Smoke still rolled through the burning town as Erika stepped over to where Reaper's Feast had fallen.
She picked up Reina's blade and gave it a short look before turning back toward Jeremiah.
Erika: "You need a sword, Jeremiah. Take mine." She held out her own blade.
Jeremiah: "You sure?"
Erika: "Yeah. No point leaving a good weapon behind."
Jeremiah took it: "Sounds good."
Sylvie and Esmarie had already started looking toward the streets beyond the burning town, listening for distant clashes through the smoke.
Erika rested the Reaper's Feast Blade over her shoulder: "I'm sure somebody out there could use our help. Let's go."
Jeremiah nodded: "Then let's find the next battlefield."
Sylvie: "Right!"
Esmarie slaps her cheeks: "You can do this!"
The four of them moved out.
***
Leonidas' fist missed Hakim's jaw by an inch and buried itself into the shadow floor behind him.
Hakim stepped through the opening and slashed for his ribs. Leonidas twisted his torso, letting the blade scrape past his shirt, then answered with a knee that Hakim caught against the flat of his sword. The impact still shoved him backward several steps through the darkness.
Aaliyah attacked before he could settle.
A blade of shadow came from his left.
Hakim turned just enough to deflect it.
Another came from behind.
He ducked.
Leonidas was already on him again.
The fight had been going like this for a while now.
Hakim had lost track of how long Leonidas had been inside Endless Night with them. Minutes, probably. Long enough for the rhythm to become clear.
Leonidas pressured from the front.
Aaliyah erased every safe angle around him.
There was no sky in the domain. No burning town, no distant glow of Hanabi, no sense of direction beyond the black floor beneath his feet and the shifting ceiling of shadow overhead. Every sound seemed duller here, every movement harder to read.
Hakim knew exactly what that meant.
Strength barely mattered if he stayed here too long.
This was Aaliyah's territory.
Leonidas lunged again.
His right fist came straight.
Hakim knocked it aside with his guard.
Left hook.
Hakim leaned back.
Leonidas stepped through the missed punch and spun into a heel kick aimed for Hakim's ribs.
Hakim raised his sword vertically.
The kick struck the side of the blade.
The vibration traveled through both arms.
Hakim slid backward.
Aaliyah's shadow hand erupted from beneath him.
He jumped.
Leonidas jumped with him.
A fist came toward Hakim's stomach in midair.
Hakim twisted and caught the wrist with his free hand, using Leonidas' momentum to turn his own body around him. For a moment both men rotated through the dark before Hakim released and kicked toward Leonidas' chest.
Leonidas crossed his arms.
The kick landed.
He barely moved.
Hakim landed first.
Leonidas touched down a heartbeat later.
Then Aaliyah passed between them.
Hakim barely saw her.
Her blade flashed toward his throat.
He ducked.
The edge cut a few strands of hair.
Hakim turned with his sword already moving, but she was gone before he completed the counter.
Aaliyah's footsteps circled somewhere beyond the blue glow of his blade.
Hakim didn't chase them with his eyes.
Not anymore.
He had tried that earlier.
It had nearly gotten him killed.
Leonidas cracked his neck.
Leonidas: "You're handling this better than the last one."
Hakim: "You talk more than I expected."
Leonidas smiled.
Then came forward.
Hakim met him.
Leonidas threw a jab.
Hakim redirected it.
Another punch immediately followed.
Hakim stepped outside.
He drove the pommel of his sword toward Leonidas' temple.
Leonidas ducked and swept low with his leg.
Hakim hopped over it.
Leonidas rose with an uppercut.
Hakim tilted his head aside.
The fist passed close enough to disturb his hair.
Hakim brought his sword down.
Leonidas caught his wrist.
Hakim let go with one hand and drove his elbow into Leonidas' face.
The vampire's head snapped aside.
Hakim twisted his trapped wrist free and slashed across his chest.
A shallow line opened.
