Our blades cracked as the rain poured over the city. Below the streets were filling with water, currents and rivulets forming, swirling through the city. My opponent's steel sang through the moist air, cracking against my clear blade. I tried to press an opening, but in my haste I felt cold metal go through my arm. Blood mixed with water, gathering in my clenched palm. The second I took to gain control was all it needed. A new pain ran from my arm to my face as it removed its blade and planted the hilt into my face. It was ridiculously fast. I staggered backwards, trying to get some ground to recover when the blade fell across my chest.
It was a light cut, bleeding a bit, but thankfully I had distance now. I turned immediately, leaping for the next closest rooftop; skidding a little as I went. I could hear the metallic ringing of its footsteps behind me; unfortunately, there was no cover. The warehouses were roughly the same height, meaning I had nowhere to hide.
As I jumped another gap, I suddenly found myself shooting into the air. Surprised I looked to find a large tree growing steadily out of the side of a building.
“Lark!” I yelled down as she came into view, bow drawn. Without responding she planted an arrow into the Commander's remaining shoulder. It stumbled back for a moment, which was all it took for her to place a second arrow into the thing's chest. It fell down and she looked up at me.
“You need to take better care of your things!” She called back, throwing my metal staff up to me. I fumbled with it before finally grasping the slick piece. I heard movement and saw the Commander was standing again, immediately I forced my staff to extend, and leapt towards it.
My staff collided with its blade, and held for a moment. I felt wind blast across my face as another arrow planted itself in the thing's head. It staggered for a moment, its grip weakening. I pushed forward, hearing a crinkle of breaking metal at the same moment the blade gave way. The end of my staff pressed downward, cleaving the creature in two. It and it's blade slowly began crumpling, a pool of black dust being all that was left behind.
“Thanks.” I said, hearing Lark approach.
“Hey, we're even.” She said, walking past me. As I watched her go, my eyes caught on something that distracted me. The whip was still floating in midair. I went over, gripping the handle I tried to pull. The clear length refused to move. After struggling with it for a few moments I began looking closely along the length. There were rain drops, glued to all sides of the whip. They looked frozen there, as if caught in the air. The whip itself almost looked like a stream of water. I gripped the handle and an idea struck me.
“Retract.” I said, a second later the stream slid into the hilt with a crack. Grinning I pocketed the device and went to find where Lark had gotten off to.
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