Gazel rose inside the Crown Brand's light, the surviving haft lifted against a wrist he could barely track.
'My frost isn't healing him, that light only keeps his body standing.'
Didi hooked her free arm under his elbow, jaw set, rapier fixed on the nearest claw, "Lean on me, that's an order, I'll keep that hand off you."
"Your Highness, step back—"
"No."
The Collector gathered an orb above its last upper palm while light spilled from Gazel's collar.
"Duty after the flesh quits, you surprise me more than your household deserves."
It turned the glowing palm toward the body that refused to fall.
The orb punched straight through Gazel's head and burst against a pillar, and still he stood.
Didi lunged for him, and armored knuckles cracked across her temple, dropping her beside her rapier.
"Soul for fuel, the costliest kind," the Collector rasped, gathering mana again while the Brand forced another breath through him, "burn it away and no cycle ever carries you back to another life."
"A knight protects his charge, every other law can wait until she leaves this road." Gazel planted himself over her, blood running from his torn mouth, voice level as a drill order.
---
Hajin crouched on a low branch at the clearing's edge, and whatever joke he carried died in his throat.
He caught only the end, the orb through the man's head, then the backhand dropping her.
Eleven bodies lay across the broken formation, and no carriage or driver showed anywhere.
'Oh, fuck me, I'm late, I'm so damn late to whatever happened here.'
Three clawed hands worked mana above the road beside a fourth wrist's closed stump.
The talk about burning a soul carried up to his branch, and his stomach turned.
'I'd beg for another life, crawl for it, and he's burning even that just to keep her safe.'
[ ShadowMage44: wait what is that thing ]
[ DarkBlade: why is the armor guy still standing?? ]
'Fifteen feet of busted Chain, two people down there, and I can't drag both before those hands move.'
"Desperation makes strange bargains," the Collector purred, "will another hole teach what the first one failed to explain?"
Two blasts tore through the knight's shoulder and flank, and somehow his feet kept moving.
"Not while she lies behind me, not while I can make you look somewhere else!" Gazel stepped into the claws anyway, teeth bared through the blood.
'That guy's dead on his feet, and he's still buying her time, so fine, I'm spending it.'
Hajin marked the fold of her cloak, just inside the Chain's reach, and loosened the coil.
'Under the shoulders, not the neck, choking her with her own cloak would be a shit rescue.'
Gazel dropped the haft and caught the Collector beneath its upper arms with bare hands.
The Brand blazed as he heaved, and the Collector crashed into the trees, snapping branches on the way down.
"Holy shit."
The Chain dropped onto her cloak, and mana latched the fold without adding weight.
He drew the loop under her arms, and the damaged links creaked as she rose.
"Easy, not the throat, not the throat, don't you dare snap on me now, you rusty junk..." he muttered through gritted teeth.
Twice he stopped the pull, then caught her against his arm, wincing as his cracked ribs screamed.
'Got her, okay, got her, now don't drop her off a tree like an idiot.'
He released the latch and pinned her to the trunk while his breath crawled back.
The Collector stepped out of the broken trees, and Gazel still stood between it and her empty patch.
One hand rose beside the stump, and a single Shard formed there, pressure rolling up the branches.
'One Shard, and I'm sweating up here, nope, never calling that number small again.'
It let the crystal orbit as the knight's light thinned, "You earned a glimpse before the fuel runs out, take it as payment for an entertaining attempt."
The claw drove into Gazel's chest, shattering the last light across his breastplate before his knees touched the road.
He fell beside the broken axe head, and his hand never rose toward the haft again.
Hajin watched for one more stubborn breath, holding his own, and none came.
'He bought her out with his soul, and I don't get to call this a win.'
The Collector turned toward her empty patch, then tilted its head up at the scrape of links.
'Oh, come on, it heard the stupid Chain, of course it heard the Chain.'
Hajin flung the loose end around a neighboring branch twelve feet away, and mana bit into the bark.
He kicked off and swung them both past the verge in one wild pendulum.
They landed hard, and he twisted to spare his ribs, then hauled the Chain in while stumbling between roots.
'It could follow, it could catch us easily, and I'm running away with my arms full.'
"Stronger than this morning," the Collector called from beside the dead knight, sniffing after them without turning around, "the boar nourished you, keep that appetite while the road still lets you choose."
---
The Collector let the divine scent fade beyond the clearing, and let the royal prize go with it.
Taking him now would end his growth, and she stayed far more useful breathing at his side.
'Not yet, I want that power ripe before I tear out its source.'
It lowered its Shard and set one hand against the road, opening the ground beneath its weight.
The pillars withdrew as it sank, and the road closed over it, leaving the dead behind.
---
Hajin walked until the clearing faded behind the rise, carrying her instead of swinging across ridges.
'Fifteen feet of Chain won't swing us two miles, every slope costs breath, and that thing can change its mind.'
"Stay asleep, okay?" he murmured, shifting her weight with a wince.
"You don't need to see what I just saw, not yet, not today."
He stopped on sheltered ground and lowered her between the roots of a broad tree.
He called the Chain back, and the links vanished into storage with a tug of mana.
He folded her cloak under her head to cushion the bruised temple.
Two fingers under her jaw found a pulse, steadier than his own ragged breathing.
Her cloak clasp carried the same royal crest as the fitting he spotted beside the carriage tracks.
He tucked her sleeve clear of the roots and sat facing the way they came.
'It could reach that branch, it could follow through that gap, and it chose to leave me breathing.'
'Nourishment, the bastard called me nourishment, so I get to live until it's hungry enough.'
[ Stream: Active | Viewers: 139 | Chat: Slowed ]
[ CringeSlayer91: those were people, stop asking for clips, give him a minute ]
[ LurkerNoMore: we saw the end, nobody knows how that fight started ]
[ ShadowMage44: last stand gave the opening, how did he stay upright? ]
[ JunaFanClub: chain barely reached, stop telling newcomers he flew through the whole forest ]
[ ashley(mod): no reposts, ask here instead of making the dead a highlight ]
Hajin slumped his better shoulder against the tree, voice low and scraped raw.
"Give me a minute, I need air, the road can keep its next demand until I've got enough to answer."
[ ashley(mod): take the moment, messages slowed so newcomers can't bury anything you need ]
Nobody offered coins for stunts anymore, and he kept watching the route despite the pain.
[ Soul Energy: 71 | Fragment Recovery: 0.001% ]
'Dropping her at some shrine won't make me forget what we dragged off that road.'
'Twelve dead, eleven escorts and the guy who bought this rescue, and I get one survivor.'
'Earlier, you idiot, would showing up earlier have changed a single damn thing?'
She stirred without opening her eyes, one hand searching the ground beside her knee.
"The door stays open, you can stand down, I promise it stays open." Her voice came out broken, catching on every other word.
Hajin slid his hand under her fingers before they scraped across the bark.
He swallowed hard and answered someone only she could see, "There's room here to rest, keep your hand still until you can see where the road brought you."
Her fingers closed weakly around his while he kept watching the trees beyond their shelter.