Leon moved first, using Shell Reverb: Tripart Echo. Three mirrored projections of his staff strikes flashed forward, delayed by milliseconds to create staggered impact.
Vaer'Zhul responded by detuning reality. One of his floating cores flared, shifting the flow of time around him. The echoes missed—slightly, but enough to matter.
He snapped his fingers, and the sound warped into a blade. It sliced through the afterimage of Leon, but not Leon himself. In return, Leon struck back with a hybrid sequence—Destruction-pulse infused feints, forcing Vaer'Zhul to pull back.
Leon grimaced. "He's not just hearing my rhythm—he's rewriting it."
Vaer'Zhul chanted, each syllable a resonance bomb that distorted the arena. Leon's senses bent sideways—he couldn't trust what he saw. Even Shell Reverb began to falter under the weight of the overlapping false echoes.
