The pink light blinded and then dissipated, revealing a completely new landscape. Gone was the eerie chamber and its glowing ley lines; instead, we stood in an endless field of pink flowers. The air was crisp, with a chill in it, and the ground beneath my feet was unnervingly soft, as though it didn't quite belong. Before us was the pink-haired cat girl. The ley lines no longer bound her, yet there was something about her presence that felt just as overwhelming. The oversized hoodie, the pastel tones, and feline features all were deceiving-this was no ordinary opponent.
Careful," Ame muttered, the softness of her voice a slash through the silence. Her crimson eye glowed like molten fire, her violet eye pulsating with an otherworldly energy. Each subtle step she took ruffled the world around her, reality seeming to bend to her whim.
Nyana tilted her head, her eyes of gold shimmering with curiosity. "This one is different," she said, though every bit of playfulness in her tone was betrayed by her readiness. The faint glow of ember danced at her fingertips, a tease for what was her power.
As for me, I did not wait. Instinct overpowered me, and I flung myself forward.
I was a blur of motion in an instant, my body moving faster than the speed of sound. The field of flowers exploded in my wake as I closed the gap between us, my fist already swinging toward her chest.
The cat girl didn't move. Just as my punch was about to connect, her form shimmered and vanished, a mirage on sun-baked pavement. I skidded to a stop, the force of my movement sending a tiny shockwave rippling through the field.
"She's fast," I muttered.
"Not fast," Ame corrected, appearing beside me with a sharp edge in her voice. "She's bending space.
A chill wind suddenly cut across the field. Frost began to seep along the ground, and the pink flowers turned brittle, their petals coated in ice.
The cat girl appeared several strides away, her hands up. The temperature plummeted as jagged, crystalline spears of ice appeared about her.
"Cryospark Cascade."
These spears streaked towards us, whizzing at blurring velocities through the air like missiles.
Ame reacted in an instant. Her crimson eye flared. "Hellrend!"
The ground around her erupted into a jagged inferno: pillars of fire were roaring upward to intercept the incoming ice. The two forces clashed with a deafening crack; steam hissed violently into the cold air.
Nyana stepped forward, her hands blazing with orange flames. "Guess it's my turn," she said, smirking. Spinning on her heel, she launched a spiraling wave of fire.
"Scorch Fang!"
The wave tore through the flowers of frozen ice and left a charred path in their wake.
She cocked her head to one side. Her faceless features were impossible to read. She lifted a single hand, and a wall of frost erupted into being to block the attack. The flames hissed and died against the icy barrier.
Ame shot forward, her speed matching mine. Reality warped around her as she closed the distance, her purple eye glowing brighter with each step. "Fractured Dream!"
The air around the cat girl wavered and rippled, as though Ame were trying to drag her into some other dimension. For an instant, the girl's figure flickered out of focus, as though she were about to vanish utterly.
But then she clapped her hands together. "Cryoflux Pulse."
A shockwave of ice radiated outwards, shattering the warped space and forcing Ame to retreat. The ground beneath her feet was instantly coated in a layer of frost, but she didn't falter.
Nyana moved next. She blurred into motion, her speed rivaling ours. Her hands left trails of fire as she weaved through the frozen field, closing in on the cat girl with a series of rapid strikes.
"Flame Spiral!"
Her flames coiled around her arms, serpent-like, lashing with each movement.
The cat girl's response was effortless. She dodged each strike with fluid grace, her movements almost hypnotic. When Nyana's flames grew too close, she summoned a burst of ice to extinguish them.
I leaped into the fray, striking in from the side. My fists were faintly glowing with some sort of power that was beyond my comprehension. My body seemed to know what to do, however. I threw punch after punch, each one coming out faster than the speed of sound.
The shockwaves from my strikes rippled outward, shaking at the frozen ground.
The cat girl whirled, as if with impossible speed. Her hand rose then, and the very air between us turned to a thick wall of ice. My fist burst through it, shattering the barrier, but once again she had disappeared into thin air.
"She's playing with us," Nyana muttered, her voice uncharacteristically serious.
"I noticed," I answered, my fists clenching.
The cat girl reappeared several feet away, her hands raised to the sky. Above her, a churning vortex of frost began to take shape, an enormous, oppressive power emanating from it.
"Glacial Collapse."
The vortex fell toward us, a titanic wave of icy annihilation.
Ame's crimson eye flared to life. "Infernal Gate!
A huge column of fire exploded from the ground, running headlong into the vortex. The two forces crashed together in a cacophony of steam and energy. The shockwave flattened flowers all around us.
