Ren didn't move.
Just stood there, arms crossed, cloak fluttering in the dead air like it obeyed him. His face was half-hidden beneath that tattered hood, but I could see enough — the crooked smirk, the glowing veins that pulsed with something unnatural just beneath the skin. Not Null.
Not purely.
It was mixed with something else. Something volatile.
"I don't like repeating myself," I said, stepping forward, Voidscar glowing faintly in my grip. "You're not taking her."
"Then die for her," Ren replied softly, almost amused.
In one fluid motion, he drew a long blade from his back — crooked like a fang, its edges dripping violet light. The ground beneath his feet hissed as the blade's energy kissed the sand.
We stood about twenty paces apart.
No words now.
Only consequence.
I launched forward.
My Essence surged instantly, body flaring to life with the discipline I'd honed in that meditation chamber. Every muscle answered the call. I came at him low, Voidscar in a forward thrust — and he met me like he'd been waiting his whole life for it.
CLANG—!!
Our blades collided with a scream of steel and Essence. The shockwave blew the sand outward, forming a crater beneath our feet. He spun, bringing his curved blade up in a sweeping arc — I parried it, but it slid across Voidscar like it had teeth, forcing me back three steps.
He didn't let up.
Ren moved with an uncanny rhythm — not graceful, not brute-force — but unpredictable. Like his body had forgotten how to be human. His strikes came from angles that bent the rules of combat. Sweeps that turned into backhand slashes. Overhands that reversed mid-air.
I adapted fast.
I had to.
He came in with a wild diagonal slash. I dodged left, caught his wrist, and slammed an elbow into his ribs — felt something crack — but instead of backing off, he grinned and spat blood in my face.
Then headbutted me.
My skull rang. I stumbled, and he capitalized instantly — slashing horizontally. I twisted Voidscar into a vertical guard just in time.
The force of the impact sent me flying back into a dune.
I tumbled, rolled, then came up on one knee, gasping.
Ren wiped blood from his mouth, laughing.
"You're good," he said, voice sharp with adrenaline. "You actually made me feel that."
"I haven't even started yet."
I planted my feet — and released.
Essence exploded out of me like a ruptured star.
The sand beneath my boots lifted, the cave walls behind me trembled. My veins pulsed with power, my perception slowing until even the flickering torchlight looked like slow-motion embers.
Ren's smile faded for the first time.
"Let's dance," I growled.
I closed the distance in half a breath.
My first strike wasn't a slash — it was a feint. I drove my shoulder into his gut, lifting him off the ground, then threw him into the rock wall behind us. It cracked on impact, stone splintering.
Before he could recover, I was already on him.
I rained strikes — fast, brutal, surgical. Blade and fist. Elbow and knee.
He blocked some.
Dodged a few.
But I landed enough.
Blood sprayed from his nose, his brow split. I caught him across the ribs with the flat of Voidscar, then spun into a hook that cracked his jaw sideways.
He staggered.
I advanced again.
He screamed — and unleashed.
The pulse of power that erupted from his chest was not Null. It was something deeper. Something unstable. My Essence flared in warning, instinctively pulling my body back as the wave hit.
I hit the sand, rolling, sliding.
Ren rose slowly from the shattered wall, glowing now.
Not just his blade — him.
His eyes were radiant, leaking streams of violet and black. His veins were pulsing erratically, like they were struggling to contain what was surging through him.
"What the hell did you do to yourself?" I asked, breathing hard.
Ren grinned — but it was twisted now. Contorted.
"I let go of the leash," he whispered. "The Dracus wanted control. I wanted freedom. So I fused their gifts with something older. Something buried beneath the Interlogue."
He raised his hand.
A ring of black glass formed in the air behind him — shimmering, rotating.
"Do you know what this is?" he asked.
"No," I said, rising to my feet again. "But I'm guessing you're about to monologue until I stab you through it."
He laughed. "I do love your mouth."
Then he hurled the ring.
I dodged, but it wasn't meant to hit me.
It split into eight shards mid-air, curving through the wind like homing blades.
I pivoted into full Essence defense — lines of energy encasing my skin, limbs moving faster than thought. The first two blades I sliced in half with Voidscar. The third grazed my arm, ripping cloth and skin. The next exploded as I ducked — sending a shockwave that flipped me backward.
Ren sprinted through the smoke, blade raised high — and I met him again.
We clashed.
This time it wasn't a duel.
It was war.
Steel screamed against steel, sparks blooming between us like fireflies as our blades tore through the smoke. Ren's strikes were wild now—not uncontrolled, but fueled by something deeper than fury. Something savage. His blade came from the side, and I ducked under it, rolled, and slashed upward in one motion. Caught him under the ribs. Blood hit the sand.
He didn't flinch.
He spun with the wound, let the momentum twist his body, and elbowed me across the jaw. Stars burst in my vision. I stumbled. He followed with a slash, and I barely brought Voidscar up in time. The impact rattled through my bones like thunder.
We separated again, circling.
Breathing hard.
His shoulder was soaked in blood now. My thigh burned where one of those fragments had grazed me. We were breaking each other down.
And neither of us was backing off.
He rushed me again.
I sidestepped, slashed at his knee. He hopped it, turned mid-air, and brought his heel down toward my head. I raised both arms, caught the blow on my forearms, and shoved him back. He landed, skidded, and drove forward again.
