Jeremiah's warning came a second before the woman entered the street.
Jeremiah: "Heads up, kids. We got trouble."
Erika, Sylvie, and Esmarie turned together.
A blue-haired vampire stepped through the smoke drifting between the ruined buildings. She didn't rush them. She didn't carry the bloodlust that had accompanied most of the vampires they'd encountered tonight.
She simply walked.
A long sword rested loosely in her right hand.
The weapon was the first thing Jeremiah looked at.
Its blade was strangely dark beneath the reflected firelight, almost as though the steel swallowed whatever light touched it. Pale wisps occasionally circled its edge before disappearing back into the metal.
The vampire stopped several meters away.
Her eyes passed over each of them.
Then settled on Jeremiah.
Reina: "Four."
Jeremiah raised an eyebrow.
Reina: "That's inconvenient."
Erika stepped slightly ahead of Sylvie and Esmarie.
Erika: "Sorry."
Reina looked toward her.
Erika smiled.
Erika: "Should we come back with fewer people?"
Esmarie: "Erika."
Erika: "What?"
Jeremiah gave the smallest laugh.
Reina didn't.
She raised her sword.
Reina: "My name is Reina."
Jeremiah immediately adjusted his stance.
Jeremiah: "Jeremiah."
Erika: "Erika."
Sylvie: "Sylvie."
Esmarie hesitated.
Esmarie: "…Esmarie."
Reina: "Wonderful."
Her gaze lowered toward their weapons.
Reina: "Then I'll remember your names."
Something about the way she said it made Esmarie's stomach tighten.
Jeremiah noticed.
Jeremiah: "Stay close."
Reina disappeared.
Steel collided.
Jeremiah had drawn before Erika even registered the movement.
Reina's sword crashed against his, the force pushing him half a step backward.
His eyes narrowed.
Fast.
Reina immediately rolled her wrist and slid her blade along his. Instead of trying to overpower him, she changed the angle, stepped past his lead foot, and cut toward his ribs.
Jeremiah turned with her.
Their blades met again.
Erika entered from the side.
Reina saw her.
She broke from Jeremiah and caught Erika's slash cleanly.
CLANG!
Erika's eyes widened.
Reina's follow-up came instantly.
A short cut toward the wrist.
Erika pulled her hand away, pivoted, and attacked from the opposite direction.
Reina blocked that too.
Then the next.
And the next.
Erika's smile disappeared.
That got Jeremiah's attention.
Erika didn't usually need more than a few exchanges to begin taking control of another swordsman's rhythm.
Reina was giving her nothing.
Erika stepped left and feinted toward the shoulder.
Reina didn't bite.
Erika changed levels and swept low.
Reina lifted her front foot just enough for the blade to pass beneath it, then brought her sword down toward Erika's exposed shoulder.
Erika twisted.
The edge clipped her sleeve.
A shallow cut opened underneath.
Erika jumped backward.
Jeremiah moved between them.
Reina didn't pursue.
Instead, she simply returned her sword to position.
Jeremiah looked toward Erika.
Jeremiah: "You good?"
Erika glanced at the cut.
Erika: "Yeah."
Then she looked back at Reina.
Her eyes had changed.
More focused.
Jeremiah had seen that look before.
She was interested now.
Reina had managed to make the fight fun for her.
That was potentially useful.
Potentially dangerous.
Sylvie moved closer to Esmarie.
Sylvie: "Her swordsmanship is exceptional."
Jeremiah: "Very."
Esmarie: "Better than Erika?"
Erika glanced back.
Erika: "Hey."
Esmarie: "I'm asking strategically!"
Jeremiah kept his eyes on Reina.
Jeremiah: "We'll find out."
Reina attacked again.
This time Erika met her first.
Their swords flashed repeatedly through the smoky street, each collision coming faster than the last. Erika fought the way she always did when someone began challenging her—beautiful technique gradually giving way to something more instinctive.
Her movements stopped looking rehearsed.
Reina adjusted anyway.
Erika cut toward her neck.
Reina leaned aside.
A thrust followed.
Reina knocked it downward.
Erika used the contact to pivot around her.
Reina turned at exactly the same time.
Their shoulders nearly collided.
Both attacked.
Both stopped the other's blade.
Jeremiah watched every step.
Talent.
Not simply training.
Reina wasn't relying on superior vampire strength to carry her technique. Her footwork was balanced. Her cuts were compact. She understood distance well enough to make Erika constantly reconsider when to commit.
That made her dangerous even before whatever that sword did entered the equation.
Jeremiah: "Erika."
Erika jumped away from another cut.
Erika: "Yeah?"
Jeremiah: "You're taking point."
Esmarie blinked.
Erika did too.
Erika: "Me?"
Jeremiah: "You."
Sylvie looked toward him.
Jeremiah: "She's matching you better than I can while I watch everything else."
Erika glanced back at Reina.
Jeremiah continued.
Jeremiah: "You're still a kid."
Erika's eyebrow twitched.
Jeremiah: "But you're the best attacker we have."
That silenced her objection.
Jeremiah: "So attack."
Erika smiled.
Erika: "Gladly."
She rushed Reina.
⸻
Jeremiah changed roles.
He stopped trying to contest Reina directly and began watching.
Everything.
Her feet.
Her sword.
The battlefield.
Erika became the pressure.
Sylvie controlled the outside.
Esmarie stayed behind them, nervous but alert.
Jeremiah stayed close enough to intervene if the formation broke.
