Shika clenched the hilt of her katana with both hands, holding the blade out in front of her. Wáng Heatfaze was stomping forward, his heavy boots cracking stone and shaking the ground. Smoke trailed from the holes in his bracelets, and flowed from his open mouth. His flaming eyes burned bright, his fiery hair a raging bonfire.

“What are you doing, standing there!” Yuè shouted to her mind. Shika flinched. “Attack!” the spirit screamed. Shika shot forward, trailing black mist, moving like the wind, her unexpected speed bringing her too close to the enemy.

She collided with a blazing, invisible field of fire aura. It singed the threads of her robe, thrusting her back. She soared through the air, then alighted on the flagstones.

She glanced left then right. A rippling wall of molten steel surrounded the entire plaza, stretching high to the sky. Even if she did try running away, the wáng could easily—

He roared, sounding like metal grinding against metal.

Shika flinched, enforcing her ears with maqi, dampening the painful sound while crouching in preparation to fight.

Heatfaze punched the pavement, fist tearing through the flagstones. Molten metal flowed down his arm, and into the ground. Shika’s feet grew warm. She looked down with her Tin Vision to find the wáng’s maqi surging through the ground, shooting toward her like a geyser.

She blinked out of Tin Vision as she lunged to one side, hitting the pavement and sliding. Molten lava exploded through the ground where she once stood, jetting high to the sky. It was a mixture of orange and white light, radiating an abominable aura of heat. She should have combusted from sheer exposure, but with Yuè’s dark power pulsing through her, mixing with her own maqi and enforcing her soul, she stayed cool.

Shika held her katana off to one side, cycling her hybrid maqi through the blade of Nightbane. She slashed at her enemy while activating Silver Moon’s Crescent. A dark, arching blade shot toward her enemy. She slashed again, and again, five more times.

Heatfaze simply jumped, dodging the crescents and arcing toward her. She slashed at him again, but the man spun out of the way. Shika kicked off the ground, rising to meet him. The closer she got, the hotter the air grew. She’d heard stories of Heatfaze’s enemies catching fire, burning in the presence of his oppressive aura. And she believed it! Even with Yuè bound to her core, she was still sweating, skin burning.

She slashed at his metal face. He lifted an arm, and her blade caught one of his bracelets. She tried to pull back, but the weapon was stuck. Before she could abandon the weapon and jump aside, fire exploded from his soul, enveloping her in an awful grasp of aura. She screamed, slamming her eyes shut, flames licking her skin.

Those in the Wisdom realm, no matter the rank, had supreme control over aura. Had Heatfaze been a little weaker, with nothing but a Greater Gold Core, his explosive flames would have passed her in an instant.

But no. Instead, they enveloped her in a swirling vortex and would not go away. She squeezed her dantian, cycling maqi to enforce her skin. The energy was dwindling fast. When she ran out, she would burn to a crisp! She had to get out of this. Now!

“Open your eyes,” Yuè thought to Shika.

Shika’s eyes fluttered. A dark aura enveloped her, holding the flames at bay. What . . . ? She touched her belly, focusing on her dantian. Her maqi was feeding into this shield, but it was an inconsequential amount.

“Hold out your hand.”

Shika obeyed. Her katana formed in her grasp.

“Charge it up.”

Maqi flowed into the weapon, charging up for an attack.

“You remember that technique I mentioned earlier? The one I used to devastate towns? Wipe out populations? End lives?”

Shika was still staring at the dark layer enveloping her soul, still with shock. This was her first conscious experience actively using Yuè’s power. That last time, back at the glade with her religious kin, had been a crazed blur. To her relief, she didn’t feel the slightest tinge of guilt—not even when she remembered cutting through her friends, murdering supposed allies, ending innocent lives. She grimaced, remembering the pangs of conscience. But she didn’t feel it. Yuè’s energy pulsed within her heart, keeping the undesirable emotions at bay.

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“Shika,” Yuè whispered. “The time has come.”

“For . . . ?”

“The end of this conflict.” Chaos-maqi and blade-maqi intertwined form within, flowing along her arms. She was grasping the katana’s hilt with both hands, squeezing tight as her spiritual energy flowed into the weapon. “Use Netherbringer.” Without a hint of hesitation, Shika activated the technique.

Her meridians turned to ice as her sword hand felt as if she’d dunked it beneath the surface of a frozen lake. A dark aura—looking almost like a haze of anti-light—radiated from her weapon. “Now,” Yuè whispered. “End this.”

Shika spun, cutting through the flames. They evaporated, and she dropped to the flagstones in a predatory crouch. Heatfaze was already charging at her, a blazing inferno. He shoved his fists forward, thrusting out a jet of molten steel.

