He was a blur, a streak in the sky as he darted across the horizon. He glanced towards Ishtar while she stood in the middle of his latest loop, that broken gun of hers raised. She fired off shot after shot, bursts of chilling light exploding behind him in a trail. He shot upwards. He needed to go faster, outpace her reflexes. She’s fast, but not impossible to dodge. Not for me anyway, he thought. He shifted the air around himself, cutting through the sky like a blade and pushing past the sound barrier once again while he formed a long loop in the sky. He hit the peak and shot back down, snapping a hand forward and grabbing hold of the storm.

He met her eyes and watched them flare, the barrel of her gun pointed in his direction. She fired as he pulled on the lightning bolt brewing in the storm. First Wind rolled out of the way, avoiding another one of the pale flares of light. His hand ached; the wound from her knife had rotted almost immediately, as if the light caused some kind of cell death on contact. I can’t let it touch me, he thought, and spun again. Three more blasts erupted around him, only for his eyes to widen as a panel of hard light formed in his path. He sneered. Herding me? Kid’s tactics!

He threw himself into another spin but this time didn’t move out of the way. Instead, he accelerated himself until he drilled through the panel like it was paper. He shot down and yanked upward with his will. Thunder rumbled as he reached her. Lightning flashed, and she tried to flicker and move out of the way. It wasn’t enough time to make one of her portals. He wrenched the air still. No you don’t!

KRAK-THOOOM!

His hand wrapped around her neck as she jolted and twitched, and he pushed down through the clouds, exploding out the other side and slamming into a high-rise. He laughed as he dragged her across the hard surface, leaving a swath of destruction in his path before he shot back into the air and spun, hurtling towards the same building. He saw the portal form and spun, grinning as Ishtar appeared behind him with her knife at the ready and an armored kick aimed for his head. He brought his arms up and reduced the force with a cushion of air before snapping out his own fist against her head. Her head whipped back just as pain exploded in his gut.

He coughed and looked down. The handle of the knife had extended into a staff-like shape, the blunt end digging into his abdomen.

“Heh, tag, you’re it,” Ishtar chuckled.

He ground his teeth. “Fucking imp!”

He snapped his hand up and grabbed her ankle as the rod in his gut retracted, and she spun in midair, the friction between her ankle and his palm forcing him to release it with a pained grunt. He blasted backwards, but she was already on top of him with a tittering, echoing, haunting laugh. “Come on now! Show me everything! Push me to my limits! I’ve got something I want to show you, and you haven’t earned it yet, Mister Talent!”

His pride creaked, and his teeth ground together. She was lying. She had to be lying. She was holding back? That didn’t make any sense. What else could she possibly have? He needed more - more speed, more wind; creating a storm wasn’t enough. He grabbed hold of the clouds above them, and with a roar, pulled his hand back, drawing the spike of a tornado down on her back as he forced his body to change direction laterally. He shot to the right even as the forces acting on his body spiked to a new level, and he spun, panting, and stood up straight before bringing down one bolt of lightning after another.

He needed time to think! There’s never enough wind for me; the storm only makes so much! What is wind anyway? He snarled inwardly. Atmospheric pressure, temperature systems, the very rotation of the Earth. He clicked his jaw and felt the wind around him, the storm rising to new intensity as it began to curl in on itself. His hair fluttered around him, and he gripped the wind, but this time he didn’t pull on it. He let it carry him. Wherever the wind was, he would be. 

“YOU CAN’T KILL THE WIND, ISHTAR!” he bellowed.

–

He was speeding up again. It was like he was moving to hotspots within the growing storm. Sonya turned again when she felt him appear out of thin air and drive his hand towards her, wind spinning like a drill in front of it. Her eyes widened, and she used her gravitic flight to pull herself out of the way, stabbing at him with Verdict. He raised a hand and caught the blade with it, the knife digging into his palm and blackening his skin. That’s not good, Sonya thought as he swung the drill across her waist; it broke through her armor and left a bloody cut across her skin. She pulled away and retreated briefly, spears of hard light and shots from Volition pushing him back.