Erika attacked relentlessly.
Reina remained composed.
A horizontal slash.
Blocked.
Erika transitioned into a thrust.
Redirected.
She stepped inside.
Reina used the pommel of her sword to strike Erika's forearm.
Erika's hand loosened for a fraction of a second.
Reina attacked.
Jeremiah intercepted.
His blade caught Reina's before it reached Erika.
Jeremiah: "Don't admire her too much."
Erika retreated.
Erika: "I wasn't."
Jeremiah: "You were."
Erika: "Maybe a little."
Reina suddenly moved toward Jeremiah instead.
He expected the strike.
What he didn't expect was the pale light that rose from somewhere behind her.
A small orb floated from the body of a dead Hunter lying near the side of the street.
Jeremiah saw it.
So did Sylvie.
The pale sphere drifted through the air.
Then vanished into Reina's sword.
Everyone paused.
Just for an instant.
Reina didn't.
Her speed increased.
Jeremiah barely caught the next strike.
His eyes widened.
The difference was immediate.
Reina pushed through his guard, twisted, and kicked him hard in the abdomen.
He slid backward.
Erika intercepted before Reina could follow.
Their blades collided.
Erika was pushed back harder than before.
Sylvie: "She got stronger."
Jeremiah recovered.
Jeremiah: "Yeah."
Esmarie looked toward the corpse.
Esmarie: "That thing came from him."
Jeremiah: "I saw it."
Reina glanced toward them.
She smiled faintly.
Reina: "Observant."
Erika attacked again.
Reina's enhanced speed made the exchange completely different.
Her sword met Erika's earlier.
Her counters arrived faster.
Erika's advantage through instinct began shrinking.
Reina forced her backward.
Erika ducked a slash.
Reina turned the blade downward.
Erika barely rolled away.
Jeremiah stepped in.
Reina immediately disengaged before he could surround her with Erika.
Smart.
Jeremiah filed that away too.
She understood formations.
She wasn't going to let four people simply collapse onto her.
Esmarie looked around.
There were bodies nearby.
Far too many.
Hunters.
Civilians.
Vampires.
The street behind Reina had already seen fighting before they arrived.
Esmarie: "There are a lot of dead people here."
Sylvie understood immediately.
Sylvie: "Jeremiah."
Jeremiah nodded.
Jeremiah: "I'm thinking the same thing."
Reina's sword gave off another faint pulse.
Jeremiah watched the bodies.
Nothing happened.
Yet.
He still didn't know the condition.
Did Reina need to kill someone herself?
Did she need to be near them?
Could she take every soul?
Could the sword only hold one at a time?
Too many unknowns.
Jeremiah hated unknowns.
Reina attacked.
Erika moved to meet her.
This time Sylvie joined.
Reina parried Erika's first slash, but Sylvie's attack forced her to shift.
Erika used the opening.
Her blade finally cut across Reina's side.
A clean hit.
Not deep.
But real.
Reina jumped backward.
Erika smiled.
Erika: "Got you."
Reina looked down at the blood.
Then back at Erika.
Reina: "You did."
Her expression changed.
Not anger.
Interest.
Reina: "You're talented."
Erika: "People keep telling me."
Reina: "And humble."
Erika: "Sometimes."
Sylvie sighed.
Then Reina attacked from outside normal range.
Her sword swung.
Erika was nearly three meters away.
There was no reason to block.
Jeremiah saw something leave the blade.
Jeremiah: "ERIKA!"
A spectral extension flashed from the edge.
Erika reacted entirely on instinct.
She threw herself sideways.
The ghostly slash passed through the space where her chest had been and carved into the wall behind her.
Everyone stared.
Erika landed in a crouch.
Erika: "Okay."
She looked at the damaged wall.
Erika: "That's new."
Reina's sword dimmed slightly.
Jeremiah noticed.
So did Sylvie.
Another ability.
And perhaps another use of whatever she'd taken from the corpse.
Jeremiah began forming the first rough picture.
The sword absorbed something from the dead.
Whatever it absorbed could be spent.
One use had strengthened Reina.
Another extended her attack.
He didn't know how much she had.
He didn't know what else it could do.
But there was a resource involved.
That was enough for now.
Jeremiah: "Don't assume you know her range anymore."
Erika stood.
Erika: "Got it."
Jeremiah: "Sylvie, keep watching the bodies."
Sylvie nodded.
Jeremiah: "Esmarie, you see another one of those orbs move, tell me immediately."
Esmarie: "Right."
Reina looked amused.
Reina: "Already making rules?"
Jeremiah: "Keeps the kids alive."
Reina: "How responsible."
Jeremiah: "That's the job."
Reina moved.
Erika intercepted.
This time she didn't stay directly in front of her.
She cut once and immediately moved around Reina's side.
Reina turned.
Sylvie entered from the opposite angle.
Reina stepped backward to avoid being boxed in.
Jeremiah smiled faintly.
Good.
They were already learning.
Erika pressured again.
Reina blocked.
Sylvie forced her toward the center.
Jeremiah stayed just far enough away to watch for anything strange.
Esmarie remained behind them.
Then another pale orb rose.
Esmarie saw it first.
Esmarie: "There!"
The soul came from another corpse near Reina.
It flew toward the sword.
Jeremiah's eyes sharpened.
Jeremiah: "Don't let it reach her!"
Sylvie moved.
Her blade cut through the orb.
Nothing happened.
The sword passed straight through.
Sylvie's eyes widened.
