As Kassie sparkled to life behind , the two of us clashed. His longsword fell on —I sidestepped it and lunged with one of my daggers held in reverse grip. He raised his sword quickly and deflected it.
I was moving again.
I twirled sharply, tried to get into his guard, but he shifted his blade to block. I turned back, using my other dagger. His hands ca quick—caught my wrist mid-strike.
I flashed him a wicked grin and brought my free hand around, dagger angling for his ribs. With a longsword, his positioning to block or counter was all wrong.
But the bastard.
He didn’t even look bothered. He rely stared at with cold, empty eyes and brought his leg up, kicking straight into my chest and launching backward.
He gripped his sword with both hands and lunged at , grinning.
"Is it that difficult to move your summon while trying to fight for your life?"
He smashed down against my crossed daggers, his grin bordering on insanity.
"I guessed that praised brain of yours is no less different in the face of true death!"
’Wow. Philosophy lessons from the psychopath. Fantastic.’
The bastard truly looked nacing—he even made my heart throb in fear for a mont as I looked at the madness blazing across his face. A little tremor ran through my arms.
He released one hand from his sword and punched into my gut. Hard. I staggered back, coughing, trying to suck air back into my lungs. He used the opening imdiately, slipping his blade along my daggers’ edges and throwing to the side.
I lost my balance.
A jab cracked into my cheek before I could recover. Then, as I tried to right myself, the poml of his sword slamd against my nose—sending a spike of white-hot pain straight into my skull. My nose split. Blood sprayed. My head snapped back.
’Damnit! This bastard is a good fighter! Kassie, any ti now would be great!’
Kassie...
I caught her in my peripheral vision. She was just standing there, perfectly still, watching like so kind of decorative statue.
’Really selling the "too busy getting my face rearranged to give commands" act. thod acting at its finest.’
She made it look convincing, at least.
"This is disappointing, Cade. I expected, to be honest—" He jabbed at again with the poml, snapping my face back. Blood filled my mouth. "More. More. You aren’t even trying!"
He grabbed my cloak, yanked forward, and drove his elbow into my face.
I staggered back, blood pouring from my disfigured nose and split lip. Bent forward slightly, spitting red onto the ground. The tallic taste coated my tongue.
’Okay. So that’s not ideal.’
I raised my head slowly and looked at him.
He was standing straight, leaning casually on his sword, watching with the kind of bored patience you’d give a particularly slow student.
’This bastard... there’s no way he didn’t receive special training.’
He was simply too good. Far better than anything we’d been taught in those sterile academy drills. He made all my sparring sessions with Tristan suddenly feel like kindergarten playti—useless padding for a world that didn’t care about fair fights.
The bastard was stronger than .
Well, no surprise there—he was S-rank after all. And the way he moved, fluid and precise, like violence was a language he spoke fluently? He couldn’t have gotten this good in just three weeks of academy training.
’Combat mastery attribute. Has to be.’
I straightened, wincing, and wiped blood off my mouth with my gloved hand. My gaze locked onto him, sharpening.
The bastard looked at for a long mont... and suddenly laughed.
"Ah ah, wait wait wait—don’t tell ..." He tilted his head, grin widening. "You actually think you’re going to beat ?"
I shrugged.
"That’s the point of this battle, isn’t it?" I looked at him intensely, letting a smile curl at the corner of my lips. "See, you’ll be making a very big mistake if you think I’m going to be easy to kill." I brandished my daggers. "I’m tougher than a honey badger, you bastard."
"Mouth, mouth. Look at you." He shook his head, amused. "All bark."
I gripped my daggers properly this ti—forward grip, both hands ready—and raced toward him.
The hierarchy had been established. I was the weaker one.
’No big deal. Seen plenty of weak things win against strong things.’
Like that ti a honey badger escaped a lion on a nature docuntary—
’Escaped, fool. Not killed. Escaped.’
’...Yeah, okay. Maybe I’m fucked.’
Either way, I leaped and t him with both daggers. For a heartbeat, I felt his expression shift as he contended with the sudden increase in my strength—my attributes were kicking in.
My eyes flared red.
"Freeze!"
Imdiately, my dagger shot toward his throat. The tip was re inches from piercing skin when soone barreled into from the side—hamr striking hard into my ribs, sending staggering sideways. The dagger missed.
I glanced at the newcor with an angry wince.
"Stupid bastard!"
I shot forward, rage boiling in my chest.
"Kneel!"
The command hit him like a hamr. His legs buckled—deadweight dropping him to his knees. I stepped in and drove a kick straight into his face, feeling the satisfying crunch of impact as he slamd into the ground.
Then Kai was on .
I angled my dagger to block his slash—felt the brutal force of it slam against my arms, tearing off my feet and flinging backward through the air. I hit the ground in a rough roll but imdiately scrambled up.
Kai was already charging.
My eyes glowed intensely. Red aura flared around —my grip tightened, and the building fatigue vanished like smoke. I frowned darkly and ran straight at him, eting him in the middle.
Against his longsword, my daggers were a bad matchup. He had reach advantage.
’I just might consider another weapon choice if I ever survive this!’
We clashed hard. I stepped on his leading leg—put my full weight into it—and he tore out a yell. Then I imdiately slamd the poml of my dagger into his face, snapping his head back. As it ca forward, I headbutted him straight-on.
Bone t bone.
He staggered backward, dazed, eyes unfocused.
I ca in again, dagger raised, ready to stab straight through his throat—
Or so I thought.
But in that mont, I hesitated.
’Cade... are you really going to kill a human?’
That was the angel on my shoulder. Reasonable. Civilized.
’He tried to unalive you, fool! He’s deserving of death! This is a dog-eat-dog world! Kill or get killed!’
The devil on my other shoulder, screaming logic into my ear.
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