"What are we gonna see?" I asked Hana as she scrolled through the video files.

  "It’s a pretty old fight between your mother and Omnia. You probably weren’t even born yet," she answered. "It took place here, in Marge’s arena."

  "Wow, how many big legends fought in her arena?" Grill asked.

  "You’d be surprised how many great warriors fought and bled there," Armstrong replied.

  "Alright, stop talking and watch," Hana said as she finally found the file.

  The video opened on the familiar arena of Marge.

  Mom and Omnia were already standing inside. Hana must’ve skipped the introductions.

  Omnia looked almost exactly the same as she did today, but Mom was visibly younger. Her black hair hung loose, which was strange; she was always strict at her MMA gym about tying hair back to avoid accidents. Then again, knowing her abilities now, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she could use her hair as a weapon, so tying it would be like cuffing one of her hands.

  She wore only the essentials: a sports bra and shorts. Her body needed freedom to move, to bend and reshape however she wanted.

  They stopped a few meters apart. The crowd chanted Omnia and Carol at the same time.

  "Begin!" Marge shouted.

  Omnia struck first.

  She inhaled until her chest looked twice its normal size, then exhaled in a single, compressed burst. Of course, we couldn’t see the attack since air is not visible, but we could see the result: a clean hole torn through Mom’s abdomen and a crater blasted into the floor behind her.

  "Ugh, that was nasty," Tatiana shivered. "Omnia’s brutal."

  "Look again," Hana said. "Replay."

  The footage rewound, zoomed in, and enhanced. This time, we could see it, a distortion in the air, a dense line of pressure. And we could see Mom’s abdomen opening just enough to let it pass through her without resistance.

  She had dodged it.

  Back in real time, the hole in Mom’s stomach sealed itself as if it had never been there.

  Mom raised her right arm. Her fist, connected to her wrist by nothing but a thin strip of tendon, shot forward and slammed into Omnia’s face.

  The move clearly caught Omnia off guard, but the impact itself barely fazed her.

  In retaliation, Omnia exhaled again, but this time the attack was different. Thick patches of ice rapidly formed across Mom’s body, locking onto strategic points, knees, elbows, and shoulders, trying to lock her in place.

  Mom’s skin flushed red. Veins bulged across her body.

  I realized what was happening. Her blood was boiling... literally.

  Omnia followed up with a kick, but the ice cracked and melted just enough as Mom flexed. It shattered when she moved. Shards scattered across the concrete as Mom twisted aside, cleanly dodging the strike.

  And then, Mom went on the offensive. She charged toward Omnia, who answered by stomping her foot and ripping a thick concrete slab up from the floor as a shield.

  Mom’s arm twisted and stretched mid-strike. Extra joints formed along it as she swung, her limb bending around the slab like a snake. Her fist slipped past the edge and slammed into Omnia’s face in another surprise strike.

  Omnia looked startled again, but the blow still barely affected her. Since Mom had to change the direction of her attack mid-swing, it must have weakened the impact, bleeding off most of the force.

  "Creepy Carol was barely known outside the country back then," Hana explained. "She was more of a local celebrity than a big-name fighter. Omnia later said she didn’t expect anyone to have that much control over their own body. That's why she looks so surprised."

  Mom pulled her arm back, and it snapped into its original shape.

  Omnia stomped once more. Concrete surged up and wrapped around her entire body, forming a thick, jagged armor. Then she stopped moving.

  "Why isn’t she attacking?" Stagora asked.

  "She’s curious," Flint replied.

  "Yeah," Hana nodded. "She wants to see how Carol handles her defense. She wants to understand her opponent."

  I was curious too.

  Mom raised her fist to strike, but as she did, her body began to change. Her striking arm swelled grotesquely, muscles ballooning into ridiculous size, while the rest of her body thinned and shrank. It was as if she were draining strength from every limb, every muscle fiber, funneling it all into one arm.

  For a brief moment, she looked like a skeletal soldier bearing the arm of an ogre.

  Omnia realized she shouldn’t just wait and see. She moved with sudden, unnatural speed, raising her concrete-clad arm to counter.

  Mom’s enlarged fist and Omnia’s armored strike collided.

  The impact was loud.

  The concrete armor around Omnia’s arm shattered into fragments, but at the same time, the stolen muscle mass snapped back into Mom’s body. Her arm shrank to normal size.

  "Mom said this was the first time the audience had ever seen Carol fight this fiercely," Hana added. "She probably wanted to impress Omnia with her abilities."

  "She succeeded," I said. "Omnia looks impressed. I can see it on her face."

  And she really did. Her posture had changed, more guarded and more serious. She had realized Mom wasn’t some reckless amateur trying to make a name by challenging her.

  Omnia stepped out of her concrete armor and stretched her arms wide. Ice crawled over her right fist, forming a frozen gauntlet, while flames spread around her left.