Leonidas glanced down at it.
Then grinned.
His next punch came harder.
Hakim blocked.
A second drove into the guard.
A third nearly broke through.
Each impact pushed him backward.
Aaliyah emerged between two of Leonidas' strikes.
Hakim saw a flash of her cloak.
He turned.
Her blade came down.
Steel collided.
She vanished immediately.
Leonidas kicked toward Hakim's knee.
Hakim shifted his leg back.
The kick missed.
Another followed higher.
Hakim caught it on his forearm.
Leonidas planted the kicking foot and used the rotation to throw a backfist.
Hakim slipped beneath it.
He stepped into Leonidas' chest and drove his shoulder forward.
The vampire stumbled half a step.
Hakim didn't pursue.
Aaliyah was moving again.
He could feel her presence circling.
Not exactly where she was.
Just enough to know she was waiting.
Hakim backed away from Leonidas and let the faint blue flame along his sword brighten slightly.
Aaliyah: "You're conserving yourself."
Hakim glanced into the darkness.
Hakim: "Observant."
Aaliyah: "You'll die with plenty left."
Hakim: "Maybe."
He lowered his blade.
Hakim: "Rather that than waste it."
A shadow spear shot toward his chest.
Hakim turned it aside.
Leonidas attacked at the same moment.
Hakim blocked a punch, ducked a kick, then pivoted around another straight meant for his face. Leonidas changed direction instantly and drove an elbow toward the back of his head.
Hakim raised his shoulder.
The elbow clipped him.
His balance shifted.
Aaliyah appeared.
Her blade came horizontally.
Hakim dropped to one knee.
The slash passed over him.
He cut upward.
Aaliyah bent around it with unnatural speed and disappeared back into the dark.
Leonidas came down from above.
Hakim rolled.
A heel crashed into the floor where his head had been.
The shadow ground rippled from the force.
Hakim came up on his feet.
Leonidas jumped again.
This time higher.
His body rotated in the air before both legs extended toward Hakim's chest.
Drop kick.
Hakim's eyes narrowed.
Blue fire spread along his blade.
He slashed upward.
A broad crescent of azure flame tore through the darkness.
Leonidas crossed his arms.
The attack passed through him.
He looked back.
The blue slash had never been aimed at him.
It continued upward.
Straight toward the ceiling.
For the first time in several minutes, Hakim committed enough flame to illuminate the structure above them.
The ceiling became visible.
A massive black plane of shifting shadow stretched over the domain.
The blue crescent struck it.
Fire spread across the surface.
Hakim watched closely.
No rupture.
No opening.
The flame faded.
The ceiling remained.
Hakim landed.
Leonidas did too.
Hakim looked upward for only a second.
That answered it.
Trying to break his way out was possible in theory.
Maybe.
But it would cost too much.
Hakim couldn't afford to pour half his reserves into the domain itself while two vampires were trying to kill him.
Which left the obvious answer.
Aaliyah.
The domain belonged to her.
If he wanted out, he needed to hurt the one maintaining it badly enough to make it collapse.
Hakim turned his sword back toward Leonidas.
The flame along its edge diminished again.
Small.
Controlled.
Leonidas noticed.
Leonidas: "Done experimenting?"
Hakim: "For now."
Leonidas rushed him.
The next exchange was tighter.
Hakim stayed almost entirely on swordsmanship.
Leonidas threw a right hook.
Hakim caught it against the spine of his blade and turned it outward.
A kick came low.
Hakim stepped over it.
He slashed for Leonidas' shoulder.
Leonidas ducked.
Hakim reversed the blade and thrust.
Leonidas slapped the point aside with his palm.
Aaliyah came from Hakim's right.
He heard fabric shift.
Blocked.
She vanished.
Leonidas punched toward his liver.
Hakim turned.
The fist grazed his coat.
Another shadow blade came from behind.
Hakim twisted his sword over his shoulder and caught it blind.
