Eric glanced down at the knife in Nick’s hand and let out a short bark of laughter. Somehow, he’d expected something like this. He’d known that if he had to fight Nick again, it wouldn’t be the usual fight - constrained by the laws of the Nexus Charter. Well, that was perfectly fine with him. With such high stakes, their lives were on the line, and he’d taken precautions as well.

He slipped his hands under his flowing Thunder Nexus coat and withdrew his own weapons - two collapsible metal batons. When they were fully extended, as he did now, they were twenty-one inches each, about the size of the average short sword in Ahya. He gave one a flourish, then adopted a low crouch. Electricity flashed all along the batons, as he’d cut away the protective metal coating on the handles.

He gave Nick no time to contemplate the weapons. He’d realize at once that he still had the range advantage, but that didn’t matter too much. Eric was much faster as he darted forward, closing the distance between them in two long strides. He was there before Nick could think to take to the air or react in any other way, and Eric released a flurry of swift, careful strikes.

Nick made the instinctive mistake of attempting to parry the first strike by batting it to the side with his hand and got a nasty jolt of electricity through his body. He deflected the next strike with his knife instead, but the shorter weapon had considerably less leverage, and the effort required to parry the baton threw him off balance. Fortunately - for him -  he chose wisely to leap back instead of engaging in melee combat. That was until he summoned his wind staff, at least. The knife clattered to the ground, no longer useless.

“Fine,” he grunted, stepping forward as Eric advanced again. “I don’t need the damn knives.”

Eric went onto the attack again, using all the advantages that his speed gave him. He ducked and darted around Nick, swinging his batons with as much force as he could muster. Conserving his energy could come later. He had to wear Nick down if he wanted to win this fight quickly. But the Air nexian avoided the barrage well, either parrying with the staff of condensed air or, for those he couldn’t reach, he stopped with a casual blast of air.

It was very similar to the way a mage would summon a barrier to protect their physical body, Eric thought. Though he was certain Nick would know nothing of the technique, he’d replicated it perfectly here, and even his best strokes fell short of true contact. He jumped back, throwing one of his batons at Nick, who ducked it with ease.

“Don’t you need that to fight?” Nick asked, letting out a laugh and advancing a step. Then he let out a surprised grunt of pain as a shock tore through his body. He whirled in place, trying to figure out its source. Before he could, he was forced to jump aside as the baton flew back in a straight line - directly into Eric’s open hand.

“Took me a while to figure that one out,” Eric said. “Did you know that if you can master electricity, you can also create magnetic attraction?”

Nick lunged forward, infuriated, and Eric jumped back rather than attempt to parry. As he moved away, he threw the batons hard to either side. Nick’s head turned to follow the closest of them, then let out another grunt. As it had before, a line of electricity had jumped between the two weapons at Eric’s will, piercing the Air Nexian through one of his shoulders. His clothing actually ignited, and he quickly extinguished the flame with another burst of wind.

“It amazes me how little the Nexians have explored their own powers,” Eric said, pulling the batons back to his hands. “Then again, they’re probably not used to fighting mages, so they don’t think the same way I do.”

Nick fired a burst of air at him, and he dove to the side, rolling neatly back to his feet. In that same movement, he threw the left baton, and Nick dodged it. The Air Nexian glanced behind him for its return, stepping to the side, and moved directly into the path of the bolt of electricity that Eric shot from his now free hand. “Damn you!”

What Eric didn’t share was that this style of fighting was likely only possible because of the intense training that Master Ehran had put him through in Ahya. He’d learned not only to be aware of every tiny movement his enemies made but also how to finely control his own movements to maximize momentum. In his years studying under his mentor, Eric had become a true master in using his own body as a weapon. Combined with the heightened awareness and speed of his Thunder Nexus powers, it proved to be a lethal combination.

Nick attacked again, unfazed. The hits he’d endured thus far had been minor. They hurt like the devil, but not enough to disable him. That was fine. Eric had only intended to piss him off, to mess with his mind and keep him mentally off-balance. Master Ehran’s words came back to him now. If your enemy can’t focus, you can control their movements. If you can control your enemy, you cannot lose. When Nick attacked, this time he didn’t jump back. Instead, he casually leaned to the side, letting the air staff glide harmlessly past his face.

Nick tried again, and he dodged once more. Nick might be fast, but the weapon almost appeared to move in slow motion through the air. He flicked one hand up, slamming his baton into the point of Nick’s right elbow. There was a definite crack, and a shot of electricity stunned him for a second. Then, Eric took a step back, and rammed the point of both batons right into Nick’s stomach, and channeled as much electricity as he could.

With a faint cry, Nick collapsed to the hard-packed earth beside the runway, completely unconscious. Eric shook his head. Then, just before turning to find and aid Grimr, he said, “You really have to be prepared for anything. You knew I was faster than you, so why did you fight at such a close distance?”