Shika screamed, jabbing her blade into the oncoming column of molten steel. She was shoved back, her bare feet sliding against the pavement as the darkness radiating from her weapon expanded. Her arms shook against the strain, but as she came to a stop, it no longer felt like anything was pushing against her. She looked to find that the anti-light enveloping her blade was absorbing the molten geyser, her weapon increasing in darkness. When it looked like a three-dimensional shadow, it fuzzed and crackled in her hands.

“Strike!” Yuè shouted.

Shika bellowed and shoved the blade forward. A beam of anti-light shot from the tip of Nightbane and through the jet of molten steel, splitting it apart before piercing through Heatfaze’s chest. He stumbled back, but before he could recover, Shika kicked off the ground, lunging forward. Screaming, she thrust her blade toward the dark wound in his chest.

He swung a hand, knocking her weapon off course before thrusting a fist into her jaw. It cracked, and a spray of stars splattered across her vision. For a moment, everything was dark. When she came to, she found herself rolling across the flagstones.

Her immediate instinct was to jump to her feet and hold out her sword. Heatfaze would follow up at the punch with one of his deadly techniques! As she moved to rise, her head swooned. She cycled maqi through her scalp, and into her brain. Her broken jaw smarted, so she sent a stream into the cracked bone. Soul artists’ bodies, especially those with Golden Cores, healed far faster than those in the lower realms, so she wasn’t worried about the wound. What she was worried about was Heatfaze. He should have crushed her by now!

She lifted her head, sparing a gaze for the enemy. He was doubled over, a hand pressed against his chest. It was dripping with dark essence, and slowly spreading across his armor. Steam billowed from the holes on his arm, and the flames of his hair expanded. He roared, sounding like a massive, steaming tea kettle.

“Finish him.” Yuè giggled, sounding like an eager little girl. “Finish him!” Shika staggered to her feet, leaning against her blade. It radiated as if with heat haze, a dark cloud swirling it. She could see the weapon through the fog. It was as white as a ghost “Come on, hurry human!” Her sword yanked her forward, and Shika stumbled along with it.

The emptiness in her heart shivered, giving way to a hint of frustration. Yuè was trying to take control. Again! Shika yanked back. “I’m in charge!” Her apathy slid away, and she was stabbed by a knife of overwhelming shame. She dropped to her knees, the cries of the soldiers she’d killed ringing in her ears, the shouts of her friends pleading for mercy bouncing in her skull. “No.” She shook her head. “No! STOP!” Yuè’s aura enveloped her heart, blocking out the emotions. The memories remained, but the feelings that accompanied them grew bland.

“We need to move! Or that hunk of a giant’s going to—”

Shika growled, lunging forward. Hungry to finish her enemy. She covered the space between her and Heatfaze in a blink, raising her sword. Jabbing it into the dark spot on his chest. Her momentum carried them forward, and they slid across the flagstones. When they came to a stop, Shika glared at the man’s bowed head. His fiery hair was flickering out, the smoke from his bracelets nothing but wisps.

“Tell me true!” Shika yelled, black mist trailing from her mouth. “Is Tàiyáng in the Stillwater Province?”

Heatfaze rasped.

Shika twisted her blade. “Answer me!” Shika and Yuè shouted at the same time, their voices a harmonized demand.

“He . . . is . . .” Heatfaze’s armor was completely black. He coughed, and red spittle dripped from his lips. “Mercy . . .” Heatfaze whispered. “Mercy!” As the darkness crawled up his neck, he lifted his burning eyes to hers. They were wide with horror. Shika stared into those flickering globes, knowing she should have felt something. But instead, her emotions were empty, giving way to cold logic.

“There is no mercy,” Yuè whispered through Shika’s lips. “Only chaos.” Shika jabbed further, releasing the activation of her technique. The energy stored within her blade exploded, shredding Heatfaze from the inside out. His metallic scream scraped Shika’s ears as he shattered into a billion black pieces, leaving Shika standing there, her blade stabbing nothing but air.

She stood there, in that stance. Expression flat. This should have been the time to marvel. But instead, she remained still. Impassive.

“I’ve wasted too much time,” she whispered, arms beginning to shake. She glanced down to see that her black, inky glove had stretched to her shoulder. It writhed, like a living goo. This should have been the means of shock. Disgust. Instead, the drive to hurry pricked her insides.

She needed to get to the Stillwater Province. And this time, she wouldn’t waste time dallying about, waiting for that wáng to meet with her. If he refused an audience, she would immediately force one upon him.

Cycling maqi to her legs, she kicked off the ground, cracking stones. She arced over a nearby wall, and when she landed, she kicked off again, jumping across a wasteland of dark stone. As she hurried to her next destination, she heard Yuè laughing hysterically in the back of her mind.