The soul continued forward.
Reina's blade absorbed it.
Jeremiah: "Okay."
Sylvie retreated.
Sylvie: "So we can't stop them directly."
Jeremiah: "Apparently not."
Reina's smile grew.
Erika lowered her stance.
Erika: "Then we'll just keep making her use them."
Jeremiah glanced at her.
That was one possibility.
But something about the number of corpses surrounding them bothered him.
If the dead were feeding Reina…
Then this was the worst possible place to fight her.
He looked toward the ruined streets farther inland.
Fewer bodies.
More open space.
Jeremiah's mind started working.
Reina rushed Erika again.
Their swords collided hard enough to scatter sparks between them.
Erika smiled through the pressure.
Reina smiled back.
Two exceptionally talented swordswomen locked together while Jeremiah watched the weapon between them.
They had learned one thing.
Then another.
But Jeremiah knew enough about battle to understand how dangerous that could be.
Knowing part of an ability often made people think they knew all of it.
And the sword in Reina's hands still had far too many secrets left.
Jeremiah stopped trying to beat Reina where she stood.
That was the first real adjustment.
The fight had spilled onto the shoreline, where the once-beautiful festival beach had become another graveyard. Broken lanterns and overturned stalls littered the sand. Abandoned sandals, towels, food containers, and shattered decorations had been washed together by the tide.
And scattered among all of it were bodies.
Hunters.
Civilians.
Vampires.
Some lay farther up the beach. Others were close enough to the water that small waves repeatedly reached their clothes before retreating.
Every corpse was a problem.
Jeremiah had already watched pale orbs rise from the dead and disappear into Reina's strange blade. He had seen her grow stronger afterward. He had watched her spend whatever she had taken to extend the reach of a slash far beyond what the steel itself should have been capable of.
He still didn't know the rules.
That was dangerous.
Jeremiah: "Erika."
Erika kept her eyes on Reina.
Erika: "Yeah?"
Jeremiah: "Start moving her south."
Erika glanced toward him.
The beach stretched far in that direction, gradually becoming emptier as it left the destroyed festival grounds behind. Far fewer bodies were scattered there.
She understood immediately.
Erika: "Got it."
Reina watched the exchange.
Reina: "Planning something?"
Jeremiah: "Always."
Erika attacked.
Her sword cut toward Reina's shoulder. Reina caught it cleanly, but Erika never intended to push through. She immediately withdrew and stepped toward the southern stretch of beach.
Reina followed just enough to maintain pressure.
Sylvie moved with them.
Jeremiah remained on Reina's opposite side.
Esmarie stayed several steps farther back, keeping her attention divided between Reina and the surrounding shoreline.
Erika attacked again.
Reina parried.
Erika gave ground.
Another step south.
Jeremiah entered from the flank before Reina could change direction. His blade forced her away from the water and farther down the beach.
Reina shifted.
Sylvie was already waiting.
She didn't attack recklessly. One controlled thrust toward the ribs was enough to force Reina another step in the desired direction.
They were herding her.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Without ever openly admitting it.
Reina's shoes dragged through the sand as she pivoted around Erika's next slash. Unlike fighting on pavement, every step here sank slightly beneath their weight. Footwork demanded more effort. Sudden changes of direction threw loose sand into the air.
Erika adapted quickly.
Reina did too.
Their blades met again.
CLANG!
Erika stepped through the collision and attacked from the opposite side.
Reina turned.
Jeremiah filled the space behind her.
Reina backed away.
Another few meters.
The sound of the ocean followed them.
Waves broke against the beach only yards away, almost peaceful compared to the distant explosions echoing across Hanabi Island.
Then Esmarie saw it.
Esmarie: "Another one!"
A pale orb rose from a dead Hunter farther up the shoreline.
It hovered for only a moment before drifting toward Reina.
Nobody tried cutting it this time.
They'd already learned that didn't work.
The orb sank into the Reaper's Feast Blade.
Reina accelerated.
Her next step kicked sand backward in a burst.
Erika barely caught the attack.
The force drove her boots through the beach until she nearly lost her footing.
Reina followed with a thrust.
Erika twisted aside.
The tip missed her ribs by inches.
Sylvie rushed in.
Reina disengaged before they could surround her.
Jeremiah watched closely.
Jeremiah: "Keep pushing."
Erika: "You don't have to keep reminding me."
Jeremiah: "You're enjoying yourself too much."
Erika: "I can do both."
Jeremiah sighed.
Then Reina attacked him.
Her sword flashed downward.
Jeremiah stepped aside and redirected it into the sand.
Reina immediately turned the failed cut into an upward slash.
Jeremiah leaned away.
Too close.
He retreated toward the open shoreline.
Reina followed.
Exactly what he wanted.
⸻
The farther they moved from the destroyed festival section, the cleaner the beach became.
There were still signs of panic.
Footprints.
Dropped belongings.
A few overturned beach chairs.
But significantly fewer bodies.
That mattered.
Erika continued acting as their spearhead.
She attacked Reina in short, aggressive sequences while Jeremiah and Sylvie gradually narrowed the vampire's choices.
A high cut.
Blocked.
Erika pivoted.
A thrust.
Redirected.
Sylvie appeared on Reina's right.
Jeremiah closed the left.
Reina stepped backward.
Sand shifted beneath her heel.
Her eyes briefly moved toward the area around them.
That was when Jeremiah knew she'd figured it out.
Reina stopped.
