The courtyard floor was slick with blood, the stones reflecting torchlight like a crimson mirror. Every soldier held their breath as Luv and Kael closed the distance again, their blades shrieking against each other in a storm of sparks.
Luv's dagger moved fast, darting like lightning, probing for weaknesses. Kael's curved sword swept in wide arcs, heavy and precise, each swing meant to end the fight in one blow. The clash of their weapons was a rhythm—steel on steel, breath on breath, a deadly dance that neither could afford to misstep.
Kael's grin widened as he forced Luv back. "Your cuts sting, boy, but stings don't kill lions." He drove his shoulder forward, smashing into Luv with raw strength. The impact rattled Luv's ribs, reopening the wound on his side. Blood seeped faster now, hot against his skin.
Still, he refused to yield.
He spun, using Kael's momentum against him, and his dagger bit deep into Kael's thigh. The bigger man roared, staggering a step before retaliating with a vicious slash that nearly took Luv's head off. Only a desperate duck saved him—the blade singing just above his ear, close enough to shear a lock of black hair.
Across the courtyard, Ayu was drowning in enemies. She'd emptied her pistols again, now wielding one like a hammer, the other like a blade. She slammed one man into the wall, kicked another in the chest, and tore a fallen dagger from the ground to stab through a throat. Her jade-pale skin was smeared with blood, her breaths ragged, but her eyes blazed with fury.
"Luv—finish it!" she screamed, firing her last bullet into the skull of a charging soldier.
The cry fueled him.
Kael charged again, his curved blade descending like a guillotine. Luv met it head-on—dagger against steel, sparks exploding as the force nearly tore the dagger from his hand. His knees buckled, but his mind sharpened. He twisted his wrist, sliding the dagger along Kael's blade, diverting the strike just enough.
Then he stepped in close. Too close for Kael's sword to swing.
Their eyes met—Kael's wide with surprise, Luv's calm as ice.
The dagger drove upward, burying itself into Kael's chest just beneath the collarbone.
Kael's breath hitched, blood bubbling at his lips. But instead of falling, he laughed, low and guttural, spitting blood into Luv's face. "Good strike… but not enough!"
With monstrous strength, Kael grabbed Luv by the throat, lifting him off the ground. His sword clattered to the stones as he squeezed, crushing the air from Luv's lungs.
Ayu saw it. Her heart stopped. She tore through the last soldier between them, sprinting toward the center, blood spraying behind her. "Luv!"
Luv's vision blurred, the world dimming at the edges. But his grip on the dagger never faltered. He twisted it inside Kael's chest, driving it deeper, feeling the blade scrape bone.
Kael's roar turned into a choking gurgle. His grip loosened. His knees buckled. And finally, with one last defiant glare, he collapsed backward, dragging Luv down with him.
Both hit the blood-slick stones hard.
The courtyard erupted—soldiers shouting in confusion, disbelief, rage. Ayu reached Luv first, sliding down beside him, her trembling hands pulling him upright. His face was pale, his breaths shallow, but his dagger was still clenched in his fist, stained to the hilt with Kael's blood.
Kael lay motionless, his lifeblood pooling across the courtyard stones.
Luv coughed, a faint smirk tugging his lips despite the blood dripping from them. "Told you… the dagger kills lions."
Ayu pressed a hand against his wound, fury and relief warring in her eyes. Around them, the Crimson Fang soldiers hesitated, their leader fallen, their morale cracking.
But hesitation was not retreat.
The horns sounded again in the distance—deep, ominous, promising reinforcements were on the way.
This night was far from over.