He’s learning our style as we fight, her sister pointed out. This boy is a monster.

Sonya grinned to herself. All the more reason beating him will be satisfying. I want to push my abilities to their limits. I want to know.

Now’s your chance, her sister added. Coming up from below. Something big.

She looked down in time and felt her senses react to the massive shape hurtling up towards her. Then the roof of the building he’d dragged her across broke through the black clouds, and she raised her hands over her head, throwing them back down with a grunt of effort. A storm of rays of light pulverized it before it crashed into her. The debris was swept up in his wind as she expected, and she wrapped herself in a protective sphere of light, the rapid-fire crashes of concrete and masonry thundering around her. When it finally stopped, she stood up straight and created a berry in her mouth, starting to heal the wound across her waist.

She turned to face him as he floated in the air a half-mile away. Funnel clouds had risen up out of the black and formed around him, whipping and wriggling like snakes. Lightning flashed within them. She grinned. Looks like he’s finally taking this seriously.

She sensed more rocks coming up from below. Little sister…

I feel them, she thought and hesitated for just a moment, letting the stones get closer before dispersing her barrier and shooting off in his direction. The rocks kept coming as he threw his hands out, and tornadoes whipped at her like solid objects. She dove beneath one, hopped over another, dancing in the sky while he threw everything at her. Her smile widened as his eyes did the same, and they clashed again. His wind-coated fists and body crashed into her armor and weapons. She created spikes of light to jut out from herself wherever he turned, while he used the wind itself to change her own spins and turns. 

He landed hits. She landed hits. A punch across the face, a cut to his arm, a kick across his chin, a rock colliding with her lower back - they stayed within inches of each other for several seconds before breaking apart again. Sonya tasted blood on her lip and eyed him as he panted, cuts and dark spots all over his body. 

Then, she felt his presence shudder as his eyes glowed briefly. He snapped out his hands and, with a heave of effort that she felt ripple across the sky, pulled upwards, veins throbbing in his neck. She sensed dozens of buildings getting ripped apart from down below and pulled into the sky. He’s setting something up, she thought, and raised her gun, firing off a few shots to force him to-

He took the hits.

Blackness spread across one arm as he pulled up and snapped his hands shut. Around her, buildings floated in the air, held aloft, and he roared. He grabbed onto his own rotten arm and cut it off with a flicker of razor-wind, his wild eyes fixed on her. An instant later, he was in front of her. She extended Verdict into a polearm and spun it to block, creating spears of light behind him to stab him through the back. As they descended, his one good arm clashed with Verdict, and then something hit her in the chin, and her vision went fuzzy. She shot away and through one of the floating buildings, landing in the ruins of an apartment.

She flicked her eyes around and spotted something of use, smirking as he slammed through the wall. He stood in the air, a swirling mass shaped like an arm protruding from his severed shoulder. “I always win, Ishtar,” he snarled. “Why don’t you show me that trick of yours?”

Truly worthy of being called the Peerless Herald, she thought, and rose to her feet. “I don’t think…” she panted. “You want that!” she barked and whipped an arm up, the potted plant in one corner of the room exploding into a cascade of pale white vines covered in flowers. He turned, surprised, and his false arm exploded into a tornado of ripping air while she charged at him, fist pulled back with a laugh. Her fist collided with his head before he could react, and as blood exploded from his now damaged eye, he snarled and grabbed hold of her helmet.

He squeezed, and she retaliated, driving the blade of Verdict up and into his armpit. His eyes widened, and he smiled with cruel mirth. She couldn’t help herself; she smiled right back at him as her helmet cracked and his foot drove into her gut. She hit the wall behind her and blasted through while she created another berry in her mouth. Blades of wind soared in her direction, and she spun, batting them away with barriers of light and shots from Volition. There were so many, though. Her sister kept up as best she could, parallel thought helping her keep pace as the barrage intensified.

Then a flash of pain at her knee.

