The courtyard was silent for only a heartbeat.
Then two pale glares pierced the fractured sky, one stacked above the other like twin moons staring down at prey. The second Stalker climbed over the wall in the same unnerving crawl as the first, its limbs bending wrong, claws hooking into stone.
Martha's breath caught. "Two of them."
Seth didn't take his eyes off the newcomers. "Then we finish this before they finish us."
The first Stalker, still wounded from their earlier clash, hissed in a soundless snarl. Its counterpart let out a sharper cry — higher, almost mocking. Then they moved.
There was no circling, no testing this time. Both came at once, leaping from the wall with predatory precision. Seth's instincts screamed, and the light in his palm flared bright enough to burn afterimages into his vision.
"Back-to-back!" he barked.
Martha spun, her spear already sweeping low to catch the second Stalker mid-leap. The weapon scraped along its ribs, cutting deep enough to spray black ichor. The creature landed behind her, claws gouging the ground.
Seth met the first one head-on. He thrust his palm forward, shaping his light into a compressed wave that blasted straight into its chest. The Stalker was thrown back, tumbling across the broken stones — but even as it rolled, it dug claws into the dirt and stopped itself.
"They're faster than before," Martha called, twisting her spear to parry a claw strike that would have gutted her. Sparks flared where metal met bone.
"They're angry," Seth corrected, his voice tight.
The first Stalker darted low, rushing him in a blur. Seth stepped sideways, light condensing into a blade along his forearm. The strike came down in a clean arc — the blade cutting a burning gash across its shoulder. The monster shrieked and vanished into its own shadow, reappearing instantly to his left.
Seth barely turned in time, blocking with the glowing blade. The force rattled his arm, but he held.
Behind him, Martha drove her spear straight through the second Stalker's arm, pinning it briefly to the ground. It screeched and twisted violently, wrenching free and tearing a jagged chunk from the spear shaft.
"Martha—" Seth began.
"I'm fine!" she snapped, twisting away from another slash.
The two Stalkers regrouped, pacing in opposite arcs around them, pale eyes flickering between the two humans. It was coordinated — instinctive pack hunting. They were trying to split them.
Seth glanced at Martha. "Don't get pulled away from me."
"You either."
The first Stalker lunged again. Seth's light flared brighter than before, spilling across the courtyard until every shadow shrank. The monsters faltered for just a breath, enough for him to act. He pulled the glow upward, shaping it into two curved walls that boxed the Stalkers in toward the center.
The creatures hissed furiously, slashing at the walls — but their claws passed through harmlessly. The light wasn't meant to stop them physically. It was meant to confine them, limit their angles.
Martha understood instantly. She surged forward, driving her spear in a brutal thrust toward the nearest Stalker's chest. The point slipped between its ribs, punching through until the tip burst from its back. Black ichor poured down the shaft, sizzling in the glow.
The Stalker shrieked and thrashed violently, forcing her to wrench the weapon free before it tore her arms from their sockets.
The second Stalker pounced while she was off balance — but Seth was there. His blade of light snapped into being once more, cleaving a burning line across its torso. It stumbled back with a distorted cry, clutching at the wound.
"They're weakening!" Martha shouted.
Seth didn't answer. He could feel it. The battlefield was bending toward him now. The holy light thrummed in his veins like a second heartbeat, responding to his will faster than before.
The first Stalker tried to vanish into the shrinking shadows again — and failed. The glow was too deep now, too embedded into every crack and stone of the courtyard.
Seth's lips curved into something almost like a smile. "Nowhere to hide."
He surged forward, the light in his palm condensing until it was no bigger than a coin. But its heat was unbearable — even to him. He thrust it directly into the Stalker's chest. The glow erupted outward, carving through the monster like fire through paper.
The Stalker let out one last shriek — a sound that cracked the air — before it disintegrated into ash and smoke.
The second Stalker froze, its pale eyes flicking between Seth and Martha. Then it screamed and charged, claws aimed straight for Seth's throat.
Martha didn't hesitate. She stepped into its path, spear spinning in a defensive spiral that knocked aside both claws. The moment she opened its guard, Seth moved.
His hand shot forward, pressing flat against the creature's skull. The light surged in a blinding column, so bright that for a second the world was nothing but gold.
When the glow faded, the second Stalker collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Its body crumbled into ash before it even hit the ground.
Silence returned to the courtyard.
Martha stood still for a long moment, breathing hard, her knuckles white on her spear. "You… really don't hold back, do you?"
Seth let the remaining light fade from his hands. "Not when it's something like that."
She glanced at the twin piles of smoldering ash, then back at him. "They don't usually hunt in pairs. We just made a lot of noise."
His gaze shifted toward the ruined streets beyond the wall. "Good. Let them hear it."
But even as he said it, a low, distant sound reached his ears — not a Stalker's screech, but something deeper. Heavier.
Martha's expression darkened. "That's not a Stalker."
From somewhere beyond the courtyard, the ground began to tremble.