Erika stopped a few meters away.
The tide rolled between them and the waterline.
Reina looked toward the destroyed section of beach behind them.
Then back at Jeremiah.
Reina: "You're taking me away from the dead."
Jeremiah: "Took you long enough."
Reina smiled faintly.
Jeremiah didn't like that smile.
Reina: "No."
Her gaze shifted past him.
Toward Esmarie.
Reina: "I noticed several exchanges ago."
Esmarie stiffened.
Then Reina vanished.
Not rushed.
Not blurred.
Gone.
Erika's eyes widened.
Sylvie immediately turned.
Jeremiah spun toward the destroyed festival beach.
Reina reappeared beside a corpse nearly forty meters behind them.
The body belonged to one of the Hunters they'd passed earlier.
Esmarie: "She teleported!"
Reina was already moving.
She crossed several meters before the others could fully reposition.
Esmarie suddenly found herself closest.
Her stomach dropped.
Reina's blade came toward her.
Sylvie intercepted.
Steel crashed together.
The impact pushed Sylvie sideways through the sand.
Erika charged.
Reina blocked her.
Jeremiah arrived from the other direction.
Reina broke away before the three could box her in.
She landed beside the body she'd appeared near.
Jeremiah stared at it.
Then at the sword.
Jeremiah: "The corpses aren't just feeding you."
Reina rested her blade loosely against one shoulder.
Jeremiah: "They're anchors."
Reina: "Perhaps."
Erika: "That's annoying."
Reina: "Thank you."
Erika frowned.
Erika: "That wasn't a compliment."
Reina: "Neither was mine."
Jeremiah almost smiled.
Almost.
The situation was considerably worse now.
Moving Reina away from the corpses helped.
But if she could simply teleport back to one whenever she wanted, then the dead were affecting positioning as much as they affected her power.
The entire beach was part of Reina's arsenal.
Jeremiah: "Same plan."
Sylvie looked toward him.
Sylvie: "Even knowing she can return?"
Jeremiah: "Especially knowing."
He raised his sword.
Jeremiah: "Every time she comes back here, we push her out again."
Reina tilted her head.
Reina: "Persistent."
Jeremiah: "Comes with age."
Erika rushed her.
⸻
The next several minutes became Erika's fight.
Jeremiah allowed it.
Reina's sword was dangerous enough that sending everyone into every exchange would only create openings. More importantly, Erika was the only person among them who could consistently pressure Reina without immediately losing control of the duel.
Jeremiah needed information.
Erika could give him time to gather it.
Their swords met beside the water.
Erika attacked first.
One slash toward the shoulder.
Reina parried.
Erika immediately cut low.
Reina shifted her lead foot and let the blade pass through empty space.
A thrust followed.
Erika knocked it aside.
Both stepped at the same time.
Their shoulders nearly collided.
Reina tried to turn inside Erika's guard.
Erika rotated with her.
Steel flashed between them.
They separated.
Then attacked again.
Reina's swordsmanship was beautiful in its efficiency.
No unnecessary movement.
No wasted steps.
Her balance remained centered even when loose sand shifted beneath her. She kept her blade close enough to recover from almost any missed strike.
Erika was different.
Her technique began just as clean.
Then instinct took over.
She attacked from angles that should have compromised her balance, only to somehow recover before Reina could punish them.
She leaned too far.
Stepped too close.
Turned a conventional retreat into another attack.
Reina's eyes narrowed.
Erika slipped beneath a slash and appeared almost shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
Reina pivoted.
Erika was already moving again.
Her blade came toward Reina's back.
Reina blocked late.
The impact forced her one step closer to the tide.
Reina: "Interesting."
Erika: "What?"
They separated.
Reina: "You fight like someone taught a beast etiquette."
Erika blinked.
Erika: "…Thanks?"
Jeremiah: "Pretty sure that wasn't a compliment."
Erika looked toward him.
Erika: "I like it."
Reina attacked before she could say anything else.
Erika barely caught the slash.
Their weapons scraped together as Reina pressed forward.
Erika twisted her wrist, released the pressure, and stepped sideways.
Reina's blade passed her.
Erika cut across Reina's ribs.
The vampire twisted.
The edge still opened a shallow line.
Erika smiled.
Reina looked down at the blood.
Then back at her.
Reina: "You really are talented."
Erika: "I've heard."
Reina: "Often?"
Erika: "Very."
Sylvie: "She isn't exaggerating."
Esmarie: "Unfortunately."
Erika: "Whose side are you two on?"
Reina moved.
Erika's expression instantly sharpened again.
⸻
The duel accelerated.
The shoreline gave both of them room to move.
Waves rushed toward their ankles before retreating, occasionally soaking the sand beneath their feet and changing the footing from one exchange to the next.
Erika attacked high.
Reina caught it.
Erika stepped through the shallow water and slashed from below.
Reina jumped backward onto drier sand.
Erika followed.
Their swords collided three times in rapid succession.
Reina countered.
Erika ducked.
A strand of her hair fell into the surf.
Erika glanced at it.
Erika: "Hey."
Reina: "Pay attention."
The next thrust nearly caught her.
Erika pivoted aside and answered with a slash toward Reina's wrist.
Reina withdrew just in time.
Jeremiah watched.
This wasn't simply a vampire relying on superior physical ability.
Reina knew exactly what she was doing.
Jeremiah: "She's good."
Sylvie: "That seems obvious."
Jeremiah: "No."
His eyes remained on Reina's feet.
