For a moment, the forest floor seemed to lose all depth. Trees, roots, and fallen leaves remained exactly where they were, yet everything underneath them had become an endless black surface.
Hakim didn't move immediately.
That was the mistake Aaliyah was waiting for.
Shadow hands erupted from every direction at once.
Not dozens.
Hundreds.
They tore up from the ground, spilled from tree trunks, and reached down from branches in overlapping waves. Blackout had already strengthened her abilities, but whatever she was doing now pushed them further.
Hakim's Bluefire Armor erupted around him.
The first hands burned away.
The next wave followed immediately.
Hakim cut through them with a broad slash, sending blue fire through the forest without touching a single tree. The flames carved open a temporary corridor in the darkness.
Aaliyah appeared inside it.
Her cloak was damaged now, large sections of the beast hide burned away, but she no longer fought defensively.
She came straight for him.
Hakim raised his sword.
Their weapons collided.
Aaliyah twisted her wrist and summoned a shadow hand directly behind Hakim's elbow.
It grabbed.
Hakim released his grip before it could lock the arm and caught the sword with his other hand.
Aaliyah's eyes narrowed.
She had seen that trick already.
This time, another hand caught his opposite wrist.
Hakim's sword stopped midway through the counter.
Aaliyah stepped forward.
Her blade came toward his chest.
Hakim didn't struggle against the hands.
He drove his forehead into hers.
The impact cracked between them.
Aaliyah staggered.
Hakim tore one arm free as Bluefire Armor consumed the restraint and immediately struck her with the pommel.
Aaliyah spun with the blow instead of resisting it.
Her leg swept low.
Hakim jumped.
She extended one palm toward the ground.
The darkness surged upward beneath him.
A shadow hand larger than his entire body slammed into him in midair.
Hakim crossed both arms.
The Bluefire Armor absorbed part of the impact, but the force still launched him through the trees.
He twisted before landing.
Boots hit a trunk.
Hakim crouched against it horizontally for a split second, then pushed off.
Blue fire trailed behind him.
He returned toward Aaliyah like a projectile.
She disappeared into Void Cloak.
Hakim didn't slow.
He watched the blue flame network still crawling across the ground.
Nothing.
Aaliyah had learned too.
She was moving above it.
Hakim looked upward.
Three branches bent at once.
Clones.
He didn't know which.
So he attacked all three.
Azure Sun flashed overhead.
Three pillars dropped.
The first Aaliyah vanished into shadow.
Clone.
The second did the same.
Hakim turned before the third pillar landed.
Aaliyah had already abandoned the branch.
She appeared behind him.
Hakim ducked under the blade and slashed backward.
Aaliyah wrapped herself in darkness.
The blue flame hit Void Cloak and peeled the shadows apart.
For an instant, her silhouette became visible.
Hakim immediately followed with another cut.
Aaliyah blocked.
The clash sent sparks across the forest.
Hakim pressed.
One slash drove her left.
Another forced her backward.
Aaliyah created a clone in front of herself.
Hakim didn't hesitate.
His sword passed through it.
The real Aaliyah attacked through the dispersing shadow.
Hakim caught her weapon.
A shadow hand emerged from behind him.
He stepped sideways.
The hand passed between them.
Hakim grabbed it.
Aaliyah's eyes widened slightly.
Hakim wrapped blue fire around the shadow limb and yanked.
The hand was still connected to the darkness beneath Aaliyah.
The sudden force pulled her forward.
Hakim's knee struck her stomach.
She folded slightly.
His sword came down.
Aaliyah crossed both arms and let the remaining beast-hide cloak take the hit.
Blue fire tore through it completely.
The last intact section split apart.
Aaliyah was driven backward.
She landed on one knee.
Hakim pointed the sword at her.
Hakim: "Your protection's gone."
Aaliyah slowly stood.
Blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
Aaliyah: "Then I no longer need to protect myself."
The shadows around her exploded outward.
Hakim's expression hardened.
That wasn't bravado.
She meant it.
Aaliyah spread both hands.
The darkness swallowed the blue flame network.
Not extinguished.
Buried.
Hakim immediately looked upward.
Azure Sun still burned.
Then shadows climbed the trees.
