Silence hung in the air between the two of them as they regarded each other with the practiced ease of two warriors. Each waited for the other to make the first move, but instead, they stood still for an uncounted number of heartbeats. Until, at last, Kharon gestured with his bow. Darkness rose from underneath him like a gust of wind, and his cloak whipped wildly. A set of wings coalesced from the shadows, and he was airborne in the blink of an eye.

He looked like a specter of death as he hung there. His hood lowered, and darkness dripped from his face like inky tears as they fell away and fizzled into the air. Quickly, he placed his bow against the violin and started his melody. It was a deep, ominous sound, something akin to a dirge.

The shadows around him rose like the dead, forming faint outlines of humanoids. Each had two red eyes that leaked darkness in an endless facsimile of tears, and a baleful moan escaped them. Each seemed to be a different octave, as if they were singing along with the dirge. The choir of heartbreak rose in tandem with the song as they marched forward. Hundres of hands adorned with claws reached out towards Alessia, who looked around with a smirk on her face.

“Oh, so you got a new trick up your sleeve. So do I.” Her two blades pulsed with a silver light as she steadied herself. Her eyes grew in burning intensity as her form flickered. Faster than I could blink, she swung her swords, and two thin rays of silver energy shot from her blades, following their movement.

The energy cut through the specters as if they were nothing more than paper, silencing the lament they were pouring from their lips. But as one fell, another rose to take its place. Its voice joined the choir that was now filling the theater. With each string played, and the choir growing in intensity, it ate at my mind like a poison. It invoked fear in me, but it wasn’t fear that simply was. No, it prodded at the fresh wounds from earlier.

The song he was playing was one of loss and heartbreak. One that didn’t have a true meaning but drew the emotion out of you. Nyx, next to me, sniffed and whimpered as she stared across the stage, as Alessia danced through the waves of shadows that marched relentlessly towards her. Her feet barely touched the ground as she wiped around, cutting through each shadow as she tried to get near Kharon.

But with each step she took closer, the shadows grew in thickness as his song grew in strength. The choir sang louder, and the air rippled with the power that grew. The shadows turned to liquid and quickly flowed together.

Alessia jumped up towards Kharon, and her blades rippled with power once more as she neared her target. But Kharon refused to move. No, he simply stared at her as the song took a stranger tone. The sadness faded away as if it were swept away by water, and the shadows brightened to a sea blue as the song effortlessly changed.

A hand comprising of blue sea water reached up behind Alessia just as the next wave of energy left the tips of her blades, and in the blink of an eye, it grabbed it for her and threw her away.

But the energy still shot towards Kharon like bullets. My breath hitched in my throat as I watched in awe and fear as time slowed down.

But his hands kept moving, keeping the slow, steady tempo of the song he was playing. The bow glided across the strings in a rhythmic push and pull, much like the waves in the ocean.

Water rushed around him like a cacoon and shielded him from the silver energy, and instead of absorbing it, it whipped out and deflected them to the side. “I see. You are walking the path of the soul.” He spoke as his hands moved faster than before.

The song shifted in tempo once more and became like a throaty heartbeat. The water became thicker and more viscous. Brilliant blue faded into earthy brown, and water droplets became small boulders as they rained from the sky.

For the first time, I saw a look of uncertainty as Alessia stood again, but just as quickly as it came, it vanished. Water ran from her uniform in a steady stream and trickled onto the floor. Her white hair clung to her scalp as water dripped freely from it. “I won’t win if I keep fighting like this.” Her voice slammed against the tone of the song, but yet, it seemed like the music changed and shifted her words, making them more ethereal than they already were.

“Correct. I saw that you have earned a promotion. Perhaps you could use that to your advantage.” The heartbeat that was playing slowed down and became a rolling staccato burst that erupted in a steady rhythm. The mud that flowed through the air retracted and orbited around him like small rivers.

“Well, the Empress is watching, so I would hate to disappoint her.” She smirked slightly as she steadied her blades and pointed them toward Kharon.

“Then let us put on a grand show.” His voice became a bellow as the song changed once more. The notes became faster and heavier. It wasn’t quite angry, but it sat there on the border. No, I would describe it more as intense than anything else, with just a touch of finality.

The surrounding mud pulsed and grew redder with each passing second. Even with the distance between us, I could feel the familiar sensation of getting blasted by heat.

Tentatively, I quickly glanced over to Nyx to check on her since she had said little since the dual started. Her eyes were glued to the stage, and tiny beads of sweat lined her face as the inferno grew in intensity. I undid the buttons on my cloak, pulled it open, and pulled her close to me. While it was a tight fit, it should help shield her from most of the heat.

At first, she jumped, but then quickly relaxed in my arms. “Thank you, mother.” Her words came out in a whisper as she stared at the stage. Her sight never faltered in the slightest.

I hummed my response as I wrapped my arms around her tighter. I knew she was a dragon, but damn, that blast of heat felt like a stove opening at work. It doesn’t matter who you are. That level of heat was enough to make anyone sweat. With my attention back on the dual, I looked them over again.

Kharon’s black wings shifted to that of a cherry red. Fire dripped and seeped from the countless amounts of feathers that now existed. Tiny orbs of fire fell from the feathers, plummeting towards the ground, only to turn into ash and vanish on the wind kicking in the room.

Low notes filled the air in rapid intervals as an emotion coiled in my chest, matching the beat of the song he was playing. It was an emotion of defiance. But not just any sort of defiance. No, the defiance came in the face of the end. Like a burning star nearing the last stages of its life.

What was once mud was now streams of molten fire, coalescing into the shape of a bird. No, not just a bird, a phoenix.

“Prepare yourself, Kharon!” Alessia had to yell for her voice to overtake the music. But once the words left her mouth, she closed her eyes. Her chest rose and fell slightly as if she took a deep breath.

As her chest fell, the surrounding floor cracked, and her hair rose as if a current of air was rushing upwards. An aura of silver energy radiated from her and clashed with the fire that was spreading around the stage.

Her eyes opened, and her golden eyes exploded into an almost painful corona as power cracked and rippled out from her, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride and a touch of attraction in the mix. Alessia was so strong, and she was growing stronger by the day. It was such a far cry from when I first made her. Oh, how things have changed.

She extended the blades outwards, and her arms moved in a circle that crept inwards. Until they came to rest with her right hand at the front, and the left, resting just behind it. The blades crossed in the middle resembling a cross.

The song that was playing grew more fervent as the phoenix let loose a resounding thunderous screech, but the noise mirrored the song and added an extra layer of depth. With a mighty flap of its wings, it dove, like a bomb, towards where Alessia stood.

She stood there impassively as the enormous creature rushed toward her. “Give me everything you have, Kharon. I won’t accept anything less!” She yelled once more before she took a single step back. The ground underneath her cracked once more as the surrounding power surged.

A thunderclap shook the stage as Alessia vanished from sight. Small stones exploded outwards, and a small shock wave radiated from where she last stood. My heart raced in excitement as I waited for the two titans to clash, and a small amount of fear. I’m thankful that they were both on my side.