The captains of the sunset wind.

Ariannas pov

"What. Was. THAT?" I don't think I could smile wider. A cold numbness blossomed from my wing. I tested it, extending it and folding it gingerly. No major damages. My gaze didn't leave my opponent's for a single second. He was clearly trained, with his drilled stance and swift swordsmanship. I had expected that from the way he carried himself, but I certainly did not expect to be blasted thirty feet away. To be perfectly honest, it terrified me. I'd never felt anything like this before. I mean, if I didn't shift my weight at the last possible moment, I probably would've lost a limb, maybe my head. I was certain I couldn't take another hit like that, but since he wasn't all glow-y anymore, I assumed he was done.
But there was something more, a new light feeling in my stomach that made me want to get up and do it again. Battles had become mundane for the longest time, only being interesting if I were fighting multiple people at a time. I couldn't be surprised anymore by the conventional way things usually went. But this man, he didn't fight like a normal person. He fought as if that were all he'd ever known. Like me. The electricity dispersed on the battlefield, but it still didn't leave his eyes, that magic still yearning to be called on.
Ry was suddenly at my side, picking me up out of the rubble. "A-are you okay? Oh my gosh, you're bleeding! Ari be careful! Ugh- let's just stop this now, okay?" Her soft voice helped keep me from leaping back in there immediately. I still kept my eyes trained on him, seeing as the coral on his head still had wisps of light bouncing around. His friend, Chip (or whatever his name was) was suddenly right behind him. "Hey buddy, I knew you could do it! Never doubted you." He backed off when Gillion gave him a look, but from his demeanor I could tell he was seeking approval. Chip was suddenly right back where he was before, next to Ry.
"I'm fine." I lifted myself up, out of her grasp, and readied my sword again. "Now that I know he can do that, I'll be fine." His smile widened at my words, knowing that the battle wasn't over. Ry's face went pale, knowing she couldn't convince me to stop.
The last fritz of lightning dispersed on the tip of my sword, and I took a deep breath before walking away from the rubble. Ry stood there, stunned until a shopkeeper went after her about destroying her stall. "Let's try that again, shall we?" I opened my wings dangerously, and he nodded in agreement. With that, the battle continued.
I rushed towards him, this time changing my fighting style. When I had my other sword, it was impossible to stand up to him using strength alone. My blade would've snapped, which is why I stuck to clean quick jabs while ducking back. But since that had gone out the window, I switched to my other sword. My heavyweight longsword was designed for getting into tight binds, clashing with any other blade. He realized this on the second hit or so, and we both got locked right next to each other, weapons piercing the air with a metallic screech.
I took the time to stare at my opponent. Gillion Tidestrider, huh? His eyes stared into mine, challenge, and determination written all over his slitted aquatic pupils. It looked like something more than just the want to fight, that much I could see. A need to win, to be the best. Something that mirrored my own. After treading the line of certain doom for a while, I broke the bind in a bright flash, backing away.
"Awesome!" I mused, cocking my head to the side. I flipped my sword around in my hand, exercising my wrist after holding the bind for so long. "You really are a fighter. Trained, no doubt?" I nodded, never dropping my guard. He didn't either, perhaps expecting me to leap at him midway through my sentence. "You are skilled yourself, Arianna." He sized me up, and I realized then that he wasn't too tall. I chuckled under my breath. "Yeah, not too bad for being self-taught, right?"
He looked genuinely impressed. "That is quite the accomplishment! I've struggled even with as much help as I've gotten. We should share a drink after this!" I didn't wait for him to finish, I felt the flow of magic, and harnessed it. My hair blew back, and I felt my eyes begin to fill with a golden glow. A drink? Is this guy dense or is he flirting? "Well thank you! I'll share a drink if you can walk after this-!" And with that, I once again dashed towards him. He tensed, anticipating some sort of blow head-on, or maybe even one from behind, but I wasn't going for either. I clawed forward, my magic obeying after so long trying to perfect the spell. Lightning fast, the breeze kicked up. Aetherial feathers glowed on my wings before shooting out and appearing around him, to which his attention was diverted.