His style had changed. Less calculated now. More vicious. As if each strike was him trying to erase me from existence.
I understood it.
Because I was doing the same.
I caught his wrist on the next exchange, twisted, and slammed my forehead into his nose. Cartilage cracked. He grunted and swung wild. I ducked, hooked his ankle, and dropped him. He hit the ground, rolled, kicked out—caught me in the gut.
I bent forward.
His fist came up into my chin. I tasted blood.
He lunged to his feet and tackled me.
We crashed into the dirt again, rolling, snarling, slamming fists and elbows and knees into whatever we could reach. His blade went flying. So did Voidscar. It was just us now.
Flesh. Bone. Rage.
He grabbed my throat. I broke his grip and punched his ear. He drove his thumb toward my eye. I bit down on the soft part of his hand, felt the skin give, tasted blood. He screamed and reeled back. I twisted and threw my entire weight into him, sending us tumbling.
He rolled on top.
I reversed it.
Sand and sweat and blood mixed beneath us.
He got one knee between us and kicked me off.
I staggered to my feet, ribs aching, lip split, jaw screaming.
He stood too, swaying.
We looked at each other.
Breathing like beasts.
Then we charged again.
We collided like meteors.
No elegance. No rhythm. Just raw intent.
My shoulder crashed into his sternum, and I felt the breath leave him. He still swung—blindly, savagely—fist clipping my temple as I rammed him backward into a shattered pillar. The stone cracked behind him, webbing out from the impact. He grunted, and I drove a knee into his side, once, twice—each strike digging into that wound under his ribs.
He roared.
Not in pain, but defiance.
His hands shot up and clapped over my ears—hard. My balance went sideways. The world pitched and reeled. I stumbled back just as he shoved off the wall and launched a spinning backfist into my cheek. My head whipped around. I saw nothing but light and motion, but my instincts screamed.
Duck.
I dropped low just in time—his follow-up punch sailed over my head—and I surged upward with a rising elbow that caught him under the chin. He jerked back, and I didn't stop. My body moved on instinct now, like the Void had taken the reins.
A left to his gut. Right hook to the jaw. Step in. Shoulder-check. Backhand.
He caught the backhand mid-air.
Eyes wide. Snarling.
Then his head cracked into mine.
We both staggered, blood dripping from both of us now—his nose broken, my forehead split down the center. I spat, and red hit the sand.
His grin was feral.
"Still standing?" he rasped, voice thick with blood and something deeper—like admiration laced with hate.
"Not done," I growled.
His hand shot forward—palm open.
Too late.
A flash of NULL surged through his arm—raw, chaotic, barely formed—but the force behind it hit me like a sledgehammer. I flew backward, slammed into a mound of debris, my breath gone, ribs screaming.
Voidscar shimmered—just out of reach.
I rolled.
Fast.
Not a second too soon—his foot slammed down where my chest had been, cracking stone and sand alike. I lunged for Voidscar, wrapped my fingers around the hilt, and brought it up just in time to parry the next blow—his blade had returned too, like it had been called to him.
Our swords locked again.
The screech of their collision was deafening.
We pushed.
I could feel his strength wavering—just slightly—but the NULL in him flared, momentarily restoring it. His eyes glowed faintly, veins along his arms darkening, pulsing with that cursed energy. I had no NULL. No artificial power boost.
But I had Essence.
And I let it burn.
My skin rippled, that unseen coat from the chamber thrumming against the VOID's touch. Every cell in me screamed with effort, but I held my ground, then began to push back.
He blinked—surprised.
Voidscar glowed faintly. Not with light—but with resistance. It hummed against Ren's blade, and that hum grew into a vibration, until—
CLANG!
The lock shattered. Both of us staggered back from the force of the release.
I didn't wait.
I blurred forward—Essence guiding me, bending time around my senses. His next strike was slower now. I could see the opening before he even moved. I weaved past his blade, slid low, and came up with a savage uppercut that knocked his head back.
Then I drove Voidscar into his shoulder—just shy of his neck.
He screamed, a sound that tore out of him like a wounded animal. His body convulsed. NULL leaked from the wound like smoke, spiraling around us.
I tried to pull the blade free—he grabbed it, stopping me.
His hand bled.
But he held the blade in place.
Then… he laughed.
It wasn't joy.
It was madness.
"You think… that's enough?" he spat, blood trailing down his chin.
Then his whole body began to change.
NULL surged through him like a storm breaking free of its cage—tendrils of darkness coiling over his arms, shoulders, face. His pupils shrank. His teeth sharpened. His body grew slightly, muscles twisting, skin pulsing like it couldn't decide if it was flesh or voidstuff.
I yanked Voidscar free.
He screamed again—but it didn't stop him. He came at me with renewed fury, faster, heavier. The impact of his blade sent a shockwave rippling through the sand, forcing me back.
I gritted my teeth.
Essence flared again.
And I charged.
The battlefield vanished around us. No sand. No sky. Just him. Just me. Just war.
Every strike a thunderclap.
Every parry a prayer.
I swung for his chest—he blocked, pivoted, slashed for my neck. I ducked, came in close, headbutt—missed—he twisted, elbowed me in the spine, tried to sweep my legs—I leapt, spun, slashed downward.
He caught it with the flat of his blade.
Our swords locked again.
Foreheads inches apart.
Breath mingling.
Blood pouring.
This time, we didn't say a word.
We just screamed.
And the next wave of the fight began—