The coliseum's roar was a living thing, a cacophony of clashing steel and bloodthirsty cheers that reverberated through Kai's bones. He adjusted the onyx helm masking his face, its visor etched with the snarling visage of a sky-wolf. Beneath it, sweat stung his crystallized eye, the Veil's amber veins pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
"Remember," Li Na had warned him before he'd stepped into the arena, "the more you use the Veil, the faster it consumes you. Win without it."
Easy for her to say, Kai thought, eyeing his opponent across the sand. The man was a mountain of muscle, his skin tattooed with runes that shimmered like liquid mercury. A former storm-priest, according to the jeering crowd. Vorak the Unbroken.
"First round: Vorak versus the Masked Revenant!" the announcer bellowed.
Vorak hefted a spiked maul, its head crackling with static. "I'll peel that mask off your corpse," he growled.
Kai unsheathed Jiro's cutlass, its runes flickering faintly. "You'll try."
The gong struck.
Vorak charged, maul swinging in a lethal arc. Kai ducked, sand spraying as the weapon cratered the ground. He lunged, aiming for the gaps in Vorak's armor, but the priest pivoted with unnatural speed, backhanding him with a gauntleted fist.
Kai's helm rang like a bell as he skidded across the arena. Blood trickled down his chin. The Veil hissed in his mind, eager.
Not yet.
Vorak loomed over him, maul raised. "No pretty tricks, Revenant?"
Kai rolled, grabbing a handful of sand. He flung it—not at Vorak's eyes, but at the maul's crackling head.
The static ignited the sand into a burst of searing light. Vorak roared, blinded.
Kai drove the cutlass upward, through the priest's armpit and into his heart.
The crowd erupted as Vorak collapsed.
[Corruption Threshold: 27%.]
Bastard, Kai thought, staring at his trembling, half-crystallized hand. Even without actively using the Veil, it gnawed at him.
Round after round, the tournament blurred. A duelist with twin daggers. A chain-wielding brute from the lower isles. Each victory cost him—a cut here, a bruise there, the Veil's corruption creeping like frost across glass. By the semifinals, his right eye was a fractured mosaic of amber, his breaths ragged.
Li Na met him in the combatants' tunnel, her scarred face grim. "You're pushing too hard."
"No choice," Kai rasped, gulping sky-whale bile from her canteen. The bitter liquid dulled the Veil's hunger, but barely. "Who's next?"
"The final match. Against her."
Across the arena, a figure stepped into the light. Lady Anara, clad in silver-scale armor, her raven hair braided for war. She twirled a slender sword, its edge singing with harmonic resonance.
"The warlord's daughter?" Kai hissed. "She's in the tournament?"
"A recent entrant," Li Na said, her voice tight. "She's toying with you."
Anara's gaze locked onto Kai's, a smirk playing on her lips.
"Combatants, ready!"
Kai tightened his grip on the cutlass. Don't use the Veil. Don't—
The gong struck.
Anara moved like lightning, her blade a blur. Kai parried, but her strikes were precise, calculated—each clash ringing with metallic fury.
"You're holding back, Revenant," she taunted, feinting left before slicing his forearm. "Where's the fire?"
Blood dripped onto the sand. The Veil seethed.
Chrono-Stutter.
Time froze. One second.
He disarmed her, the sword clattering away.
Time snapped back.
Anara stared at her empty hand, then laughed—a rich, dangerous sound. "Finally."
She lunged, not for the sword, but for Kai's mask. He jerked back, but her fingers hooked under the helm, tearing it free.
The crowd gasped.
"Kairos Veyra," Anara whispered, loud enough for only him to hear. "The fallen prince lives."
[Corruption Threshold: 34%.]
The Veil's pulse spiked, amber light bleeding from Kai's eye. Anara's grin widened.
"Yield," she said, "or I'll scream your name to the skies."
He froze. She wouldn't—
"Guards!" she shouted, turning toward the warlord's balcony. "This man is—
Kai tackled her, pinning her wrists. "What do you want?!"
"A deal," she breathed. "Win this tournament. Then help me kill my father."
"Why?"
Her smile faded. "He murdered my mother to appease the gods. Now, he'll burn the skies to keep his throne."
The crowd jeered, demanding action.
Kai released her. "Fine."
She reclaimed her sword and raised his hand in mock triumph. "The Revenant yields!"
Boos rained down, but Anara winked. "Until tonight, princeling."
Victory feast.
The warlord's hall was a den of shadows and splendor, its walls adorned with tapestries of conquered isles. Kai sat stiffly beside Anara, the sky-whale's heart—a pulsing, opalescent orb—resting on the table between them.
"A toast!" the warlord boomed, rising from his bone-carved throne. "To the Revenant, and to my daughter's… clever tactics."
His gaze lingered on Kai, sharp as a blade.
Anara slid a wine cup toward Kai. "Don't drink," she murmured.
The warlord raised his chalice. "To strength!"
Kai pretended to sip. Across the hall, Li Na watched from the shadows, daggers hidden beneath her cloak.
The warlord's smile turned venomous. "You wear your lies poorly, Revenant. But no matter."
He snapped his fingers.
The hall's doors exploded inward as armored guards surged, crossbows aimed.
"Kill the prince."
Anara's cup clattered to the floor. "Father—!"
"Did you think I wouldn't recognize my own poison?" he spat, pointing at the swapped chalices. "You've betrayed me for the last time."
Kai grabbed the sky-whale heart and lunged for the window. Li Na's daggers flew, slicing ropes holding a chandelier. It crashed, scattering guards.
"Go!" Li Na yelled, tossing him a smoke pellet.
Kai shattered it, the hall filling with acrid fog. Anara seized his arm.
"Take me with you."
"Why?"
"Because I hate him," she snarled.
The Elysian Dawn hovered outside, Veyra-7's hologram cursing. "Hurry up, meatbags!"
They leapt as crossbow bolts peppered the air. The ship lurched skyward, the warlord's roar fading below.
"Where now?" Li Na panted, clutching a bolt graze on her thigh.
Kai stared at the heart, its essence already soothing the Veil's corruption. "To Solara. To the next fragment."
Anara leaned close, her breath warm. "And then?"
He met her gaze. "We end this."
[Corruption Threshold: 39%.]