For what felt like the millionth time, Synthia brought her sword where Rynne was standing but hit nothing. She grunted in frustration, but Iggy was there to reassure her.

“I’m not an expert at this, but I think I can help detect where she is through subtle shifts in the air. I was thinking of a way to get you to find her before, but I also thought she wouldn’t let us fight together so I didn’t say anything.”

“I see.” Synthia rolled her shoulders, trying to keep the blood flowing through her body properly. “That’s way better than just hacking away randomly.”

“But it’ll only be as close as you can respond to my directions,” Iggy said. “I’ll be sure to tell you where she is, but she’s still faster than us with her ability. This needs to be timed carefully and, I hate to say it, even a little luck.”

“Ha! Don’t worry about that.” Grinning, Synthia twirled the Mioja around and brought it up, ready to strike when needed. “I make my own luck.”

“If you’re so confident, then prove it.” Rynne appeared before them again, beckoning them forward with her hand. Synthia didn’t strike, choosing to remain still. Rynne gave an uncharacteristic smirk and vanished again.

“Hey, were you just running after her trying to attack the whole time I was gone?”

“Pretty much. Thankfully, it was only for a few minutes.”

Iggy grew a little surprised at that. “It was seriously only a few minutes up here?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Before Iggy could say anything else, Rynne appeared behind Synthia with an arrow nocked back. She yelled at her to get out of the way instead, which she did with a somersault.

“Let’s catch up later,” Iggy suggested.

Panting, Synthia held the Mioja across her shoulders. “Good idea.”

“How many times have you tried firing off that special magic attack of yours? Where you unleash a wave of darkness.”

“I haven’t used it yet,” Synthia said. “Although I wonder if I’m too exhausted to even manage after all this.”

“Your mana isn’t necessarily tied to your physical condition,” Iggy explained. “It’s the power of your soul. So I think you’re good to go so long as you don’t pass out. But overdo it and that might end up being the case.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Iggy’s eyes widened in alarm. “She’s right in front of you!”

Just as Iggy had said, Rynne appeared once again, now directly in front of Synthia. She aimed a series of jabs at her which she was forced to defend. She was too close for her to attack and couldn’t find the concentration necessary to cast the Mioja’s wave spell Iggy was just talking about. Once she did draw far enough back to strike, Rynne had vanished once again.

Gritting her teeth, Synthia kept her stance limber, ready for any attack.

“That was better. Thanks!”

“But not good enough. Fight’s not over yet. Even if she’s slipping in and out of different folds inside this dimension, that still means she’s moving through something. I’m getting a better sense of how she moves but I still need more time to get a true knack for it.”

Seconds passed, Synthia and Iggy ready for the next attack. Yet it never came. A full minute passed. Two minutes. Three.

Synthia, at least grateful for the chance to catch more of her breath, still remained vigilant. “Where is she?”

Iggy said nothing, concentrating. She had her palms turned upward, trying to get as good a sense of the surrounding area as possible. She then grew tense, looking up as she shouted her warning.

“Up above!”

Synthia barely had time to dodge as a surge of lightning bolts shot into the floor, the surface rippling like water as they disappeared. She caught a glimpse of Rynne falling and vanishing just as quickly.

“From the side!”

Reappearing, Rynne flew toward Synthia at the same speed she had when she was falling from before. Synthia had no time but to dodge, narrowly avoiding a tackle.

“Right side!”

Once more, Synthia had no recourse but to dodge.

“Uh, from behind! The right!”

As Synthia tried to evade, Rynne managed to nail her in the back with a burst of electricity. Vertebrae feeling like it had been used as a lightning rod, she gave Iggy an irritated look as the shudders ran through her body.

“Sorry,” Iggy winced. “I meant my right, not yours...”

Sighing, Synthia gripped the Mioja tight again. She was grateful for the assistance, despite the growing pains that came with it.

“Look out!”

Synthia automatically rolled away as Rynne shot out from beneath the ground like a rocket. She spun and began firing arrow after arrow at Synthia. Skirting between the volleys, Synthia was able to let loose her long range attack. The surge of darkness billowed like a cloud, fast as sound. Yet still Rynne merely vanished before it could hit her.

“I think you’re getting closer!” Iggy let herself flash a grin. “But we have to be sure! Don’t fire that attack until you’re certain it’ll win us the fight! We have to make this count.”

Synthia hopped back, nodding. She remained ready to receive Iggy’s orders for the attacks, be they close ranged or far.

The battle wore on, Synthia and Iggy slowly growing more attuned to one another as they fought. With every time Rynne appeared, they were slowly but surely getting closer to hitting her. With every dodge and thrust, each narrow escape from volleys of arrows or lightning (with the odd burst of fire or ice) they closed the gap in their speed.

Neither knew whether they had spent twenty or thirty minutes fighting. For all they knew, maybe they had been at this for over an hour. Hell, maybe even days considering the way time worked in this dimension. But as they kept pushing on, they got closer and closer to their goal. To finally ensuring that they could pass Rynne’s test and find a way out.

Sucking in deep breaths, Synthia focused on getting as much oxygen into and through her system as possible. Her adrenaline was kicking in now, and she wouldn’t come down from her high until she had hit her target.

“Behind you!”

Synthia was ready, parrying each of Rynne’s strikes with ease. She had instinctively known she wouldn’t use her bow for this attack, and so was efficient at deflecting each of the jabs. Bringing the sword close, she thrust at the end of the parry. For a brief moment, Rynne seemed caught off guard. She jerked back a little too quickly, devoid of the perfect grace she’d been demonstrating up to that point. She was thrown off, no matter how slight. Both of her opponents noticed this even as she disappeared immediately after.