Aaliyah's attack disappeared the instant it met resistance.
Hakim exhaled slowly.
He was learning the timing.
Not her speed.
Not her position.
The rhythm.
Leonidas attacked.
Aaliyah waited for Hakim to commit.
Every time.
Hakim let him continue.
He defended.
A punch.
Parry.
Kick.
Step back.
Elbow.
Guard.
Shadow blade.
Turn.
Another punch.
Duck.
Aaliyah accelerated.
Her movement around the fight became a blur in the darkness.
Hakim could no longer track her visually at all.
A faint disturbance crossed his peripheral vision.
Gone.
Another behind him.
Gone again.
The darkness itself seemed to move.
Hakim remained patient.
He didn't swing at shadows.
Didn't throw flame into empty space.
Didn't allow Leonidas to drag him into frustration.
Leonidas attacked with a four-strike combination.
Straight.
Hook.
Low kick.
Knee.
Hakim blocked the first with his sword, rolled under the second, lifted his leg away from the kick, then caught the knee against the guard.
Leonidas immediately grabbed at the blade.
Hakim released one hand and struck him in the throat.
Leonidas recoiled.
Aaliyah came in.
Hakim turned.
Too late.
Her blade cut across his upper back.
He stumbled forward.
Leonidas punched.
Hakim barely caught it.
Leonidas followed with another.
Then another.
Hakim gave ground.
Aaliyah kept circling.
Hakim understood.
They thought the pressure was working.
Good.
Leonidas drove a heavy right hand toward Hakim's side.
Hakim saw it coming.
He could have avoided it.
He didn't.
The fist landed.
Hakim's body folded around the impact.
He staggered.
Leonidas immediately felt something wrong.
The punch had connected.
But the feedback was wrong.
Harder than flesh.
Too solid.
Hakim had slipped the hilt of his sword between his upper arm and ribs at the last possible moment.
The punch had struck metal beneath his coat.
Leonidas' eyes narrowed.
Aaliyah didn't see it.
From where she was moving, Hakim had just taken a clean body shot.
Hakim let his sword dip.
His knees bent.
He even let his breathing break for half a second.
Aaliyah committed.
Hakim felt it.
The circling stopped.
Her presence came straight toward him.
Fast.
Direct.
Certain.
She emerged from the dark with her blade already aimed toward his neck.
Hakim planted his foot.
Turned.
And charged directly into her.
Aaliyah's eyes widened.
Hakim slammed his shoulder into her chest like a linebacker.
Her momentum stopped instantly.
Both of them drove backward several steps.
Hakim grabbed the front of her cloak.
Aaliyah tried twisting away.
Hakim yanked.
The dark fabric tore free from her shoulders.
Void Cloak went with it.
For the first time in Endless Night, Aaliyah stood fully exposed.
Hakim's sword came forward.
She tried moving.
Too late.
The blade drove through her abdomen.
Aaliyah gasped.
Hakim tightened his grip.
Blue fire ignited along the steel.
Then inside her wound.
Aaliyah screamed.
Azure flame erupted across her body, racing around her stomach and chest as Hakim forced more power through the blade.
The domain reacted immediately.
The floor trembled.
The ceiling rippled.
Darkness cracked around them like breaking glass.
Then Endless Night collapsed.
The outside world returned in one violent instant.
Burning trees.
Ruined ground.
Orange light in the distance.
Smoke over Hanabi.
Aaliyah remained impaled on Hakim's sword.
Hakim ripped it free.
He didn't hesitate.
He raised the blade toward her neck.
Finish it.
One slash.
He stepped in.
A hand closed around the back of his coat.
Hakim's eyes shifted.
Leonidas.
He was one second too late.
Hakim abandoned the strike and slipped out of the coat as Leonidas pulled. He twisted free, landed several meters away, and immediately raised his sword again.
Aaliyah dropped to one knee.