"Keep her busy!" Ame shouted above the chaos. "I need time!"
Nyana nodded, her golden eyes ablaze. In but an instant, she was flying at the cat girl in a whirling dervish. Flames roared around her hands as she began to pepper her with blow after blow, each strike coming faster and cleaner than the last.
The cat girl was quick with her counterattack of ice, her hands weaving in an intricate pattern as she conjured barriers and projectiles in the way of Nyana's assault.
I joined the fight, my body surging with adrenaline. My fists shone brighter as I moved, each strike creating shockwaves that cracked the frozen ground.
The cat girl didn't flinch, her actions smooth and calculated. Her faceless head ticked in my direction, as if she were studying my assault.
"She's not invincible," I growled, throwing another punch.
Again, Nyana sprang forward, her fists of flame streaking across the frozen air in rippling trails of light. "Inferno Slash!" she exclaimed, casting a red arc of fire toward the girl.
The cat girl lifted a single hand in response, summoning a swirling vortex of frost to meet the attack. The fire and ice exploded into steam at their midpoint, obscuring the entire field.
I didn't hesitate. My fist connected with the ground, sending a shockwave that rippled through the frost and cracked the earth beneath the cat girl's feet.
She staggered slightly, the first sign of vulnerability I'd seen, and Ame seized the moment.
With a flick of her hand, her violet eye flared into life. "Shattered Realm!" she called out, and the very air around the cat girl twisted, splintering into shards of shimmering light.
The shards converged, blocking her retreat, and she was forced to raise another shield of ice.
But Nyana was already moving. With fluid, precise motion, she slipped past the cat girl's defenses. "Blazing Spiral!" she shouted, sending a coiling wave of fire that ignited the frost-covered ground.
The cat girl twisted away, but Nyana's flames caught her hoodie, charring its edges.
"She's slowing down!" Ame shouted, her crimson eye flashing brightly. "Don't let up!"
I surged forward then, the distance between us disappearing in the single beat of a heart. My form blurred as I threw a rapid combination of punches, each one coming fast enough to create a sonic boom.
"Impact Burst!" I roared, my final punch aimed directly at her center.
The cat girl's hand shot up, her palm meeting my fist. The shockwave from the impact rippled outward, flattening flowers and sending shards of ice flying. Her feet slid back slightly, leaving trails in the frost, but she didn't fall.
For one fleeting instant, her head, without a face, leaned in my direction, as if to acknowledge my strength.
But Ame wasn't quite done. Her violet eye pulsed once more, and the shards of light dancing around the cat girl dived inward, thrusting at her from every angle, even as her crimson eye flared bright and molten cracks burst open beneath the cat girl's feet.
The unified attack sent her back, finally stumbling in her movements as she tried to keep up.
"Now, Astro!" Ame shouted, voice cutting through the chaos.
I didn't think. I launched myself towards the cat girl, my body moving quicker than ever before. My fist glowed with a immense golden color that seemed to pulse with my heartbeat.
She spun to face me, her hand rising like it was to block, but this time, I was faster.
"Heavenfall Strike!"
My fist landed on her chest, and the force of the impact sent a shockwave of such magnitude that it swept across the battlefield, blowing the frost and flowers in all directions. The cat girl flew back, slamming into the frozen ground with a loud thud.
The air around us rippled, and the entire field of flowers - colored in pink - vanished into thin air. We were back in the chamber of ley lines.
At the center of the room, she lay on her side, hoodie singed and breathing shallow. The soft, glowing pink lines that had connected her to the walls snapped, one after another, their light sputtering out into darkness.
She sat up clumsily, all grace lost now. As the last ley line was disconnected, she twisted towards us.
Her face was not blank anymore. She had delicate features framed by messy pink hair, and her yellow eyes glowed with an unnerving intensity.
For a moment, she stared at us in silence. Then, she smiled—a mischievous, cat-like grin.
"Ah, yes," she said in that softly smooth, amused voice. "Finally, I'm back."
And before any of us could reply, the air around her shimmered once more. From the darkness of the chamber, dozens of figures began to emerge.
Out of the shadows stepped pink-haired cat girls, identical to the one we had fought. Their faces were blank, but their eyes glowed purple instead of yellow. They moved silently, forming a circle around us.
Only the original cat girl remained different, her yellow eyes shining with something ancient and powerful.
"Who. are you?" I asked, my fists still clenched, my breath heavy.
Her grin broadened, and she stretched languidly, as though just awakened from a long nap. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough," she purred.
The chamber fell to an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of her soft laughter as the purple-eyed clones moved closer.