Then he was off, racing across the airport grounds in search of the Ancient. He had no way of knowing exactly where Grimr had fallen, but he knew the general trajectory of the plane as it had fallen, and it didn’t take long to locate the duel that was taking place. To his surprise, Jerik was holding his own against the Ancient. For someone who had been a sniper and bowman in the entire time Eric had known him, he displayed great skill at melee and mid-range combat.

As he approached, Eric saw Grimr leap off the ground. He pulled a heavy stone out of the earth behind him as he ascended, then flipped in the air, redirecting it like a slingshot. Jerik blew the rock up with a well-placed explosion, using his alpha’s special technique. Then a snaking rope of fire flashed out of his other hand, wrapping around Grimr’s leg as he landed and yanked his foot out from under him.

Eric raced forward and slashed through the rope of flames with one of his batons, freeing Grimr who rolled to his feet at once. Jerik stared at him with wide eyes. “What? What happened to Nick?”

“He underestimated me,” Eric said, taking an arc from the right side, and leaping at Jerik. He swiped twice, forcing his opponent back. Grimr pounced in that small moment. In mid-air, his form flickered and changed to the large black panther that was his true form, slamming into the Fire Nexian and barreling him over. Eric had often wondered how many of Grimr’s abilities crossed over with him. Apparently, he could still shape-shift.

There was a bright burst of fire, and Jerik threw the Ancient off of him. As Grimr flew through the air he changed back to his human form, and two thick vines shot out of the ground, wrapping around Jerik’s arms and yanking them down, preventing him from attacking Eric as he advanced. He still burned through the vines with ease, but that gave Eric enough time to get inside his reach and unleash a high stomping kick that knocked Jerik back.

You had to give it to him, Eric thought, seeing Jerik flip mid-air and land, cat-like, on his feet in a long slide. He was nearly as dextrous as his two opponents. When Grimr and Eric moved to close in again, he lifted a hand at both and released wide cones of flame, forcing them back.

“It seems I can’t handle you both at the same time,” he said, breathing heavily. “At least, not if I’m ready to kill.”

The air around them suddenly grew frigid, and frost actually grew on the pavement. Then an explosion went off right behind Eric, knocking him down to the pavement. His batons clattered away as he fell with a grunt. The extra focus, however, cost Jerik the chance to defend against Grimr, who lunged forward and slammed a metal-coated fist into his abdomen. But Jerik kept moving in spite of the critical hit, knocking the Ancient away with another strong blast of flames.

Eric regained his feet, his head spinning, and kicked Jerik’s legs out from under him. As he fell, he released yet another torrent of flames, blasting Eric several feet away. He did the same to Grimr again as the Ancient hit him with a thrown boulder, showing virtually no signs of wavering or slowing down.

His Condition must be exceptionally strong, Eric thought. He’d recognized the sudden temperature drop as the technique Fire Nexians used to give themselves a quick power-up. His firepower seemed to have doubled, and he was able to weather the worst hits without too much strain. It wouldn’t last forever, however, and the drawback was rather severe. Eventually, the heat would return, and he’d be severely fatigued. Only Lieutenants and Alphas could spike their Condition like that and not be severely drained afterward.

Before he could move to attack again, however, there was a piercing pain in his right shoulder, and an impact powerful enough to nearly knock him down once more. Crying out, he glanced to the right, seeing the long knife that stuck out of his flesh like a pin. And, just beyond it, a flying figure. Nick. Damn, Eric thought, bewildered. How had he regained consciousness already?

In the air and completely out of reach, Nick was a terrifying force. He threw two more knives, their speed and power increased by his power. Eric jerked to the side, narrowly avoiding one of the projectiles. The other, aimed at Grimr, was stopped by a hastily conjured wall of earth. Grimr grabbed the knife at once. Jerik caught another knife that Nick threw his way with much less force. Now they were all armed, Eric thought, scooping up his batons.

Nick focused on Eric, blasting air with such force that he had no choice but to run backward, avoiding the gale-force winds. He quickly lost track of Grimr and Jerik’s movements as he darted left and right, ducking and diving to avoid Nick’s attacks, the knife still stuck in his shoulder and sending more shafts of pain throughout his body. He paused just a moment to rip the weapon free, then raced away again.

Somehow, Nick had gotten in front of him. He dropped out of the air, not quite touching the ground, and threw two more knives. Eric ducked under them, then lunged upward while his enemy was close to the ground, but never reached him. A solid wall of air slammed him back down to the ground and pinned him in place as Nick drew one more knife.

“Looks like this is the end for you, Eric,” he said, drawing his arm back.

Before he could throw the knife, Water appeared out of nowhere, slamming into him and sending him flying for several feet before crashing to the ground. The water continued to flow directly on top of him, pinning him as his air had pinned Eric, before freezing solid, leaving only his head exposed.

“Looks like I got here just in time,”  a voice said to Eric’s left.