Flames raced up Alira’s arm and she screamed. Her gauntlet melted in an instant, its steel merging with her bubbling flesh. The stench of burning meat filled Kai’s nose; he frowned, disgusted by his own salivating.

  Before the vicious fire could spread further, he made his move.

  Kai manipulated space, expanding the distance between Alira and Gideon. He focused again, collapsing the space between himself and Alira. Before he could think, Kai’s sword was moving. His blade struck Alira’s shoulder.

  Remnants of her scorched arm and melted armour hit the ground, pooling into a reddish-silver sludge.

  He caught her as she collapsed, writhing in pain. He glanced at Rusk, who struggled to rise from his knees. Kai threw his sword, collapsing the space between the hilt and Rusk’s palm. The fearless man caught the sword and turned on Gideon.

  “Hold him off! I’ll—I’ll figure something out!”

  Rusk nodded, pushing himself to stand. He was upright but unsteady. He stepped between Gideon and Kai, a pitiful line of defence - he wouldn’t last a minute against Gideon in that state.

  Kai had to hurry.

  He laid her on the concrete and crouched beside her. He had cut off Alira’s right arm - the arm she had used to save him, the one that bore her Mark.

  Her icy skin warmed - her Gift fading without the Mark.

  A haze dulled Kai’s mind, an immense weight crushing his shoulders. Essence exhaustion had caught up with him. He was hanging onto consciousness by a thread. He glanced down at Alira.

  Her eyes were half-closed, a grimace contorting her face.

  The cut through her shoulder and pauldron was clean - he had sliced through the gap in her plate with unnatural precision. Alira groaned as blood streamed from her arm like water from a faucet. But the blood didn’t fall to the ground - it streamed upward, defying gravity and coursing into Kai’s onyx-black suit.

  His heart raced. Was he killing her? He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let her die. He couldn’t be the one to end her.

  She had saved him, hadn’t she?

  He had to repay that debt. Had to control whatever his suit was doing. But how? He had decided to study his suit’s strange abilities later - now time had run out. Kai clenched his jaw.

  He must be able to command his own suit, right? Kharon wouldn’t give him a rebellious suit that did whatever it wanted - would he? Kai wanted to believe his brother wasn’t a crazy bastard who forced dangerous items on him, but he knew that belief was unfounded.

  His brother had given him a ring stolen from a god!

  Still, Kai had no choice but to try everything before Alira withered into a desiccated corpse. If she died here, the rest of them would soon follow. Rusk walked toward his fiery death while Kai fought to find a solution.

  Stop.

  Alira’s blood obeyed gravity the instant he had the thought. His suit stopped gorging on her blood. A muted pulse of reluctance throbbed at the back of his mind - his bloodthirsty suit?

  But the dark suit obeyed regardless. Kai raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected it to be that easy. He would have to thank Kharon - later.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  But the problem remained - Alira still bled, her arm reduced to a pool of discoloured sludge. Rusk was about to clash swords with a sentient flame no blade could cut. Kai could only pray Rusk evaded Gideon long enough to avoid becoming a pile of ash.

  But who was he going to pray to - His Father?

  Before Kai could send a prayer to the absent Death God, a strange rush of energy flooded his body.

  The crushing weight pressing on him vanished. The haze clouding his mind receded. A liquid caressed him, seeping into the pores of his skin. His eyes widened.

  The suit? It can restore my soul essence?

  A wave of smugness tugged at his mind, as if his suit were saying: ‘Haven’t you underestimated your incredible suit? Didn’t I impress a god?’

  Kai suppressed his urge to chastise the sentient suit. Instead, he did something he hated - something that had become a recent habit.

  He asked for help.

  Suit…please, heal her!

  A stream of dark red blood, tinged with black, burst from Kai’s suit and rushed into Alira’s bleeding shoulder. Her brows furrowed, her mouth opened and she screamed again. The scream was brief, but her confusion lingered.

  Alira’s eyes opened wide as she stared at the space where her arm had been. The dark blood no longer flowed into her. Kai was sure there was more where that came from. His suit told him so - a thrum of pride swelling in his mind.

  There was a limit - but he hadn’t reached it yet.

  The flesh of Alira’s shoulder writhed and coiled. Pale white bones jutted from the wound, greyish-pink flesh flowing to cover them. A new arm wriggled into existence in moments.

  Alira stared at her new arm in silence. The greyish hue contrasted with the rest of her marble-pale skin. Almost invisible scales hid beneath her new flesh - bearing a passing resemblance to the scales of the Drakmar they fought earlier.

  As her right hand reformed, her Mark returned - a cube surrounded by daggers, etched in black.

  Kai suspected his suit was more powerful than he’d imagined. He’d have to experiment - later.

  Alira’s frosty glare locked on Kai’s eyes.

  “How?” she croaked.

  “Not now. We’ll talk after we kill that flaming bastard.”

  Her new fingers curled into a fist, blood seeping where her nails pierced skin. Vigour and resolve returned to her chilling gaze. She tried to prop herself up but collapsed when she put weight on her new arm. Kai offered her a hand. She grabbed it, and he pulled her to her feet.

  They both turned their gazes toward Rusk and Gideon. Rusk evaded Gideon’s attacks like a lithe dancer, but his movements were sloppy - avoiding lethal strikes at the last moment - he was pushing his limits. All he could do was buy time before his end.

  Kai still couldn’t see a path to victory.

  He could teleport and close the distance, but what was the point? He couldn’t cut fire.

  Gideon glanced toward Kai and Alira.

  “Hm. Interesting. You know anything you do is pointless, right?” He turned toward them and stopped attacking Rusk. Rusk swung his sword through Gideon’s flaming figure - he ignored it.

  Gideon was right. Even with their essence replenished, they had no way to defeat him - yet. Rusk disengaged and returned to Kai and Alira’s side. Gideon took slow steps toward them, like the inevitability of death.

  But Kai was the heir of Death, not this pompous bastard.

  Kai’s spatial sense was clear once more, and something was heading toward them. Another hunter was bad news. But a distraction was the chance he needed to teleport away with his companions.

  If he teleported now, Gideon would chase them until Kai’s essence drained. He had to buy time. A small chance was better than none.

  Kai scoffed. “Pointless? Should we just roll over and die?”

  Gideon tilted his head. “If you’re offering, I’d like that very much.”

  Kai’s mouth curved into a false smile. “Not confident of your chances against us?”

  Gideon narrowed his eyes and glanced around the courtyard. “I’m more than confident. Are you buying time?” His gaze returned to Kai. “I wonder what surprises you came up with. They won’t work, of course. All your Gifts are useless against mine.” Gideon was mere feet away.

  Kai stepped back, moving toward one of the trapped entrances. Alira and Rusk followed his lead.

  “Well…how about you let us go?” Kai said.

  Gideon smirked. “If you knew your place, I wouldn’t have to kill you. I’m not surprised though - you have that fraud with you, after all.”

  Alira narrowed her eyes, but her body language remained calm. Kai knew little about noble politics, so whatever Gideon was getting at went over his head.

  Though that didn’t matter - he had bought enough time.

  He glanced up.

  A woman hovered in the air above the courtyard. A scowl corrupted her beauty, her glare dark with hatred. A skintight grey bodysuit covered her flesh. Her right arm held a wooden spear.

  The woman Kai had saved from the fiery noble bastard - not a waste of essence after all.

  She aimed her spear at Gideon.

  Did you see these twist and turns coming? Or were you surprised by the suit's abilities and the flying woman's entrance?

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