One hand pressed against the hole through her abdomen.
Blue fire still burned along the wound.
Leonidas stepped between them.
Hakim stared at both vampires.
His breathing remained controlled.
For now.
He had gotten what he wanted.
He was out.
Hakim slowly backed away.
Hakim: "One problem at a time."
Then he retreated through the ruined forest before either vampire could force him back into another close exchange.
Hakim ran.
Not because he thought they would let him escape.
Because he needed distance.
Branches snapped under his boots as he tore through the ruined forest, the faint blue flame along his sword reduced to almost nothing. His breathing remained controlled, but the muscles in his arms had started to feel the strain of everything he had already spent inside Endless Night.
Behind him, Aaliyah remained on one knee.
Blue fire still clung to the wound in her abdomen, burning stubbornly even as flesh started knitting itself back together. She grit her teeth and forced the last traces of flame out before straightening.
Leonidas watched her recover.
Aaliyah glared at him.
Aaliyah: "Why the hell are you throwing your fists? You're a vampire. And I know you have a curse."
Leonidas rolled one shoulder.
Leonidas: "I'm surprised a human from here was able to hold me off in hand-to-hand combat."
Aaliyah: "If you're not going to help me, then go somewhere else."
She snatched up her cloak and threw it back over her shoulders.
Leonidas smiled.
Leonidas: "I've taken a liking to that human. He's mine, I'm the one who will kill him. Feel free to prattle elsewhere, frail little girl."
Aaliyah's eye twitched.
Aaliyah: "Watch your mouth. I'm not so frail that I can't tear out your heart."
Leonidas: "By all means, be my guest. If you can even keep up with me."
He glanced toward the trees.
Leonidas: "My prey is escaping."
Leonidas lowered into a squat.
Then blasted off.
The ground cratered beneath him.
Aaliyah stared after him for half a second, visibly furious, before shadows gathered around her feet and she shot forward in pursuit.
Hakim had already reached the outskirts of the burning town.
The forest thinned into ruined streets and burning buildings. Smoke rolled between houses while distant explosions echoed from deeper across the island.
Then he saw movement ahead.
Hunters.
Several of them.
And civilians.
Too many.
Hakim slowed sharply.
Families, elderly people, injured festivalgoers, children being carried through the smoke. Hunters surrounded them with weapons drawn, trying to guide the group between burning structures.
Hakim's expression hardened.
Hakim: "What're you guys doing? These people should be long evacuated!"
One Hunter turned.
His eyes widened.
Hunter: "Special Rank Hunter Hakim!"
Hakim approached quickly.
Hunter: "The evacuation buildings are under constant attack. We can't sustain this battle, so we're bringing everybody to the east dock to get them off the island."
Another Hunter pointed through the town.
Hunter: "We've communicated with them and it's still secure for now. Multiple groups are already being led there."
Hakim looked ahead.
The route was terrible.
Fire had consumed both sides of the main road.
Several buildings had collapsed into the street.
More were close to following.
They had civilians moving through a corridor that could become a death trap at any moment.
Hakim clenched his jaw.
Hakim: "Shit."
He looked toward the distant shore.
Hakim: "And we've gotta get through this burning town."
Hakim stepped ahead of everyone.
Hakim: "Everybody back!"
The nearest Hunters immediately started moving the civilians away from him.
Hakim raised his blade.
Hakim: "I'm clearing a path."
Blue fire erupted along the sword.
More than before.
Much more.
The flame surged from the guard to the tip until the weapon looked almost completely consumed by azure light.
Hakim inhaled.
Then cut downward.
The world turned blue.
A colossal wall of flame exploded from the slash and tore through the town.
It didn't spread wildly.
It carved forward.
Burning debris vanished from the path.
Collapsed wooden structures were split apart.
Orange flames were forced aside as the blue fire surged straight through the district, creating a corridor through destruction.
The attack kept going.
One block.
Two.
Ten.
