The arena erupted, as H'El teleported first, a flash of violet light and he was simply gone from where he'd stood, reappearing directly above Bellion in the same instant, both fists already driving downward in a hammer blow. Bellion's wings answered on pure instinct, snapping wide and hurling him sideways out of the strike's path, the impact detonating against the arena floor instead, cratering stone that had only just finished healing from the last battles fought upon it.
"Such brute strength," Bellion observed, already circling, blade rising into a ready stance. "I warned you about relying on that."
"You'll adjust to it nicely, Marshal." H'El said, entirely unbothered, rising from the crater with the lazy ease. "Or you won't. Either way, I intend to find out quickly."
He came again not through space this time, but through sheer, blistering speed, closing the distance in a blur that left the air cracking in his wake, fists driving in a rapid one-two aimed at Bellion's ribs. Bellion's blade met the first strike, sparks screaming off steel, and the whip-form uncoiled from the parry to lash at H'El's exposed side even as the second punch connected, catching Bellion across the jaw hard enough to snap his head sideways.
He didn't fall. His wings caught the momentum, converting the stagger into a controlled, spinning retreat, and he came out of it already reversing his blade's shape back to rigid steel, driving a thrust toward H'El's chest. It skated off harmlessly, the blade barely scoring skin that closed again almost before the cut had finished forming.
"Invulnerable as well," Bellion said, more to himself than to his opponent.
"Nigh-invulnerable, I merely adapt as well." H'El corrected, almost politely, before answering with a heat vision blast fired at point-blank range.
Bellion's wings carried him clear in a burst of black feathers, several of them scorching at the edges as the beam passed close enough to singe, and he used the momentum of the dodge to invert entirely, diving back down at an angle that put him briefly behind H'El, only to find the Kryptonian clone already gone, a streak of violet light reappearing a dozen feet to the left, fists already rising to meet him regardless.
"You anticipate my dodges," Bellion said, blade flashing up to catch a follow-up strike, "even the ones I haven't made yet.."
"Reflexes, Marshal." H'El said simply, driving a knee that Bellion barely twisted clear of. "And enough prior observation to know your patterns better than you'd like."
He wasn't wrong. Bellion adjusted immediately, discarding the rhythm he'd been building, his whip-blade lashing out from a completely different angle than his stance suggested, catching H'El across the shoulder in a stinging line of dark lightning before the Kryptonian's own speed carried him clear of the follow-through.
They traded like that for a long, furious stretch, strike and counter-strike, dodge and redirect, the arena floor cratering wider and deeper with every exchange that found only stone instead of the actual target. Bellion's wings gave him an agility that matched H'El's raw speed almost blow for blow, his blade shifting fluidly between rigid steel and coiling whip to keep the Kryptonian guessing, denying him the clean, repeatable geometry his reflexes thrived on. H'El, in turn, refused to let a single approach linger long enough to be solved, weaving teleportation into his assaults without warning, vanishing mid-strike and reappearing from entirely different angles, heat vision flickering in when least expected, a hurricane-force exhale of super-breath thrown in to scatter Bellion's balance whenever the angel-like being found solid footing.
"You are truly a remarkable warrior," Bellion said, wings beating hard against the gale H'El had just thrown at him, forcing himself back into stable flight. "Difficult to predict. I'll grant you that much."
"You as well, Marshal." H'El answered, watching Bellion steady himself with genuine interest. "Difficult to actually harm. I'll grant you the same."
The fight escalated.
H'El summoned his invisible astral duplicates without warning, two additional copies of himself flickering into being on either flank, all three converging on Bellion at once from three separate angles, fists and heat vision arriving in a coordinated assault meant to overwhelm any single line of defense and bring precious seconds of confusion, enough for him to end the fight. Yet against Bellion, it bought almost nothing at all.
"I can sense them," Bellion said calmly, his wings already carrying him into a spinning arc that let his blade catch all three approaching strikes in a single, whip lashing out to intercept the left duplicate, rigid steel parrying the right, his own body twisting clear of the real H'El's central strike with a precision that left the Kryptonian's eyes narrowing, just slightly, in genuine recalculation. "Centuries of war teach a soldier to feel the difference between a phantom and a threat. Your duplicates carry a presence H'El. Faint maybe, but still there."
"...Noted," H'El said, and dismissed the astral copies with a flicker of thought, folding the tactic away for later rather than wasting further effort on an opponent who'd already solved it. "Then let's remove the guesswork."
He didn't teleport this time. He simply came, straight on, fists raised, and the fight that followed was the purest exchange either of them had offered yet, no tricks, no misdirection, just speed against speed, strength against strength, a duel of pure, uncompromising skill and power that tore the arena apart beneath them.
Bellion's blade found him twice more, thin lines of cuts welling before sealing shut almost as quickly as they'd opened, H'El's passive accelerated healing closing each wound within moments. H'El's fists found Bellion three times in answer, each blow rattling through four black wings, neither of them was winning. Neither of them, for the first time all day, was even close to losing.
"I wanted to fight someone like you," H'El observed, catching Bellion's blade on his forearm and shoving it aside with raw strength, driving a punch that Bellion barely wove clear of. "Someone rivaling my own strength."
"I'm just a veteran of countless wars," Bellion said again, whip-blade cracking out in answer, "wars tend to reward whoever survives the longest. I have had considerable practice."
"Then this may take some time." H'El said.
"I have nothing but time, H'El."
A force field flickered into being around H'El an instant before Bellion's next strike would have connected, a near-invisible barrier of pure telekinetic will that turned aside what should have been a clean hit, the blade skating off with a faint, discordant ring instead of finding target. Bellion's eyes narrowed at the new obstacle, adjusting instantly, the whip-form of his blade lashing wide around the barrier's edge to catch H'El's exposed flank from an angle the shield hadn't accounted for.
It connected. Barely. A thin line of cut traced across H'El's ribs before the field snapped back into place, sealing the gap.
They came together one final time, both of them fully committed now, both of them past the point of testing and firmly into the realm of genuine, unrestrained combat. H'El's fists blurred with impossible speed, weaving teleportation into the assault, vanishing between strikes and reappearing mid-swing to deny Bellion any consistent rhythm to read; Bellion answered with a storm of his own, wings driving him through gaps in the assault, blade flickering between whip and sword fast enough to strike from two directions in the same breath, four black wings cutting sharp, violent shapes against the twilight sky as he matched the Kryptonian stride for stride.
Above, on the platform, Didi watched with open, delighted fascination, her earlier confidence in her wager undimmed.
"Now that," she said, "is a fight worth the price of admission."
Arthur said nothing for a long moment, his eyes tracking every exchange with quiet, focused intensity, watching two of his strongest Marshals push each other toward the very edge of what either of them could offer, even the shadow regeneration seal on them.
Below, neither H'El nor Bellion showed any sign of slowing.
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