Swamp pressed in from all sides—mud stink, frog croaks, crowd a distant roar above the trees.
Lila planted one boot on the slick bark, grinned down through the haze.
"Okay, Timmy Bugs. You like distance? Cool."
She snapped her wrists.
Water Muti — Twin Tideropes.
Swamp water ripped up in two long strands, snapping into whips. They hissed through the air and smacked into the incoming cloud.
THWAP—THWAP—THWAP.
Bugs went flying. Chitin cracked. A chunk of the swarm scattered, chewing into tree trunks and the muck below.
The crowd roared.
"She's clearing the lane!"
"That's Laila's kid, right?!"
Timmy's laugh floated between the trees, thin and snarky.
"Adorable."
Psychic pressure rippled. The surviving bugs clumped, turning as one.
Psychic Muti — Hive Bulwark.
They welded into a buzzing shield in front of him, a writhing wall of beetles and glossy shells. Lila's next whip strike hit it dead-on.
BOOMF.
Water splashed back in a spray. The bug wall flexed, then held.
Lila winced, arms buzzing from recoil. "Okay, gross and effective. Hate that."
Something bit her neck.
She slapped at it. Smeared something. "Ow. Ugh. Stupid swamp mosquitoes."
Another sting on her calf. One at the wrist. A prickle along her spine.
She kept swinging the whips, but her aura felt... fuzzier. Thinner at the edges. Like she'd left a window open in winter.
Hairs rose on her arms.
...Wait.
Lila snorted, annoyed at herself even as she moved. "Sight, dummy."
She blinked hard, pulling her will up behind her eyes.
Triad of Will — Sight.
The world sharpened. Lines of intent and aura lit up—Timmy's psychic net, the glow of his big beetles, her own water threads—
—and a faint sickly-green shimmer around the tiny "mosquitoes" chewing at her aura.
They weren't random.
They were tagged to Timmy.
"...Oh come on."
Her whips wavered.
The tiny bugs pulsed as they drank, aura siphoning from her skin in sips. Her limbs went a touch weaker, head light.
Lila panicked full, wide-eyed. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! BUG VAMPIRES?!"
Her right boot slipped on slick bark.
For a second she was all flailing arms, water whips shattering back to spray.
"Nononononono—"
The branch dropped out under her—and then her hand snagged another, fingers burning as she caught herself in a wild swing. Boots dangling over murky water, aura-drain dizzy.
She hung there, panting. "Okay. We are so not dying to mosquitoes on world broadcast—"
Timmy watched from his higher perch, smirk widening.
"Problem, Butters?"
His hand dipped into the roiling black under his feet. The swamp there boiled in a tight circle as another species answered.
"Let me help you down."
Psychic Muti — Bombardier Line.
Thick-shelled beetles, rear-ends glowing orange with aura, swarmed up his arm and launched—arcing toward her in a humming volley.
Lila's eyes went wide. "Oh, nope."
The first beetle hit the trunk below her.
KA-THOOM.
The tree kicked. Bark exploded in a wide, smoking crater. Her whole branch lurched; leaves and frogs rained into the swamp. A wave of murky water slapped outward, rocking other trees and sending a scream up from the lower stands.
"GRENADE BUGS?! WHO SIGNED OFF ON THIS?!" she yelped.
More bombardiers sailed in, tails sparking.
She let go.
Dropped.
The explosions chased her down. Bark and splinters erupted above and behind, hot pressure hugging her back as she fell.
She slammed a boot into the swamp surface at the last second using water Muti to stay atop, aura flaring through it.
Water Muti — Staff Forge.
Swamp water shot up around her like a geyser—coiling, solidifying—into a long, sleek staff that slapped into her palms as she landed in a low crouch on a half-submerged root.
More bombardiers dove.
She moved.
Martial footwork—tight, economical, staff spinning in her hands like a wheel.
The first beetle met the staff side-on. She batted it away; it exploded midair over an empty patch of water, sending up a geyser instead of her.
Second—parry, redirect, BOOM into a rotted stump that vaporized into splinters.
Third—she stabbed down, pinning it just under the surface. It went off underwater; the shockwave threw mud and dead reeds everywhere, but the staff took the brunt.
The crowd howled at every blast.
"She's playing bug baseball!"
"Look at that form—!"
Lila's grin came back, sharp and wild, even with her aura leaking and bugs still sipping at her skin.
"Okay, Timmy," she puffed, staff whirling into a ready guard, boots braced on the slick root. "Round one was yours. Let's see how you like it when I stop being nice."