Through the chaos of the Crimson Waltz, another battle erupted.
Two cloaked puppets, smaller but no less deadly than the knight, flanked around the main confrontation. They moved with jerky precision, cutting toward the pillar where Seraphina crouched, her hands trembling as she struggled to tap into something deep within herself.
"No, you don't!" Vivian's voice rang out like a battle cry.
She intercepted both puppets in a furious charge, her obsidian sword carving through the air in blurs of darkness. One puppet's claws raked across her shoulder, tearing through her shadow suit, but Vivian spun with the impact and brought her blade around in a devastating arc that sheared through its torso.
The second puppet lunged for her exposed back, but Vivian was already moving, her crimson hair whipping around her face as she pivoted and caught the strike on her blade's crossguard.
