The captains moved.
Together.
Blades rising.
Eyes burning.
They went straight for Draven.
Elliana saw it.
And something in her eyes **shifted**.
She stepped forward.
Not rushing.
Not panicking.
Just… **there**.
Her daggers came up as if the motion had been waiting for permission.
"Honestly," she said coolly, irritation sharp in her voice, "you keep charging at my son like I'm not even here."
The first captain lunged.
Elliana **vanished**.
A blur of shadow and steel.
She reappeared inside the woman's guard, dagger snapping up to **deflect** the blade aside while her other hand drove forward, hilt slamming into the captain's throat.
**CRACK—!**
The captain staggered, choking.
The second came in from the side, blade aimed for Elliana's ribs.
Elliana twisted, letting the edge skim her coat, and **hooked** the blade with her dagger, wrenching it wide. She stepped in and **kneed** the captain in the gut.
Hard.
The air blasted from her lungs in a broken gasp.
Elliana didn't let her fall.
She grabbed her by the collar and **threw** her sideways, sending her crashing into a tree with a sickening thud.
The first captain recovered and swung again, wild with rage.
Elliana caught the strike on crossed daggers, sparks bursting as shadows rippled around her arms while she **pushed back**, forcing the blade away.
Her eyes were cold.
Unimpressed.
Annoyed.
"Do you have any idea," she continued calmly, twisting her wrist and sliding the blade aside, "how rude it is to ignore the woman trying to kill you?"
She stepped in and **slashed**.
The cut tore across the captain's shoulder, blood spraying as she screamed and stumbled back.
Elliana followed.
Relentless.
A low sweep of her leg took the captain's feet out from under her. She hit the ground hard.
Elliana raised a dagger—
—and stopped.
Not from mercy.
From instinct.
The second captain was already back, charging, blade raised.
Elliana turned, daggers flashing up just in time.
**CLANG—!**
Steel rang as they locked, sparks exploding between them.
The captain snarled. "Get out of the way!"
Elliana leaned in, eyes inches from hers, voice low and lethal.
"No."
She **twisted**, broke the bind, and drove her elbow into the captain's face.
Bone cracked.
Blood sprayed.
The captain reeled.
Elliana stepped forward again, shadows coiling around her legs, daggers poised.
"You want him?" she said softly.
Her smile was thin.
Sharp.
"Then you go through me."
Behind her—
Draven was still struggling against the chains, knights closing in, holy light burning into his arm.
Elliana didn't look back.
Didn't need to.
She stood between him and the captains.
The air **cracked**.
Elliana felt it before she heard it.
Static crawled across her skin.
The shadows around her twitched.
Pressure built like a storm overhead.
Her eyes narrowed.
And then—
"Move."
The voice hit like thunder.
Cedric stepped out of the smoke and chaos, lightning crawling along his armor, eyes burning with cold authority.
"Your opponent is me, Elliana."
He didn't wait.
He **moved**.
Lightning detonated beneath his feet as he crossed the distance in an instant, blade already swinging in a brutal horizontal arc aimed straight for her neck.
Elliana's eyes widened—
She **twisted**.
Steel screamed as his blade skimmed past her throat close enough to slice hair. The shockwave still hit, blasting dirt and leaves into the air.
Elliana slid back, boots carving trenches through the ground.
Cedric followed.
Relentless.
A second strike came down from above, lightning surging along the blade.
Elliana raised both daggers and **caught it**.
**BOOM—!**
The impact was monstrous.
The ground cracked.
The air exploded.
Elliana was driven to one knee, arms shaking, shadows flaring violently around her as she fought the crushing weight bearing down on her.
Cedric leaned in, lightning blazing brighter.
"You're slower," he said coldly. "Elf."
Elliana bared her teeth.
"Try being a mother," she shot back. "It does wonders for your priorities."
She **kicked** upward, smashing her boot into his knee.
