The guards and general standing behind White Mask, Blue Sword swarmed out like bees crowding out of a hive. There had only been ten or so visible in the darkness. As it turned out, there were at least fifty or sixty of them waiting in there! How cowardly! It was a fight of sixty against ten, and the odds didn’t look good with the raider’s best swordsman occupied battling off the Emperor’s right-hand man!

Like a dam breaking, adrenaline exploded through Abrial’s veins like a rushing, fiery river and wiped away the dark scowl on her face, replacing it with gleaming eyes..

“Do not be reckless,” Finley warned behind her, drawing her own knife. “I will protect you from behind.”

“Don’t worry about me, Finley!” Abrial beamed, slashing down the first guard who dared to take a swing at her with one swift stroke to the knees.

Up ahead, Niklas seemed to have transformed into a completely different person. As the small group was surrounded by towering guards and the sound of clashing metal filled the night air, his voice roared so loudly and furiously it seemed to shake the earth:

“Protect Wei Guang at any cost! Don’t allow them to strike him from behind! Take down as many guards as you can!”

“Yes, Sir Niklas!” The remaining raiders chorused.

Having given his order, Sir Niklas whirled around with a flash of silver light. Just like that, ten guards yelped and fell down at once, blood seeping from various body parts. So he could be useful in battle beyond rattling off egotistical, badly-timed jokes. That was a relief. At least his great name was somewhat deserved!

Standing back-to-back, Abrial and Finley slashed down guard after guard, until they were surrounded by limp bodies. A particularly slippery one came at Abrial again and again, striking near her knees with a spear in a cowardly fashion. Abrial stomped hard down on the shaft of the spear, cracking it into three pieces. Weaponless, the guard turned to run, but Abrial was faster; she threw out Dohyun from her right hand, and with a gleaming silver flash, it sliced clean through his armor, sending him sprawling and whimpering in the dirt. No one else dared to attack Finley or Abrial, nor could they really get close, since the two of them were surrounded by at least fifteen bodies, and…well, that made it pretty hard to walk around or approach them.

Casually, Abrial stepped over the guards’ bodies to retrieve Dohyun. She pulled it out of that man’s shoulder blade with a shink.

“Wow! Very red blood,” Abrial remarked with surprise, wiping the blade on her sleeve.

“Watch out!” Finley cried from behind her.

A gleam shot through the air towards Abrial’s shoulder blade from nowhere. Abrial spun around, lifting both Dohyun and Jiho to block, but a flash of pale robes dashed in front of her.

With her small knife, Finley had blocked the enormously thick, astoundingly heavy steel sword that had been aiming to cut Abrial’s arm off at the shoulder. Finley trembled under its weight, her face pale.

“Finley!” Abrial shouted. She bolted forward to take Finley’s place, raising both of her daggers to throw off that heavy sword with a violent push and a shower of sparks.

Finley’s pale hand gripped Abrial’s shoulder from behind, her slender, bloodstained fingers digging in deep. When she spoke, her voice shook, low and hoarse by Abrial’s ear sending a shiver down her spine:

“Let me…deal with him. I want to kill him.”

“...?”

“What a sweet surprise! Two girls who would give their lives for each other. Tell me, little girl, would you lose your mind if I killed your friend in white?”

Abrial’s blood froze. She whirled around to see that macho, sharply-cut face and leering grin glowering down at her. General Magnus stood with his wide steel sword raised, a loathsomely hungry look in his eyes that were darting between Abrial and Finley. He looked a little crazed.

“You look pretty crazy,” Abrial remarked bluntly, frowning. “You know, I think you have an unhealthy obsession with revenge. Maybe you should find another thing to do.”

All the color drained from General Magnus’s face. Rage and disbelief flashed in his already maddened eyes. “What did you say?!”

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Abrial frowned deeper. Had he not heard her the first time?

“I said you look kind of crazy. All I did was cut off your finger and slash your knees for almost beating my friend to death! Seriously, if I was after the same level of revenge as you, I would’ve just beaten you to death, right? So why all of this, ‘I’ll take revenge on you, torture you, etc, etc’? Isn’t that a little much? I get you’re mad, but you’re being way overboard if you ask me…”

By now, General Magnus’s face was the color of dried gray paper. He looked lost for words. Taking the opportunity, Finley flicked her fingers and sent him flying into the iron wall with a blast of wind so strong that a General Magnus-shaped dent got bashed into the metal.