They spread over branches, trunks, leaves, and open air until the miniature blue sun looked like the only star remaining in an otherwise dead world.
Hakim raised his sword.
Aaliyah closed her fist.
The forest disappeared.
Not physically.
Visually.
Blackness consumed everything beyond Hakim's immediate blue flames.
Then the ground gave way.
Hakim dropped.
He landed several meters lower than expected.
There was no forest anymore.
Only darkness.
Aaliyah stood across from him inside a vast underground expanse with no visible walls or ceiling.
Shadow stretched endlessly beneath them.
Hakim looked around once.
He understood.
Endless Night.
Aaliyah had dragged the battlefield itself into her domain.
The first shadow hand came from below.
Hakim cut it.
Then ten appeared.
Hakim ignited Bluefire Armor.
They struck simultaneously.
The armor burned through most, but several survived long enough to grab his legs and shoulders.
Aaliyah rushed.
Hakim tore free.
She reached him anyway.
Their blades collided.
Without trees, without terrain, without natural light, Aaliyah's movement became dramatically more aggressive.
She disappeared into Void Cloak.
Hakim turned.
Nothing.
A strike hit his back.
He pivoted and cut.
Nothing.
Another hit came from the side.
The Bluefire Armor flared.
Hakim swung wide.
Aaliyah was already gone.
Shadow clones emerged everywhere.
Ten.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Hakim's eyes narrowed.
No environmental tells now.
No bent branches.
No disturbed leaves.
No blue flames across the forest floor.
Aaliyah had removed every tool he'd built.
Smart.
Hakim smiled faintly.
Good.
He raised one hand.
Azure Sun appeared above him again.
The miniature blue star flared brighter.
The domain resisted.
Darkness crushed inward around the light.
Hakim increased the output.
Blue fire pushed back.
For the first time, Endless Night gained a horizon.
Aaliyah watched.
Hakim lowered his hand.
Pillars of blue flame rained down.
Not randomly.
In a pattern.
One.
Three.
Five.
Seven.
Hakim created a ring around himself.
The pillars remained for several seconds instead of disappearing immediately.
Aaliyah's clones moved between them.
Hakim watched the shadows.
That was the key.
Even in a world made entirely of darkness, light created shadows.
Azure Sun didn't simply illuminate.
It imposed direction.
Every clone cast something.
Every hand created an obstruction.
Every movement changed the way the light traveled.
Hakim began reading again.
Aaliyah attacked from behind.
Hakim turned before she arrived.
Their weapons crashed.
Her eyes widened.
Hakim: "Better."
He pushed her away.
Aaliyah summoned shadow hands around his legs.
Hakim burned through them.
She disappeared.
Hakim watched the light.
One shadow moved against the rest.
He attacked.
Aaliyah emerged directly into the slash.
She blocked, but the impact drove her several meters back.
Hakim followed.
For the first time inside Endless Night, Aaliyah gave ground.
Hakim didn't let her reset.
He advanced behind controlled blue flame slashes, each one designed to reduce her available angles rather than simply hit.
Aaliyah created clones.
Hakim sent Azure Sun pillars between them.
The clones scattered.
One moved differently.
Hakim rushed it.
Real.
Aaliyah blocked his first attack.
The second forced her weapon aside.
The third cut across her shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
Aaliyah hissed.
Hakim drove forward with his shoulder.
She stumbled.
He raised the sword toward her neck.
Shadow hands grabbed the blade.
Hakim ignited it.
They vanished.
Aaliyah used the fraction of time to disappear into Void Cloak.
Hakim exhaled.
Aaliyah's breathing came from nowhere.
She had stopped suppressing it completely.
Fatigue.
Hakim heard it once.
Then silence again.
He looked around.
Hakim: "You gonna keep hiding?"
No answer.
Hakim rested the sword against his shoulder.
Hakim: "I can do this all night."
Aaliyah attacked from above.
Hakim stepped aside.
Her blade struck the ground.
Hakim kicked her ribs.
Aaliyah slid.
She caught herself with one hand and immediately summoned a massive shadow arm beneath Hakim.
It punched upward.
Hakim crossed his sword over his chest.
The hit launched him.
He turned midair.
Azure Sun descended with him.
