CHAPTER 46: UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES

As Kassie sparkled to life behind me, the two of us clashed. His longsword fell on me—I sidestepped it and lunged with one of my daggers held in reverse grip. He raised his sword quickly and deflected it.

I was moving again.

I twirled sharply, tried to get into his guard, but he shifted his blade to block. I turned back, using my other dagger. His hands came quick—caught my wrist mid-strike.

I flashed him a wicked grin and brought my free hand around, dagger angling for his ribs. With a longsword, his positioning to block or counter was all wrong.

But the bastard.

He didn’t even look bothered. He merely stared at me with cold, empty eyes and brought his leg up, kicking straight into my chest and launching me backward.

He gripped his sword with both hands and lunged at me, grinning.

"Is it that difficult to move your summon while trying to fight for your life?"

He smashed down against my crossed daggers, his grin bordering on insanity.

"I guessed that praised brain of yours is no less different in the face of true death!"

’Wow. Philosophy lessons from the psychopath. Fantastic.’

The bastard truly looked menacing—he even made my heart throb in fear for a moment as I looked at the madness blazing across his face. A little tremor ran through my arms.

He released one hand from his sword and punched into my gut. Hard. I staggered back, coughing, trying to suck air back into my lungs. He used the opening immediately, slipping his blade along my daggers’ edges and throwing me to the side.

I lost my balance.

A jab cracked into my cheek before I could recover. Then, as I tried to right myself, the pommel of his sword slammed against my nose—sending a spike of white-hot pain straight into my skull. My nose split. Blood sprayed. My head snapped back.

’Damnit! This bastard is a good fighter! Kassie, any time now would be great!’

Kassie...

I caught her in my peripheral vision. She was just standing there, perfectly still, watching like some kind of decorative statue.

’Really selling the "too busy getting my face rearranged to give commands" act. Method acting at its finest.’

She made it look convincing, at least.

"This is disappointing, Cade. I expected, to be honest—" He jabbed at me again with the pommel, snapping my face back. Blood filled my mouth. "More. More. You aren’t even trying!"

He grabbed my cloak, yanked me forward, and drove his elbow into my face.

I staggered back, blood pouring from my disfigured nose and split lip. Bent forward slightly, spitting red onto the ground. The metallic taste coated my tongue.

’Okay. So that’s not ideal.’

I raised my head slowly and looked at him.

He was standing straight, leaning casually on his sword, watching me with the kind of bored patience you’d give a particularly slow student.

’This bastard... there’s no way he didn’t receive special training.’

He was simply too good. Far better than anything we’d been taught in those sterile academy drills. He made all my sparring sessions with Tristan suddenly feel like kindergarten playtime—useless padding for a world that didn’t care about fair fights.

The bastard was stronger than me.

Well, no surprise there—he was S-rank after all. And the way he moved, fluid and precise, like violence was a language he spoke fluently? He couldn’t have gotten this good in just three weeks of academy training.

’Combat mastery attribute. Has to be.’

I straightened, wincing, and wiped blood off my mouth with my gloved hand. My gaze locked onto him, sharpening.

The bastard looked at me for a long moment... and suddenly laughed.

"Ah ah, wait wait wait—don’t tell me..." He tilted his head, grin widening. "You actually think you’re going to beat me?"

I shrugged.

"That’s the point of this battle, isn’t it?" I looked at him intensely, letting a smile curl at the corner of my lips. "See, you’ll be making a very big mistake if you think I’m going to be easy to kill." I brandished my daggers. "I’m tougher than a honey badger, you bastard."

"Mouth, mouth. Look at you." He shook his head, amused. "All bark."

I gripped my daggers properly this time—forward grip, both hands ready—and raced toward him.

The hierarchy had been established. I was the weaker one.

’No big deal. Seen plenty of weak things win against strong things.’

Like that time a honey badger escaped a lion on a nature documentary—

’Escaped, fool. Not killed. Escaped.’

’...Yeah, okay. Maybe I’m fucked.’

Either way, I leaped and met him with both daggers. For a heartbeat, I felt his expression shift as he contended with the sudden increase in my strength—my attributes were kicking in.

My eyes flared red.

"Freeze!"

Immediately, my dagger shot toward his throat. The tip was mere inches from piercing skin when someone barreled into me from the side—hammer striking hard into my ribs, sending me staggering sideways. The dagger missed.

I glanced at the newcomer with an angry wince.

"Stupid bastard!"

I shot forward, rage boiling in my chest.

"Kneel!"

The command hit him like a hammer. His legs buckled—deadweight dropping him to his knees. I stepped in and drove a kick straight into his face, feeling the satisfying crunch of impact as he slammed into the ground.

Then Kai was on me.

I angled my dagger to block his slash—felt the brutal force of it slam against my arms, tearing me off my feet and flinging me backward through the air. I hit the ground in a rough roll but immediately scrambled up.

Kai was already charging.

My eyes glowed intensely. Red aura flared around me—my grip tightened, and the building fatigue vanished like smoke. I frowned darkly and ran straight at him, meeting him in the middle.

Against his longsword, my daggers were a bad matchup. He had reach advantage.

’I just might consider another weapon choice if I ever survive this!’

We clashed hard. I stepped on his leading leg—put my full weight into it—and he tore out a yell. Then I immediately slammed the pommel of my dagger into his face, snapping his head back. As it came forward, I headbutted him straight-on.

Bone met bone.

He staggered backward, dazed, eyes unfocused.

I came in again, dagger raised, ready to stab straight through his throat—

Or so I thought.

But in that moment, I hesitated.

’Cade... are you really going to kill a human?’

That was the angel on my shoulder. Reasonable. Civilized.

’He tried to unalive you, fool! He’s deserving of death! This is a dog-eat-dog world! Kill or get killed!’

The devil on my other shoulder, screaming logic into my ear.