Farther.
The blue flames continued for more than two miles, cutting a clear route through the burning town until the glowing path reached all the way toward the shoreline.
The Hunters stared.
So did the civilians.
Then they realized the flames weren't disappearing.
Two towering walls of blue fire remained on either side of the newly cleared path.
A corridor.
Protected from the surrounding inferno.
Protected from anything trying to enter from the sides.
Hakim lowered his sword.
His arm trembled.
That had cost him.
A lot.
Hakim turned toward the crowd.
Hakim: "MY BLUE FIRE IS SAFE! GO IN IT AND USE ITS PATH TO GO ALL THE WAY TO SHORE! THEN HEAD TO THE DOCKS!"
He pointed forward.
Hakim: "LET'S GO, LET'S GO, LET'S GO!!"
The Hunters reacted immediately.
Hunter: "You heard the man!! Follow us into the blue flames!!!"
Another waved civilians forward.
Hunter: "Hurry!!"
Hunter: "Into the flames!!"
The crowd started moving.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
A woman carrying a child hesitated at the edge of the blue fire.
Hakim stepped into it himself.
Nothing happened.
The flames wrapped around him without burning.
That was enough.
She followed.
Then everyone else did too.
The evacuation surged into the corridor.
Hundreds of civilians disappeared between the walls of blue flame while Hunters moved along the edges, guiding them toward the distant shore.
Hakim watched.
For a second, relief appeared in his eyes.
Then his breathing grew heavier.
The attack had drained far more than he wanted to admit.
Good thing he had conserved himself earlier.
If he had wasted his power trying to destroy Endless Night, there was no chance he could have done this now.
Hakim wanted to follow them.
He needed to.
A group this large would be an obvious target.
They still had more than two miles to travel before reaching the shore, then farther to the docks.
This was exactly where he would be most useful.
Then he felt it.
Pressure.
Two of them.
Coming fast.
Hakim looked back toward the ruined street.
Leonidas landed first.
The impact cracked the road beneath him.
Aaliyah emerged from shadow several meters behind, her cloak settling around her body as she stopped.
Hakim sighed.
Hakim: "Of course."
Leonidas looked past him.
The blue corridor.
The civilians.
Then back at Hakim.
A grin spread across his face.
Leonidas: "There you are."
Aaliyah's eyes moved toward the evacuation route.
Hakim immediately stepped between her and it.
His sword rose.
His breathing was heavier now.
The flame along his blade flickered.
Not much left.
Not enough to comfortably fight both.
Maybe not enough to beat either one outright anymore.
Hakim knew that.
Defeating them here would be incredibly difficult.
Maybe impossible.
But if he left them alone and followed the civilians, they could simply chase.
If he tried retreating with the group, he would bring two monsters directly into hundreds of defenseless people.
Hakim glanced toward the corridor.
Then back at Aaliyah and Leonidas.
The answer was obvious.
He had to keep them here.
Even if he couldn't kill them.
Even if all he could do was stop them from moving forward.
Hakim lowered his center of gravity.
One hand settled firmly around the sword grip.
The remaining blue fire condensed along the edge.
Conservative.
Controlled.
Whatever was left would have to be enough.
Leonidas stepped forward.
Aaliyah's shadow stretched beneath her.
Hakim assumed his stance.
Two vampires.
One exhausted Hunter.
Hundreds of civilians behind him.
Hakim stared them down.
He didn't need to win.
He just couldn't let them pass.
***
Several minutes had passed.
Hakim was still standing.
That alone had become an accomplishment.
The blue corridor behind him continued burning toward the distant shore, hundreds of civilians and Hunters steadily disappearing farther down its protected path. Hakim remained at the entrance, sword raised, making sure neither vampire reached the people behind him.
The problem was that the fight had changed.
Leonidas had finally started using his curse.