  "She definitely takes it more seriously now. That’s one of her signature techniques," Tatiana said. "Opposite Onslaught. She redirects heat away from her right hand, freezing the air around it, while channeling that same heat into her left, igniting it. She can wield two opposing elements at once."

  "That's cool... and also hot," I remarked. "Must be awful to get hit by both."

  Omnia attacked again, faster than before. She unleashed a rapid barrage of punches. Mom dodged the first few, but Omnia closed the distance quickly.

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  And then I noticed something wrong.

  Where Mom was struck by the icy fist, her skin sizzled, while the ice coating Omnia’s hand thickened. Where the flaming fist landed, Mom’s flesh froze over, a thin crust of ice spreading across it.

  "What?" I asked, thinking aloud. "How does that even work?"

  "In a nutshell: the freezing hand dumps heat into whatever it hits, burning the target while making itself colder. The flaming hand does the opposite; it steals heat from the impact point, freezing the target while feeding its own flames." Hana explained like an expert.

  I didn’t know whether to be impressed or deeply unsettled.

  Omnia eventually had to break off the attack. One half of her body was entombed in heavy ice, while the other was about to incinerate itself.

  Mom wasn’t in good shape either. Parts of her were burning, others frozen solid, but she didn’t stop.

  Her body began to move in ways that one would only see in a Cronenberg movie. Flesh warping, folding, shifting, and changing.

  At first, she looked like a glitching NPC from a broken game. Then I understood.

  She was forcing the burning and freezing sections of her body to touch, pressing them together to cancel each other out.

  For a few seconds, she barely looked human at all, more like a writhing, human-sized mass of flesh and muscle, twisting in on itself.

  Once Omnia had stabilized her freezing and burning halves, she launched her next attack. She began to spin clockwise, faster and faster, until a compact tornado formed around her.

  At the same time, Mom spun in the opposite direction.

  Her body came apart. Not cleanly, there was no elegance to it. She unraveled into a spiraling storm of blood, muscle, and bone.

  "Ew!" the twins recoiled in unison.

  "One of Creepy Carol’s special techniques," Hana said. "Test Tornádó."

  [Body Tornado, in Hungarian.]

  The two tornadoes advanced toward each other, Omnia still at the center of her own.

  When they collided, Omnia’s wind vortex swallowed Mom’s fleshy storm whole.

  For a moment, it looked like Mom had been absorbed.

  Then the rotation faltered.

  Omnia’s tornado slowed... shuddered... and then, abruptly reversed direction.

  Mom had taken control.

  The fused tornado spun counterclockwise now, and a little bit later, Omnia was violently expelled from it.

  But she wasn’t alone.

  Mom’s head was pressed against Omnia’s back, her long black hair wrapped tightly around Omnia’s neck and shoulders like living restraints. The only thing still connecting Mom to the raging tornado behind them was her spine, stretched impossibly, like a grotesque tether.

  Using the momentum of the spinning flesh-storm, Mom slammed Omnia headfirst into the concrete.

  Again, and again, and again, and again, and then again.

  Each impact cracked the floor and echoed through the arena before Omnia finally managed to kick herself free and roll away.

  She staggered to her feet, visibly exhausted. Blood ran from her scalp, matting her hair.

  Unlike the earlier exchanges, this attack had worked.

  "I’m surprised she didn’t get a concussion from that," I said as Omnia steadied herself, preparing for another round.

  "After the match, she explained how," Hana replied. "She used hydrokinesis on her cerebrospinal fluid, the liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, to cushion the impacts."

  "That’s... insane."

  "It’s also why she couldn’t break free sooner," Hana added. "She was too busy making sure her brain didn’t liquefy."

  Mum turned back into her normal form, ready for the next move.

  Omnia inhaled deeply, then bent down as if to pick something up from the floor.

  What she grabbed was the floor itself.

  A massive slab of concrete tore free from the arena beneath her hands. As she lifted it, the stone began to shift and reshape.

  First, it elongated into a colossal club, making Omnia look like a gnome wielding a giant brute’s weapon.

  Then the upper half of the slab morphed further, forming an armored knight with a shield and sword.

  And it moved.

  "Yes, it's moving," Hana said before I could ask. "She turned the concrete into a golem."

  Omnia swung the golem weapon down at Mom. The concrete sword looked as sharp as if it were made of steel.

  Mom didn’t dodge. She leapt.

  Her body detonated into a violent bloom of blood and flesh mid-air, slamming into the living weapon. Muscles coiled around the golem’s limbs. Her ribcage snapped shut around its concrete torso like a grotesque bear trap. Her head emerged above the knight’s helm, staring down at Omnia.

  Mom took control in her own unique way.

  She forced the golem’s sword arm to swing back at its creator. Omnia reacted instantly, hurling the weapon away, and with a snap of her fingers, the golem collapsed into inert rubble beneath Mom.

  Mom didn’t slow down.

