The water didn't flow—it obeyed.
Lucy's hands moved like a conductor's, golden mantra pulsing through her veins as torrents spiraled upward from flooded streets. The water compressed mid-air, hardened into gleaming blades that shot forward like bullets.
Nyx dissolved and reformed, smoke scattering and coalescing in rapid succession. "Clever! But water has weight, Luminary—"
She thrust her palm forward.
The smoke solidified around Lucy's water blades, encasing them mid-flight. Pressure built. The water froze inside compressed smoke prisons, suspended like insects in amber.
"—and weight can be controlled."
Lucy's eyes narrowed.
She clenched her fist.
The frozen water detonated.
Steam exploded outward in a scalding shockwave that blasted Nyx's smoke apart. Visibility dropped to zero. The entire block became a sauna of gold-lit vapor and swirling gray chaos.
"Tch—!" Nyx's voice echoed from somewhere in the haze. "You're adapting faster than expected!"
Lucy didn't answer. She was already moving, boots splashing through ankle-deep water, golden mantra flaring as she created more—a spiraling vortex that rose around her like a serpent, coiling, waiting.
The steam cleared.
Nyx stood atop a lamppost, hair whipping wild, eyes glowing brighter. Her smile had edges now. Sharp ones.
"Alright. No more testing."
She raised both hands.
The smoke screamed.
It didn't just compress—it ignited. Heat and pressure combined, the smoke becoming superheated vapor that distorted the air like a furnace. Buildings groaned as thermal expansion cracked foundations.
Lucy felt the temperature spike. Sweat evaporated instantly. Her water vortex began to boil.
"Smoke Combustion," Nyx said softly. "I don't just control vapor, Luminary. I control temperature."
The superheated smoke rushed forward like a pyroclastic flow.
Lucy's heart hammered.
Can't block it. Can't dodge it. Have to—
Her eyes blazed gold.
The water around her transformed.
She compressed the boiling vortex inward, tighter, denser, until the water became a liquid drill spinning at impossible speed. Golden mantra flared brighter, stabilizing the construct, giving it form, giving it purpose.
Nyx's eyes widened. "You can't be—"
Lucy launched herself forward, the pressurized water drill spinning ahead of her like a spear.
It tore through the superheated smoke like it didn't exist.
Nyx barely had time to dissolve—but not fully—the drill clipped her shoulder, tearing fabric, drawing blood.
First blood.
Nyx reformed ten meters back, hand pressed to her shoulder, genuine shock on her face.
"…You actually hurt me."
Lucy landed hard, knees buckling for a moment. Her breath came in ragged gasps. The golden mantra flickered.
Stamina… running low.
But she stood anyway.
Water rose around her again—slower this time, but still there.
And in her right hand—
Golden mantra condensed.
An Excalibur blade erupted into existence, edge blazing with light and residual water vapor, the sword humming with barely contained power.
Lucy's eyes locked onto Nyx.
"Round three."
She moved—
—faster than before, desperation fueling speed, the blade pulled back for a devastating slash—
Nyx's expression shifted to something unreadable—
The sword descended—
CRACK.
Three blocks away, a building exploded.
Rin's body crashed through concrete, tumbling end-over-end before slamming into a fire hydrant hard enough to bend metal.
He didn't get up immediately.
Couldn't.
His vision swam. Blood dripped from a cut above his eye. His ribs—at least two broken, maybe three—screamed with every breath.
Above him, Bastion walked through the hole he'd just created, gauntlets still glowing cherry-red.
"You're tougher than you look, kid," he said casually. "Most people stay down after the first one."
Rin coughed. Spat blood.
And grinned.
"…Yeah, well…"
He pushed himself up on shaking arms.
"…I'm not… most people."
Rin's world was pain.
Not the sharp kind. Not the clean kind.
The kind that ground into bone, that made breathing feel like swallowing glass, that turned vision into a kaleidoscope of red and black spots.
Bastion's fist had just introduced three of Rin's ribs to his spine in a way anatomy textbooks probably frowned upon.
"Stay. Down."
The words came from somewhere above. Distorted. Rin's ears were ringing.
He tried to push up. His left arm buckled. Broken? Sprained? Did it matter?
A boot pressed against his back, pinning him to shattered asphalt.
"You've got heart, kid. I'll give you that." Bastion's voice was almost respectful. Almost. "But heart doesn't beat iron."
The pressure increased.
Rin's ribs creaked.
"This is the difference between us," Bastion continued, like he was teaching a lesson. "You're fast. Aggressive. Plenty of spirit." His gauntlet hissed, venting steam. "But I've been doing this for years. I know exactly how much force breaks bone. How much shatters concrete. How much—"
Rin laughed.
It was wet. Painful. Probably inadvisable.
But he laughed anyway.
Bastion's boot lifted slightly. "…Something funny?"
"Yeah," Rin coughed, blood speckling the ground. "You talk… way too much."
The boot came down harder.
Rin's vision whited out for a second.
When it cleared, Bastion was walking away, cracking his knuckles casually. "Alright. Guess we're done here. Was hoping you'd last longer, but—"
Rin moved.
