The game had shifted from speed to creativity.
Nero surged upward, his wings exploding into a burst of light, flames bending into a fiery phoenix that soared across the sky. Its wings spread wide, each beat shaking sparks into the night, illuminating the city below. Khione countered with her own creation—her wings crystallized further, feathers sharpening into translucent blades, and from her trail bloomed a dragon of ice, sleek and serpentine, curling alongside the phoenix. For a breathless span of time, fire and ice beasts raced each other across the heavens, their forms clashing in playful rivalry.