Jeremiah: "I mean really good."
Reina readjusted as Erika changed rhythm.
Jeremiah: "Her strength isn't carrying her technique."
Esmarie: "What does that mean?"
Jeremiah: "Take the vampire part away and she'd still be dangerous."
Erika broke through Reina's guard.
Her blade grazed Reina's shoulder.
Reina responded instantly.
The Reaper's Feast Blade cut Erika across the upper arm.
Erika jumped backward.
Sylvie: "Erika!"
Erika looked at the wound.
Only shallow.
Erika: "I'm fine."
Reina's gaze briefly settled on the blood.
Jeremiah noticed.
He didn't know why it mattered yet.
Erika rushed back in.
⸻
Neither swordswoman could dominate.
Erika's unpredictability forced Reina to constantly adjust.
Reina's discipline prevented Erika from turning those moments into decisive openings.
They pushed each other up and down the shoreline, occasionally entering ankle-deep water before returning to the sand.
Reina slashed.
Erika blocked.
The tide rushed around their feet.
Reina suddenly kicked wet sand upward.
Erika turned her head away.
Reina attacked.
Erika caught the sword anyway.
Reina's eyebrows rose.
Erika: "Cheap."
Reina: "Effective."
Erika: "Didn't work."
Reina: "Then perhaps not."
Erika smiled.
Their blades separated.
She immediately attacked again.
Jeremiah began understanding why Reina had given Erika such immediate trouble.
Both women were natural swordswomen.
But they expressed that talent differently.
Erika flowed.
Reina controlled.
Erika trusted instinct when technique stopped giving her answers.
Reina used technique to prevent the fight from ever reaching a point where instinct alone could decide it.
Neither approach had broken the other.
Yet.
Erika feinted high.
Reina ignored it.
Erika changed levels.
Reina caught the lower strike.
Erika stepped too close again.
Reina tried punishing it.
Erika turned the awkward positioning into a shoulder check.
Reina stumbled a step.
Erika attacked.
Reina barely blocked.
Jeremiah's eyes sharpened.
Erika was learning her.
Reina realized it too.
Her expression became more serious.
The next exchange lasted nearly twenty seconds without either woman disengaging.
Steel rang continuously across the beach.
Erika cut toward the neck.
Reina redirected.
Reina thrust toward the chest.
Erika stepped outside.
Erika attacked the ribs.
Reina blocked.
Reina struck the shoulder.
Erika caught it.
They separated only when a wave crashed harder against the beach and forced both to reset their footing.
Erika breathed deeply.
Reina remained composed.
For the first time, Erika didn't smile.
Good.
Jeremiah preferred her like that.
Focused.
Reina looked at her.
Reina: "You've gotten quieter."
Erika: "Thinking."
Reina: "Dangerous habit."
Erika: "I'll risk it."
Then they moved again.
⸻
Erika's next attack came faster.
Reina blocked.
Erika immediately changed direction.
Reina turned.
Erika's sword scraped across her side.
A clean hit.
Not deep.
Enough.
Reina countered.
Erika pulled away.
Too late.
The Reaper's Feast Blade opened another shallow cut along Erika's ribs.
Erika landed several steps away.
She touched the wound.
Jeremiah's attention went immediately to it.
Two cuts now.
Both from that sword.
Nothing obvious happened.
That bothered him more than if something had.
Jeremiah: "Erika."
Erika: "I'm okay."
Jeremiah: "I wasn't asking."
He stepped slightly closer.
Reina watched.
Jeremiah looked from Erika's wounds to the Reaper's Feast Blade.
Reina's expression remained neutral.
Jeremiah: "Something happen when she cut you?"
Erika frowned.
Erika: "Other than getting cut?"
Jeremiah: "Anything."
She flexed her fingers.
Rolled her shoulder.
Erika: "No."
Jeremiah didn't relax.
Reina's sword gave off the faintest pale shimmer.
Jeremiah saw it.
He had no idea what it meant.
Not yet.
Erika raised her sword again.
Jeremiah: "Still want point?"
Erika stared at Reina.
Then smiled.
Erika: "Absolutely."
Reina lowered into stance.
The waves rolled quietly beside them.
Behind the vampire, farther up the beach, the dead still waited.
Jeremiah understood more about the Reaper's Feast Blade than he had several minutes earlier.
The dead fueled it.
The dead could become destinations.
Reina could strengthen herself.
She could extend the reach of her sword.
And Reina herself was dangerous enough that even without any of those tricks, Erika couldn't simply overwhelm her.
They were learning.
But every answer only seemed to create another question.
Erika stepped forward.
Reina did the same.
And the battle continued along the burning shore.
Erika moved first.
Reina met her immediately.
Their swords crashed together near the waterline, sending a sharp metallic ring across the beach. Erika shifted her weight, tried to turn the bind into a cut toward Reina's shoulder, and felt her footing slip.
Not from the sand.
Something pulled her.
Only half a step.
But that half-step ruined everything.
Reina's blade flashed toward her neck.
Jeremiah was already moving.
He intercepted the strike hard enough to knock both swords sideways.
Erika stumbled back.
Sylvie caught her by the arm.
Jeremiah: "There."
Erika looked toward him.
Jeremiah pointed his blade toward Reina.
Jeremiah: "That wasn't you."
Erika's expression tightened.
Erika: "No."
Reina said nothing.
Jeremiah's eyes dropped toward the shallow cuts on Erika's arm and ribs.
