As spacetime expanded around them, Helena threw a mote of fire at Zhou. With a single motion Zhou snuffed her fireball and flung back three enchanted knives. She drifted into the air and started flinging more firebolts, ignoring the blade that bounced off her protective shields. Zhou ducked under the barrage and rushed her.

This was going to be different from her last mage duel. That wizard had built an iron wall of defense that she'd had to chew through. Zhou was an attack mage like her. This would be a race to see who could land the killing blow first.

Helena backed away, flying above one of the canning machines to gain some distance. "For all your talk about magical mastery and dueling you really focus more on martial arts," Helena taunted as she threw out seven bloody darts that wove through the air.

"It's more I feel you're a failure at them," Zhou retorted. He moved his hands in a circle and a shield of flame appeared before him to block Helena's missiles.

He'd fallen for it. The shield kept him immobile, which meant she had time to start her own spell. Helena began grabbing assorted semi-precious stones from her pouch.

With a roar Zhou's flames turned into a burning wheel and spun towards her. Helena dropped down behind one of the work desks, the wash of heat singing her hair. She cursed and scrambled to the side as the canning machine exploded into flame and metal bits. She should have known a Taoist trained mage could mix defense and attack into a single spell.

Black flame exploded above her, shattering a nearby vase. Zhou had the advantage now. She looked around for anything to change the situation.

A jade coin and scattered pearls on the table caught her eye and she quickly swiped them. Holding them with the jasper, amber, and hematite she'd pulled out before she formed the spell in her mind. "Wrathful Gaze of the Olympians."

Five orbs emblazoned with the runes of the ruling gods burst into existence. She leaped into the air as they spun up around her and began firing energy bolts at Zhou. Fire, lightning, water, earth, and steel flew through the air in a cloud of death.

Zhou ducked behind some crates as the barrage tracked him. Helena flew upwards and let her vicious glee infuse a bullet with a curse to stop the heart. "No way to use your martial arts now," she noted as she threw it at him.

The man responded by leaping over her death curse and drawing his sword. As he ran he intoned, "The sword of justice is sharp on both ends." The blade began to glow blue, Chinese runes of battle forming on the blade.

Helena's skin prickled as power gathered above her and she flew to the side. Blades of blue energy rained down, shattering the orb of Zeus. It seemed Zhou had some artifacts of his own.

The blue blades shifted to follow her. The blade must have been storing energy for months. Helena focused her senses, letting the feel of power and the flashes of light lead her through the gaps in the storm. The air between them had turned into a deadly crossfire, but Helena had the advantage. Zhou's invocation was stealing most of his attention.

She rolled in between two blades and summoned a simple curse. Stumble and fall. She smiled as the miasma shoved a crate into Zhou's path. The magician clipped the box and stumbled. He swore as a shard of metal sliced into his arm, but he kept his feet.

Then he pulled out a jade token and the orb representing Hermes shattered into nothingness. He was dispelling them one by one. She palmed another spell scroll while ducking an energy sword. A spell requiring concentration was impossible, but perhaps she could find another way to trap him.

The spell came to her quickly. A mixture of arachne and earth spider spells. She fished out a few drops of pine resin as she glided over a blade. She then began wide dodges. Dart about the room, leaving a drop of resin along with a binding curse dabbed wherever she stopped. A shouted command from Zhou shattered the orb of Ares, but it was too late to stop her spell. She ducked under a blade, then snapped her fingers.

The droplets sparked, then crackled to life. Lightning spun out between the points connecting them into an electrical web. Zhou froze in place, trapped in the dangerous mesh.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Now that he stopped moving her remaining orbs unleashed their full power on him. A chunk of earth slammed him right into the electrical web. He screamed as electricity crackled over him, his magical defenses glowing white. The rain of energy blades stopped and Helena pulled out a vial of quicksilver for the finishing blow.

There was a strange hum. And then everything seemed to explode. Helena screamed and shielded her eyes from the burst. Away! A flick of her hand sent out a half formed curse bolt, right as her metal orb shattered. What was happening? How had he countered her?!

Her vision cleared to reveal Zhou in front of her sword raised.

The blade dropped.

Pain ripped through her shoulder as she slammed into the ground. There was another flash as her physical wards buckled then failed. The ceiling spun above her. Then Zhou appeared again, sword raised.

She had to move. She knew she had to move. With a defiant shout she summoned her magic to reinforce her body and slapped at the blade. The sword flew out of the man's weakened grip, clattering on the concrete floor.

