IX – Breaking Point
The fire roared, but Kaodin's breath came ragged.
Every strike, every motion, dragged embers through his veins.
The street was a storm of broken light and shrieking metal—
and still the CCs came.
He had no time to rest.
No time to think.
For every corpse that fell, three more climbed over its ashes.
And beyond them—
he saw the remaining CSDS security line collapsing, a handful of androids and exhausted guards nearly overrun near the breached perimeter.
Kaodin's mind snapped into focus.
He couldn't reach them in time, not with his current pace.
Unless—
He looked down at his shaking hands.
The last remnants of flame still clung to his skin, faint blue and dying.
He clenched his fists.
Once more. Just once more.
He drew a single, agonizing breath and did the unthinkable—
he forced his Qi through his entire circulatory path at once.
Not guided. Not balanced.
Overdriven.
The pain was immediate.
Every channel in his body screamed in protest, every nerve flaring white-hot.
His vision pulsed red, then blue, then nothing at all.
But then—
something shifted.
The energy stopped fighting him and began to follow him.
The rhythm of his heart became the rhythm of the flame.
The roar of the battlefield quieted, the sound replaced by a deep, resonant pulse.
Kaodin could hear it—
a rhythm between his heartbeat and the roar of the fire.
Combustion Flow.
Energy drawn not from his reserves, but from his very motion.
Like breathing through the inferno itself.
The world slowed.
Every movement became music.
He moved.
The ignition tore through the avenue.
A radiant pulse burst from Kaodin's core, spreading through his limbs.
Each strike became a wave—each kick, a ripple of searing light.
CCs disintegrated on contact, burning away before their claws could reach him.
The sheer pressure of his movement flung ruffians and debris aside like a typhoon made of flame.
But power came at a cost.
His bones ached. The heat no longer obeyed him.
He could feel his skin blistering beneath his clothes, could smell scorched fabric.
The world swam, his limbs heavy as molten lead.
Still, he pushed forward—toward the last remaining security team.
They stared as the boy in blue fire tore through the swarm, clearing a path.
When the last CC fell, Kaodin dropped to his knees, steam rising from his body.
His breath rasped like tearing cloth.
He had done it.
But he had gone too far.
Then—gunfire.
Ruffians.
Human shapes emerging from the smoke—men wrapped in blackened armor, their movements too steady for scavengers.
They had used the chaos to slip in unnoticed.
Korren's men.
Kaodin raised his fists again, but his arms trembled.
He barely had enough Qi left to light his fingers.
He tried anyway.
The air crackled—flames sputtering weakly across his skin.
He charged forward with a hoarse shout, meeting them head-on.
He struck the first man square in the chest, flame bursting through his palm.
The second, he caught with an elbow to the ribs.
The third knocked him off balance with a rifle butt to the jaw.
He fell hard, the breath driven from his lungs.
"Damn it…" he hissed, trying to stand.
The nearest ruffian raised his weapon—
and then a shadow stepped between them.
Metal boots.
A heavy, grinding exhale.
Rogan.
The lieutenant's frame towered over the others, his augmented arms humming with faint servo clicks.
The men stepped back instinctively.
"So you're the little torch that burned my scouts," Rogan said, voice like gravel.
He flexed his fingers; the steel plates along his arm shifted like the shells of a predator.
"Korren said to test your spark. Let's see if there's anything worth taking."
Kaodin tried to lift his stance, but his muscles screamed.
He was spent, the full-body combustion leaving nothing but trembling flesh and dry lungs.
Still, he raised his guard.
"You can test me all you want," he said through gritted teeth. "But I don't break easy."
Rogan's smile gleamed in the firelight.
"Good. I like when they last."
He moved—
and the street exploded.
The first hit shattered Kaodin's block.
The second cracked against his ribs.
The third lifted him clean off the ground and slammed him into the debris.
Pain blurred everything into colorless noise.
Rogan grabbed him by the neck and hauled him upright, his mechanical hand squeezing until Kaodin's spine creaked.
"You burned bright," Rogan growled. "Now watch yourself go out."
Wawa lunged from the smoke, spectral claws striking Rogan's shoulder.
But the giant barely flinched.
He swung his arm, swatting the cub aside.
Wawa hit the ground hard, its light flickering.
It tried to rise, but its body shimmered weakly, its glow dimming.
Its power was Kaodin's power—and Kaodin was fading fast.
Rogan tightened his grip.
Kaodin's vision tunneled.
Air. Pain. Nothing.
The world dissolved into darkness.