The air at the top of the broadcast tower was thin and freezing, whipped into a frenzy by the clashing energies of wind and shadow. Blazing Speed didn't wait for a signal. She moved with a suddenness that defied the human eye—one moment she was standing still, the next she was a blur of emerald light.
"First Movement: Zephyr’s Sting!"
Koko’s conductor’s baton lashed out like a whip of compressed air. Each strike whistled with the sound of a high-tension wire snapping. Blazing Arcana barely moved, tilting her head with a terrifying, doll-like precision. The wind-blade sliced through the broadcast antenna behind her, shearing the steel like paper, but Mahiru remained untouched.
"Fast," Mahiru whispered, her voice layered with the hollow echo of the Void. "But so predictable. Your rhythm is a cage, President."
Mahiru raised her hand, and the violet lightning from the rift coiled around her fingers. "Shadow Mirror: Shatter."
Suddenly, a dozen jagged shards of dark ice materialized in the air, vibrating at a frequency that mimicked Koko’s own wind. As Koko zipped forward for another strike, the shards exploded in a synchronized burst.
Koko twisted in mid-air, her ribbons fluttering like wings as she used a "Double-Time" burst of speed to dodge the shrapnel. She landed on the side of the tower, perpendicular to the ground, her boots gripping the metal through sheer centrifugal force.
"My rhythm is not a cage," Koko retorted, her eyes glowing a fierce, emerald green. "It is the law. And you are a disturbance!"
She launched herself again, this time spinning like a drill. "Second Movement: Gale Fortissimo!"
The wind around Koko ignited into a green cyclone, grinding against the dark barrier Mahiru raised. The sound was unbearable—a screech of metal on metal.
Down on the street, Konone and Yui arrived, looking up at the flashing sparks of green and violet thousands of feet above.
"Koko is pushing her too hard!" Yui shouted over the wind. "She’s not trying to capture her, she’s trying to dismantle her!"
"I can't let her do it," Konone said, her teeth gritted as she began to climb the tower's external ladder. "Mahiru is still in there. I don't care what Koko says about 'precision'—I'm not letting her play the finale on my best friend!"
Above them, the stalemate broke. Koko’s speed was starting to overwhelm Mahiru’s defenses, but the Void was feeding on Koko’s aggression. Every time Koko struck, the violet rift grew larger, fueled by the "discord" Koko was trying so desperately to silence.
Mahiru let out a haunting laugh, her white eyes widening. "Come closer, President. Let me show you the sound of a heart... stopping."55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvVZAp7J5f
and then Add to home screen.