Synthia and Iggy spared each other a glance. Their shared look confirmed that they had both seen the same thing: Rynne, for all her composure and lack of emotion, was finally showing chinks in her armour. Or perhaps more accurately, Synthia and Iggy had been pushing themselves to the point where they could notice those gaps in her defense.

Steeling their resolve, the two drew ready. This was it, they could feel it! They were finally approaching their shot at victory. Within the next few minutes, this battle would be over.

Panting, Synthia quickly dodged the next set of arrows at Iggy’s command. She would move in Iggy’s desired direction before she had even finished her sentence. She was going entirely on her gut instinct in determining what Iggy was trying to tell her based off her opening words and would go from there. It was a marvelous display of intuition, and somewhere in the part of her head not focused on the battle, Iggy felt happy that somebody was able to understand her like this. That sense of trust felt good.

Yet she couldn’t allow that to distract her. She kept calling out the directions Rynne would come from, and Synthia followed her directions. As she was read to instruct Synthia on where she would appear next, she sensed Rynne taking a sharp turn instead. She was heading toward—

“Ugh!” Iggy barely stumbled back as Rynne shot up from the ground beside her. She was nearly knocked off balance. She was unable to regain her composure as Rynne kept coming straight for her instead of Synthia.

From the right, from above, from every which way, Iggy found herself spinning to just barely elude Rynne’s attacks.

“IGGY!” Synthia charged toward her, slashing at Rynne who wisely disappeared. However, she had played right into her hands. She was shoved from behind to the ground, and Iggy was quickly subdued with a small blast of fire aimed at her.

“Yeouch!” Iggy patted quickly at her pant leg, wincing at the singe marks. “What the hell are we even doing!? We could kill each other here!”

“Trust me, we shall not,” Rynne replied. She remained hidden. “I am not aiming any lethal attacks at you, and I can mitigate any damage you deal to me. Here, we are safe.”

“It’s not enough,” Synthia said. She got to her knees, using the Mioja to prop herself up. “Even if we match her speed, we can’t adjust for how she can just disappear whenever she wants!”

Iggy grew quiet. She controlled her breathing, coming to a decision about their next move. “There is something. But by the Undying One, it hits you like a train afterward. I was hesitant to use it because we still have to fight the big guy at the top but...”

Synthia perked up at this. “Hey, crazy elf, give us a sec here at least!”

“‘Sec’ granted.”

Leaning forward, Synthia held Iggy by the shoulder. “You’ve got something?”

“Last resort, really,” Iggy said. “At least, on my end. You’ll be fine.”

“What kind of last resort?”

“It’s a special support spell I was taught,” Iggy said. “It uses the power of the wind to enhance your speed.”

“By how much?”

“Depends on how powerful the caster is.”

“Well that’s good!” Synthia patted Iggy on the shoulder. “You’re more than strong enough to pass the test!”

Iggy chuckled in disbelief. “How can you be so sure?”

Pausing, Synthia tried to think up an answer. She settled on one, a calm smile gracing her features. “Because it’s you. I guess that’s why.”

“Kind of flighty answer but... you know what, you’re right!”

The two stood up, giving each other an encouraging nod. They resumed their stances, ready to proceed.

“Very well,” Rynne said. “We begin anew!”

“Iggy, go!”

Taking a deep breath, Iggy brought her hands together in prayer.

May the winds favour me, bless me with good fortune and trust that I shall remain ever respectful of their power...

She sensed Rynne heading for her, vulnerable as she was while casting, but she did not falter. Iggy doubled down on her task. Mustering up every bit of mana she could and directing it toward Synthia, she screamed out the spell name: “DEVIL’S SWIFTNESS!”

Fatigue washed over her body. Grunting in exertion, she saw the spell through to its end even as Rynne shot down from above to attack. She sighed in relief as she finished, not having enough energy to dodge. She remained where she was, satisfied with getting the job done.

Bracing for impact all she could with her beleaguered body, Iggy felt herself pushed backward, but not by Rynne. In fact, from where Rynne was attacking, she should’ve been pushed down instead. Opening her eyes, she saw familiar black hair whipping in front of her eyes as she was carried away.

Iggy was deposited on the ground gently where Synthia landed, and she sprang away just as quickly. Iggy blinked and Synthia had reappeared in another spot.

Hair blown upwards and her robes rippling by the constant gust of wind surrounding her body, Synthia stood with the Mioja stretched out at her side. The wind seemed particularly concentrated around the sword, the blade bending even more light as it fed off the magic.

A look of clear triumph resided in Synthia’s eyes, a cocky smirk stretching across her face. She flipped the Mioja around, holding onto it with two hand as she stretched her legs out into a more traditional swordsman’s stance. “Keep calling the shots, Iggy. I’ll be fast enough to protect you, so you can just sit tight and rest up.”

Choosing to trust her, Iggy nodded. In the next instant, however, she sensed Rynne coming toward her again.

“From behind me! My left!”

WHOOSH!

In the space of a single breath, Synthia had zipped over to where Rynne had appeared and forced her to vanish just as quickly.

“Arrows to your back right!”

Synthia swatted them away with ease.

“Upper left! I think she’s using a spell!”

A bolt of electricity thundered its way to Synthia, but she blocked it using the Mioja without effort. Shrugging it off, she brought the sword up in front, ready to attack or defend if needed.

“Now this is real teamwork!”