Then back to the Reaper's Feast Blade.
Jeremiah: "The wounds."
Sylvie immediately understood.
Sylvie: "She marked her?"
Jeremiah: "Looks like it."
Reina smiled faintly.
Erika rolled her shoulder.
Erika: "So she can move me?"
Jeremiah: "Not much."
He paused.
Jeremiah: "But she doesn't need much."
Erika stared at Reina.
That was the problem.
Against an average swordsman, being tugged half a step might only be irritating.
Against Reina, it could mean death.
Reina raised her blade.
Reina: "You're learning quickly."
Jeremiah: "Trying to stay alive."
Reina: "How admirable."
Erika lowered herself into stance.
Jeremiah stepped in front of her.
Jeremiah: "Don't give her another cut."
Erika: "That was already the plan."
Jeremiah: "Make it a better plan."
Erika frowned.
Esmarie almost laughed despite herself.
Then Reina disappeared.
Again.
But this time, there was no corpse beside which she reappeared.
There was no pale flash.
No movement across the beach.
She simply vanished.
Jeremiah froze.
Sylvie turned sharply.
Erika immediately shifted closer to the others.
Esmarie: "Where'd she go?"
Nobody answered.
The ocean continued rolling beside them.
Waves.
Wind.
Fire crackling farther up the shoreline.
Nothing else.
Jeremiah: "Back together."
The four formed a tight circle.
Erika faced the water.
Sylvie watched inland.
Jeremiah covered the northern stretch of beach.
Esmarie faced south.
Nobody moved.
Jeremiah: "Don't chase anything you hear."
Esmarie swallowed.
Esmarie: "That's reassuring."
Jeremiah: "Wasn't supposed to be."
A sound came from their left.
Sand shifting.
Erika turned.
Nothing.
Another noise came from behind Sylvie.
She didn't move.
Jeremiah's eyes scanned the beach.
No footprints.
No shadow.
Nothing obvious.
Then blood appeared across Esmarie's sleeve.
She gasped.
The cut came from nowhere.
Sylvie spun and slashed.
Her blade hit empty air.
Jeremiah shoved Esmarie backward.
Another invisible strike passed through the space where her stomach had been.
Jeremiah: "She's still here!"
Erika attacked toward the sound.
Nothing.
Reina was moving around them.
Slowly.
Patiently.
Not rushing.
That made it worse.
Esmarie pressed one hand against the cut on her arm.
Esmarie: "I really hate this sword."
Erika: "Get in line."
Something moved through the smoke drifting down from the burning festival district.
A thin disturbance.
Jeremiah noticed.
Jeremiah: "Erika. Eleven o'clock."
Erika swung.
Steel collided with steel.
Reina appeared only for the instant their blades touched.
Then disappeared again.
Erika's eyes widened.
Erika: "Found her."
Jeremiah: "For a second."
Reina's voice came from nowhere.
Reina: "Very good."
Sylvie looked toward the scorched sand around them.
Then kicked hard.
A cloud of sand scattered outward.
Jeremiah immediately understood.
Jeremiah: "Again."
Sylvie kicked another spray into the air.
Erika followed.
Esmarie did the same from behind them.
Loose sand and ash filled the space around the formation.
Then a shape disturbed it.
A human outline.
Esmarie: "There!"
Erika rushed.
Her blade met Reina's.
The vampire appeared for a split second as the impact knocked her sideways.
Jeremiah joined.
Reina disengaged.
Gone again.
But now the beach itself was helping them.
Every step Reina took disturbed sand.
Every movement through the smoke gave them a hint.
Every approach left some trace.
Jeremiah: "Don't try to hit her."
Erika looked annoyed.
Jeremiah: "Track her."
Another footprint appeared.
Then another.
Sylvie turned.
Reina attacked.
Sylvie blocked.
The vampire vanished before Erika could capitalize.
Jeremiah watched the spacing.
She was circling.
Testing.
Waiting for someone to panic.
Esmarie's breathing became faster.
Jeremiah noticed.
Jeremiah: "Esmarie."
She looked at him.
Jeremiah: "Don't look for her."
Esmarie: "What?"
Jeremiah: "Look at everything else."
That clicked.
Esmarie stopped searching for Reina.
Instead, she watched the world around Reina.
Sand.
Smoke.
Water.
Loose festival paper.
Pieces of cloth.
The things invisibility couldn't hide.
A scrap of burned paper shifted unnaturally.
Esmarie: "Right!"
Erika turned.
CLANG!
Again.
Another blocked strike.
Reina disappeared.
Jeremiah smiled faintly.
They were adapting.
Then Reina's voice came from somewhere behind them.
Reina: "Interesting."
A minute had almost passed.
Not that they knew that.
But suddenly the distortion in the air changed.
Reina reappeared several meters away.
Fully visible again.
Her expression was calm.
Erika: "Done hiding?"
Reina: "For now."
Jeremiah noted the phrasing.
For now.
Meaning she could probably do it again.
Wonderful.
Erika rushed her before she could prepare something else.
Their swords met.
Reina redirected.
Erika slipped around the counter.
Sylvie pressured from the flank.
Jeremiah moved to close the opposite angle.
Esmarie stayed just outside.
The group finally began forcing Reina backward.
Away from the bodies again.
Away from teleport anchors.
Away from easy resources.
Reina blocked Erika's slash.
Sylvie attacked her leg.
Reina avoided it.
Jeremiah stepped in.
His shoulder caught Reina and knocked her off-line.
