The halls of her family's manor burned. Shiba pushed forward, her boots slipping in blood, her sword dragging firelight with every swing. Each corridor was a slaughterhouse — servants she had known since childhood lay butchered, rebels roamed like carrion dogs among the corpses.
She cut them down one by one, her greatsword singing in wide arcs, her breath ragged with smoke and fury. For every rebel that fell, she saw her mother's eyes, her father's hand reaching, Aiko's smile — ghosts driving her forward in blind desperation.
And then she heard the voice.
"Still fighting, knight?"
It came smooth, mocking, from the far end of the ruined hall. A figure stepped into the glow of the flames — light armor of leather and chain, twin daggers in hand. Green hair fell like moss around a pale face, and her eyes gleamed crimson in the firelight.
Lillia.
Shiba froze, her chest tightening. She remembered the girl in simple clothes, quiet, polite, carrying water jugs through these same halls. A servant of the household. Loyal — or so Shiba had believed.
But the smile Lillia gave her now was twisted with hate."Do you know how long we scrubbed your floors, starved while you feasted, bowed while you never looked at us? I waited for this day."
"Traitor," Shiba hissed. Her voice broke into a snarl. "I'll carve you into pieces."
Lillia only tilted her head, daggers glinting. "Try."
The fight erupted like lightning.
Shiba surged forward, her greatsword crashing down in a brutal cleave meant to break Lillia in half. But the girl was fast — faster than any knight Shiba had faced. She slid aside, the blade cracking the marble floor, and struck back with a dagger slash at Shiba's ribs. Sparks flew as steel scraped armor.
Shiba pivoted, swinging in a wide arc. Lillia ducked low, spun, and cut for the back of Shiba's knee. Shiba barely shifted in time, the edge biting into plate but not flesh.
Steel clashed in a storm of sparks, greatsword against twin blades. Shiba's strength crashed down in every swing, forcing Lillia back, but each time the rogue slipped out of reach, teasing, cutting, wearing her down with shallow strikes that bled her strength.
"You were never fighting for us," Lillia spat between blows. "You fought for your name, your crown. And when the people bled, you looked away."
"Shut your mouth!" Shiba roared, slamming her sword downward with enough force to shake the floor. Desperation clawed at her chest, twisting her strikes into savage, reckless swings. Every move was hate — every blow a scream of loss.
But hate made her slow. Predictable.
Lillia's eyes gleamed red in the firelight. She feinted left, baiting Shiba's guard high, then spun right, her dagger scoring deep across Shiba's arm. Shiba howled, lashed out, but Lillia was already gone, sliding like smoke behind her.
"You're already dead, Shiba. You just don't know it yet."
Something snapped inside her. Shiba gave in, roaring as she hurled herself at Lillia, abandoning defense, abandoning control. Her swings became monstrous, splitting pillars, smashing furniture into splinters, her blade trailing blood and sparks as it sought to cut the girl down no matter the cost.
For a heartbeat, she almost had her — her sword grazing Lillia's chest, ripping leather, drawing blood. But her overreach left her open.
Lillia's eyes hardened. She slipped past Shiba's guard, blades crossing in a flash, and drove both daggers deep into the gaps of Shiba's armor. One in her side. One under her arm.
The pain stole Shiba's breath.
Lillia twisted the knives free, stepped back, and before Shiba could raise her blade again, she slashed across her temple. The world exploded into white fire.
Shiba staggered, her sword slipping from her hand. She fell to her knees, the taste of blood flooding her mouth, the roar of flames drowning everything.
Through her fading vision, she saw Lillia's silhouette against the blaze."You'll remember this," the rogue whispered. "If you wake again."
The last thing Shiba felt was the heat of her home collapsing around her — and then, nothing.