.
The black fire distorted wildly.
The force pushed Ariel back.
Jouna rose beneath her.
Earthshatter Roar.
The sound entered the ground.
The street ruptured.
Stone spikes erupted upward.
Ariel landed between two.
A third came beneath her.
She cut through it.
Astrid detonated the broken pieces.
The shards exploded around Ariel.
She covered her face.
Jouna flew through the debris.
A wing slammed Ariel across the street.
She bounced once.
Twice.
Stopped against the remains of a wall.
Ariel breathed harder.
Her regeneration fixed the damage.
But regeneration did not erase exhaustion.
Astrid was making sure of that.
Every blast cost Ariel something.
Even the ones she blocked.
Even the ones she partially avoided.
Even the ones that only sent her flying.
She stood.
Jouna approached from one side.
Astrid from the other.
Ariel looked at Jouna first.
She moved.
Jouna rushed to meet her.
Ariel feinted toward the shoulder.
Jouna hardened there.
Ariel's sword changed direction.
The white blade cut behind the knee.
Jouna stumbled.
Ariel spun.
Black flame struck her chest.
Jouna flew backward.
Astrid fired.
Ariel turned and charged straight through the first explosion.
The blast tore at her clothes.
She kept going.
Second.
Ariel cut through the spark.
Third.
She ducked.
Fourth.
She jumped.
Astrid finally came within reach.
Ariel swung.
Astrid leaned backward.
The tip missed her face by less than an inch.
Ariel immediately followed with her black-flamed hand.
Astrid generated a blast from her palm.
Their attacks met.
The explosion threw both apart.
Ariel landed first.
She pushed off again.
Astrid fired a flash.
Ariel closed one eye instinctively and turned her face away.
Not enough to blind her completely.
She continued forward.
Astrid's grin vanished for half a second.
Ariel saw it.
She was getting closer.
Then Jouna erupted from the ground between them.
Ariel's face twisted in frustration.
She caught Jouna's claw.
Twisted.
Threw her aside.
But Astrid had already escaped.
Again.
Ariel looked toward her.
Still untouched.
Not one cut.
Not one burn.
Nothing.
Astrid brushed dust from her shoulder.
Her confidence returned immediately.
Jouna rose farther behind her, bruised and bloodied again.
Ariel had clearly gotten the better of her.
Astrid?
Not even once.
Ariel tightened her grip so hard the hilt creaked.
Black flames climbed higher around her arm.
White flames brightened along the blade.
Astrid looked her up and down.
Then smiled.
Astrid: "So this is the power of a Vampire Lord from 200 years ago. So weak."
Ariel froze.
A vein visibly popped on her forehead.
Then another.
Her eye twitched.
The black flames around her hand surged violently.
She stared at Astrid with a look that could have burned through stone without the curse.
She was pissed.
White fire surged along her Alter Blade while black flames rolled from her free hand, both powers spilling into the air as she accelerated across the ruined street. Each step left behind a brief trail of fire, pale on one side and dark on the other, before the flames curled away into smoke.
Astrid was waiting for her.
The first fiery slash tore across the avenue in a wide arc, bright enough to bleach the broken buildings around them in white light. Astrid slipped aside before it reached her, one hand already raised as a cluster of sparks gathered between her fingers.
Ariel followed with a second slash immediately.
Then a third.
The attacks crossed at different angles, one low enough to carve through the street and another high enough to shear through the upper floors of the buildings beyond. Astrid moved between them without losing her grin.
Ariel changed pace.
She vanished into a blur of black and white fire, appeared at Astrid's flank, and cut for her ribs.
Astrid bent backward just enough.
The blade passed over her.
Ariel reversed the strike.
Astrid pivoted around the return and detonated a spark against the ground between them.
The blast cracked the road and forced Ariel to plant her feet hard, boots grinding through loose stone. She pushed through the pressure anyway, black fire surging from her arm as she struck forward.
Astrid slipped outside the line again.
Untouched.
Not grazed.
Not burned.
Nothing.
Her eyes flared with manic exhilaration.