Aaliyah raised both hands.
Darkness formed into dozens of spears.
They fired.
Hakim twisted between the first cluster and burned through the second with Bluefire Armor.
One spear grazed his thigh.
Another struck his shoulder.
Hakim landed roughly.
Aaliyah rushed.
He blocked her sword.
She created a clone behind him.
Hakim elbowed it without looking.
The shadow dissolved.
A second clone grabbed him.
Hakim burned it.
Aaliyah's real blade slipped through.
A shallow cut opened across Hakim's ribs.
He stepped back.
Aaliyah attacked again.
Hakim parried.
Then suddenly stopped retreating.
He caught her wrist with one hand.
Aaliyah tried summoning shadows.
Blue fire wrapped around Hakim's arm.
He pulled her closer and drove the sword pommel into her stomach.
Once.
Twice.
The third strike sent her backward.
Aaliyah regained her stance.
Both were breathing harder now.
Blood marked them.
Hakim's armor flickered in several places.
Aaliyah's cloak was gone.
The fight had become simpler.
More dangerous.
Aaliyah wiped blood from her mouth.
Aaliyah: "Persistent."
Hakim: "Part of the job."
Aaliyah's expression soured.
She raised both hands.
Endless Night surged again.
The entire domain compressed inward.
Hakim felt the pressure.
His Azure Sun dimmed.
Aaliyah's shadows became thicker.
Closer.
Hands formed beneath his feet.
Clones appeared around him.
Void Cloak wrapped around the real Aaliyah.
Hakim closed his eyes for half a second.
Then opened them.
Blue fire spread across his entire sword.
He raised it.
Azure Sun expanded.
The miniature sphere doubled in size.
Blue light tore through the domain.
Aaliyah's shadows recoiled.
Hakim attacked.
A huge flame slash crossed Endless Night.
Aaliyah threw herself aside.
The attack carved through hundreds of shadow hands.
Hakim followed.
He was winning now.
Not overwhelmingly.
But steadily.
Every time Aaliyah changed the battlefield, Hakim learned how to rebuild his advantage.
Every time she removed one sense, he replaced it with another.
Every time she gained more shadows, he created more light.
Aaliyah saw it too.
That made her colder.
More aggressive.
She rushed him again.
Hakim met her.
Their blades collided repeatedly.
Blue fire and shadow burst apart with every impact.
Aaliyah created three clones inside the exchange.
Hakim cut through one.
Ignored the second.
Blocked the real one.
His free hand caught her shoulder.
Blue fire ignited beneath his palm.
Aaliyah twisted away before it could fully burn her, but the flames left a deep wound across her upper arm.
She jumped back.
Hakim followed.
Then both stopped.
A sound entered the domain.
Footsteps.
Not theirs.
Aaliyah turned.
Hakim looked toward the darkness.
Someone was walking through Endless Night.
Slowly.
Unhurried.
Aaliyah's eyes narrowed.
That shouldn't have been possible.
Her domain had swallowed the surrounding battlefield.
Nobody should simply wander into it.
The footsteps continued.
Then a silhouette appeared beneath Azure Sun.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
A man.
One hand held a weapon.
The other held something by the hair.
Hakim's eyes narrowed.
The figure stepped farther into the light.
Blood covered part of his clothing.
The object in his hand became clear.
A head.
Human.
The severed head of a Hunter.
Hakim's expression changed.
The stranger looked down at it once before casually letting it hang at his side.
Aaliyah stared at him.
Recognition entered her eyes.
Aaliyah: "I know you."
The man looked toward her.
Aaliyah: "You're Leonidas."
Hakim raised an eyebrow.
Aaliyah: "You must be with Hanako."
That caught Hakim's attention immediately.
With Hanako?
The wording wasn't casual.
Aaliyah was speaking as though they weren't together.
As though separate groups had attacked Hanabi Island at the same time.
Hakim filed the thought away.
Later.
If there was a later.
Leonidas looked toward Hakim.
Then at Aaliyah.
No smile.
No greeting.
Just evaluation.
Hakim adjusted his stance.
The severed Hunter head told him enough.
This vampire wasn't here to help civilians.
And if Aaliyah recognized him by reputation alone, then he wasn't ordinary either.
