Bloody fucking hell.

  I jumped backward, dodging an arm that turned into a spear as Usagear materialized around me. She didn’t pull any punches. The moment my spellbook appeared on me, she became a war machine of shifting glass and flesh.

  Her feet moved fast as she advanced. I brought up Ella, hard as steel, blocking and deflecting her ever-changing limbs.

  “I’ve got to—” she started, as I blocked an overhead strike meant to cut me in half. I let her blade slide along Ella’s surface while my other hand threw a card aimed at her stomach. It never hit, passing straight through as part of her body dissolved into a storm of glass, letting my missile slip cleanly through. “—admit, that until you dressed up, I was sure you were one of us,” she finished, trying to undercut me with a clean sweep of her leg.

  I jumped on instinct, immediately realizing it put me in a disadvantageous position, a heartbeat before her blade nearly carved through me.

  Fortunately, I blinked near my card, between the two Jasons. I looked at them from the side-eyes of my hood. Both had theirs wide open, both unresponsive, staring at something invisible in the distance. It was painfully clear that telling which one was Shadow Jason and which one wasn’t would be anything but easy.

  The warrioress noticed my repositioning with terrifying speed. Using a crystalline protrusion jutting from the wall, she vaulted over another in front of her and surged toward me.

  While we fought, one of my artificial minds, with Anansi’s help, guided Liora, whom I had summoned, behind me as I called my armor into place. He stayed hidden, slipping beyond my adversary’s notice, keeping to the outskirts of our duel while painting a large frame around the center of the room. Luckily for us, his particular brand of paint, made directly from shadowlight, held beautifully against the strange substance the interior of this place was built from.

  Unfortunately, that still left me fighting the monster in front of me while making sure my lóng’s long game stayed hidden.

  Staying alive was also very high on my to-do list for this fight.

  And to make sure it stayed on that list, I threw a card at every opportunity that presented itself. It served two purposes. First, it was a weapon, ideally meant to hurt, but more often just to distract and break my opponent’s rhythm. Something it did miraculously well. Every time one of those steel pieces of paper flew at her, she dissolved into a swarm of glass.

  The second purpose was more important. I was creating a safety net, anchors scattered through the room, something I could tie my authority to and blink toward if things went sideways.

  While I did that, she pressed forward, leaping in and slashing with both arms turned into scythes. I jumped back and opened Ella, shifting her solid form into a shield. The moment I felt the impact, I sent her home to my Domain and followed it up by driving both fists forward, releasing a flare of blinding light straight at my opponent.

  She hissed and recoiled, covering her eyes as she staggered back a few steps, opening distance between us. As soon as she did, I tried to advance, jumping onto the platform to my left and sprinting along it, setting up for an airborne strike.

  “Fat chance!” she shouted.

  She thrust an open hand toward me. With her palm aimed at the ceiling, she clenched her fingers in a gesture of control, then yanked her arm upward as if pulling something straight out of the floor. That motion alone was reason enough for me to say sayonara to my current position and reappear at one of the cards behind her.

  Glass stalagmites erupted from the floor, skewering the exact spot I’d occupied a heartbeat earlier.

  I reached for Noxy and pulled him through the veil straight into my hand, pressing the trigger in the same instant. The bullet went flying with a deafening roar, forcing my opponent to reflexively burst into a storm of mirrored fragments. The shot wasn’t meant for her, though. It streaked toward the door on the opposite side of the room. When it hit, a spidery web of shadowlight followed from the launched casing, striking the threshold again. From that impact, a painted mirror frame sprouted like the vines of some hungry, man-eating plant. A second later, the paint took hold, forming a clear image around the door.

  “You think I want to escape?” my opponent shouted, clearly able to see again. “I’ve seen what you did to that dullard Edward. You won’t do the same to me!” She slashed her arm through the air in a single, clean motion. As she did, part of the wall tore itself free, mimicking her movement as a massive blade of glass flew toward me, wide enough to cut me in half.

  I dropped to the floor as it happened. If not for my ability to see all around myself, that attack would’ve surprised me and ended me right there.

  “You are trapped here with me!” she shouted again, while I blinked away from my position and sent Noxy back. It was the only option. Through Lio’s eye, I saw her repeat the earlier motion, yanking something out of the ground.

  “Nice magic,” I said calmly as I dodged yet another rising column of glassy blades. “Could be aimed a bit better, though.”

  That made her pause. Just for a second. Long enough to study me while she steadied herself, moving with quiet determination.

