Reggie moved first.
Fast enough that the heat trailed him.
Both arms went up in flame as he rushed Sofia with a grin already on his face.
"I hope you got a good memory," he said, still moving. "Because after this, you're gonna want to remember my name."
Sofia looked at him the way you look at a word you've already forgotten.
"I suppose I can allow you a glimpse of my art."
Spirit Muti gathered at her fingertips.
"Spirit Muti: Gallery."
A notebook formed in her hand.
Not pulled from the satchel.
Made.
Clean pages. Elegant binding. Blue-white glow running along the edges.
The crowd leaned in.
Sofia slipped colored pencils from her satchel, one between each finger, then drew.
Quick.
Precise.
Baby blue birds spread across the page in a blur of soft lines and perfect little curves.
She turned the notebook out.
"Art Muti: Baby Blues."
The birds peeled off the page.
Paper became shape.
Shape became body.
Then the whole flock came alive and burst into the air.
The crowd didn't know what to do with their hands.
Up in the skybox, Laila smiled.
"Oh. That's interesting."
Reggie's grin shifted.
His hands came up fast.
"Fire Muti: Fire Barrage!"
Fireballs ripped from both palms.
The first few smashed straight through the flock, bursting birds apart in explosions of flame and graphite. Blue scraps scattered through the air like burned-up sketches.
But his eyes stayed on Sofia.
Art Muti?
Another bird burst apart.
Never heard of nobody doin' that.
His gaze dropped to the notebook.
Then the satchel.
Book's the problem.
He slammed both palms into the stone.
Heat surged down his arms.
The deck screamed.
"Fire Muti: Ocean of Flame!"
A massive wave of fire tore across the Mercy Deck, swallowing most of the flock as it rushed straight for Sofia.
She smiled.
"Oh, lovely."
A prepared drawing came out of her satchel.
Larger.
Already finished.
She flicked it into the air.
"Art Muti: Big Bird."
The page flared.
Then split open.
A giant bird burst from it — twenty feet of sweeping wings and fully realized form.
Sofia stepped onto its back like she'd done it a hundred times.
One powerful beat of its wings carried her up and over the fire.
The crowd exploded.
"SOFIA!"
"SOFIA!"
"SOFIA!"
High above the deck, she looked down at the screaming Amphistad and something in her face softened. A tiny tear touched one eye.
She bowed from the bird's back like the noise was an honor.
Below, Reggie watched the whole thing.
Watched her take the crowd.
Watched her flying pretty while everybody ate it up.
And that pissed him off.
He fired again.
"Fire Muti: Fire Barrage!"
The fireballs screamed into the air, but the giant bird slipped around every blast.
Sofia looked down at him and smiled.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Her blue hair shifted in the wind.
"And from up here, darling, you can't see a bloody thing."
The crowd gave a vicious oooh.
Reggie laughed once.
Short.
Disrespectful.
"Aight."
His hands came together.
Heat started compressing between his palms.
The sound changed instantly.
A high screaming warp filled the air as the fire tightened into a single point. The ground cracked under his feet. Sweat rolled down his face. The air around him bent from the pressure.
Above him, Sofia's smile thinned.
That's bad.
She laid one hand flat against the bird's neck. Felt its heartbeat change.
Below, Reggie kept forcing more heat into the growing point between his hands.
His arms trembled.
The stone under him split wider.
The whole crowd felt it now.
Reggie raised both palms.
Wide stance.
Teeth bared.
"Fire Muti: Devil's Furnace!"