“I’ll handle him,” Finley said darkly, shaking out her sleeves. “If you go to help Master Wei, be careful.”

Abrial nodded determinedly.

Over near the side of the prison, in the midst of the ongoing battle between the raiders and the remaining guards who numbered only in the teens now, snow-white and lightning-blue light flashed in a continuous, deadly dance. Like flowing water, Instructor Wei swirled and sliced, rising and falling, surging and retreating, his feet as fleet and light as leaves on the surface of a calm river. On the other hand, White Mask, Blue Sword moved like the wind itself. He swept forward so quickly that it made anyone watching wonder if he was a solid form or just rushing air, twisting and striking with the freeness and speed of a clear spring gale. They were like water and ice, a river and vapor, two forms of the same material, exactly and expertly matched to each others’ skill.

Abrial’s crooked grin shone with the pride of a student watching their master put all their ass-kicking skills on display. Instructor Wei really was just that amazing at blade fighting — he could even match the skill of White Mask, Blue Sword and fight for this long without a single scratch on his robes! Awesome!

Even better, since they exactly matched each other in skill, if she stepped in, that meant she could actually tilt the fight in Instructor Wei’s favor and help him defeat the Emperor’s legendary right-hand man!

Without further ado, Abrial leapt into the dance, and it quickly became an erratic clashing of white and silver on blue. Whenever Instructor Wei’s sword met that blue blade, Abrial ducked in and slashed at White Mask’s knees, forcing him to drop his blade and parry her before having to jump back up and block another blow from Instructor Wei.

“Abrial! What are you doing?” Instructor Wei demanded, blue sparks flying as he struck.

“Helping you! Now you can beat him, right, Instructor Wei?”

Instructor Wei didn’t answer. Up close, he looked much more tired than he’d seemed from afar. Sweat dripped down his graceful features like rain, and his jaw was clenched tight. As Abrial went in to slice at White Mask’s long, pale neck, Instructor Wei stumbled and bumped into her, pushing her off-course.

That misstep was all that was needed.

In a flash, White Mask neatly struck the back of Instructor Wei’s neck with his sword hilt, and just like that, the great Master Wei…fell to the ground, unconscious. Like a leaf, drifting to the earth and settling there quietly, somehow falling just as gracefully as he fought.

Just like that.

“Guang-er!” Niklas’s voice shook the earth. Abrial stood staring, her breath frozen.

How the hell could this happen?!

Instructor Wei had amazing blade fighting skills, unparalleled grace, and godly stamina. Could White Mask really just be…that good?!

Was he an even bigger legend than Instructor Wei?

Abrial’s eyes widened as White Mask’s gleaming blue sword sliced towards her neck in a beautiful arc, bringing the quietness of death. She didn’t have any time to block; she’d been too busy freaking out over her master.

Three thoughts bolted through her brain at that moment:

The first was,

I still can’t believe Instructor Wei’s so tired he actually tripped and got knocked out! That should be…fucking impossible!

The second was,

Finley isn’t going to be happy that I died.

And the third was,

This is a silly way to die….but I guess it’s not that far from a noble death in battle.

Expecting death, Abrial closed her obsidian eyes. This wasn’t exactly how she had imagined dying. More like at a slightly older age, with more skills and talent, after an hours-long battle with some evil, murderous blade fighter she had challenged. But this wasn’t too far off the mark. Sigh…not quite as badass a death as she’d wanted, but it would have to do…

Hold on…something was wrong here.

Why hadn’t she felt the blade pierce her throat?

Had she…already died? That quickly?! Wow! Did dying by sword just not hurt, or had her pain tolerance really increased that much?

No…that wasn’t right. She could still feel something. Someone’s warm hand was gripping her shoulder tightly, and there was something cold and sharp pressing against her neck…

Abrial’s eyes shot open. Okay, what was going on here? Why…was White Mask holding her tight and pressing his sword against her throat?