  “You can’t keep teleporting like that. Not in here. I can keep throwing glass at you, and sooner or later my god will be back.”

  “Why are you telling me that?” I replied, circling in front of her, drifting closer and closer to one of the half-cocoons Jason lay in. Or his not-so-evil twin. “You want me gone, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Frankly speaking, I don’t want you breaking anything in here. I can hunt you down later, outside this room. Or outside this world.”

  “You’re very sure of your abilities,” I said.

  And then, a second later, a lot of things happened almost at the same time.

  First, I brushed Jason with my hand, willing him with my Authority to move toward my Domain. My other hand resummoned Ella, extended forward with her canopy opened just in time to catch a lance of mirror that launched itself from behind my opponent. She had already turned into a swarm of glass shards a moment before the projectile flew toward me.

  I rolled away as Ella was blown aside by the force of the impact, then halted in a half-crouch and sent her back to my Domain again. She obeyed without issue. Jason, however, did not. Whatever I touched refused to move. Something kept him tethered here. It could’ve been the building itself, his other self, or the shadowlight binding them together.

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  That thought arrived alongside another, carried by a second borrowed mind, and my body moved directed by it. I parried my opponent’s next strike with Ghostflame, freshly summoned into my hand.

  Blade met blade as I retreated. I saw determination in her broken eyes, and devotion too, as she advanced methodically, step by step, slashing and thrusting whenever an opening appeared.

  She was faster than me. Stronger too.

  Fortunately, Liora had just finished his painting.

  I repositioned to the side of a low, horizontal slash, slipping past it as I thrust my hand forward, aiming to touch my opponent.

  I met jagged glass instead, stumbling forward without finding flesh, my arm screaming as it was cut clean through. I barely regained my balance before the woman reformed behind me, slashing with both arms fused together into a single massive greatsword aimed straight at my back.

  I summoned my metallic bedsheet right behind me as I leapt forward, narrowly avoiding the blow. The strike was slowed by a wall that appeared out of nowhere. Instead of shattering against it, the glass blade held its shape, but the wall tangled itself around her arms and torso, forcing her to shift forms yet again.

  When she emerged back into a humanoid shape, she was immediately met by a wild storm of claws and fangs as Liora launched himself straight at her face. She screamed, sharp and brief, then dissolved into a glassy storm once more while Liora slipped into shadowlight.

  Her next reappearance came with a wide slash meant to drive my long away. It did, but I was already back near her. Ella reformed in my left hand, held like a shield, while I attacked with my right, Ghostflame blazing without my Authority behind it. Each strike pushed the flame closer to eruption. After a few exchanges, it ignited fully, hissing through the air as I drove another jab at her.

  Now she was the one retreating, blocking. Each time she knocked my weapon aside, she pressed forward with her own counter, her limbs reshaping into jagged weapons mid-motion.

  Liora wasn’t idle. He shifted between solid and intangible, darting in at her battered face whenever he could. Her cheeks were marked with his claws, crimson lines cut deep, blood dripping steadily onto the floor.

  Finally, when Lio made his dive and she struck my shield, I pushed back. As she was forced to turn into glass to deal with both Lio and my burning attacks, I shattered her solid arm with Ella, driving my weight into her. Even with the shield between us, the contact was enough. I pushed my Authority into her.

  I knew her by then. Maybe not wholly, but enough. My soulmark of trueform responded, allowing my Authority to bore straight into her. I forced the painting Liora had created to become her frame, catching her in the same kind of trap I’d used on Edward before.

  She reacted instantly. Rebuilding herself, she shoved me back with my shield, enduring Lio’s savage attacks at her neck and head before swatting him away with a wide slash.

  Then both of her arms snapped downward in a sharp motion. Part of the ceiling tore loose, reshaping into spear-like protrusions that shot toward both Lio and me. He turned into shadowlight just before impact, but it didn’t save him this time. He was slammed into the ground while I teleported clear of the blast. I caught a glimpse of his small, weasel-like form rolling across the cold tiles before coming to a stop, unmoving.

  He was alive. I felt it. His soul still tethered to mine. There was no time to grieve or hesitate. I sent him to my Domain instead, where he could lie safely.

  “Finally!” she shouted. “Some breathing room!”

  Her smile was maniacal, stretched wide from ear to ear. Naked, bruised, her body and face smeared with blood, she looked like a nightmare made flesh.

  “Are you kidding?” I shouted back, trying to throw her off balance. “I finally caught you in my trap!”

