Apophis landed before Ben, the ground beneath her feet breaking into floating shards. Her hair swirled like shadowfire, her wings spread wide, and gold-veined darkness leaked from her hands like liquid law.
"Still standing?" she asked coldly.
Ben exhaled once. The blood on his lips boiled off in the heat of his aura.
"I'll stand until one of us stops breathing."
He moved first.
BOOM!
The air split as Ben surged forward, his body wrapped in spinning rings of dark aether. His appendages shot outward like a storm of blades, slashing toward her from every angle.
Apophis stepped forward, once, and met the strike.
CRACK!
Her hand caught one of his appendages mid-swing and shattered it with a squeeze. Ben spun, launching a kick charged with compressed gravity into her side. The impact hurled her across the space, slamming her into a fractured wall.
Ben didn't stop. He blinked above her mid-recovery and drove both fists down.
BOOM!!