The skin along both of his arms rippled, muscle and bone shifting beneath it as dark stripes spread from his shoulders to his hands. His forearms thickened, fingers lengthened, and his hands transformed into massive tiger-like claws layered with dense black-orange fur and curved talons.
Primordial Tiger.
Only a fraction of it.
And already his physical power had jumped tremendously.
Leonidas lunged.
Hakim caught the first claw strike against his sword.
The impact nearly tore the weapon from his hands.
Leonidas followed with the opposite arm, sweeping horizontally. Hakim ducked beneath the claws, but the pressure behind the swing still ripped through the wall of a nearby building.
Leonidas twisted with the missed strike.
Three pale claw-shaped slashes tore from his hand.
Hakim stepped sideways.
The first passed his chest.
He cut through the second.
The third carved through the road behind him and split a burning wagon cleanly in half.
Hakim barely had time to reset.
Shadow hands erupted around him.
One came from beneath his feet.
Another reached from the side of a building.
Two more descended from above.
Hakim cut through the first, pivoted around the second, then ducked as the others closed over his head.
Aaliyah remained several meters away.
Her cloak blended into the smoke as more shadow hands poured from beneath her.
Leonidas attacked through them.
Hakim saw the claws coming.
He blocked high.
Leonidas kicked low.
Hakim lifted his leg just enough to let it pass beneath him, then drove the hilt of his sword into Leonidas' jaw.
The vampire barely moved.
His tiger arm swung down.
Hakim rolled aside.
The claws struck the street.
Asphalt exploded.
Hakim came up on one knee and slashed.
A narrow blue flame arc cut across Leonidas' transformed forearm.
The fire burned through fur.
Then slowed.
The underlying flesh had become dramatically tougher.
Leonidas smiled.
Leonidas: "That all?"
Hakim: "Not even close."
A shadow hand wrapped around Hakim's ankle.
He cut it away.
Another seized his sword arm.
A third grabbed at his shoulder.
Hakim ignited a short burst of blue fire around himself and burned all three away without wasting more than necessary.
Leonidas was already in front of him.
His claws crossed.
Then opened.
A wide pair of claw slashes tore toward Hakim.
Hakim planted his sword.
Blue flame surged along the edge.
He cut upward.
The attacks collided.
The blast forced Hakim backward through smoke and sparks.
Leonidas came through it.
Hakim barely saw the tiger arm before it struck the flat of his blade.
He flew backward.
His boots hit first.
He slid nearly twenty meters before forcing himself upright.
Aaliyah immediately raised one hand.
Five shadow hands erupted from the road around him.
Hakim stepped between the first two, cut through another, then let the fourth pass over his shoulder.
The fifth caught his coat.
He tore free before it could drag him down.
Leonidas leaped.
Both tiger arms drew back.
Hakim looked up.
Leonidas brought them down together.
Hakim threw himself aside.
The strike smashed into the street and created a crater large enough to swallow a carriage.
The shockwave reached the blue evacuation corridor.
Hakim's eyes sharpened.
Cracks raced toward it.
He immediately slashed the ground.
A thin line of blue fire cut across the fracture and burned through the weakened section before it could spread farther.
Leonidas noticed.
Aaliyah did too.
He was still protecting the route.
Leonidas: "You're distracted."
Hakim: "Still haven't killed me."
Leonidas grinned.
He dragged one claw through the road.
Four more slash waves erupted toward Hakim.
Hakim cut through one, jumped over another, then twisted between the final two as they tore through buildings on either side.
Aaliyah's shadow hands followed his landing.
One grabbed his wrist.
Another reached for his neck.
Hakim rotated his blade through the first and kicked the second away.
Leonidas appeared in front of him.
Hakim barely got his sword up.
The tiger fist struck.
The guard buckled inward.
Hakim was launched through the entrance of a burning building.
He rolled across the floor and came up on one knee.
Shadow hands crawled through the doorway.
Hakim cut through them.
Leonidas crashed through the wall instead.
