The duel began to shift. What had started as a playful race now carried the edge of a spar. Nero angled his wings forward, his flames roaring hotter, the air around him shimmering. A single flap sent a crescent of fire arcing toward Khione. It wasn't meant to harm, but it carried heat enough to scorch the clouds.
Khione's lips curved in the faintest smirk. Her wings unfurled wider, a breath of cold flowing out of her palms. In response to his fiery arc, a sheet of glittering frost unfurled like a translucent wall, absorbing and crystallizing his attack into harmless shards of ice.
"Trying to burn me out of the sky?" she called, her voice laced with challenge.
"Trying to see if the Ice Queen can melt," Nero shot back.
