Roberto stayed silent, but the silence between them had changed shape. Heavier now, lodged between each clash of steel and each step over that white ground, as if Noel's words had left a crack somewhere Roberto did not want touched.
Their blades met again at close range. Noel forced Revenant Fang down along Roberto's guard, turned his wrist, and stepped in with his shoulder behind the motion to steal his balance. Roberto absorbed it cleanly and answered with a short strike toward Noel's ribs, then another toward his throat. Noel slid away from the second and, for the first time since arriving in that dimension, chose to create real distance instead of filling it.
Roberto noticed immediately. "What are you doing?"
