Through the eyes of an inspired spider

  The elf is as brutish as always, but the demon... I wonder if I can mix some of those tricks into my magic. A heavy thunk bumps Lyla a minute fraction from the ground, her eyes refusing to turn and grace the elf now slumped next to her alongside an inactive chunk of dim stone. "I take it you won?" "No, I lost." "Are you stupid? You have a tiny scratch on you skin and you're too chicken to claim your obvious victory?" "What's a chicken?" "I'm still figuring that one out. Don't change the subject! Your opponent is half dead! She's not actually dead, is she?" "No." Phew. "Too bad."

  Thick waves of Aura wash over the pair and silence the crowd behind them. Violet and gold merge and clash in a silent demonstration of will, encompassing the entire visible region and disturbing the already agitated forests around. "They're starting." "Oh, you noticed? Here I was thinking you lost it. Oh wait, sorry... You never had it to begin with." "..."

  Through the eyes of a primed dragon

  "We have quite a crowd." Aleph peers over to her companions, sat by the edge of the expanse in front of an enraptured mob of cheering monkeys. An unrelenting Aura of calm determination emanates from her, forming a wall which clashes against the pulsating thrum of Goldy's own. "Indeed." "We should give them a good show." "We shall." Aura recedes, the display a boast neither party requires, leaving the expanse empty, devoid, held by the calm before an inevitable storm. Obsidian scales shimmer under the bright light, dithered speckles of violet adding shape to her unfurling wings, outlining her stretching claws, and highlighting her slithering tail. Golden fur glimmers with the ambient radiance, sturdy muscles defining his form as he stands, brawny arm held high.

  Thoom

  The air quakes, rushing away from the declaration. A pulse of sound, closer to that of a shock-wave, rips through the space in a loud shout of presence, of command.

  Thoom

  The earth trembles violently, quivering in fear beneath the overbearing assertion of a powerful proclamation. Loose stones shiver and leap, startled by the resonant burst of force, of intent.

  Thoom

  The world obeys, subdued by the unrelenting strength of will. Terrain rumbles as it flattens itself into an obedient plane, air thrums with dutiful anticipation, trickles of water spill into the cratered expanse, diverting their flow into the air as the atmosphere burns with an eager passion.

  This is the first time I've fought with this much Aether since... ever? Hmm... I've either died before this point or not needed to fight. I don't think my first life counts since I would have been way stronger then... I suppose I'll just have to get creative. What does Goldy do? A deluge of Aether bursts out in a wide radius, shoving away the Mana enforcing its will upon the environment to instil her own. Thoughts split, diverge, unwind into a multiplex of like instructions, simple, uniform, yet numerous. Let's start simple. Push.

  A single atom is gripped by a thought, made to move in one direction.

  A single molecule, formed by dozens of atoms bound by electrostatic forces. Each atom is gripped by a thought, made to move in a unified direction.

  A single protein, built from a complex union and winding of ten-thousand atoms. Every atom of the multitude is gripped by a thought, made to move in unison towards a common direction.

  A single red blood cell, the coagulation of one-thousand proteins, of one-hundred-billion molecules, of one-hundred-trillion atoms. All atoms within the conjoined mass of interwoven bonds and connections are individually gripped by a thought, made to move along a shared path.

  A single body of a dragon, wound from one-quadrillion cells forming a hard foundation from rigid tissue, joined by malleable formations of chondrocytes, pulled together by tightly knitted myocytes, fuelled by the webbed network of endothelial tunnels, commanded by a fractal spread of nerves, and coated by a thick shell of keratinocyte plates, all formed from a coagulation of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, iron, innumerable trace elements, and several with no analogue in your world, all totalling one-nonillian atoms. The unified mass of innumerably variable atoms is divisibly gripped by a thought, made to move along a homogeneous line of traversal.

  Numbers have likely lost their meaning already, but here you are anyway. One-decillion atoms are gripped. One-million-billion-billion-billion thoughts form the same command. A perfect radius of the world, of earth and air, of flesh and blood, of 1'000'000'000'000'000'000'000'000'000'000'000 parts is gripped without prejudice and moved in a single direction.

  I think I did it wrong...

  Aleph releases her hold, interspersed thoughts congealing back into one within a unit of time this perspective is ill equipped to measure. Her sphere of influence stops its motion, each part moved in exact equal measure without internal collision, yet the same cannot be said for the boundaries. A small distance, barely perceptible to the human eye, yet the speed speaks volumes. Goldy's heavy thrum is met in reply by the growl of turbulent winds, the roar of colliding earth, a nest of fractures and stormy tempests which reach outward in a sharp blow to the world. Golden hands swipe away the impact, driving a wedge of safety into the destruction. What should I try next?

