Hippolyta vs Alcides

Hippolyte accelerated her horse and fired her next arrow in silence.
Alkeides deflected it with his bow. The deflected arrow flew forward and tore up a large chunk of asphalt.
The avenger’s massive steed, however, trampled the viscous obstacle as if it were not there and hurtled forward, always forward with all its might.
Alkeides flowed smoothly into a counterattack without stopping the scything motion of his bow.
He nocked three of his own arrows at once and fired them in unison with the acceleration of his horse.
The three arrows tore through the air, each tracing a different trajectory, closing in on Hippolyta from the front, back, and above.
Hippolyte, however, skillfully maneuvered her horse and rode it across the side of a building.
Running in such a way would normally, of course, be impossible.
Launching out of the posture of a mountain deer walking up the wall of a dam, the swift steed continued to practically glide through the urban landscape with the force of a falcon.
Horse and rider moved like a single creature—Hippolyte continued to use her bow without being shaken by her steed’s movements. Paired with their blinding speed, their movements could be mistaken for a centaur of legend.
...
They continued to launch attacks on each other as their horses crossed paths in three dimensions and the “black mist” closed in behind them with renewed vigor.
“You’re acting desperate, Alkeides!”
“Oh . . .?”
Hippolyte was firing her bow at the gaps in the Nemean lion’s pelt that protected him while occasionally switching to her spear and attacking his weapon directly.
It was a ceaseless rain of blows, perfectly in sink with the movements of her galloping horse.
She was struggling to bridge the gap in the magical energy contained in their Spirit Origins with skill, but Alkeides was worn down by consecutive battles and was in no condition to shake her off with brute force.
Beside which . . .
As he fended off the queen’s spear thrusts, Alkeides realized.
Her strength is growing.
The quantity and quality of her magical energy were clearly greater than they had been during their encounter in the ravine.
...
For an instant, the “black mist” hid them completely . . . then the loudest crash yet rang out
and scattered it once again.
“. . . Well struck, queen.”
Once the black mist cleared, it revealed Alkeides atop his horse, with the spear thrust into his left arm.
...
The next instant . . . a portion of the mud that had overflowed from his wound abruptly grew
into a dark-red surge that launched itself at Hippolyte.
...
The “mud” the color of half-rotten blood and distinct from the “black mist” leapt to engulf
Hippolyte like a mass of living slime.
She and her horse avoided it just in the nick of time.
But the “mud,” which seemed to have a will of its own, pursued Hippolyte, forming into an immense pair of viscous jaws to consume her in a single gulp.
“It will take more than that . . .!”
Hippolyte once again focused magical energy into the belt wrapped around her arm, preparing to draw it more divine energy . . . but as if in response, the mud suddenly burst apart.
“!”
It spread out like a spiderweb centered on a Main Street intersection, becoming a cloud of muddy fumes that threatened to envelope Hippolyte and her mount from all sides.
Faced with what looked like a forest of black trees closing in on her from every direction, Hippolyte, aware of the dangers, began to fuse her own Spirit Origin with the belt, when . . .
“With my Command Spell, I order you:”
“. . .! Master?!”
A voice sounded within Hippolyte, going beyond telepathy and speaking directly to the nature of her Spirit Origin.
“Draw the dragon from the leylines and release it with divine might!”
The next instant, magical energy welled up from her surroundings—from the sacred ground of Snowfield itself—and was drawn into Hippolyte’s Goddess of War.
Suddenly, a rainbow-colored radiance lit the darkness of night.
It was not only her Noble Phantasm.
The magical energy contained within the Heroic Spirit herself swelled explosively, and with an immense torrent of light with her at its center, she blasted away most of the oncoming “mud.”
When the blinding light subsided, and Hippolyte surveyed her surroundings . . . the “mud,” the “black mist,” and even Alkeides were nowhere to be seen.
Realizing that he had taken the opportunity to withdraw, Hippolyte gritted her teeth.

-F/sf Vol 6