  “Unfortunate,” she replied. “But I’m not stupid enough to break now. I’ll fight you like this.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I answered, hoping she’d be forced to shift again and be expelled from the arena I’d created for us, with my dragon’s help.

  “Alexa, I don’t think this trial will go on much longer. Maybe an hour at most. They’ve already sent the jury away to discuss the verdict,” Peter whispered, giving me an update. Good, because I didn’t have much mental clarity left to spare on his side of things.

  The bloody woman rushed me in response.

  “You won’t leave? Fine. Then I’ll gut you for that!” she shouted.

  I blocked her sweeping side attack, then the follow-up as spikes burst from the floor. Another strike came immediately from the opposite side as she rebalanced on her heels and launched a vicious jab straight at my right.

  I was fast enough to deflect it, but the spikes erupting from the walls were faster. One of them sliced my arm open, blood splattering onto the floor as I backtracked out of her reach. She fought like Malik now. Normal strikes followed by heavier echoes, except here the after-attacks were recreated by the room itself.

  This wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

  I poured my Authority back into the knife and sent it to my Domain, then blocked another attack as she leapt with an overhead greatsword slash aimed straight down. Ella held beautifully, but the force drove me to my knees. I dropped her. As she hit the floor, I grabbed two spray cans and hurled them at my opponent. They bounced apart as they struck her chest, and I infused both with my Authority, willing them to become storm clouds.

  Lightning shimmered on their surface as thunder tore through the air. The sudden assault caught her off guard. I kicked her away, knocking her off balance.

  I reached for my cards and began throwing them one after another, infusing them with steel and fire. This time they struck true. They tore into her body, leaving scorch marks and trails of blood as she stubbornly refused to turn into a swarm of mirrored shards. Her arms still shifted, though, always attached, reshaping like mercurial fluid into hardened glass shields whenever she needed them.

  I felt the thread in my soul shift at that exact moment.

  [Liora is up and ready for summoning.] Anansi announced, to my surprise.

  My Lóng longed for battle. I reached out and let him, summoning him with an intent I allowed my spidery friend to carry.

  As Lio materialized in front of me, he oriented himself quickly, forming additional eyes along his scales and taking a wide arc around my target. She responded instantly, changing one arm back to flesh and, with an upward sweeping motion, turning the floor where I had stood into a field of crystalline stalagmites. Fortunately for me, I was already gone, blinking to the position of one of my cards just a few yards away.

  I used the moment to reach for my black spray can and hurled it straight at her. She planted her shield to block it and prepared to swat it aside, but before she could, the can turned intangible and passed cleanly through her.

  I let it become solid again just in time for Liora to catch it, while I continued my card assault, sending one after another her way.

  At the same time, Lio sprayed her back with the precision his tiny hands allowed. It didn’t need to be a masterpiece. Just round enough. Hole enough. Yes. I was about to turn her back into one.

  She didn’t know that, but she was alarmed enough to keep trying to put distance between herself and my dragon. Whenever she could, she shifted into a full sprint toward me, shield extended forward, the other hand directing glass somewhere behind her.

  I saw it happen. Her fingers moving—each one in a different direction, every single one guiding a separate surface. Before she could finish, I sent Liora back to my Domain, commanded the hole he’d painted onto her to become real, and jumped into the air with a horizontal twist to avoid the spears erupting from the ground, the walls, and the ceiling all at once.

  I teleported the moment I realized which part of the room was still safe. The changes the warrioress had forced into the room subsided, retreating back into their surfaces as she collapsed onto the floor, unmoving, her spine severed by the hole.

  It lasted only a second.

  Then she finally gave up and shattered into thousands of glass fragments, tearing the hole and my magic free from herself. As she did, she was expelled from the painted mirror frame, freed from its bindings, by a sudden force.

  “You almost got me,” she said from the sidelines, half-sitting against the wall she’d just hit. “I’ll have to call for backup after all, while you’re trapped in here.”

  “Maybe,” I answered, throwing another batch of cards at her.

  She laughed and turned into her other form, letting the cards pass straight through. She didn’t notice the one extra thing I sent her way.

  My Ghostflame flew forward. The instant it reached her, I appeared at its blunt end, caught it in my hand, and slashed straight through the swarm of shards. Right through the silvery green silhouette that held it all together—a ghost left behind. Something only their eyes could see, but something I suspected could still be hurt by ghostly matter. Something my blade believed it was.