Erika saw the opening.
She struck.
Clean.
Her blade cut directly across Reina's torso.
Or should have.
The sword stopped.
No blood.
No wound.
Nothing.
Erika froze.
Reina looked down at the blade resting against her body.
Then back at Erika.
Erika: "…What?"
Reina stepped forward.
Erika pulled her blade away and attacked again.
Another clean strike.
Nothing.
Jeremiah's eyes widened.
Jeremiah moved in.
His thrust landed against Reina's side.
The blade would not enter.
Sylvie attacked from behind.
Same result.
Reina didn't dodge.
She didn't need to.
Jeremiah: "Back!"
Too late.
Reina grabbed Erika's sword with her bare hand.
Erika's eyes widened.
Reina pulled her forward.
Then drove a knee into her stomach.
Erika folded.
Reina released the blade and kicked her away.
Sylvie attacked.
Reina simply walked through the slash.
The sword scraped across her shoulder without leaving a mark.
Sylvie stumbled.
Reina turned toward Esmarie.
Jeremiah moved immediately.
He slammed into Reina from the side.
She didn't take damage.
But she moved.
Only slightly.
That was enough.
Jeremiah's eyes sharpened.
Jeremiah: "Stop trying to hurt her!"
Erika pushed herself upright.
Erika: "What?"
Jeremiah: "She can still be moved."
Reina looked toward him.
Jeremiah: "We don't need to damage her."
He raised his blade.
Jeremiah: "Keep her away from Esmarie."
Reina smiled.
Then rushed them.
The next minute became completely different.
There was no point attacking normally.
Every slash was wasted.
Every thrust meaningless.
So Jeremiah changed the rules.
When Reina charged, Erika stopped cutting and started redirecting.
She caught Reina's sword, twisted the angle, and forced her past.
Sylvie used her shoulder to shove Reina off balance.
Jeremiah stepped across her path and forced her toward the water.
Esmarie stayed mobile, never allowing herself to become an easy target.
Reina became more aggressive.
Why wouldn't she?
She didn't need to fear anything.
She walked through attacks.
Took bad exchanges on purpose.
Used her own invulnerability as a weapon.
Erika tried pushing her back.
Reina let herself get hit, caught Erika's wrist, and nearly pulled her into a killing strike.
Jeremiah intervened.
Reina turned.
Sylvie shoved her into the surf.
Water exploded around her legs.
Reina emerged immediately.
Still untouched.
Jeremiah: "Keep moving her!"
Erika: "Easy for you to say!"
Reina rushed again.
Erika sidestepped.
Sylvie blocked the route toward Esmarie.
Jeremiah used the flat of his sword to redirect Reina's shoulder.
No one tried to win.
They simply denied her.
Ten seconds.
Then twenty.
Then thirty.
Reina's frustration began showing.
Not much.
But enough.
She was invulnerable.
And still not getting what she wanted.
Erika used the moment to kick Reina's knee from the side.
The vampire stumbled.
Sylvie shoved her farther into the water.
Reina turned angrily.
Jeremiah watched.
Something was going to change.
Then Erika saw it first.
Reina's skin.
The strange stillness around her faded.
Erika didn't hesitate.
She attacked.
The blade connected across Reina's shoulder.
Blood appeared.
Reina's eyes widened.
Erika smiled.
Erika: "There you are."
Reina immediately retreated.
Jeremiah: "It wore off."
Sylvie: "Temporary."
Jeremiah: "Everything she's doing has a cost."
Reina's expression changed.
For the first time, irritation.
Jeremiah saw it.
Good.
That meant they were getting somewhere.
Erika pressed.
Reina blocked.
Sylvie joined.
Jeremiah controlled the outside.
The three began forcing her south again.
Esmarie followed.
No new souls.
No nearby bodies.
Reina was being made to spend without replenishing.
She knew it.
So she changed tactics.
The Reaper's Feast Blade began glowing.
Not faintly this time.
Bright.
Several pale lights moved beneath the steel.
Jeremiah's stomach sank.
Jeremiah: "Something's coming."
Reina swung the blade outward.
The sword released them.
Souls poured into the air.
One.
Three.
Five.
More.
Spectral figures formed around the group.
Human shapes made from pale light.
Some carried outlines of weapons.
Others stretched their hands toward the Hunters.
Esmarie's eyes widened.
Esmarie: "Oh, come on."
Reina lowered her sword.
Reina: "Reaper's Echo."
The specters attacked.
The formation shattered.
Erika cut through the first one.
Her blade passed through part of its body, but the spirit still slammed into her shoulder and forced her sideways.
Sylvie blocked another.
A third grabbed for her ankle.
Jeremiah cut it away.
Two more rushed him from opposite directions.
He stepped back.
Reina entered through the chaos.
That was the real danger.
The Echoes didn't need to kill them.
They only needed to distract them.
Reina thrust toward Jeremiah's ribs.
He barely parried.
Erika tried reaching him.
Three specters blocked her path.
Erika cut through one.
Dodged another.
The third collided with her and knocked her into the sand.
Sylvie moved to help.
A spectral hand caught her wrist.
She ripped free.
Esmarie backed away.
Too far.
One Echo appeared behind her.
Esmarie spun and slashed wildly.
It ducked.
Another came from the side.
She stumbled.
Reina noticed.
Jeremiah noticed Reina noticing.
Jeremiah: "ESMARIE!"
Reina moved.
Esmarie froze.
