Chanwook grabbed and took off into the sky. His bloody wings fluttered above like crowns of the end.
"You ca right to us like so kind of guest. What the hell were you thinking?"
I crashed through glass and walls, but the hunter never let go of .
"You should never have been trusted—I thought that from day one! All because of that insufferable old man sitting on his throne."
Then he hurled even higher and prepared to swing his Kenketsu.
"You’re no Wonder Child! You’re just a False Promise!"
His blade was aid to split in two.
But I suddenly grabbed it with my bare fingers, effortlessly. From my back, long wings unfurled, and we both hung suspended in the air.
"You’re right," I answered. "But right now, you’re doing everything to make sure you lose."
Chanwook scoffed and dove in with sweeping arcs.
"And what, we’re supposed to just take your word for it? Guys like you can’t be trusted anymore."
I dodged. Landing behind him, I grabbed onto his wings. We started falling together.
"While your friends are getting killed down below," he glanced at with a sly grin, "I’ll keep attacking you over and over until you suffocate from exhaustion! You claim you’re the heir of a Duke? Let’s see who wins—you, or soone with two-thirds demon blood in his body!"
Chanwook suddenly twisted sideways and spun his blade like a cyclone. The sharp gust sliced my skin and nearly cut out my eye.
Then he charged with direct strikes. Dodging was hard—most of my speed vanished in the air. I hated fighting with wings.
"What are you waiting for?!" he shouted gleefully. "Wanna just die already?!"
I blocked one of his swings, kicked him, and grabbed his shoulders.
"Die? Hah.I am Death."
I punched him so hard in the face that Chanwook crashed through one of the Association’s floors. Workers jumped up in panic, faces pale with shock.
"Kenketsu..."
Streams of blood poured from my palms. More and more erged, forming a long, two-handed sword.
"...Ashmourne."
Chanwook got to his feet. His face lit up with a nervous thrill. Wanna dance? Then let’s dance.
He burst out of the window and lunged straight at .
I was just as curious to test my new Kenketsu. I swung—and he barely managed to parry.
Chanwook had picked the wrong opponent.
Chanwook staggered back from the force of the deflection, but didn’t hesitate. His wings flared open, and he launched himself upward, cutting through the sky like a missile.
I followed him, blood still dripping from my hands, Ashmourne pulsing like a living entity in my grip.
Mid-air, our blades clashed again.
A shockwave rippled outward, cracking windows of distant buildings. We spun, tal grinding against tal, our silhouettes locked in a spiral of sparks.
Chanwook twisted his body, slamming his foot into my chest. I flew backward and crashed through a tal balcony on the side of the tower.
The bars bent inward like paper, and I tumbled across the floor, rolling through a conference room and slamming into a steel support beam. Debris rained around .
Before I could even catch my breath, Chanwook was already upon .
"Say goodbye to your life, Prodigy!"
His blade ca down, and I raised Ashmourne just in ti—steel t blood-forged steel in a deafening clang that shook the floor.
He struck again. And again. Each blow heavier than the last.
I gritted my teeth, holding back the weight of his Kenketsu with both hands.
But the force pushed back—inch by inch, foot by foot—until we crashed through the far wall and plumted down the ergency stairwell.
We fell together. Our bodies scraped along concrete and steel rails. Sparks danced as our weapons collided with the tal edges.
Chanwook grabbed the railing mid-fall, pivoted, and kicked into the wall. My back cracked against it, leaving a spiderweb of fractures.
But I didn’t stop.
Mid-spin, I slamd Ashmourne into the stairwell floor, anchoring myself. The impact created a pulse of blood that ruptured the tal beneath.
Chanwook dove again — his wings dragging behind like the cloak of a tyrant — and his blade surged downward like a guillotine. I parried it with a side-swipe, then countered with a shoulder strike.
My blade grazed his ribs, slicing into the leather of his coat and opening a gash. Blood sprayed, but he didn’t slow. He laughed, even as crimson leaked from his mouth.
"It’s like a battle of two gods!" he howled. "Show sothing real with your damn wings!"
He spun, wings flaring wide. His body twisted unnaturally, propelled by a demonic surge.
His Kenketsu lengthened into a whip-like arc, red energy lashing out in a spiral. The hallway around us shattered—the ceiling exploded in chunks, staircases collapsed in a cascade of steel.
I raised Ashmourne with both hands and held firm.
The impact sent crashing through the wall and into another office floor. Desks and partitions burst apart as I rolled across the carpet, saring it with blood.
I exhaled hard. My ribs ached. My arm trembled. But Ashmourne was still in my grip.
From above, he ca again.
A flaming dive, blade-first.
I turned.
And t him head-on.
We crashed into each other like cots. Our swords t mid-strike, the sound thunderous. Chanwook growled through his teeth, but I could see it in his eyes now—his confidence was cracking.
He swung again. I parried. He swung again. I stepped inside.
And then—strike.
Ashmourne carved a deep slash across his chest. He gasped. The air shimred with blood and heat.
The hunters watched us from the road.
"Now this is what I call a real fight!" Ryu exclaid with glee. "What’s with the long faces, huh? You all look like you’re heading to your funerals. Don’t tell you’re actually afraid to die?"
His arm had morphed into a curved blade. He was holding Shingen by the neck, ready to slit his throat.
All weapons were aid at Kusanagi’s team.
"Kusanagi..." Sashi said carefully, her voice tense. "This isn’t the ti for jokes. Do you really think it’s worth holding our people hostage?"
"If you were in our position, ma’am, you’d be doing the exact sa thing," Kusanagi replied. "We’re not planning to die for nothing.Especially when everything’s going according to plan."
Suddenly, a sharp voice echoed through the street—like a guttural howl that summoned sothing monstrous.
Everyone turned their heads.
And from the smoke and frost, stepped forth humanity’s most feared enemy.
Mujin.
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