Hakim leaned away from the first claw.
The second ripped through a support beam.
The third came low.
Hakim blocked with the spine of his sword and nearly lost his footing.
He slashed across Leonidas' abdomen.
Blue fire sparked across the wound.
Shallow.
Too shallow.
Primordial Tiger had already reinforced him far beyond his earlier state.
Hakim clicked his tongue.
A shadow hand came from behind.
He turned too late.
It grabbed his shoulder and yanked him backward.
Leonidas kicked.
Hakim took the impact against his sword and was thrown out through the opposite wall.
He hit the street.
Rolled once.
Stopped himself with his blade.
His breathing had grown heavy.
Leonidas stepped through the burning structure.
Aaliyah emerged from the smoke beside him.
Hakim slowly stood.
The flame along his sword remained thin.
Leonidas: "You should've kept that power for yourself."
Hakim glanced toward the corridor.
The civilians were much farther away now.
Hakim: "Would've been a waste."
Aaliyah raised both hands.
Dozens of shadow limbs crawled across the street.
Hakim lowered his stance.
Then the sky roared.
All three looked up.
Jets.
Dozens of them.
They crossed Hanabi Island in formation, their engines tearing through the night while smoke from the burning town curled around their silhouettes.
More followed behind.
Hakim's expression changed.
Reinforcements.
Roughly half continued farther over the island.
The rest descended toward the burning town and nearby districts.
Parachutes began opening across the sky.
Hunters poured out.
Then two figures broke away from one of the formations.
They were heading directly toward Hakim.
One carried a large shield.
Lightning crawled violently across its surface.
The other held a slender blade glowing faintly gold.
Their parachutes opened.
Then both cut them loose.
Hakim looked up.
Hakim: "What the hell are they doing?"
They dropped fast.
Far too fast.
Golden light burst behind them.
Fairy wings formed.
The older Hunter stabilized almost immediately.
The woman with the shield did the same.
Then her expression sharpened.
Lightning flooded into the shield.
More.
More.
The entire surface became a blinding mass of electricity.
She angled herself downward again.
The fairy wings folded.
Zoey dove.
Leonidas turned.
Aaliyah raised a wall of shadow hands.
Zoey hit.
The Lightning Shield smashed into the ground between the vampires and Hakim.
A thunderous explosion erupted through the street.
Lightning blasted outward in a circular wave, shredding the shadow hands and forcing Aaliyah backward. Leonidas crossed his transformed tiger arms and was still driven several meters across the road.
Hakim raised an arm against the shockwave.
Golden fairy wings opened behind Zoey again as she rose from the impact.
Another figure landed beside her.
The older man rested a slender glowing sword over one shoulder.
?: "Didn't take long to find you, Hakim."
Zoey straightened behind her shield.
Zoey: "Up against two strong vampires on your own. That's just like you."
Hakim's exhausted expression finally broke.
Hakim: "Donovan! Zoey!"
Two Special Rank Hunters had converged on the battlefield.
Donovan Boreas was the oldest active Hunter still serving in the field, a veteran of the Boreas family whose career stretched back farther than most of the Hunters fighting on Hanabi had even been alive. The Alter Weapon in his hand was the Fairy Blade, golden magic drifting around its edge.
Zoey stood beside him, only a year younger than Hakim. Electricity continued snapping across the Lightning Shield, an Alter Weapon unlike any other in the Hunter ranks. Among active Hunters, she alone had built her fighting style entirely around a shield.
Donovan looked toward Leonidas and Aaliyah.
Donovan: "The first round reinforcements have arrived."
Zoey glanced toward the jets still descending over the burning town.
Zoey: "We got reports that vampires were attacking everywhere throughout the island, but that it was the most intense in the burning town."
Hakim looked around at the destroyed streets.
Then at himself.
Hakim: "Intense is a hell of an understatement."
Aaliyah's expression darkened.