Hakim's Bluefire Armor strengthened.
Azure Sun burned brighter above them.
He had already been fighting a dangerous opponent inside her own domain.
Now another vampire had walked into it carrying proof of a Hunter he'd killed.
Hakim tightened his grip around his sword.
He had no way of knowing exactly how strong Leonidas was.
But instinct gave him the answer that mattered.
At least as dangerous as Aaliyah.
Possibly worse.
The fight had become a two-on-one.
***
Three hours had passed since the battle began.
By then, there was no containing the news.
The attack on Hanabi Island had spread through every Hunter channel almost immediately. Emergency communications had gone out across the districts, and every available unit that could be mobilized was being redirected toward the island.
Thousands of Hunters were coming.
Every single Special Rank Hunter who was able to respond was on the way as well, loaded onto jets and transport aircraft that were cutting across the sky toward Hanabi.
But they were still a ways out.
The vampires were not.
Across the island, space began to distort.
One gate opened near the shoreline.
Then another in the city.
Then ten more.
Then dozens.
Lily's portals appeared everywhere.
Dark openings unfolded over streets, rooftops, forests, plazas, and ruined festival grounds. One after another, vampires poured through them in waves.
Five thousand more.
The battle that had already pushed the Hunters to their limit suddenly became worse.
Much worse.
The reinforcements coming for humanity were still in the air.
The reinforcements coming for the vampires had already arrived.
⸻
Farther inland, Dallas moved at the front of a large evacuation group.
More than twenty Hunters surrounded a crowd of civilians as they pushed through the city. Most of the people were exhausted by now. Some were injured. Others had simply been walking for so long that their legs were beginning to fail.
Dallas kept them moving.
Calmly.
Always calmly.
He had been like that even back at the Academy.
Shoyo had been the overwhelming prodigy.
Ina had been the unpredictable one.
Dallas had always been the steady one.
The three of them had once been spoken about in the same breath.
Now Shoyo stood at the peak of the Hunter world, and Dallas remained 1st Rank.
Not because of a lack of skill.
Not because he had fallen behind.
There simply weren't enough Alter Weapons.
That was the only reason.
If there had been one for him, the title attached to his name would have been different.
Dallas didn't care much either way.
Titles didn't matter when civilians were dying.
The group reached an evacuation center that was already packed beyond capacity.
Hunters at the entrance waved them down.
Hunter: "No more room!"
Dallas looked inside.
People were shoulder to shoulder.
Medical teams had spilled into the corridors.
Children sat against walls with blankets wrapped around them.
Dallas nodded once.
Dallas: "Nearest alternate?"
Hunter: "Three blocks north, then east. School building."
Dallas turned immediately.
Dallas: "Move."
The civilians followed.
The Hunters shifted formation.
They had gone less than half a block when something black erupted across the street ahead.
Dallas stopped.
The civilians screamed.
Black roses bloomed from cracks in the road.
They spread unnaturally fast, stems twisting over one another until an entire wall of flowers blocked the route. Thorny vines wound between them, thick enough to make forcing civilians through impossible.
One Hunter stepped forward.
Hunter: "What the hell is that?"
Dallas looked at the roses.
Then at the rooftops.
He already knew.
Dallas: "Enemy ability."
Something moved.
Fast.
A vampire came straight through the black roses.
Dallas drew.
The two blades collided.
The impact cracked through the street.
Dallas didn't move.
Neither did the vampire.
For a moment, they simply looked at one another across crossed swords.
Both calm.
Both unreadable.
The vampire's sword was elegant.
Its guard curved outward in layered metal shaped like a rose in bloom.
Dallas saw it immediately.
Alter Blade.
No question.
The black roses were his.
The vampire pushed.
Dallas redirected the force and stepped aside.
The blade passed his shoulder.
Dallas turned his wrist and cut toward the vampire's ribs.
The vampire blocked smoothly.
Refined.
Very refined.
But there was something ugly underneath it.
Not sloppy.
Not wild.
Ruthless.
Where Dallas's swordsmanship removed unnecessary movement, this man's removed unnecessary mercy.
Every attack aimed to end something.
A wrist.
A throat.
An eye.
A tendon.
Nothing decorative.
Dallas understood the type immediately.
