Both side pulled back without a word. They knew the outcome of this battle rested entirely on our fight.
When two overwhelmingly powerful individuals clashed, numbers meant little.
At the center of the ruined compound, we faced each other.
Behind Tae Yul, the Imperial soldiers formed a silent guard and the main gate gaped open like a watchful maw.
Behind me, the rebels gathered close enough to be seen but far enough to be safe.
My banner snapped softly in the wind, the red cloth on my spear trailing like a tyrant's pennant.
We walked inward together, neither hurrying nor dawdling. There was no hatred in the way we carried ourselves—only appetite for great fight.
Both of us smiled, the same simple curve that said, at last, an enemy that could pushed me to my limits. For a warrior, there are few things purer than the chance to measure oneself against another mountain.
"You look unusually clean for a martial artist," I commented.
