Sophia leapt back, keeping her distance. If Asmodeus did indeed have the same powers as Rolynd, he was most dangerous at close range. And… Sophia was one of the few people that would have any hope of harming him through an Aegis.

But unexpectedly, Asmodeus came right up to Sophia, trying to swipe at her with one of his hands, like claws. Sophia dodged by ducking the blow, bending over backwards. A blast of compressed air glanced off of Sophia’s body, protected by enchantments that flashed red all across her armour.

The Chimaera was within striking range of the knight, who took the opportunity to fiercely retaliate with a swipe of her own, an orange blade appearing from the tips of the toes of her metal boot, cutting upwards as she completed a backwards somersault.

Asmodeus leapt back to avoid Sophia’s counter. Stopping barely five paces away. He began circling once more, looking for an opening.

Sophia narrowed her eyes suspiciously, circling the other way in turn.

Was he trying to lull her into a false sense of security? Or were the effects of his Aegis really that short-ranged? Barely a few centimetres away from his skin, based on how close he attempted to get to her.

Sophia made a feint with her weapon, interested in drawing a reaction out from the other Chimaera. Asmodeus flinched backwards, twisting back on one foot. With the other, he made a kicking motion and sent a hissing cloud of hot, glowing sand in return.

Sophia twisted her body to the side and grew a large Aegis-scorn blade out from the length of Solreyn, creating a two-meter tall, foot-wide glowing barrier that atomised Asmodeus’ attack with a poof, rendering it harmless. She had barely seen him move, but based on the quantity of sand he had been able to counterattack with, it did seem that the range and volume of Asmodeus’ Aegis were far shorter than that of Rolynd. That didn’t mean that the star-skinned man was no threat. Large range or not, he was still capable of doing everything that Rolynd could do. The only difference was that Sophia would have more openings to counterattack against Asmodeus.

Both Chimaeras were most deadly at close range. Neither was able to defend a direct hit from the other. Just a single touch was capable of ending the fight; It was to be a deadly game of tag.

They began circling once more.

The front line of the war had drawn closer, drawing some of the knights away. The battle began to rage on all around them but Sophia nor Asmodeus paid it any mind. They were in a world of their own.

Sophia’s advantage was having a weapon to strike at the unarmed Asmodeus. She needed to keep him at arm’s reach as much as possible. The imitation Aegis knew this too, and so he kept his distance rather than charging in recklessly. He needed to create some kind of opening for him to exploit.

Tendrils of sand began to trail up from the ground, gathering around Asmodeus’s legs, up to his torso, concentrating in the palms of his hands.

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Realising that Asmodeus was preparing another ranged attack, Sophia began to run forward. She knew from her time with Rolynd that she needed to break his concentration before he was able to compress the grains of sand into a deadly weapon.

Asmodeus flew back, keeping his distance, buying himself more time.

“Can’t keep up?” he taunted.

Sophia broke into a full sprint, Solreyn at the ready, to run Asmodeus through. Before, she had hesitated to do so as it would make her an easier target.

Asmodeus continued to grow the ball of molten glass between his palms, watching his target grow closer and closer at a frightening pace. The longer he waited, the harder it would be for Sophia to avoid the blow, but the more dangerous it was for him.

Now! They thought in unison.

Asmodeus flicked the tip of his right index finger into the ball of glass, and pointed at Sophia, directing his strike at her.

At the same time, Sophia unexpectedly struck Solreyn into the ground before her, somersaulting upwards over it.

“Not good enough!” Asmodeus shouted, adjusting his aim. He loosed his attack.

But before she could be hit, Sophia was engulfed in red light, a magic circle emanating from where Solreyn had pierced the ground.

A similar red light began to shine from behind Asmodeus.

Realising something was amiss, Asmodeus threw himself forwards, landing heavily on the ground like a wire had pulled him there.

There was a flash of orange light.

Something hot and wet dribbled down Asmodeus’ left calf. There was a long cut there, dribbling red blood. The Chimaera couldn’t even feel it, so perfectly straight were its edges.

Twisting around, Asmodeus saw Sophia standing there, already moving closer to capitalise on his weakness with an overhead stab in a reverse grip.

Seeing Asmodeus recovering, Sophia reacted by turning her stab into a spear throw. Asmodeus reacted by loosing a wave of glass diagonally upwards, knocking Sophia’s attack off-target and creating an opening.

He spread what glass remained over his hands and telekinetically threw himself at Sophia.

Suddenly on the back foot, Sophia was forced to exchange a flurry of blows with her enemy, neither of them making full contact with the other. Ducking and diving and weaving, back and forth in a deadly dance. Bits of molten glass flew off with each swing of Asmodeus’ arms. Sophia either evaded or nullified his attacks with a flat Aegis-scorn blade.

“STAND. STILL!!” Asmodeus screamed, flinging the last of the glass encasing his hands at Sophia. The Knight’s left foot was suddenly pulled forwards, upsetting her balance. The ground beneath her had shifted, pulled back by Asmodeus’ power at the same time. She tried to project a shield of Aegis-scorn, but it was not in time.

With a loud sound reminiscent of something shattering, a piece of molten glass embedded itself into Sophia’s left shoulder; it had broken through her defensive enchantment there and pierced straight through her shoulder guard. The overloaded piece, a pin on her lapel, trailed black smoke in the breeze.

“Aaargh!” Sophia groaned in pain, pulling the still-glowing shard out with a gauntleted hand and tossing it onto the packed sand. No blood poured from the wound; it had been cauterised by the heat.

Asmodeus took notice of the ruined defensive artefact on Sophia’s collar. “I hope that wasn’t important.” He said tauntingly, but he was short of breath.

A sudden sweat coated Sophia’s brow. She too panted with exhaustion. The Bloodstone needed to end this fight sooner rather than later, but it was so difficult for her to land a clean blow; Asmodeus could manipulate his own body with powerful telekinesis, moving it about unpredictably. And every time that Sophia engaged him at close quarters, she put herself at risk, slowly putting a strain on her defensive enchantments as she failed to perfectly evade Asmodeus’ attacks. But she could think of no better course of action. Even her surprise attack with teleportation had only managed a glancing blow.

The two began to circle each other once more.