He looked over his shoulder.
Dallas: "Take the civilians to the nearest evacuation center!"
One of the Hunters hesitated.
Hunter: "What about you?"
Dallas didn't look away from the vampire.
Dallas: "Go."
The Hunter nodded.
Hunter: "Got it! We'll leave that vampire to you!"
The group moved.
Fast.
Hunters guided the civilians down a side street, circling around the wall of black roses while Dallas remained behind.
The vampire glanced after them.
Dallas stepped into his line of sight.
That was enough.
The vampire looked back at him.
Their swords met again.
This time neither waited.
A flurry of strikes erupted between them.
Dallas cut high.
The vampire parried and returned low.
Dallas shifted his lead foot and let the blade pass, then answered with a short thrust toward the chest.
The vampire turned just enough.
Steel scraped across clothing.
He rotated his sword and attacked Dallas's fingers.
Dallas changed grip.
The blade missed.
Dallas cut toward the shoulder.
Blocked.
The vampire stepped inside and drove the pommel toward Dallas's jaw.
Dallas tilted away.
His sword came around from the opposite side.
The vampire caught it.
Their blades slid.
Neither gave ground.
Then the Alter Blade changed.
Thorny vines exploded from the rose-shaped guard.
Dallas's eyes narrowed.
They twisted around his sword arm.
He stepped backward and cut.
One vine fell.
Three more followed.
Dallas turned through them, using short controlled strikes rather than swinging wide. The thorns snapped apart one after another.
A vine wrapped toward his ankle.
Dallas stepped over it.
Another came from behind.
He heard the scrape across pavement and turned in time to cut it apart.
The vampire used the distraction to close.
Dallas blocked.
The force drove his arm down slightly.
The vampire attacked again.
Thrust.
Slash.
Reverse slash.
Dallas parried all three.
Then pushed forward.
His shoulder entered the vampire's space.
Dallas cut.
The vampire raised one hand.
Black roses bloomed in front of him.
They compressed together instantly, stems and petals folding into a dense circular barrier.
Dallas's blade struck.
The rose shield absorbed it.
The surface split.
But held.
Dallas pulled his sword back.
The shield opened.
The vampire attacked through it.
Dallas leaned aside.
The point passed his face.
He stepped in and cut toward the exposed wrist.
The vampire withdrew just in time.
The black rose shield dissolved behind him.
Petals lifted into the air.
Dallas saw the movement.
He moved first.
The petals sharpened.
Then fired.
Dozens of black slashes crossed the street.
Dallas's sword became a blur.
He cut the first apart.
Then the second.
Then five more.
The petals came from different heights and angles, some curving slightly after launch.
Dallas never stopped advancing.
One passed toward his temple.
He tilted his head.
Another went for his knee.
He redirected it with the lower third of his blade.
Three came together.
Dallas cut horizontally.
All three split.
He was still walking toward the vampire.
The final petal slash came straight for his throat.
Dallas raised the sword vertically.
The black petal divided around the edge.
He stepped through the gap.
The vampire was already waiting.
Their blades crashed together again.
This time the exchange became faster.
Dallas attacked first.
One clean slash toward the neck.
The vampire blocked.
Dallas changed direction immediately and cut the ribs.
Blocked again.
The vampire tried answering.
Dallas smothered it before the swing developed.
His sword struck the flat of the Alter Blade and pushed it slightly off-line.
Dallas stepped inside.
His elbow drove toward the vampire's chest.
The vampire shifted.
The blow glanced off.
He answered with a head-level slash.
Dallas ducked.
His blade came up toward the stomach.
The vampire jumped backward.
Black roses erupted from the ground between them.
Dallas cut through the stems before they fully formed.
The vampire was using the environment now.
A vine snapped toward Dallas's sword wrist.
Dallas let it wrap.
The vampire's eyes narrowed.
Dallas pulled.
Hard.
The vine became tension between them.
The vampire hadn't expected that.
Dallas stepped forward with the pull and used the vine to shorten distance.
His sword flashed.
The vampire raised the rose shield.
Impact.
The barrier cracked again.
Dallas struck a second time.
Same point.
The shield split farther.
The vampire pushed it outward.
Dallas stepped away before the petals exploded from the surface.