Zhou fist slammed into her face. Her vision blurred and her ears were ringing. Two hands fell on her throat and began to squeeze like a vise.

Helena reinforced her arm and swung again. She felt it hit, but Zhou just grunted and kneed her in the stomach. Pain tore through her as she coughed up more precious air.

Blackness clawed at the edges of her vision. She was suffocating, and she couldn't put together the simplest of spells to fix it. She swung her fist, but she couldn't even feel she'd hit him.

Zhou's lips moved and his words seeped through the ringing in her head, "You were good, Curse Gunner. I was better."

She wanted to tell him to shut up, but she couldn't. She needed air. Breath. The force of life. Her body was screaming for it.

And then she smelled it. The beautiful fresh scent of breath in front of her. How could she have missed it before?

She opened her mouth, and she sucked it in.

Energy flowed into her. Dark twisted energy, but energy nonetheless. Her eyes focused again, and the pressure on her neck faded.

Long Zhou Di was stumbling back, desperately trying to escape Helena's chi draining attack. She'd drunk his breath. Her stomach churned at the realization, but then the flames of rage rose up within her.

She pushed herself off the ground and opened herself to her power. He had tried to kill her. He had threatened her friends. He had dared to challenge her! Now he would suffer.

The pain, hatred, and despair that filled the building flowed into Helena's left hand, and she gave it only a shell of a bullet before throwing it at Zhou. "You will suffer pain for every life you've stolen," Helena hissed.

The miasma bolt slammed into the man and he screamed. His mystic defenses buckled then shattered under Helena's assault.

But she wasn't going to let up. She let her rage turn into another bolt of dark power. "You will suffer for the misery and chaos you have caused," she snarled before striking him again. The miasma slammed into Zhou's defenseless body and he began to whimper and twitch as pure pain washed over him.

She summoned up one more bolt. "And for murdering and enslaving Camila, you will..."

"That's enough of that!"

Helena looked up. Camila and the Inspector were running towards her. Camila looked a little worried, and the Inspector had a deep frown.

She turned her attention back to the curse, and the man curled up before her. Sighing, she released her rage. "You will answer for your crimes and serve your sentence, before leaving the Immigrant Realm and never returning." She lazily threw the modified curse at Zhou. She had no idea if there was enough hate in it to work, but she didn't care anymore.

Inspector Kilduff sniffed, then pulled out a pair of cuffs. "Good enough. Let's be done with it. Long Zhou Di, you have the right to remain silent." The Inspector cuffed the man as he continued his own ritual. "Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney-"

Helena turned away and leaned against a nearby table to catch her breath. Now that adrenaline was fading her body was informing her of every injury she'd received. Each bruise and cut demanding her full attention.

"You okay?" Camila asked. "Looks like he stomped all over you."

"It was closer than I would have liked," Helena admitted. "How about you?"

Camila tried to shrug, then bobbed her hands up and down to simulate the gesture. "Took my eyes off the fight a little too early. Also need a better way of getting people to stay down, but pretty good. We left the bastard staked to the floor." She grinned. "Oh, like I found what my super secret hidden power is. I can make floors. Or walls. Kinda the same if you can fly no?"

"Well that's unique. You'll have to explain it to me when my brain is working." Honestly that was very interesting. A latent power? Or something more? Sadly she was having a hard time focusing on magical theory. She turned her thoughts back to the fight instead. "If it makes you feel better, you can probably take the same ridiculous beating as Long Jiao Han."

"Good to know, but taking a beating means getting hit. I'm not into that kinda stuff," Camila said. "Guess it means I can act like a superhero when people are shooting me though."

Inspector Kilduff walked up to them. "Looks like it's finally over. I've got to get the lads down here to do all the boring parts of an arrest, but I think you two can head off."

Camila shook her head. "Like, no reason to leave you alone here. We'll wait until the cars show." She turned to Helena. "Right?"

"Yes. That'll give me time to catch my breath," Helena said.

"Suppose I can't argue. What will you two do after?" the Inspector asked.

Helena started checking her wounds to make sure they were only bruises and light burns. "Then we go back to Aoi's. Lyudmila yells at me, Kseniya heals me, Camila gets praised by everyone for winning her fight. And then I set up a meeting with a fat Triad wizard who owes us."

Camila laughed. "I like this plan. What are we gonna demand from that bastard?"

"Hm..." Helena thought for a moment, then grinned wickedly. "How does an all you can eat Chinese banquet sound?"