A laugh broke from her as she moved through Ariel's attacks with a vicious, fearless grin, completely unbothered by the flames tearing apart everything around her. There was no caution in her expression, only predatory excitement and the absolute confidence of someone who believed victory had already been decided.
Astrid: "Come on!"
Ariel's brow twitched.
She attacked harder.
A vertical arc of white fire split the road open.
Astrid vaulted over it.
Black flames came immediately from the opposite side.
Astrid twisted in midair, fired a spark downward, and used the explosion to redirect herself before landing behind a collapsed wall.
Ariel cut through the wall.
Astrid was already gone.
Another laugh echoed from the smoke.
Ariel's jaw tightened.
Jouna attacked before she could pursue.
The ground beneath the district rolled upward.
Not a wall.
A wave.
A massive ridge of earth rose across several blocks at once, carrying broken roads, foundations, trees, and the remains of festival buildings along its surface. It advanced toward Ariel like a collapsing mountainside.
Ariel looked up.
The thing towered over her.
She lowered her stance.
White fire condensed along her blade until it became almost blinding.
Then she charged directly into it.
Her first slash cut through the front of the earth wave.
The second widened the opening.
Black flames exploded from her free hand and tore apart the weakened center.
Ariel burst through the other side without slowing.
Behind her, the massive formation collapsed in two halves.
Jouna was already preparing another.
Stone columns rose beneath Ariel one after another, each thicker than a building and angled to crush rather than simply block. Ariel ran across the first as it formed, stepped onto the second while it was still rising, then jumped to the third before cutting through its upper half.
The fragments hadn't begun falling before she was already beyond them.
Jouna beat her wings once.
The forest behind her shifted.
Entire sections of earth lifted.
Roots tore free.
Boulders the size of houses emerged from beneath the ground and hung in the air for a moment before Jouna drove both hands forward.
They came at Ariel together.
Ariel exhaled.
Then moved.
Her sword became a continuous streak of white.
One boulder split.
Then another.
She turned sideways between two more, black fire tearing across one surface while the Alter Blade carved through the other. Stone fragments showered around her, but she kept advancing through the barrage with precise, compact movement.
Jouna narrowed her eyes.
She slammed one foot down.
The terrain changed again.
The broken avenue beneath Ariel suddenly rose into multiple overlapping layers, creating steep walls and jagged ridges that closed around her from different directions.
Ariel didn't retreat.
She accelerated.
She ran up one wall as it rose, cut through another before it could seal the gap, then launched herself through the opening. White fire traced behind her like a comet tail.
Astrid fired from above.
Ariel heard the sparks.
She turned.
Three exploded near her in rapid succession.
The first forced her to shift her footing.
The second blinded her with a flash.
The third came for her chest.
Ariel cut through it.
The explosion happened around the blade.
Heat rolled over her face.
Astrid dropped from the smoke with both hands extended.
A concussive blast hit Ariel's guard.
This time she didn't leave the ground.
Her boots dug trenches backward through the street as she absorbed the impact.
Astrid landed lightly several meters away.
Still untouched.
Still smiling.
That smile was starting to irritate Ariel more than the explosions.
Jouna attacked from the side.
Her claw struck low.
Ariel stepped over it and cut toward the shoulder.
Scales hardened.
The blade sparked against them.
Ariel followed immediately with black fire.
The scales cracked.
Jouna pulled back.
Ariel tried to press the opening.
Astrid filled it with sparks.
Ariel had to turn.
The volley detonated across the space between them and bought Jouna just enough time to recover.
The coordination was getting cleaner.
Jouna created space.
Astrid punished it.
Astrid forced Ariel to move.
Jouna shaped the terrain around that movement.
Neither was overwhelming her alone.
Together, they were making every decision costly.
Ariel attacked Astrid again.
She changed direction twice before closing.
First right.
Then left.
Then straight through the center.
Astrid's grin widened.
Ariel appeared in front of her with black fire already wrapped around one fist.
Astrid fired a flash directly into her face.
Ariel shut her eyes instantly.
She continued anyway.
Her punch passed through empty air.
Astrid had already moved.
A spark hit the ground near Ariel's heel.
The explosion knocked her balance sideways.
Jouna came from above.