Razor fragments filled the space between them.
Dallas turned sideways, cut two apart, ducked one, then used the flat of his sword to knock another into the road.
The vampire appeared through the petals.
Fast.
Dallas blocked a thrust.
The vampire immediately abandoned the line and kicked toward Dallas's knee.
Dallas moved the leg.
His sword rotated.
The pommel struck the vampire's wrist.
A small opening.
Dallas cut.
Blood appeared across the vampire's cheek.
First clean hit.
The vampire touched the wound with two fingers.
Looked at the blood.
Then back at Dallas.
His expression barely changed.
If anything, he seemed more interested.
Dallas didn't react.
Dallas: "You're skilled."
The vampire lowered his hand.
?: "You sound disappointed."
Dallas: "No."
He raised his sword again.
Dallas: "Just confirming."
The vampire's eyes remained cold.
?: "Humans have a habit of mistaking survival for ability."
Dallas: "And vampires have a habit of talking before the fight's over."
For the first time, the vampire's mouth moved slightly.
Not a smile.
Close.
Black vines crawled from the Alter Blade.
Dallas adjusted his stance.
The vampire stepped forward.
The vines spread around him.
Roses bloomed along the street.
Dallas watched the blade.
Not the flowers.
The sword mattered more.
The vampire attacked.
Dallas met him.
Steel collided again.
The difference between them became clearer with every exchange.
Dallas was refined because he had spent decades stripping away excess.
Fitzgerald was refined because he had spent decades learning exactly where to hurt someone.
Dallas parried a slash toward the throat.
Fitzgerald changed angle and immediately went for the wrist.
Dallas moved.
Fitzgerald attacked the knee.
Dallas stepped away.
The blade came back toward the eyes.
Dallas caught it.
No wasted movement.
No emotion.
Just killing intent delivered through perfect lines.
Dallas pushed the weapon aside and answered with the same economy.
A cut toward the shoulder.
Fitzgerald blocked.
A thrust toward the sternum.
He shifted.
Dallas stopped halfway and changed to the hip.
Fitzgerald caught the attack against the guard.
The rose-shaped metal sparked.
Thorns erupted from it at point-blank range.
Dallas released one hand from the sword and caught the vine before it wrapped his neck.
Thorns bit into his palm.
He ignored it.
Pulled Fitzgerald closer.
Dallas's forehead struck his face.
Fitzgerald staggered one step.
Dallas cut.
The rose shield formed.
Too late.
The blade hit before it fully hardened.
The barrier shattered.
Fitzgerald moved behind it and avoided the worst of the strike, but Dallas's sword still opened a long cut across his upper arm.
Fitzgerald landed several steps away.
Blood ran down his sleeve.
Dallas opened his injured hand.
Small punctures marked the palm.
Neither looked particularly bothered.
Fitzgerald: "Why does someone with your skill not have an alter blade?"
Dallas: "We ran out."
Fitzgerald: "I see. That's a shame."
Black petals began circling the vampire. Dallas's expression changed only slightly.
Fitzgerald raised his Alter Blade.
The black roses spread wider.
Dallas's sword remained steady.
Dallas looked past him briefly.
The evacuation group was gone.
Good.
Now he didn't have to divide his attention.
He returned his eyes to Fitzgerald.
Dallas: "We'll see."
The petals accelerated around the vampire.
Thorny vines spread across the pavement.
Black roses opened between them.
Dallas stepped forward.
Fitzgerald lowered his blade.
For the first time since their duel began, he stopped advancing.
Dallas noticed immediately.
The vampire had been relentless until now, constantly layering swordsmanship with vines, petals, and defensive roses. Every exchange had been designed to deny Dallas a clean rhythm.
Now he simply stood there.
Still.
Cold.
His breathing remained steady despite the cuts across his body.
Fitzgerald: "I dislike prolonged battles."
Dallas said nothing.
The vampire looked down at the black rose-shaped guard of his Alter Blade.
Fitzgerald: "They become tedious."
Purple light appeared along the weapon.
It began faintly near the hilt, then traveled slowly toward the tip. The black metal reflected the glow until the blade seemed almost violet beneath the night sky.
Dallas adjusted his grip.
