The North Sea winds howled as Greta stood at the edge of a derelict shipping yard. Rusted cranes loomed like skeletons above her, and the salt stung her skin. Somewhere in this maze of steel and shadows, her enemy was waiting.
The Black Serpents had moved fast since her last battle, sending one of their specialists after her. Not a squad. Not a commander. A hunter.
They called him Silensfang.
He stepped from the mist like a phantom, his mask shaped into a serpent's jaw, his armor sleek and soundless. Twin blades rested in his hands, humming faintly with some strange vibration. Greta's squid companions tensed, swirling nervously in the saltwater that pooled around the docks.
"So," he said, his voice calm, smooth as oil. "The girl who thinks herself Kraken. My masters want you gone. I'm inclined to agree."
Greta narrowed her eyes, planting her feet firmly on the damp steel. "If you're here, that means they're afraid of me. Good."
Without warning, Silensfang moved. His steps made no sound. The world itself seemed to hold its breath as he closed the distance in a blur.
Greta reacted on instinct. Tentacles erupted from the water, lashing upward, slamming down to block his strike. Metal shrieked as his blades cut clean through one, their vibrating edges humming like wasps.
Pain shot through Greta's chest as the bond with that squid snapped. She gritted her teeth and pushed harder. More tentacles surged, sweeping cranes like clubs, throwing shipping containers like dice.
Silensfang weaved through them, impossibly fluid, blades flashing in arcs that seemed to bend silence around them. No grunts of effort, no clang of steel—just the whisper of death with every strike.
Greta roared, her voice echoing across the harbor. "You want me gone? You'll have to sink me first!"
She fused with her remaining squids, her body glowing with oceanic power, her limbs stretching into armored tentacles of living ink and flesh. Water exploded outward in a storm, waves smashing against the docks.
Silensfang lunged again, blades aimed at her core. Greta caught him mid-air, tentacles coiling around him like serpents of her own. The vibration of his weapons tore into her flesh-armor, sending sparks and pain across her senses—but she held on.
"Quiet enough for you now?" she snarled, before slamming him into the steel deck with the weight of the sea behind it.
The ground cracked, saltwater poured in, and Silensfang went still. His mask was shattered, his body broken, though his whisper managed to crawl past bloodied lips:
"The Serpents… will never stop."
Greta stood above him, chest heaving, the sea calming around her. Her eyes burned with fury, but her voice was steady. "Neither will I."
She let the tide claim him, sinking him into the dark water. Another fang broken. Another warning to the Serpents: Greta Galdner was not prey.