Ariel opened her eyes in time to catch the claw on her sword.
The impact drove one knee toward the ground.
Ariel pushed back.
Jouna's scales groaned under the white flames.
Ariel twisted the blade free and struck Jouna across the torso with her other arm.
Black fire burst across the scales.
Jouna recoiled.
Ariel stepped forward.
A second slash cracked the armor over Jouna's ribs.
A third opened flesh beneath it.
Jouna disengaged with a wing beat.
Ariel followed.
Astrid fired.
Ariel cut through the first spark.
Dodged the second.
The third exploded close enough to scorch her shoulder.
She kept moving.
Jouna landed farther back and drove both claws into the ground.
A deep rumble spread through the district.
Ariel felt it through her feet.
The earth beneath several streets erupted at once.
Massive stone jaws rose from opposite sides, each lined with jagged columns like teeth.
They closed around Ariel.
She looked left.
Then right.
The gap vanished.
White and black fire surged simultaneously.
The impact shook the district.
Ariel cut through one side of the stone formation while black flames burned through the other, tearing the entire structure apart before it could crush her.
She stepped from the debris.
Jouna was already there.
Too close.
One claw caught Ariel's wrist.
The other hand snapped forward.
Jouna's palm closed over Ariel's face.
Ariel's eyes widened.
Jouna's wings opened.
The ground exploded beneath her feet.
The sudden acceleration was brutal.
Ariel tried to tear free.
Jouna's grip tightened.
They crossed the district in seconds.
Buildings blurred beneath them.
Forest replaced town.
Then open land.
Jouna kept accelerating.
Wind screamed around them.
Ariel drove black fire into Jouna's arm.
Scales hardened around the contact.
The flames cracked them but did not immediately break the grip.
Ariel twisted her sword.
Jouna pulled her farther away from the blade's line.
Then she changed direction sharply.
The world tilted.
Mountains appeared ahead.
Ariel realized what Jouna intended.
Too late.
Jouna released her.
Ariel became a streak across the night.
She crossed an impossible distance in seconds.
Then struck the mountain.
The impact thundered through the range.
Rock burst outward.
A crater opened into the slope, deep enough to swallow the surrounding trees in dust and shattered stone.
For a moment, everything went still.
Then Jouna arrived.
Her wings beat hard as she approached the mountain.
Astrid was behind her.
Not flying.
She didn't need to.
Explosions erupted repeatedly beneath her feet, each one acting like a violent step in the air. She launched from one blast to the next, sparks detonating under her in rapid succession and driving her forward with terrifying speed.
Each explosion left a flash behind her.
She crossed the distance in a jagged trail of fire.
Jouna landed near the crater.
Astrid touched down several meters away after one final blast.
Smoke rolled across the mountain slope.
Neither attacked immediately.
They watched.
Inside the crater, Ariel remained where she had landed.
Broken stone surrounded her.
Dust drifted slowly through the air.
Her sword rested beside one knee.
The white flames had dimmed.
The black fire around her hand had almost disappeared.
Ariel breathed.
Deep.
Slow.
Again.
The mountain was quiet around her.
For the first time in several minutes, there was no explosion in her face.
No earth shifting beneath her.
No claw attacking from a blind angle.
Just a few seconds.
She used them.
Her opponents were strong.
Jouna's power had expanded beyond anything Ariel had initially expected. Astrid remained completely untouched despite everything Ariel had thrown at her.
And together, they were becoming increasingly difficult to separate.
Ariel looked down at her hand.
Then at her sword.
She had spent too much of the fight reacting.
Too much time allowing them to dictate when she attacked, when she defended, and where the battlefield moved.
That needed to change.
Her thoughts tried to wander again.
Chifuyu.
No.
Ariel closed her eyes.
She had already made this decision.
Trust him.
Win here.
The dust began settling around her.
Ariel inhaled once more.
Then opened her eyes.
Red light burned within them.
The black veins across her face darkened.
White fire slowly returned along the Alter Blade.
Black flames gathered around her opposite hand.
Her breathing steadied.
Her expression changed with it.
No irritation.
No impatience.
Only focus.
She couldn't lose here.