Cedric grunted, staggered half a step—
Elliana used it, twisting out of the bind and flipping back, daggers up, stance resetting instantly.
Cedric straightened.
Lightning crawled along his shoulders, his arms, his blade.
"You're in the way," he said. "And I'm done being patient."
He raised his sword.
The air **howled**.
Lightning gathered overhead, coiling, screaming, the sky darkening as power condensed.
Elliana's eyes hardened.
Behind her, she could feel it—
Draven straining.
Chains burning into him.
Knights closing.
Her jaw clenched.
*Hold. Just hold.*
Cedric stepped forward.
The ground **split**.
"Both you and your son die today."
Elliana's shadows **erupted**.
Her smile was feral.
"Over my dead body."
And then—
They collided.
Cedric and Elliana **collided**.
Lightning and shadow detonated, the impact ripping a crater into the ground as power screamed outward in a violent shockwave.
Trees bent.
Dirt exploded.
The air itself **howled**.
And the moment Elliana was gone—
The captains moved.
So did the knights.
All of them.
On Draven.
"Now!" one captain barked.
The ring **collapsed**.
Shields surged forward.
Blades came up.
Chains tightened.
Draven felt it instantly.
Pressure.
From every side.
The chain around his wrist **yanked**, jerking his arm high. The one on his leg burned hotter, tightening, dragging him half a step off balance.
He snarled.
"—Tch!"
A knight lunged.
Draven ducked and slashed, blade opening the man's throat in a brutal, efficient cut. Blood sprayed, hot and dark.
Another came from behind—
He twisted, drove his elbow back, felt bone crunch.
A shield slammed into his ribs.
**CRACK—!**
Pain detonated through his side.
He staggered.
Barely stayed upright.
The chain took advantage.
It **pulled**.
Hard.
Draven was dragged a step, boots carving trenches in the dirt as the golden links glowed brighter, holy runes flaring.
"On him!" a knight shouted. "Don't let him breathe!"
Too late.
Draven was already moving.
He **jumped**, using the pull of the chain to swing himself sideways, crashing into two knights at once. They went down in a tangle of armor and curses.
He landed hard, rolled, came up slashing.
A blade cut across his back.
He hissed.
Didn't slow.
Another knight stabbed—
Draven caught the wrist, twisted, **broke it**, then drove his dagger up under the man's helmet.
The body dropped.
But more were coming.
Always more.
The captains advanced behind them, controlled now, eyes cold, waiting for him to overextend.
*Damn it…*
His breathing was ragged.
His vision swam.
The holy chains were **burning** him from the inside out, disrupting his regeneration, slowing his movements.
*Can't cut them… can't pull free…*
Another chain lashed out—
It wrapped around his other arm.
Tight.
Violent.
Now both arms were restrained, pulled wide, spread like a crucifix.
Draven's eyes widened.
"—Shit!"
The knights didn't hesitate.
Three charged at once.
Draven twisted his torso, kicked the first in the knee, felt it buckle. He slammed his head forward into the second, cracking his nose.
The third's blade **stabbed in**—
It punched into his side.
Deep.
Draven gasped, blood spraying from his mouth.
The knight tried to pull back—
Draven **clamped his teeth on the blade**, holding it in place as shadows surged up his leg and **impaled** the knight from below.
The body convulsed, then fell.
Draven sagged for half a second—
The chains tightened.
Pain ripped through his shoulders.
Draven stood there, chest heaving, blood pouring down his front, arms spread by glowing chains, crimson eye burning like a dying star.
The captains watched.
Calculating.
"Finish him," one said coldly.
The knights surged again.
From behind—
Lightning cracked.
Shadows screamed.
Elliana and Cedric's clash tore the forest apart, power ripping the air asunder.
Draven didn't look.
Didn't call out.
He just **grinned**.
Bloodied.
Broken.
Defiant.
"Come on," he rasped. "Let's see how many of you it takes."
And then the first knight reached him—
And Draven **bit back**.