  A gentle clap commands the earth, turning the shattered stone into two hemispheres which clamp together around Aleph. Earth presses against Aether, a small radius around the dragon saturated in a violet hue which rejects the Mana-infused stone. How about I try spinning it? I'll avoid moving myself this time. Mana is shoved aside by Aether, a hollow dome of earth gripped and rapidly tugged. Bonds between atoms are torn apart at the seams, radiated leftovers of the shattered forces combining with the intense friction of dense rock abrading itself to melt and burst the earthen orb into a violent squall of magma and debris, met and pulled by a cyclone of equal measure.

  Gold fur turned white, amber eyes turned a pale blue, a wall of revolving will grasping at every boulder, every drop of magma, every gust of wind, and spinning it into a defensive tempest which pushes back at the freed dragon. Momentum builds in the whirlwind, stone, water, plant all blurring into one before the grip commanding them shifts its focus. A wild surge of stone and wind shreds apart the terrain in a funnelled deluge assailing Aleph, the built up inertia generating enough force to push past her defence and abrade her scales. This is getting tough... I should close the distance.

  Aleph hunkers in place, waiting for the deluge of shrapnel to die down before launching herself into the air. With a heavy slam of her wings, she plunges towards the exposed ape within the eye of his storm. Air screeches its loud tones at the supersonic projectile hurling itself down, a growing ferocity in its wails as she breaches the tempestuous whirlwind protecting her opponent.

  The raging tempest grows frenzied, arresting Aleph's momentum and throwing her into its spiral, slamming her against the torrential ground as she loses herself to the unyielding maelstrom. Stone rushes around her, pulled into a rapidly flowing liquid which scrapes and rakes at her scales. Delving deeper down, she finds purchase in the untouched bed of stone below, coating her legs in a dense cloak of Aether and launching against the horizontal avalanche assailing her.

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  As she breaks free of the cyclone, the air gracing her once more, she grinds her claws into the ground and charges at the ape within the calm nexus of the storm. Moments before claw can reach fur, Goldy falls backward and sinks into the earth, stone sloshing and sealing him away as he swims away. He actually just swims. His breast-stroke isn't even that bad. Okay, that just feels ridiculous.

  Aleph watches as he re-surfaces, fur still a glistening white and palms brushing the air once more to resume his storm. This isn't working. I need something new. I need... a technique. Hmm... I've never really thought about proper offensive techniques using Aether before, have I? It's always been simple physical enhancement and kinetics. If I split my mind into too many parts the instructions I can give will be too simple, but if I work with a smaller area...

  Aether pools in front of her, splitting into two spheres and soaking into the ground. This could work. Stone cracks and uproots as two spheres are pulled up and pressed, condensed into diamond-hard orbs with flames of violet bubbles occluding their forms. The orbs are held in front, a picture of perfect stillness as she watches and awaits for her opponents next strike.

  Wind and earth swirl, building and building and building into a rejuvenated tornado. Upon reaching a peak, another funnel of turbulent stone is freed to burst forth towards the dragon, the hungry growl of crumbling stone growing and growing into a bellow of shattering winds. Fluid earth crashes against dense stone, Aether tugging the orbs into a violent spin and diverging the deluge into a surrounding spray which erodes the terrain. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Aleph bolts forward, orbs breaching the hose of stone as she charges headfirst into the storm only for it to die away upon her approach, Goldy relocated to a safe distance. I need to try ranged attacks. The momentum gained from moving with Aether alone won't be enough to carry past his defence, so I'll have to use another method.

  Goldy spins the environment once more and Aleph tugs at the atmosphere, pulling air into a dense point behind one of the orbs, building a compressed nexus which just begs for release. And so she does, freeing a portion of the dense pocket of air and loosening her grip on the orb, allowing wind to explode forth and eject the crystal ball into the storm. The shimmering orb pierces the chaotic vortex, travelling an undisturbed path towards the calm ape who raises a palm in response. High velocity crystal is caught, compressing and oscillating within his grip like a bouncy ball before settling back into a stable hardness. As I thought. I can't keep it infused with Aether at this distance without using up that Aether. Without an energy to protect it, he can just manipulate it like any other stone. I don't think either of us can really win this fight.

  Goldy tames his storm, white fur returning to gold, the crystal ball toyed with between his fingers as he contemplates before tossing it behind. "Our current state shows no progression. Let us cease our games and show our true strength." He declares, fingers tensed as he flexes his grip on the air once more. So he's come to the same conclusion. I haven't exactly been holding back... but I haven't been going all out either I suppose. "Sure. Don't give out on me too quick." She taunts, air around her turning violet and swirling together in bubbles, faux flames dancing around her form.