  Still a writhing mass of exposed muscle and bone, she launched herself at Omnia, trying to envelop her completely.

  Omnia countered with cold.

  Ice surged outward, freezing Mom mid-motion as she wrapped around Omnia’s body, but this move came with a price. Mom was already everywhere, sealing Omnia inside her own attack.

  For a horrifying moment, they looked like a serial killer attempting to wear their victim as clothing.

  Steam hissed violently as Mom cranked up her body temperature, her blood boiling again in an effort to break free. She managed to melt the ice in a few weak spots, but not enough.

  They struggled, locked together.

  "Enough!" Marge’s voice thundered as she stepped into the arena. "The time limit is over! Stop fighting and step away from each other."

  "What?" I asked. I didn't remember any time limit from Friday.

  "Oh, right," Hana said. "When certain fighters go up against each other, there are extra rules like strict time limits. It’s to prevent collateral damage. Long fights between high-level paranormals tend to... escalate."

  She skipped the video forward.

  Marge stood between Mom and Omnia now, gripping their wrists.

  "Apologies for the delay," Marge announced to the crowd, who were already on the edge of their seat. "The judges and I needed to review the entire match to ensure a fair ruling."

  The arena fell silent.

  "After careful consideration, the result is..." she continued, then paused dramatically, lifting both fighters’ hands, "a tie!"

  The audience exploded.

  Some chanted Omnia’s name. Others screamed for Carol. The noise was deafening.

  "Wow," I managed to say. "That was incredible."

  "This fight was a turning point in your mom’s career," Hana said as she stopped the video. "It was the first time Omnia didn’t score a clean, undisputed victory."

  "If I remember correctly, this match was heavily criticized," Stagora added.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "Because Omnia couldn’t go all out," Stagora explained. "The arena was too small, and there were too many spectators. She had to limit herself to avoid collateral damage. Plus, she was still relatively early in her career."

  "Nah," Armstrong scoffed. "That’s just Omnia fans coping. She admitted in multiple interviews that she genuinely didn’t know how she could’ve won."

  "I’m just repeating what people say," Stagora replied.

  "I’m not surprised it ended in a tie," I said. "Their abilities cancel each other out."

  "What do you mean?" Stagora asked.

  "Omnia can control everything around herself," I explained. "Mom can control everything inside herself, to the same extreme."

  Hana nodded. "Exactly. They’re perfect opposites. They could’ve fought all day, and it still would’ve ended the same way with a tie."

  "So bad I couldn't see them fighting in person," I lamented. "Hm, what do you guys think? Maybe she is here for a rematch with Mom?"

  "I doubt it." Hana shook her head, "Budapest's whole paranormal community would know about such an event. They can't do things like that in secret. Marge is the most reliable if you want a private match, but even her employees can be gossipy."

  "Maybe she is just here for a friendly visit," Tünde offered.

  "Yeah, there's no information on her and your Mom being sworn enemies," Titanilla added.

  "Alright, I think we watched enough videos," Hana announced, standing up from her laptop. "Now let's have some fun."

  And then she began to walk carefully toward the door that led to her mother's gallery.

  "What kind of fun are you talking about?" I asked.

  "It's pretty obvious: sex," she said as she stepped to the door carefully, "I can take you and Grill at the same time while the twins can take turns sitting on my face."

  At first, I had no idea what she was talking about, then I heard a slight gasp from behind the door. Somebody was there, eavesdropping.

  With a quick move, she slammed the door open, and somebody slumped into the room. It was her mother, Yoko. She was probably pressing her whole body towards the door to hear everything better.

  "You were spying on us, Mom?" Hana looked down at her, shaking her head. She wasn't furious, she was amused. She found it funny that she caught her mother red-handed.

  "I... um... ugh... I just wanted to ask you guys if you need some snacks or drinks, but... but I didn't want to interrupt, so..." She stammered awkwardly.

  "Ah, great. We need to refill the snack bowls, and we also need more energy drinks." Hana answered. If she had a face, it would have a smug grin across it.

  "Alright, I'll go to Ida's convenience store. She is open even at night for the paranormal guests." Yoko replied. Trying not maintain eye contact with anybody.

  "Huh! I wonder how long she was listening," Hana snorted after Yoko left.

  "Not gonna lie, for a moment, I thought our mother was here," Angyalka chuckled.

  "Let's not paint the devil on the wall," Angéla hushed her.

  [That's the Hungarian equivalent of "don't jinx it."]

  "Don't worry, cousin," Tünde shrugged, "Our Mom would warn us if Aunt Aletta tried to come here."

  "Yeah, now let's have some fun," Titanilla announced. "So, Hana, which one of your faces has the best tongue?"

  "I was just joking." She shook her head. "I don't plan a sex party."

  "You can still answer my question though," she giggled.

  "Alright, everyone," Hana turned to the rest of the group, trying to ignore Titanilla's question, "Who wants to play some paranormal party games?"