A shadowy axe slashed through the air. Its head was made of pure black shards, each with the heat of a small sun glowing deep within them.
A small woman leaned back, watching the axe pass the place where her neck had once been.
Pushing off the ground, Aria slid back before slamming her body into a mirror-like pane of glass that reflected the world around her.
The glass shattered, slowing her momentum, then formed into two curved katanas, each placed in one hand.
Two of her rings shuddered, then flowed off her fingers and onto the edge of the glass weapons.
Making one have a silver edge and the other have a gold edge.
Her arms moved into a position that seemed natural to her, even if she had never used this style or these weapons before.
Of course, this wasn't a problem for Arias, someone who spent hours a day studying different styles of combat.
Or rather, one of hers did.
The man in front of her twisted and created another axe from his strange mantle, and used his odd shards to create another head.
Arias narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth somewhere else.
In the arena, she stared at Solaris expectantly. Ready for his next attack.
She was not kept waiting long; a mere second after the shards coalesced into the axe head, Solaris dashed forwards, closing the gap much faster than before.
The blades of darkness and heat slammed into the blades of glass and metal.
A melodious ringing began to echo through the colosseum as the mirrored clash raged on.
Every swing of the axes was met with a swift, effective slash and deflect of the katanas.
Solaris remained on the offensive, never laying off the heat his body was exuding, which was steadily growing. Making the reflected girl begin to glisten with sweat.
As he continued to chop away, Arias began to realize something Solaris had long known.
He was catching up to her.
At the beginning of the fight, she was more playing with him than anything, constantly switching styles and using his own weapons against him. All to understand him better, as well as give their boss a fun showing.
However, she began to notice, slowly, that she had to exert herself more and more.
She had been so much better than the man known as the eclipse mere moments before, yet as she blocked an attack, it felt wrong.
As though the massive gap separating the second-in-command and the random newbie was shrinking, and the rate of its shrinking was getting faster.
Arias realized that she needed to switch tactics; with the heat that his body was producing and the rate he seemed to be growing, she wasn't going to have much time before she made a mistake.
As the two axes slammed down, she blocked them both before pushing the blades as hard as she could back, momentarily staggering her and him.
This gave her enough time to create and shatter a mirror below her, then she threw herself up with the shards that were forming wings around her back.
With herself in the air and safe for a moment, Arias formulated a new plan of attack.
As the plan formed in her head, she shattered the air around her and formed a barbed javelin.
As the mirror shards formed into the weapon, she flapped her mirror wings and shot to the side, narrowly dodging the axe.
Of course, however, this wasn't a normal axe; as the axe passed her, it shifted and turned direction.
Spinning back at her once more.
Her unoccupied hand shot out and smashed the air, forming a mirror.
The black axe smashed into the mirror, losing enough momentum to force Solaris to recall it.
The axe flowed into a torrent of shadows and disappeared into the night, while the shards flew back to him, coalescing into another axe head.
Looking down at the man, His face still contorted into a terrifying smile, Arias felt a chill run down one of her spines.
Her arm holding the javelin raised and launched the weapon, then simultaneously smashed the air again.
The mirror weapon flashed through the air, reflecting the world onto itself.
Only to be shattered into a myriad of pieces by a shadowy axe.
Arias shot her arm forward again; her form was that of the greatest Olympic javelin thrower, the weapon that of a spear fisherman.
The weapons soared through the air, one after another, all to be shattered by the shadowy axes.
Arias believed that Solaris was at a major disadvantage due to her being in the air.
So as long as she kept her distance and continued to pelt him with spears, he would undoubtedly run out of steam eventually.
Of course, belief is different from reality.
Solaris's eye widened as an idea flashed through his head.
It was probably a stupid idea, but it was still an idea.
Solaris dodged to the side and then continued to dodge while the shadow axes shifted slightly.
Then it formed an item not typically used as a weapon; however, Solaris could make it one.
The shadows and shards flowed out and then formed into an umbrella.
The shadows formed the umbrella's panels, while the shards lined the edges and the top, making it a weapon for both defence and offence.
"WHAT THE?? SOLARIS JUST MADE AN UMBRELLA TO STOP ARIAS'S CONSTANT ONSLAUGHT OF SPEARS!!"
Even the announcer was in disbelief.
Somewhere in the stands, Ember palmed his face, while Lucian and Ania laughed slightly, and Sami shook her head and muttered.
"That boy is something else."
Solaris stopped his movement and faced the attacks head-on.
The shadow umbrella twisted in his hand.