CHAPTER FIVE—BRAVADO AND METAL

Shiro rushed through the house and almost bowled Juri over. She screamed, covering her head with her hands as she slid down against the wall to the floor for safety.

When he got into the drawing room, what met Shiro’s eyes made his jaw drop.

It was Debaku, his back turned to the doorway with Razul on the other side of the room. Both men were giving it their all as their arms moved as a blur, their blades flashing like something out of a dream.

The speed at which they attacked and defended against one another was astounding to Shiro.

Is this what it means to be a top-tier adventurer?

“Razul!” Ali screamed. “What are you doing!”

But of course he didn’t answer, as all of his attention was diverted toward the sword strikes flashing into his space while he dodged, parried and countered Dabaku. As they fought, their feet moved in complex rhythms and they jumped back and forth, ebbing and flowing like the seas in a magically induced fever dream.

Ali moved forward, calling out Razul’s name, but Shiro grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him back. Ali lost his balance and fell into Shiro, who in turn fell over and both men sprawled to the floor.

Ali made to get back to his feet suddenly when Shiro grabbed him by shoulder. “Don’t!” he said. “Don’t go near them. They will kill you!”

Ali glanced back at Shiro with wide eyes. “Kill me? Why?”

“Look at them!” he gestured toward the fight. Debaku jumped and Razul slammed his fish-fin blade across the sofa, cutting it clear in half in a plume of feathers and wooden splinters.

Ali gasped. “Gods! I see your point, Shiro! But how can we stop this!”

Getting back to his feet, Shiro shook his head. He had no idea how to intervene in a fight this intense. The walls were practically being scoured from the wind of their attacks as pieces of wall art fell and small tables wobbled enough to make expensive pottery shatter across the floor.

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To Shiro, the men moved as a blur, their combat barely possible for him to make out. And that was with his abilities imparted to him by Jessamine.

The isekai had no idea what their movements appeared like to Ali’s eyes.

Suddenly both men broke apart and all was quiet for a moment.

“Debaku!” Shiro hissed. “What is happening?”

Razul, who was still on the opposite side of the room, didn’t move his eyes, didn’t flick his vision past his opponent toward Ali and Shiro. He had completely focus on his… attacker?

No, Shiro thought. It’s not possible, but…

Debaku had excused himself from the table to “speak” to Razul—and he had forbidden Shiro from following.

Was Razul a target?

Suddenly a horrible thought came to him. Was Debaku after Razul? Did he know Ali was his friend? Could it be that he had befriended Shiro after taking Jessamine away from him, only to pretend to assist him in finding her, but really he had been after Razul the whole time?

Two birds with one stone?

Something inside of Shiro knotted up and made him want to retch. If he thought about it, Shiro hardly knew Debaku. His story about his change of heart concerning Shiro and Jessamine was believable, but how was he to know it was the truth?

These men fought with incredibly power and speed, a force that Shiro could never match. Did their minds—their deviousness work in similar ways?

“Debaku!” Ali called.

“Silence,” Debaku commanded. “I am teaching this arrogant Abassir the meaning of power.”

Shiro almost chocked up as he glanced at Ali, who was completely bewildered by the look in his wide eyes.

Razul grinned, gesturing to Debaku to come forward. “Show me what you are capable of, Mar’a Thulian.”

The last words sounded to Shiro like an epithet. He was jeering Debaku on.

“Razul!” Ali commanded. “This is my house. Stop this at once!”

But he ignored Ali, raised his sword and then began to spin it. Air fluttered violently, and then suddenly there was such force that Shiro had to lean forward to keep from being blown over.

Keeping his eyes on Debaku, the Black Cobra suddenly shimmered with golden light as he too grasped his scimitar with both hands and moved the blade back as if he were preparing for a powerful strike while he leaned forward, bending his outstretched leg.

And then the two fighters shot forward at one another.

Shiro didn’t see what happened next.

There was… an impact?

The force of their contact shunted Shiro back and he flew bodily across the hallway and hit the wall on the other side, Ali landing heavily beside him as a thunder crack echoed through the house, glass and wood and furniture flying about.

Shiro slammed his eyes shut and screamed as he covered his face with the crook of his arm as if that would do him any good if the floor above him caved in and killed him and Ali both!