She blinked and looked down at it as the limb fell from the sky. Shit! That won’t regenerate quickly, she thought, and, without a better option, shot it twice with Volition, disintegrating the limb. I can’t let it hit the ground.

“Got you!” he bellowed over her, and she looked up while his knuckles met her helmet. Her hasty barrier reduced much of the blow, but she was still knocked back, her senses returning to her while she floated in the air and panted.

Alright, that’s good enough, she thought, and flicked her eyes up towards him. Then narrowed them. He stood there, staring at her while she felt the wind kiss the skin of her face. She raised her hand slowly to touch her cheek before barking out a small laugh. The laugh turned into a manic, wicked cackle. He just stared at her in shock as she threw her head back and howled. “You really are the real thing!” she laughed. “Wow! What strength! And you aren’t even there yet! You’re close, but not quite there!”

“...Chernovna?” was all he could mutter as she let out a relaxed sigh.

“All that frustration,” she said, ignoring him and popping her neck as she created a few more berries and chewed. Her limb would start to slowly grow back while the cuts all over her body closed. “I really needed to get it out of my system,” she said lazily and looked down to meet his eyes before dissolving her helmet. “Surprise,” she teased and stood up straighter. “Has it been a good show, Luca? Did you enjoy my performance?”

He gaped at her as a vein pulsed in his neck. “You… you played me. You’re playing everyone.”

“No one will believe you,”

she said piteously. “Even if you escape, they’ll think I tricked your mind or something.”

She exhaled again. “You really do live up to it. After meeting you, I felt like you were such a moron you couldn’t possibly be the person I thought you were. It chafed me. How could you possibly do all those things?” she asked and ran her fingers through her hair, fluttering it out and smiling. “Now? I’m satisfied. It was worth taking a few hits before I killed you.”

“I just took your leg,” he said, his expression going flat. “I’m pushing you back at every corner,” he nodded to his missing arm. “This is nothing. I’ll just get a replacement later. What more do you possibly have? You’ve used every trick you’ve got.”

She sneered. “Not every trick. Like I told Otis,” she said with a smile, “this isn’t even my final form, First Wind.”

His eyes widened, and she took a deep breath as she let it all out.

“I..”

He blasted towards her.

“Am…”

His winds crowded around her as his fist fell.

“...Duality.”

–

First Wind had always been talented. He had always been proud of his abilities. He had always been strong and quick and good at what he did, even before the flash. Yet the moment Chernovna’s - no, Ishtar’s - words escaped her lips, that first syllable, he knew for the first time that he was in serious danger. His lost limb and damaged body could be fixed by a good healer, and there was no shortage of them in the world. He could emulate an arm with his wind; he could survive. Yet the feeling that washed over him in that moment made him doubt himself for the very first time.

The sensation was… horrible. A wrongness in the air. A sudden sense that the rules of the world itself had become black and white and then inverted in on themselves. The air felt solid, down was up, left was right, as if everything around him could be what it was and what it was not. He couldn’t let that feeling last. He needed to stop whatever she was doing, or he was in a hell of a lot of trouble. He flashed towards her as the next word came out, his fist fell, and then she said it: “Duality.”

Something snapped out of one of the floating buildings around him, and he reached up to cut through the vine that wrapped around his neck only to find it resist him. He blinked as the texture finally reached his brain. Metal? He gasped as he was pulled away and slammed into a wall, the wind that was supposed to cushion the impact turning completely solid. He blinked, tears in his eyes as he was dragged through the building and slammed into another wall, then another. What the hell is happening? He gasped. What changed?

Then she was before him, her unmasked face had been altered. Her skin swirled with two diametric colors, black and white materials curling like nebulae beneath the surface. Cracks traced across the flesh of her neck while her hair glowed with a black halo. Her armor had become a second skin, fitted tightly against her body. But it was her eyes that unsettled him the most - black sclera with dots of smoldering pink light. Her smile was borderline psychotic as she grabbed hold of his face and laughed.

“Boo!”