The Five Evolution

『"He tugged a string, she painted a dragon. Let’s call it even."』

The environment reverted to its previous state of charcoal trees, cooled lava, and normal atmosphere, undoing the painter’s alterations.

"According to quantum string theory," Ishigami continued, "everything... matter, energy, space, time... is composed of one-dimensional strings vibrating at different frequencies."

"You’re..." Yelena started.

"Change the frequency," Ishigami kept going. "You change the fundamental nature of what something is."

"A bloody World Forger," Monet finished.

On Ishigami’s slender back, four bars blazed.

He looked between Monet and Yelena. "It makes one contemplate the meaninglessness of all existence if everything can just be unraveled or remade by tugging the right strings."

Monet stared at Ishigami for a long second. "Fuck me," she muttered, the smile on her face completely gone.

Her brush moved in quick strokes—red, orange, flowing curves suggesting scales—and a dragon materialized.

It was an Eastern-style dragon, its serpentine body easily eighty feet long and covered in crimson scales.

It coiled around Monet protectively, and she stepped onto its head as though she was boarding a particularly exotic aircraft.

Behind her, Zeus dissolved into streaks of paint, and Monet didn’t even look back.

"I’m bored now," Monet said, and the dragon launched skyward, generating a sonic boom.

It climbed two hundred feet in a fraction of a second, banking in a wide circle that positioned her directly above them and gave her the high ground.

Then it opened its mouth and flames poured out.

Dragonfire, superheated to temperatures that made Yelena’s sun ball look like a candle. The dragon painted the ground below with fire that consumed everything.

Yelena grinned. "In case you have not noticed," she said with satisfaction, "fire is my specialty."

With a sweep of her fire blade, the descending flames slowed, stopped, and then reversed course.

The dragon’s own flames turned against it, flowing back up through its open mouth, filling its body with heat and pressure until it detonated from the inside out.

A huge explosion of flames erupted in the sky, spreading like a supernova as its shockwave flattened trees for miles and sent birds scattering into the air.

Monet free-fell as her body smoked from being caught at the center of the explosion.

Three hundred feet. Two hundred. One hundred. Monet hurtled toward the ground at terminal velocity.

"Why doesn’t paint woman fly or create leverage?" Yelena asked, pointing her blade at the falling Apostle. "She’s also World Forger, no?"

"Seeing as she’s just a representation and not the real deal, perhaps she lacks that core ability," Ishigami answered, scratching the side of his face with his index finger.

"Speaking of World Forgers..." Yelena looked at Ishigami, her eyebrow raised.

Ishigami’s face immediately dropped. "No one asked..."

Monet’s brush started moving in frantic strokes as she fell, painting directly onto her own body.

Black metal manifested, flowing across her skin and hardening into overlapping plates that looked like a blend between Greek aesthetics and alien technology.

The helmet around her head carried horns that curved backward like a ram’s, with eyeholes that glowed purple.

She looked like a goddess of war in contemporary high fashion had stepped out of mythology.

As soon as Monet hit the ground, the earth exploded into a massive crater, but the armor absorbed the impact completely.

She stood, brushed imaginary dust from her shoulder plates, and looked at the two of them with renewed interest.

"Okay," Monet said, her voice now carrying a slight distortion from the helmet. "You two are getting on my nerves."

"Sorry about that," Ishigami replied.

"Especially you." She glanced at Yelena, who muttered something in Russian under her breath.

Monet then shifted her gaze to Ishigami. "You, string man. You’d look handsome if you actually smiled a little." She pointed at him, then swept her brush through the air again.

This time, she painted directly onto the armor itself, adding modifications. Blades extended from her forearms, while propulsion systems formed beneath her boots.

"Though I’ll admit, you guys aren’t bad." She launched forward, propelled by the armor’s integrated systems, and rammed into Yelena, driving her through dozens of trees.

Yelena slammed one hand against the ground, stopping her momentum. Then she kicked upward.

Her legs curled over her head as she twisted into a sudden monkey flip, both boots catching Monet squarely in the torso.

The Painter was launched away, but she recovered almost immediately, twisting through the air before landing lightly on her feet.

"Persistent little cunt," Monet muttered. She raised her brush, dragging it across the air, and a dark shape appeared in the sky.

Yelena’s eyes widened as the shape grew larger and larger.

A meteorite descended from the sky, massive enough to cast an enormous shadow over the clearing.

Ishigami looked up. "If that thing hits the ground, the destruction could spread all the way back to where we landed."

"Yes, yes," Yelena replied. Then she crouched before springing toward the sky.

She stepped through the air as though invisible platforms existed beneath her feet, ascending higher and higher toward the descending meteorite.

A cyclone began forming around Tempest, spiraling around the blade as she raised it. She was still little more than a speck beneath the enormous mass above her.

Then—

BOOM!

Monet slammed into her from the side.

The Painter tackled Yelena out of the air and drove her straight into the ground, blasting apart the earth and creating a huge crater.

Yelena’s body carved a trench through the earth, and Monet followed, straddling her before driving a fist into her face.

And another.

And another.

Yelena blocked the next strike and twisted her body, finally creating enough room to shove Monet away.

"You’re very annoying." She got up quickly.

Monet wiped a smear of blood from her lip. "And you’re not as hot as you think you are." She lunged again, and her fist connected with Yelena’s cheek.

At the same time, the meteorite continued its descent.

A sudden gust of wind ripped through the battlefield, throwing Monet sideways. Yelena rolled onto her back and pushed herself upright.

Blood ran from the corner of her mouth. She spat it onto the ground and glared toward Ishigami. "Anytime you wish to contribute!"

Her eyes shifted upward. The meteorite was getting closer. Much closer.

Before she could do anything about it, Monet was already back on her. The two collided again, trading blows as they tore across the battlefield.

Ishigami sighed.

His hand swept through the air as though he were carving through space, and thousands of strings followed the motion, streaking toward the descending meteorite.

Swish!

The strings sliced through the enormous mass.

One section separated. Then dozens more. Suddenly, the meteorite broke apart into massive chunks.

Ishigami’s hand moved again, and the strings tightened, leaving fewer gaps between them.

The falling chunks were diced apart again and again, breaking into countless smaller fragments.

Meanwhile, Yelena shoved Monet away and swung Tempest. A crescent-shaped blade of compressed wind tore through the air.

Monet crossed both arms in front of herself. The wind blade struck her guard, and she slid backward across the ground, boots carving twin trenches into the earth.

Monet smiled as the meteorite broke apart, watching the enormous chunks become smaller and smaller beneath Ishigami’s strings.

"Oh, dear..." Her smile widened. "You shouldn’t have done that." The fragments suddenly began glowing red.

Yelena’s eyes narrowed.

"Those aren’t supposed to be doing that," Ishigami muttered.

"Of course they are." Monet twirled her brush between her fingers. "I painted them that way."

The countless fragments ignited as they fell, transforming into thousands of burning projectiles.

Monet’s grin widened. "If a nail moving at the speed of light carries enough kinetic energy to rival a nuclear weapon..." She snapped her fingers and every flaming fragment accelerated.

"...Now imagine what all those little pebbles would do."