Chapter 116: lyra vs selene

Chapter 116: lyra vs selene The swirling blizzard around them thickened, cutting off their view of the larger battlefield. Within this cocoon of wind and snow, Lyra and Selene faced each other across ten paces of bloodstained ground. Selene’s mercury-like water pulsed with that organic light, shifting and flowing around her arms like living tattoos. "You fight well for someone untested by true war," she said, her voice carrying easily through the storm. "But you’ve only seen parlor tricks." Lyra rolled her shoulders, water already gathering around her fists. "Then stop wasting my time with yours," she shot back, her tone carrying the same edge it had when facing down bullies in training yards. "I didn’t come here to listen to lectures." ’Arrogant bitch thinks she can intimidate me with fancy water tricks. I’ve been underestimated before—usually right before I prove them wrong.’ "Silence would serve you better," Selene said coolly. "Words are wasted on the dead." She struck without warning, her mercury-water lashing out in three separate streams that moved independently, each seeking a different target. Lyra didn’t retreat—instead, she charged forward, using the first stream’s momentum to spin herself aside while her water met the second attack head-on. The collision sent spray in all directions, droplets freezing instantly in the frigid air. Lyra felt the impact through her bones, but pressed forward anyway. The third stream curved around toward her back, but she had anticipated it. She dropped into a crouch, letting it pass overhead, then launched herself upward with water-boosted momentum, driving her knee toward Selene’s face. Selene twisted away with fluid grace, but not before Lyra’s water-clad fist caught her across the jaw. The royal guard stumbled back, touching her split lip with genuine surprise. "First blood to me," Lyra said with savage satisfaction, flexing her fingers to work out the sting of impact. "Thought you said I was untested?" ’She’s fast, but not untouchable. Just have to be faster, hit harder, never give her a moment to think.’ Selene’s mercury-water wrapped around Lyra’s extended arm like a serpent, burning where it touched skin. The pain was sharp and immediate, but instead of pulling away, Lyra grabbed onto the strange substance with her free hand, using it as an anchor to yank herself closer to her opponent. "Interesting technique," Selene murmured as they grappled at close range, her breath visible in the cold air. "Using pain as motivation rather than distraction." "Pain’s just another teacher," Lyra growled, driving her elbow toward Selene’s ribs. "And I’ve always been a quick learner." The elbow strike was blocked by Selene’s forearm, but Lyra used the contact to channel water directly through her opponent’s guard. The liquid formed into a blade mid-flow, slicing across Selene’s shoulder and drawing a line of blood that steamed in the freezing air. ’Two hits. She’s not invincible, just experienced. And experience means habits—patterns I can exploit.’ Selene disengaged with practiced ease, her mercury-water releasing Lyra and reforming into defensive spirals around her body. "You have raw talent," she admitted, examining her wounds with clinical detachment. "But talent without discipline becomes recklessness." "Recklessness has gotten me this far," Lyra replied, water spiraling up both arms in complex helixes. "Careful planning got my friends killed." The words carried weight that made Selene pause, studying Lyra with new interest. "Ah. Survivor’s guilt driving the aggression. That explains the desperate edge to your fighting." ’Desperate? I’ll show her desperate.’ Lyra launched into a relentless barrage—not the practiced forms from her training, but raw, aggressive strikes born from instinct and fury. Water-spears materialized and shot forward in rapid succession, each one following a different trajectory. Cutting whips lashed out to corral Selene’s movement, while pressurized blasts filled the air between them with deadly precision. Selene deflected most of the attacks, her mercury-water forming shields and redirecting projectiles with masterful control. But Lyra’s unpredictable rhythm forced her to give ground, each strike flowing into the next without pause or pattern. The younger woman was building momentum like a tide that refused to ebb. "Your water carries raw emotion," Selene observed, catching one of Lyra’s spears and converting it into her own mercury substance. "Anger, grief, determination. It makes you unpredictable, but also wasteful of energy." ’Wasteful? I’ll show her what waste looks like.’ Lyra suddenly changed tactics entirely. Instead of continuing her assault, she drove both hands deep into the snow-covered ground. The effort sent lightning through her skull as she reached deeper than she’d ever attempted before, tapping into the vast network of underground water that flowed beneath the entire courtyard. The strain was enormous—like trying to hold back a river with her bare hands while simultaneously directing its flow. But she held on, drawing more water than she’d ever commanded before, feeling the power surge through her body like liquid fire. "What are you—" Selene began, then her eyes widened as she felt the tremor in the earth beneath her feet. The ground around Selene didn’t simply liquefy—it erupted. Massive tentacles of water burst from below, each one as thick as a tree trunk and moving with serpentine intelligence. They struck from every angle, forcing Selene to leap and dodge with desperate grace. But Lyra wasn’t finished. As Selene vaulted skyward to escape the ground-based assault, water from the underground reservoir followed her up, forming a cage of pressurized streams that closed around the royal guard mid-flight. "Let’s see you adapt to this," Lyra snarled through gritted teeth, the effort of controlling so much water causing her nose to bleed. She began to compress the water prison, intending to crush her opponent within it. Selene’s response was not panic, but admiration. "Impressive power," she said calmly, even trapped as she was. "But you’re still thinking like a brawler, not a warrior." Her mercury-water flowed outward from her body, not fighting against Lyra’s cage but merging with it. Suddenly, Lyra found herself in control of water that no longer fully obeyed her commands. The mercury substance was rewriting her directives at the molecular level, turning her own prison into Selene’s weapon. ’She’s corrupting my water, making it hers. But two can play that game.’ Instead of fighting for control of the compromised water, Lyra made a decision that surprised even herself. She released her hold on the massive volume entirely, cutting off the flow of power like severing a rope under tension. Selene, unprepared for the sudden absence of resistance, plummeted toward the ground with nothing to cushion her fall. Lyra was waiting below with a water-blade extended upward, its edge sharp enough to cut stone. The royal guard twisted frantically in mid-air, her combat experience saving her life as the blade scored a deep gash along her ribs instead of impaling her heart. She landed hard in the bloodstained snow, rolling to absorb the impact, but came up favoring her injured side. "You’re learning," she said, genuine respect creeping into her voice for the first time. "Most opponents try to maintain control at all costs. Knowing when to let go is a much higher skill." "I let go of everything that mattered once," Lyra said quietly, water gathering around her in increasingly complex patterns despite her exhaustion. "Never making that mistake again." ’She thinks she’s teaching me lessons, but I already learned the only one that matters. Sometimes you have to break everything to save what’s left.’ Selene began to advance again, her mercury-water flowing around her feet in preparation for another technique. The substance formed intricate geometric patterns on the ground, glowing with that organic light that seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat. "Then let me show you what true mastery looks like," she said, her voice taking on an almost hypnotic quality. Lyra recognized the setup for some kind of binding or control technique—the patterns were too deliberate, too precise to be merely decorative. Instead of retreating or trying to disrupt the formation, she did something that caught Selene completely off-guard. She stepped directly into the center of the glowing pattern. "What are you—" Selene began, then her eyes widened as she realized Lyra’s intent. ’If you can’t beat technique with technique, overwhelm it with raw power.’ Lyra slammed her palm down on the center of the mercury-water formation, not to disrupt it but to overload it completely. She poured every ounce of her remaining strength into the contact point, forcing raw, unrefined power through Selene’s carefully crafted technique like water through a burst dam. The pattern couldn’t handle the sudden influx of chaotic energy. It exploded outward in a blast of water and light that lit up the swirling blizzard around them. Both women were thrown backward by the explosion, but Lyra had braced for the impact while Selene was caught completely unprepared. ’Sometimes the best counter to elegant technique is just too much power to handle gracefully.’ Lyra rolled to her feet despite feeling like she’d been kicked by a horse, water already reforming around her hands through sheer force of will. Selene was slower to rise, her perfect composure finally cracked. Blood ran from her nose and ears—the backlash of her own technique being turned against her in the most brutal way possible. "Clever girl," Selene said, her voice slightly hoarse as she wiped blood from her face. "But you’ve just shown me your limits. That display cost you everything you had in reserve." ’She’s right. I’m running on fumes and stubbornness now. But I only need one more good hit to end this.’ "Then you’d better finish me quickly," Lyra replied, her stance still aggressive despite the exhaustion that made her limbs feel like lead. "Because I’m not the type to go down easy." Selene’s expression shifted, the casual superiority finally giving way to genuine wariness. Her mercury-water began to gather in formations more complex than anything she’d shown before, the glow intensifying until it hurt to look at directly. The air itself seemed to thicken with accumulated power. "I think," she said quietly, her previous casual demeanor completely abandoned, "it’s time to stop playing around." Lyra bared her teeth in a feral grin that was all challenge and defiance. "Finally. I was wondering when you’d start taking me seriously."