Aaliyah: "More roaches have arrived."
Donovan's Fairy Blade glowed slightly brighter.
Donovan: "And there's gonna be a lot more of us."
Leonidas looked at Donovan.
Then Zoey.
His tiger claws flexed.
Instead of concern, excitement entered his face.
Leonidas: "Good."
Hakim immediately looked toward the blue corridor behind them.
Hakim: "Listen. There's a large civilian group moving through that path right now."
Zoey followed his gaze.
Hakim: "The evacuation shelters in the city are getting hit. Hunters are redirecting everyone to the east dock so they can get them off the island."
Donovan's expression became more serious.
Hakim: "That group is huge. Injured people, kids, families. I cleared them a route through the burning town, but they still have to reach the shoreline and then the docks."
Zoey: "You want to go with them."
Hakim: "I need to."
He looked at Leonidas and Aaliyah.
Hakim: "I stayed because these two would've followed me straight into the crowd. But now that you're here, I'm more useful making sure those civilians actually reach the port."
Donovan nodded once.
Donovan: "Then go."
Hakim looked at him.
Donovan: "We didn't come all this way so you could keep doing everything yourself."
Zoey planted her shield against the road.
Lightning surged around her boots.
Zoey: "Get them to the dock. We'll keep these two right here."
Hakim hesitated.
Aaliyah's shadow hands began spreading across the pavement again.
Leonidas stepped forward, tiger claws scraping together.
Hakim: "The woman uses shadows. Don't give her control of the battlefield."
Zoey: "Understood."
Hakim pointed toward Leonidas.
Hakim: "His curse is Primordial Tiger. He's only transformed his arms so far, and it's already boosting his physical power tremendously. He can throw ranged claw slashes too."
Leonidas grinned.
Leonidas: "You make me sound impressive."
Hakim: "You're annoying enough without encouragement."
Donovan laughed.
Golden fairy wings unfolded behind him.
Donovan: "You look terrible, by the way."
Hakim: "Been a long night."
Zoey glanced again toward the enormous walls of blue fire stretching for miles.
Zoey: "You made all of that?"
Hakim: "Yeah."
Zoey: "That explains why you look terrible."
Hakim: "Glad everyone noticed."
Another explosion rumbled somewhere across Hanabi.
Hakim looked toward the evacuation corridor.
The last visible civilians were already disappearing deeper into the blue flames.
He tightened his grip on his sword.
Hakim: "They're still a long way from safe."
Donovan stepped forward.
Donovan: "Then stop standing here talking to us."
Hakim looked at him.
Donovan's expression remained calm.
Donovan: "Go do your job."
Zoey raised the Lightning Shield beside him.
Zoey: "We'll do ours."
Hakim exhaled.
Then nodded.
Hakim: "Don't die."
Zoey: "Same to you."
Leonidas suddenly launched forward.
Donovan moved.
Golden wings flashed.
The Fairy Blade intercepted a massive tiger claw in the middle of the street.
The collision sent a shockwave through the nearby buildings.
Leonidas' grin widened.
Donovan barely reacted.
Donovan: "Primordial Tiger."
Leonidas: "You know it?"
Donovan: "I've been around."
Aaliyah raised her hands.
A wave of shadow limbs erupted toward Zoey.
Zoey drove the Lightning Shield forward.
Electricity exploded across the road.
The hands disintegrated before reaching her.
Aaliyah's eyes narrowed.
Zoey: "Not getting past me that easily."
Hakim watched for one second.
That was enough.
These weren't young Hunters he needed to protect.
They were Special Rank.
Hakim turned toward his blue flames.
The corridor opened for him.
He ran.
Behind him, lightning erupted through the burning town.
Golden wings flashed between buildings.
Leonidas laughed as another collision shook the street.
Shadow hands rose in waves against Zoey's shield.
Hakim didn't look back.
His battlefield had changed.
Now he had hundreds of people to get to the docks alive.