Underneath him, the cobblestone turned this orange as well, something he didn't see until it was too late. I clapped my hands together, and he was flung into the air, confused and distracted. I leaped up after him, feeling the breeze work in my favor. The feathers targeted him, blowing through like a tornado. They weren't too powerful by themselves, so the cuts and scrapes they made only bore a grunt from him. They still worked exactly how they were supposed to, which kept him occupied. When I had caught up to him, the feathers gathered together in a mass around my sword. They clung to the blade, sticking together and forming a sort of greatsword. This blade curved upwards into the sky like a scimitar, glinting with a golden glow that reflected the sun, lighting up the square.
He created an 'X' shape with his arms, water suddenly appearing and freezing over to form a shield to protect him. "But don't count on it!" I twisted into a frontflip for extra momentum, my wings twirling and bending with the wind. I slammed into him, feathers ruffled and orange energy exploding at once. The ice shield guarded him from the main hit, but the disperse of energy cut through his skin. The inertia though, was what I was looking for. It sent him slamming back down into the ground, returning the favor he gave me, only with gravity helping me this time. He hit the ground with a painful THUD!, an orange shockwave zooming out around him. A huge debris cloud exploded upwards, blinding everyone around from the actual landing zone. The feathers dispersed and slowly vanished, the wind pressure returning to normal.
I huffed, happy with myself, and landed beside the dust cloud I had created. "Ry I finally did it right!" I finally took my eyes off my enemy, knowing he was definitely messed up after that. She stood nearby the other man, Chip, mimicking each other. Eyes wide, mouth touching the pavement. He was far enough away from any sort of danger, as was everyone else. The only one really close to me was Ry.
"He's dead. He's so dead-" Chip had both his hands in his hair, apparently unable to look away from the fight as well. He ripped his eyes from the dust to stare directly at me. "Wanna join my crew?"
I let out a hearty laugh, sheathing my sword. "Yeah, no thanks." Ry came up to me, standing opposite to where Gillion landed. "That was... Over the top." Her quiet demeanor hadn't left, but she was definitely more shaken up than before. "Did you finish chess?" I tilted my head in amusement, to which she turned back to where Pretzel was sitting, also in absolute shock. Frogtopuses are such weird little guys. "I- I totally forgot..." She turned away from me, facing the mountain.
Then, I felt it. The same feeling as before, right when Gillion was about to let loose his crazy ice lightning. I spun around, facing the warrior himself. His crown atop his head crackled with energy, and his hair floated upwards as if he were in water, with glowing eyes so scary you might as well say your prayers if you saw it. But I was not so easily shaken. I already had my wings open, my own magic activating. In these milliseconds precious as they were, I couldn't cast any sort of counter, so I rushed out of his reach, and up into the sky. A few of my feathers glowed orange, propelling me faster than the normal air current should. Up in the sky, I had a bird's eye view of everything that was about to happen. And then I realized my mistake. Without me there, the momentum he carried traveled over to Ry, and there was nothing I could do but watch.
This attack was different from his first one and was nothing short of a tidal wave. An entire monsoon of water trailed behind his blade, arching with lightning and bright flashes of radiant seafoam. It twisted up into an 'S' shape, plummeting onto Ry in an unavoidable explosion. His sword hit her on its side, but the sheer force itself was enough to knock Ry off her feet. Even after his sword had stopped, the wave carried onwards, sweeping Ry up in the tsunami, racing thunder through her veins and lighting her up briefly in a cacophony of madness and light.
When the wave hit the wall, it gathered in one big mass, Ry in the center, and erupted into a hundred spikes of ice, some reaching my height. The ice was an impossible shade of blue, clearly the work of high level magic. It cracked and splintered like a diamond, and after one painfully quiet second, the ice shattered into a million tiny bits of glitter. These fallen stars coated the ground in fresh, powdery snow. The few people that were left all collectively shivered, gathering their loved ones in close. Gillion stood up straight, returning to his normal self, his magic finally satisfied and disappeared, and he exhaled one clearly visible breath. The only sound was the still splitting ice, that melted away into sparkles in a few different chunks, taking all of ten whole seconds to fully break away.