Then something in her changed.
She stopped watching Reina.
Stopped watching herself.
And started watching everything.
The Echoes.
Their paths.
Their movements.
The way they swarmed.
They weren't fighting like Reina.
They weren't adapting.
They were converging.
Esmarie: "Erika, behind you!"
Erika ducked.
A spectral blade passed overhead.
Erika turned and destroyed the Echo.
Esmarie: "Sylvie, right!"
Sylvie pivoted.
She intercepted another.
Jeremiah looked toward Esmarie.
Esmarie: "Two on you!"
He stepped aside before both could collapse on him.
Reina attacked anyway.
Jeremiah blocked.
Esmarie continued calling.
Esmarie: "Erika, left!"
Erika moved.
Esmarie: "Sylvie, low!"
Sylvie jumped.
Esmarie: "Jeremiah, Reina!"
Jeremiah barely caught the real sword hidden among the ghosts.
His eyes widened.
Then he smiled.
Jeremiah: "Keep talking!"
Esmarie swallowed.
Esmarie: "Right!"
Erika cut through another Echo.
Esmarie: "Behind!"
Sylvie redirected.
Esmarie: "Three coming from the water!"
Jeremiah moved.
The formation began rebuilding itself.
Not physically.
Through information.
Esmarie became the center.
Erika attacked where she was told.
Sylvie covered what Esmarie called.
Jeremiah adjusted the entire group around her voice.
Reina realized it too.
Her eyes shifted toward Esmarie.
Jeremiah saw that.
Jeremiah: "Don't even think about it."
Reina smiled.
Reina: "Too late."
She disappeared into the Echoes.
And every spectral figure on the beach turned toward Esmarie at once.
Reaper's Echo continued swarming the beach.
Esmarie kept calling movements, and the others responded almost instantly now. What had started as panic had turned into rhythm.
Esmarie: "Two left!"
Erika pivoted and cut through the first specter. Sylvie intercepted the second before it could reach Jeremiah.
Esmarie: "Reina behind you!"
Jeremiah turned just in time.
His blade met the real Reaper's Feast Blade with a violent clash.
Reina immediately disengaged.
She was beginning to understand something.
The Echoes had stopped accomplishing what she wanted.
They were still forcing movement. Still splitting attention.
But the four Hunters were adapting faster than she could disrupt them.
Jeremiah saw it too.
And now he finally understood what they needed to do.
Not defeat the sword.
Drain it.
Jeremiah: "Erika!"
Erika knocked another Echo away.
Erika: "What?"
Jeremiah: "Stop trying to finish her."
Erika frowned.
Jeremiah: "Make her spend."
That got her attention.
Jeremiah glanced toward Reina.
Jeremiah: "Every time she uses something strange, that sword dims."
Sylvie immediately looked toward the blade.
Jeremiah: "The corpses feed it."
Another Echo rushed him.
He stepped aside and cut through it.
Jeremiah: "So we make her burn through whatever she has."
Esmarie understood.
Esmarie: "Without letting her get more."
Jeremiah nodded.
Jeremiah: "Exactly."
Reina heard all of it.
She smiled.
Reina: "How troublesome."
Erika smiled back.
Erika: "Sounds like we're doing something right."
Then she attacked.
⸻
The strategy changed immediately.
Erika stopped chasing decisive openings.
Instead, she created problems.
She rushed Reina hard enough to force an enhanced response, then pulled away the instant Reina committed.
Reina's movement sharpened.
Erika saw it.
Then deliberately disengaged.
The reinforcement went to waste.
Reina's eyes narrowed.
Erika: "One."
Reina: "Counting?"
Erika: "Maybe."
Jeremiah knew they had no idea how many souls she actually had.
That wasn't the point.
They didn't need a number.
They just needed the sword to keep spending.
Sylvie pressured from the side.
Reina swung.
A spectral extension flashed from the blade.
Sylvie was already retreating.
The Soul Edge carved through empty air and disappeared into the surf.
Sylvie: "Another."
Reina's expression hardened slightly.
Jeremiah smiled.
Jeremiah: "Keep going."
The four began fighting almost wastefully on purpose.
They created threats that looked more dangerous than they really were.
Erika rushed deep, then escaped.
Sylvie committed just enough to demand an answer.
Jeremiah deliberately stepped into vulnerable positions, knowing Reina would spend something to capitalize.
Every time she did…
They abandoned the exchange.
No pride.
No unnecessary trades.
Just resource pressure.
Reina activated another Reinforcement.
Erika immediately backed away.
Reina chased.
Jeremiah intercepted only long enough to slow her.
Sylvie circled.
Esmarie called the angle.
Reina swung again.
Soul Edge.
Missed.
Her irritation became visible.
Not much.
But enough.
Jeremiah noticed.
Jeremiah: "You don't like wasting them."
Reina: "Nobody enjoys waste."
Jeremiah: "Good."
Reina attacked him.
Jeremiah parried once.
Then retreated before she could extend the exchange.
Reina: "Cowardly."
Jeremiah: "Alive."
Reina almost laughed.
Then Erika came from behind.
Reina turned.
Their swords collided.
This time Erika attacked with everything she had.
For five seconds.
Then ten.
Reina reinforced herself again.
And Erika immediately broke contact.
Reina's eyes widened.
Erika landed several meters away.
Erika: "Got you."
Reina: "Annoying child."
Erika: "You're not the first person to say that."
Jeremiah: "Won't be the last."
The pressure continued.