Chapter — Chaotic Escutcheon
Raiyo moved before Karma could attack again.
All four swords came free.
He crossed the distance in a blur.
Karma turned.
Raiyo cut the space between them.
Then the difference between far and near.
Then the relationship between Karma and his defensive position.
Three cuts.
One instant.
Raiyo appeared at Karma's throat.
His blade stopped.
Not against armor.
Against nothing.
Raiyo's eyes narrowed.
Karma smiled.
A faint red shell surrounded him.
It wasn't solid.
It wasn't energy in any conventional sense.
The space around Karma simply behaved like something terrified.
Raiyo cut again.
His blade was diverted.
He changed angles.
Diverted again.
Kaosu recognized it.
"Escutcheon."
Voss looked toward him.
"What?"
Kaosu's eyes remained on his father.
"Chaotic Escutcheon."
Karma heard him and smiled.
"At least you remember something."
Raiyo attacked a third time.
The blade should have struck Karma's ribs.
Reality bent the trajectory away.
Raiyo cut the bend itself.
For the first time, Karma's expression changed slightly.
Raiyo's sword grazed his coat.
A thin line appeared.
Silence.
Karma looked down.
Then back up.
Raiyo smirked.
"Reality missed."
Karma laughed.
"Genuinely impressive."
Raiyo struck again.
Karma moved one hand.
The Escutcheon flared.
Raiyo was thrown backward.
He cut the distance behind himself and landed instead of crashing.
Karma watched him carefully now.
"The Chaotic Escutcheon isn't a shield."
He tapped his own chest.
"It is fear made architectural."
Red static crawled around his body.
"Chaos convinces reality that an incoming threat is catastrophic enough to threaten the structure containing it."
Torin stared.
Karma continued almost conversationally.
"Reality becomes afraid."
Yamiya understood.
"So reality protects you."
Karma smiled.
"It protects itself."
Raiyo raised his swords again.
Karma looked toward him.
"And I happen to be standing inside."
Raiyo attacked anyway.
His blades flashed.
Semantic Cuts severed defense from defended.
Space from position.
Damage from recovery.
For several seconds, Karma was forced to redirect continuously.
Then Raiyo found an opening.
One sword struck Karma's shoulder.
The Escutcheon bent—
but didn't fully deflect it.
The blade cut fabric.
Then skin.
A single red line appeared.
Karma touched the blood.
His eyes sharpened.
"You're stronger than all of the Generals they sent."
Raiyo breathed heavily.
"How about Sorrow?"
Karma laughed.
"Don't become ambitious."
He disappeared.
Raiyo's eyes widened.
Karma was already beside him.
One finger struck Raiyo's chest.
The blow folded his armor.
Raiyo flew backward.
He cut momentum.
Then impact.
Then his relationship to the ground.
He still crashed hard enough to create a crater.
But he remained conscious.
Barely.
Karma turned toward Kaosu.
"Your turn."
Kaosu was already moving.