The first rose bloomed from the sword.
Then another.
Then ten.
Black flowers spilled from the weapon without stems, drifting into the air before spreading outward.
More followed.
They settled across the street.
Along rooftops.
Against walls.
Between broken vehicles.
Some hovered several meters above the ground.
Others floated just above the pavement.
Within seconds, hundreds surrounded them.
Dallas looked around once.
No panic.
No hesitation.
He simply understood that the fight had changed again.
Fitzgerald watched him.
Fitzgerald: "I will be wrapping this up."
Purple light pulsed through every rose simultaneously.
Dallas raised his sword.
His posture remained relaxed enough that, to an inexperienced eye, he might have looked unconcerned.
He wasn't.
He was prepared.
There was a difference.
The roses shifted toward him.
Hundreds of openings.
Hundreds of possible trajectories.
Dallas's eyes moved carefully through the field.
Fitzgerald: "You will die here, Hunter."
Dallas slowly raised his blade and pointed the tip directly at him.
Dallas: "I have a duty to guide the young Hunters after making it out of this battle."
Fitzgerald's gaze hardened.
Dallas: "My end is not here."
The roses fired.
Dallas disappeared from where he stood.
The first six black flowers shot through his previous position and shattered against the street behind him.
Dallas stepped onto the hood of a damaged vehicle.
Three roses came from above.
Two from his right.
One directly toward his face.
He ducked beneath the first, cut through the second, then jumped from the vehicle as the others tore through its metal frame.
The car collapsed behind him.
More roses launched.
Dallas landed on one foot.
His sword moved once.
Three flowers split apart.
A fourth passed beside his shoulder.
Dallas tilted just enough.
The razor petals missed his coat by centimeters.
He moved forward.
That was the important part.
He wasn't merely surviving the barrage.
He was approaching Fitzgerald.
A cluster fired low.
Dallas jumped.
Another cluster immediately targeted his airborne body.
He twisted.
His sword cut through two.
He planted one foot against the side of a building and pushed away before another rose could strike.
The wall exploded behind him.
Dallas rotated once and landed on a streetlight support.
It bent beneath his weight.
Five flowers screamed toward him.
Dallas ran three steps along the narrow metal.
The first missed behind him.
He sliced the second.
Dropped beneath the third.
Used the flat of his blade to redirect the fourth into the fifth.
Both collided and burst into black petals.
Dallas jumped.
The support was shredded a moment later.
Fitzgerald's eyes narrowed.
He lifted two fingers.
The roses changed.
Instead of firing in direct lines, they began staggering their attacks.
One came early.
Two late.
Another waited until Dallas committed to avoiding the others.
Dallas saw it.
He cut the early rose.
Stepped inside the path of the second.
The third came toward his back.
Dallas lowered his body and let it pass overhead.
The fourth fired from the side exactly when his weight shifted.
Dallas planted his sword against the pavement.
Used it as a pivot.
His body rotated around the weapon.
The rose missed.
Dallas pulled the blade free and continued moving without losing pace.
Fitzgerald watched more closely.
The human wasn't relying on pure reflex.
That much was obvious now.
Dallas was reading patterns.
Angles.
Intervals.
Where the roses had been placed.
Which ones Fitzgerald preferred to activate first.
The vampire changed again.
Twenty fired simultaneously.
Dallas accelerated.
He sprinted directly toward the wall of black flowers.
Fitzgerald's eyes sharpened.
Most would have retreated.
Dallas entered it.
His sword became almost impossible to follow.
One cut opened the first gap.
Dallas stepped through.
A second rose came from the left.
He ducked.
Two from the right.
He cut both.
Three fell from above.
Dallas rolled forward beneath them.
He came out of the roll already swinging.
Another flower split.
Then another.
He jumped over a low shot, stepped briefly onto a broken railing, and used it to redirect himself around a cluster descending from the opposite angle.
The railing disappeared under the barrage.
Dallas was already gone.
The black rose rain intensified.
Dozens now crossed the air every few seconds.
The street filled with purple flashes as each flower activated.
Dallas moved through them with an efficiency bordering on unnatural.
No wasted leap.
No unnecessary spin.
Even the acrobatics had purpose.
He jumped because remaining grounded would close the next escape route.
