Aqua exhaled sharply, her breath visible in the magic-charged air.
Her floating orbs of water pulsed softly around her, shifting in perfect synchronization with her stance.
Skuld wasn't waiting.
The air pressure changed—then she was gone.
Aqua's eyes widened as Skuld blurred forward, her claws leaving streaks of blue wind trails in their wake.
Aqua barely managed to step back, raising her Tidal Scepter to create a shield to block—
Skuld wasn't there anymore.
She had vanished again.
A sudden gust of wind from the right—Aqua turned just in time to catch the glint of claws streaking toward her.
She ducked, and with no time to raise a shield she pivoted her Tidal Scepter into a defensive parry.
Skuld twisted midair, flipping over Aqua's block and striking from above.
Aqua barely managed to redirect the attack, using one of her floating orbs to push Skuld's momentum away from her.
Aqua managed to find her footing, but Skuld didn't stop.
The moment she touched down, Skuld was already coming in again.
Aqua had to constantly shift between defense and counterattack just to keep Skuld at bay. 'She's not just fast but she's also adapting to everything I do at an insane speed. She's a battle genius.'
Aqua tried to slow her down by casting a wave of water tendrils to push Skuld back.
But Skuld didn't just dodge but rather she rode the air currents, slipping between the water strikes with unnatural precision.
Aqua's heartbeat quickened because Skuld was pushing her harder than anything had in a long time.
Their weapons clashed again and again, magic rippling with every strike.
Both of them were starting to burn through their reserves.
Aqua's orbs and tendrils were moving faster, striking in perfect synchronization with her attacks as her control rapidly increased to hold off Skuld.
Skuld's claws were sharper, her movements growing even faster and more fluid as she mastered using the wind and air drafts to boost them.
Helios watched from the side. Neither of them seemed to realize what was happening. Their transformed weapons were absorbing magic to use these abilities and their output had steadily been increasing as the battle continued.
Until—
Both Aqua and Skuld poured too much magic into their weapons at the same time.
A sudden pulse of energy erupted from both the Tidal Scepter and Zephyr Talons.
The air around them changed and their weapons shone with a light as magical energy surrounded them.
Then—
Their weapons transformed yet again.
Aqua's Tidal Scepter liquefied into water in her hands. She barely had time to react before the water shape changed and it froze over, reshaping into an elegant, ice-forged recurve bow.
Her eyes widened.
She hadn't meant to do that and had no idea what was happening. While she felt stronger she also strangely felt somewhat drained.
But before she could even process it, Skuld was already moving again.
Aqua reacted on instinct. She drew back the bowstring and an arrow of pure lightning formed in her grasp.
Skuld felt her claws shift, the metal condensing and reshaping into dual dagger-like blades.
Her speed increased immediately.
The wind around her felt different.
It was like she not only could sense the currents and predict the flow of battle before it happened but now she could control the flow in the area around her.
Her body moved before she even thought about it.
Both of them paused.
Neither had expected their weapons to change.
But the surprise lasted only a second.
Aqua, seeing the change in movement, instinctively fired her first lightning arrow.
Skuld dodged midair, twisting around it effortlessly.
Aqua hadn't expected the arrow to hit but it was interesting. "Keep going. I'm curious to see how powerful these new weapons are."
Skuld nodded as she charged again.
Helios looked as the lightning arrow hit the wall and arcs of pure electricity erupted from the arrow more powerful than a Thundrga spell. "Did these two forget we're inside Merlin's house? Granted we're upstairs in the training area but still this might be overkill."
Aqua's ice bow glowed as she fired multiple arrows in rapid succession. Each one held a different element such as fire, ice, lightning, and wind.
Skuld moved through the storm of arrows, her daggers slicing through some despite the effects, while the wind carried her past others.
The flam arrows exploded in a blaze upon contract, the ice one froze whatever they touched before shattering and shooting out ice shards, the lightning arrows released powerful arcs of lightning, and wind ones released gales of sharp wind.
Then—
She vanished.
Aqua's breath hitched as she looked around.
The air shifted.
Then—
Skuld reappeared in front of her. Her daggers glowed with pure black wind.
Her body was weightless in the air.
She wasn't standing on anything.
Soon she disappeared again becoming a blur of rapid motion, moving with such velocity that it's as though her movements defy the laws of physics. As she sped through the air, she summoned ethereal, glowing magical platforms beneath her feet, each one materializing just ahead in a split-second burst. It seemed to offer a brief but stable foothold that allowed for lightning-fast direction changes.
With every step or leap between these platforms, Skuld seemingly bounced from one to the next, maintaining a fluid rhythm akin to a ball ricocheting off walls gaining more and more speed. In the midst of this dizzying movement, she unleashes a series of rapid, slicing strikes, her weapon dancing through the air with precision as she darted in and out of Aqua's defenses. Each platform serves as a springboard for their next attack, allowing them to evade counterstrikes, shift positions, and strike from unpredictable angles.
The platforms glow with a faint, magical aura but dissipated shortly after Skuld leapt off them, and the assault becomes a relentless, ever-changing pattern—one moment above, the next behind, then to the side. This chaotic movement disoriented Aqua as various wounds appeared on her body. But maybe it was due to her inexperience but Skuld failed to create a platform and crashed into the wall behind Aqua.
Aqua had seconds to react. She seemed to teleport allowing herself some space as she poured every last bit of magic into a single arrow.
It glowed with multiple elements, condensing into a swirling, unstable mass of energy.
She let it loose.
At the exact same time, Skuld having reoriented herself turned to see an arrow coming at her and she moved unleashing a powerful slash that generated a blade of wind.
The two attacks collided.
A massive explosion of elemental energy sent both of them flying backward.
Aqua skidded to a stop, bleeding but calmly looking at Skuld who crashed to the ground, landing on one knee, panting.
The fight was over.
Aqua had barely won.
Aqua took a shaky breath, then cast a Curaga spell on herself and Skuld.
Skuld let out a tired laugh. "That was… insane. I didn't know that I was so strong."
Aqua nodded breathlessly. "Yeah. These weapons truly are powerful."
Neither of them could move anymore.
They had pushed themselves to their absolute limit.
Across the room, Helios—who had been watching the whole time clapped slowly.
"Well," he said, stretching. "That was interesting but I believe you two got too invested in that battle look around you nearly destroyed the room. I'll leave it to both of you to explain to Merlin and fix this place up."
Neither of them had the energy to argue.