  Without warning, she lunges her body forward. Without windup, she plunges her feet into the earth below. Hard stone is scraped away like clay by violet infused claws, her motions more akin to paddling across the surface than running as she jets across the wide expanse of separation, narrowing the gap with tremendous speed. Sound struggles to reach her, unable to keep up as a swirl of turbulent explosions follows her wake. The distance is halved within the span of a coin flip, friction burning the world behind her in a bright storm of endlessly igniting air. Halved once more, enough to see the bright reflection of violet Aether and white flames within his green eyes. Green? Distance closes by another half, her final leap firing her body towards the ape with claws primed to swipe. One more half, and the unstoppable force of her entire body is met by an even greater blow.

  Momentum is arrested by a harsh bombardment of wind, charge brought to a grinding halt barely beyond striking range. The deluge wears against her, swathes of Mana pushing down against her own energy with enough volume to suppress any potential follow-up. Stone is weathered into glass, a wedge of perfect reflection ground into the expanse as distant trees snap and shatter under the sudden force. Aleph strains against the wind, putting in everything she has to hook into the earth and avoid being blown away as she locks her gaze to the lime eyes of the tempest's origin. Bright green fur ripples a furious inferno across his body, his glow saturating the ground below his outstretched palm. Steam pirouettes around the emerald ape, his silhouette transformed into to that of a mad wildfire.

  A moment of reprieve graces the dragon, tempest waning from its peak and allowing her to plunge forward once more, only for another blast of wind to meet her once more. The violent storm uproots Aleph from the ground, Goldy sliding back to the edge of the expanse while she is launched spinning into the air. He can't keep this up. This must be using every bit of Mana he has, but I could go on all day. If this is a battle of attrition, I'll win. Light seems to dim, the mixed blur of the spinning world turning darker as she regains stability and flares her wings. Oh...

  For a brief instant confusion arrests her surroundings, her body appearing to fall both up and down as ceiling and floor close in. And a brief instant later she eyes the ape, palms clamped down in command of the earth, pushing up the ground and pulling down the sky of the entire kilometre expanse, demanding the labyrinth itself bite down on his foe for him. Wind from the rapidly approaching ground pushes her up, that from above meeting and suspending her in a stable range at the apex of inevitable collision. I need to defend.

  Aleph curls her body, tail wrapping around as a dense sphere of Aether pools around her. Air turns violet under the thick wash of energy, immediately snapping to pure black as she releases her will over it to form a dome of inert space. Everything is denied motion, air, earth, and even light is brought to a plain stop, momentum simply ceasing upon reaching the threshold of the cascade. No light, no sound, no sign of the progressing world beyond the persistent march of time, the only thing able to resist the pause. Tiny lines of Aether protrude from her body, piercing and winding a convoluted path through the dome to connect her to the outside world. Barely enough to be at all perceived, yet enough for her to observe the sharply cut-off stone around her.

  The lines fan out, splitting and diverging to wrap and consume the Aether, returning it back to her grip and allowing the light of red-hot earth to enter her world once more. My turn. Aether bursts forth, gripping a radius of the earth to pulse and shatter, shock-waves powderising the rock and breaking numerous crevasses into the walls. With a spin she focuses energy onto the tip of her tail, forming a powerful whipping motion which tears away and melts the obstruction. Pulse. Whip. Pulse. Her motion rapidly boring through the newly formed pillar to burst out in an explosion of dust, swiftly ejecting towards the speckle of gold fur below her.

  Crash! Aleph looms over the ape, his usual golden lustre returned as he raises his arms in defeat. Flicking him on the forehead she steps away and allows him to stand. "This is your victory." "Only because we rushed things at the end. It would have been a stalemate otherwise, so let's call it a tie." "I am inclined to disagree." "I am inclined to overrule. What now? Do you want to stay the night?" Goldy stretches the worn muscles of his arms, shaking his head as he cracks his joints and flexes away the fatigue. Because that is how it works? "No. We can resume our quest." "Don't you want to say goodbye or anything?" The ape closes his eyes, fur bristling as he aims his arm towards the pillar before tugging something in an arc towards them.

  "It is as it was with my father before me, and his father before him. This is simply tradition. This is our way." Aleph tilts her head, a sense of nostalgia and intrigue at the statement. "I have experienced hundreds of cultures, of ways of life, and I'm pretty sure I've seen thousands. Yet the variety always finds a way to surprise me." Earth rumbles around the pillar, a platform of rapidly sliding stone washing into view as Goldy tugs it towards himself. "That's one way to call us here." Fluffy states, hopping off of the platform as it reaches their proximity. "I'll call your performance passable." Lyly concedes with a scoff, skittering to her perch with a marginally satisfied nod. "Is Didi still not awake?" "Doesn't seem like it." "Hmm... Well, she seems to be gathering energy just fine, so she should wake up soon. Let's go."