What followed was not a duel. A duel implies artistry, a calculated rhythm of strike and parry, and a mutual understanding that both combatants are engaged in a game of skill. This was something far more primal.
This was a slaughter attempt. Helena was not trying to win; she was trying to erase him from existence.
She was pouring every ounce of her grief, her betrayal, and her shattered identity into every spell she conjured, screaming names like incantations between ragged, desperate breaths.
"THIS IS FOR LILY!"
The scream tore through the smoke as Helena's hands twisted in a sharp, jagged motion. "Frostbite Convergence!"
A volley of ice shards erupted from her fingertips with the force of crossbow bolts and twelve spears of translucent blue crystal, each as long as a man's forearm and sharper than any surgeon's blade.
They shrieked through the air, leaving trails of freezing mist in their wake. Rex tried to twist away, but the attack came from three vectors at once.
