“Never!”

Despite the pain from her bleeding feet, despite the numbness in her extremities, despite the frigid whipping wind that threatened to throw off her precious balance, Alina endured. She saw the ice-balls coming and altered the flow of her dance, throwing herself into a back handspring. The ice-balls passed harmlessly above her and she resumed her swaying movement over the slippery terrain. She could feel the energy in her body building up to a bursting point; it was ready to pour out of her into her enemy. She needed only create the opportunity.

“Even if the tales of the Breaker are true,” she gasped, stealing each breath from the rapid wind, “you could never be him. You are a cheater and a cad. Look at us now. You have brought me, a smaller opponent, to an arena where I will be the weakest. Does it make you feel mighty to stand back and throw ice, while you watch me freeze?” She sidestepped one way and then the other, wriggling for warmth as much as rhythm.

“Despite appearances,” he said, taking a step toward the bridge between their floes, “I did not choose this arena, nor did I choose you as an opponent. If you wish to fight, then I suppose we must… but I am here to win your trust.”

“Before trust comes respect,” Alina said through chattering teeth, leaving more bloody footprints on the ice as she danced. “If you wish to earn my respect, come forward and fight me like any true warrior would!” She centered her mind on the energy building within, doing her best to ignore the bite of the cold. This man was large and strong-looking, and had a presence of power, not to mention the elements on his side. If Alina was to win, she would need to do it quickly and decisively. Fortunately such victories were her speciality.

As the man in black stepped onto the ice bridge, her dance became faster and more violent. She cartwheeled twice, and then leaped and spun as he crossed the bridge toward her. As she flew through the air toward him she channelled all of the accumulated energy into her right foot. It lashed out in a swift kick aimed at the man’s disturbingly handsome face. The energy within her foot was of a specific and unique variety, born of a type of an ancient Fallieni magic that few knew of, and only Alina had managed to replicate. Her limb pulsated with power as it descended toward Breaker’s head.

If her kick landed, it did not matter how legendary his strength was. A single blow would be enough to knock the overconfident man unconscious. Alina spared no thought for where she would land after the kick, or how to defend against any potential counter attack. Her focus was entirely on smashing the instep of her frozen foot against the man’s jawline.