His hand shot out, grabbed Bastion's ankle.
Bastion stopped. Looked down. Genuinely surprised.
"…Kid. Seriously?"
Rin's fingers tightened.
"Not… done yet."
"Yes," Bastion said slowly. "You are."
He kicked.
Not hard. Just enough to shake Rin off.
But Rin didn't let go.
So Bastion kicked harder.
Rin's body lifted off the ground from the impact, ribs screaming, but his grip stayed locked.
Bastion's eyes narrowed. "What are you—"
Rin grinned through blood-stained teeth.
"Thanks… for the warm-up."
He pulled himself up using Bastion's leg, movements shaky but determined, and launched a haymaker straight at the bigger Saint's jaw.
Bastion didn't even bother blocking.
The punch connected.
Crack.
Rin's knuckles shattered on impact.
Bastion didn't budge.
"…That's it?" He grabbed Rin by the collar, lifting him one-handed like a ragdoll. "That's all you got?"
Rin dangled there, breathing hard, blood dripping from his split knuckles.
He should've been done.
Should've been unconscious.
Should've been broken.
Instead—He smiled.
"Nah," Rin whispered. "That was just me… saying thanks."
Bastion frowned. "For what?"
Rin's eyes flared.
Kinetic energy crackled across his skin like visible momentum, his body suddenly humming with barely contained force. Every punch he'd taken, every impact absorbed, every bone-rattling hit—
Stored.
"For the charge," Rin said.
And headbutted Bastion straight in the face.
BOOM.
The shockwave detonated outward like a grenade.
Bastion's head snapped back, his grip releasing involuntarily as he stumbled—actually stumbled—three steps backward.
Rin dropped, landing in a crouch.
His body was screaming. Blood leaked from his nose, his ears, small capillaries bursting under his skin from the strain of channeling that much kinetic force.
But he was grinning.
Bastion touched his nose. It was bleeding.
For the first time in the fight—
He looked surprised.
"You…" He lowered his hand slowly. "You've been absorbing my hits."
Rin stood up, swaying slightly, kinetic energy still crackling around his fists like miniature storms.
"Perpetual Motion," he said, voice rough but steady. "The more you hit me…"
He cracked his neck.
Blood dripped from his temple.
His smile widened.
"…the harder I hit back."
Bastion stared at him for a long moment.
Then he started laughing.
Deep. Genuine. Almost delighted.
"Oh, you're fun." He rolled his shoulders, gauntlets heating up again, glowing brighter than before. "Alright, kid. Round two."
His stance shifted. Lower. More serious.
"Let's see how much you can actually store before that body of yours gives out."
Rin's fists ignited with kinetic force, the energy cycling through his arms like lightning trapped in flesh.
Everything hurt.Everything bled.
He didn't care.
"Bring it, grandpa."
Bastion moved—
—and the street exploded as two forces collided.
Not technique versus technique.
Momentum versus momentum.
Rin's fist met Bastion's gauntlet mid-strike.
CRACK.
The shockwave shattered every window in a three-block radius.
Rin's arm bent at a wrong angle—dislocated shoulder, maybe broken—but the kinetic energy held, cycling the absorbed force through his body and back into the next strike.
His other fist came up in a brutal uppercut.
Bastion blocked with his forearm—but the impact still lifted him, boots scraping backward across asphalt.
"HAH!" Bastion's grin matched Rin's now. "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!"
He twisted, gauntlet glowing white-hot, and drove a hammer-fist downward.
Rin crossed his arms to block—
BOOM.
The ground beneath him cratered.
Rin's legs buckled. His arms nearly gave out. Blood vessels burst across his shoulders from absorbing the impact.
But the energy held.
And when Bastion pulled back for another strike—
Rin released.
Every ounce of absorbed kinetic force, every hit he'd tanked, every broken bone and bleeding wound—
All at once.
"RUIN—"
His fist ignited with violent motion made visible.
"—FLAIR!"
He drove it straight into Bastion's chest.
Time seemed to pause.
Then—BOOM.
Bastion flew.
His body tore through a storefront, blasted through the back wall, and crashed into the building beyond with enough force to collapse the second floor.
Silence.
Rin stood alone in the cratered street, fist still smoking, kinetic energy dissipating like steam.
His legs trembled.
Blood dripped from everywhere—his nose, his ears, his eyes, small tears in his skin where the energy had strained his body past its limits.
He swayed.
Took one step.
Nearly collapsed.
"…Okay," he muttered, vision blurring. "That… definitely hurt."
Rubble shifted.Rin's heart sank.
Bastion rose from the debris, slower this time, armor dented, breathing heavier.
But standing.
He touched his chest where Rin's punch had landed. The metal was cracked. Actual cracks in reinforced steel.
He looked at Rin.
Impressed.
"You know what, kid?"
He rolled his neck, joints popping.
"I think I actually like you."
His gauntlets flared brighter.
"So I'm gonna take this seriously now."
Rin tried to raise his fists.
His arms barely responded.
"Shit".
Bastion charged.
And Rin—bleeding, broken, utterly exhausted—grinned anyway.
"I have nothing left to lose… as long as my brother is still fighting."