Somewhere deeper in Shallow Town—where salt-worn buildings leaned like old men against the wind and narrow alleyways flickered with the hesitant glow of swinging lanterns—Espada and Rue clashed in a spectacle that scorched the very stones and tore the silence of night asunder. The skies above pulsed faintly with electricity, echoing Rue's fury, while flames licked the shadows around Espada like a warning.
As lightning veins crackled across the sky, Rue blurred forward in a surge of blue energy, streaking toward Espada like a living bolt. She spun in place, Solbrand carving a fiery arc that deflected the assault, sparks flying as metal hissed against raw power. The strike sent both of them spiraling back, feet skidding across gravel and stone. Rue bounced off the wall of a collapsed building and launched himself again, becoming nothing more than a streak of flashing light.