He flipped because the rotation aligned his sword with attacks from multiple elevations.
He stepped onto walls, vehicles, signs, and rubble only long enough to alter his angle before the roses could converge.
A flower came toward his chest.
Dallas cut it.
Another appeared through the burst of petals.
He slipped sideways.
A third followed the movement.
Dallas reversed direction.
The rose missed.
Two more attacked the space he had just entered.
Dallas jumped.
One passed underneath.
He struck the other downward.
It buried itself in the road.
Dallas landed on it for less than a second.
Used the embedded rose itself as a step.
Then launched forward.
Fitzgerald's eyes widened slightly.
The flower exploded behind Dallas.
Still no wound.
Not one.
Black petals filled the air around him now, thick enough to resemble a storm.
Dallas's coat moved violently with every passing projectile.
His expression remained unchanged.
Calm.
Focused.
Almost tired.
As though this were simply another task that needed completing before he could move on to more important responsibilities.
Fitzgerald increased the output.
The purple glow around the Alter Blade brightened.
Every remaining rose turned toward Dallas.
Hundreds.
Dallas looked through them.
Then at Fitzgerald beyond them.
There.
That was the destination.
Fitzgerald lowered his sword.
The entire field fired.
Dallas ran.
The first wave converged from the front.
He cut twice.
Four roses fell.
He jumped through the opening before it closed.
The second wave attacked from both sides.
Dallas dropped low and slid across the pavement, sword flashing horizontally above him.
Several roses split.
He planted one palm against the ground and kicked himself upright as another wave struck where his head had been.
A vertical barrage descended.
Dallas moved beneath a ruined awning.
The roses tore through it.
Dallas used the collapsing structure as temporary cover for half a second, then ran up one of its falling supports.
He jumped from the top.
Fitzgerald saw him airborne.
Twenty roses turned upward.
Dallas twisted.
His sword cut through the first.
His foot landed briefly against the flat side of another as it passed.
Fitzgerald's eyes widened.
Dallas pushed off the moving projectile.
Changed direction.
The next cluster missed.
He landed against a wall.
Ran two steps sideways.
Then jumped again.
The roses shredded the building facade behind him.
Dallas descended into another wave.
Steel flashed.
Black flowers split apart around him.
One.
Two.
Five.
Eight.
He passed through the center.
The final rose aimed straight for his throat.
Dallas shifted his sword by centimeters.
The edge caught the flower.
Cut it perfectly in half.
Dallas landed.
Nothing touched him.
Not a scratch.
The black rose rain ended behind him.
Fitzgerald stared.
Dallas stood less than thirty meters away now.
The street between them was devastated.
Cars shredded.
Walls punctured.
Concrete carved apart by hundreds of razor-black flowers.
Yet the human who had crossed it remained unharmed.
Fitzgerald's eyes narrowed.
There was no Alter Weapon in Dallas's hands.
No supernatural defense.
No convenient ability that neutralized the barrage.
Only a normal Hunter sword.
And skill.
Fitzgerald understood then.
This human was dangerous.
Far more dangerous than his rank suggested.
Had Dallas possessed an Alter Weapon suited to him—
The thought irritated Fitzgerald.
Dallas moved.
Straight line.
No tricks this time.
He crossed the remaining distance before another rose could form.
Fitzgerald raised the Black Rose Blade.
Their swords crashed.
The impact rang through the ruined street.
Dallas pushed forward.
Fitzgerald held.
Their faces were close now.
Fitzgerald's expression remained cold, but there was something new behind it.
Recognition.
Fitzgerald: "You are strong, human."
Dallas increased the pressure.
Fitzgerald: "I can't let you leave here alive."
Dallas looked directly into his eyes.
Dallas: "Right back at you, vampire."
They broke apart.
Fitzgerald attacked first.
Dallas met him.
Steel collided again.
Black roses began blooming around the vampire's blade.
Dallas stepped through them.
The two disappeared into another violent exchange of sword strikes, neither yielding ground.
The evacuation group was long gone.
The civilians were safe for now.
Dallas had accomplished the first part of his duty.
What remained was the vampire standing in front of him.
And Fitzgerald had reached the same conclusion.
Neither could afford to let the other walk away.