Having protected herself from Tony's attack with her aura, Sonia set off in pursuit of the group.
But she was only interested in Tony, who had not only seen her attack but had even managed to parry it.
The others can die, I don't care, but the one with long hair and dark skin will have to face me first, she thought as she ran.
"What's that?" asked Darlius.
"Uh, well, we…" Tony suddenly stopped and looked at Aconé and Darlius with a surprised expression.
"Tony, this is no time to be shocked! We need to get rid of her now!" growled Asti.
Despite his surprise, Tony quickly regained his composure.
Meanwhile, Sonia, determined not to let them escape the hill Riders, drew her sword and struck repeatedly toward the iron starfish.
Several air blades, the size of a billboard, formed.
Controlling her starfish, Simone sensed the air blades heading toward them.
"TONY, SEVERAL AIR BLADES ARE COMING OUR WAY!" Simone shouted.
Immediately after, Tony grabbed his black sword.
"Let's see if your air blades can withstand Chaos!" he cried.
Firing several black bangs, Tony engaged Sonia in a long-range battle.
As expected, mere air blades couldn't overcome Chaos. Now targeting Sonia, who, despite the complete dispersion of her air blades, kept smiling, he pressed his attack.
She sheathed her sword and summoned a new one, entirely made of feathers.
So this is what my aura looks like when I materialize it? Until now, I manipulated it like air, but like air, it was invisible, haha haha haha! Even materialized, none of them can see it except the one I choose. Enough talk, let's test its power on these guinea pigs! Sonia thought.
Tony, who had seen her sheathe her sword, activated his enhanced vision to spot her ether sword. But instead, he was surprised to see a sword made of feathers. Very quickly, he sensed a certain power emanating from the weapon: there was no air around it.
Sonia didn't pause for a second, but that brief moment was enough for her to unleash several waves of feathers, each as sharp as an air blade.
"Damn it!" Tony shouted, covering his back with fire that he shaped into wings. He took flight just behind Simone's starfish.
"What are you doing, Tony?" Asti yelled.
"I'm saving us all!" Tony replied, grabbing a sword of fire and lightning, which he altered to replace the fire with black fire.
Normally, this sword can counter any ether-based attacks. I never thought about it, but if I can use fire and lightning, it's because of the ether. So, in essence, the fire and lightning sword is mostly made of ether, but it's visible to others only because of the fire and lightning, Tony thought.
Watching the feathers heading toward him, Tony swung his sword at them repeatedly.
Asti, at the center of the starfish, saw Tony strike with his weapon. Like waves of water, black flames surrounded by lightning surged from Tony's sword.
The clash of the two attacks was violent. With each feather destroyed, Sonia's aura dispersed. Tony was grazed by a remnant of that aura and could feel a portion of Sonia's power—not its entirety, but enough to grasp its magnitude before the remnant was absorbed by the ether.
Some feathers slipped through Tony's flames, but their trajectory was altered by the lightning, perhaps not strong enough to destroy them but enough to deflect them.
Darlius could see numerous trees nearby pierced with tiny, precise holes that ran right through them.
About two hundred meters behind them, Sonia's laughter grew louder. Her long-range battle with Tony thrilled her so much that she stopped paying attention to the others, continuing to chase them while attacking.
But on both sides, physical exhaustion was starting to set in.
Tony felt his flames gradually losing heat and size. His body temperature was rising, and his right arm, from moving so quickly and continuously, was starting to ache.
Sonia saw the number of feathers dwindling. In her hand, her sword was shrinking more and more, and her body was screaming at her to stop.
The two halted their attacks simultaneously.
Tony headed toward the center of the starfish.
With the few feathers still forming her sword, Sonia decided to finish it. While chasing them, she pointed her sword at Tony.
"Asti, I saw you with a bow earlier," said Tony.
"You want it?" Asti asked.
"No… You're going to shoot at her for me," Tony declared.
"Are you sure my arrows will hit her?" she asked.
"No," Tony replied, surrounding ten arrows with mini lightning bolts. "But now… don't aim directly at her."
"How are we going to get her, then?" said Asti.
"Don't worry, they'll hit the target. Now aim and shoot!" Tony growled before taking off into the air again.
He saw that the feathers forming Sonia's sword had aligned into two lines, each feather standing vertically from start to finish in both rows.
He noticed Sonia's face, staring straight into his eyes. And like an angel of death, she declared:
"You're dead."
One line of feathers soared into the sky to charge at Tony vertically, while the other shot horizontally from the ground.
Tony was being attacked from the sky and the ground.