A man sitting on a barrel counted money, the golden sparkle of Aegium dancing in his hands before he dropped it back into a small sack. His eyes flickered up to two approaching figures, Yuko and Veyric. He stood up, grabbed a nearby sword, and stood in front of the rusting gates to the underground.

  “Hey, hey, we don’t allow anyone in from the Leviara Guard. Get the fuck outta here,” The man held the sword firm in his grip.

  Veyric’s horns glinted, his eyes of gold marking the man.

  “It’s going to be a bad day for the underground. We’re looking for Merle and Morris.” Yuko’s hand was on the handle of her sword.

  “This is your last chance. I’ve got the right mind to use this sword for what it can do.” The man broadened his shoulders.

  “Oh, wow. That sword’s brimming with energy you can’t use. Nice find for a washed-up gatekeeper.” Yuko grins.

  “I warned you.” The sword was wrapped in flames before he charged at them.

  Veyric bolted in the way, throwing out a front kick. The man halted, dodging the kick before curling back his arms. Yuko pushed Veyric aside, pivoting on her foot and lifting her other leg. Her leg swung in at the instep, striking the man in the temple with her shin.

  “Ah!” The man staggered to the side, blood dotting from the side of his head.

  Yuko looked at Veyric, then nodded her head towards the man. Veyric lunged in, striking him deep in the stomach with his fist, then snatched the back of his head, driving his elbow into the man’s face. His head recoiled back, blood leaking out of his nose, while Veyric released him. The man fell back, collapsing on the ground with a loud thud. A smear of blood found its way to the elbow of Veyric’s sleeve.

  “We didn’t kill him, right?” Veyric said.

  “With an elbow like that? You might’ve.” Yuko sneered before walking toward the gate.

  “No way…” Veyric followed behind Yuko.

  They trailed down a flight of steps before being met with another gate. Red runes were plastered all over it, glowing at them.

  “That wasn’t here before, was it?” Veyric said.

  “No, it wasn’t. Looks like they tried to tighten up their security. Sad to see that this was the best they could’ve done.” Yuko unsheathed her katana, the blade wrapped in shadows thicker than mist, and then she slashed through the gate.

  The gate banged open, and the symbols of runes materialized as energy, floating into the air. But then, they darkened to the color of shadows and disintegrated. Veyric watched the way the runes lost their color and burned to ashes. Entering the underground, the streets were quiet despite the approaching evening.

  “Where’s everyone?...” Veyric said.

  “We’ll figure it out.” Yuko sheathed her katana.

  They walked through the scum-filled streets of the underground, looking around until spotting a crowd. The people of the underground were frozen, as if they were watching something unfold. A sharp cry of gasps tore through with the sound of a booming impact and a harrowing scream.

  “Sounds like someone’s having a real fun time,” Yuko said.

  “I don’t know about that…” Veyric sighed.

  “Stop, Morris! She didn’t mean what she said!” Merle cried out.

  “Let her do the talking, then. Not you, Merle.” Morris said.

  Morris was holding a woman by the hair, the back of his knuckles dripping with blood, and the woman’s nose drooling with a steady stream of red. Tears were streaming out of her eyes, her feet dangling above ground, and her eyes staring into Morris’s.

  Veyric made an advancing step, but Yuko grabbed him by the back of his uniform.

  “Don’t,” Yuko said.

  “I can’t just let him do that to her. He’ll kill her, I know what kind of person he is.” Veyric’s eyes glinted.

  Yuko pulled the hood over Veyric’s head.

  “Don’t act without cognition. We’re outnumbered. And sure, you could say that we can take them all on, but you’re getting bigheaded just because you beat Morris once. You want to fight him, and thirty other bandits?” Yuko said.

  Veyric grumbled, then looked at her.

  “What’re you suggesting, then? Just let him beat on that innocent woman?” He said.

  “Through my eyes, it doesn’t matter if she’s innocent or guilty. What I do see is an opportunity.” Yuko flicked his forehead.

  “Ow…” He rubbed his forehead, grumbling.

  “This is madness, Morris, let her go!” Merle stepped forth.

  Morris briefly looked at Merle, then back at the woman.

  “And don’t forget, we need to capture both of them, not just Morris. So, don’t go thinking Merle’s any better.” Yuko said.

  “Let me handle this. You find some high ground to hide, because your uniform will blow it. And when you see an opening, go for it.” Yuko nudged him towards the alleys.

  Yuko pushed through the crowds of people, making her way to the center.

  “What’s going on here?” Yuko said.

  “Keep your head out of this, or he’ll crush you,” Merle said to her.

  “Yeah?” Yuko snatched at Merle’s arm, tossing him onto the ground and planting her foot on his chest.

  Merle was stunned, his eyes gaping open after realizing he’d been swiftly taken to the ground.

  “Just to let you know, I changed my mind on our little deal from before,” Yuko smirked, chains of shadows wrapping Merle’s body, constricting him.

  “What the hell are you doing!” Merle shouted.

  Morris turned his head in the direction of Merle once again.

  “Who are you, woman? And what deal was it that he made with you?” Morris tossed the woman aside.

  “Oh, do you really want to know? It would hurt your heart to know what your brother would do because of his greed.” Yuko said.

  “You lying assassin! You tricked me from the start with your assassin’s vow garbage!” Merle struggled in the chains.

  “And you believed me. You see… There’s a little step we missed to make it a real contract. Just shows how desperate you were searching for a miracle.” Yuko said.

  Morris narrowed his eye, clenching his fists.

  “I don’t like tricks, woman. It is people like you who threaten my goals.” He said.

  “Sometimes trickery is what gets you ahead. It’s never a bad skill to have. You think you’re going to rise to the top by brute force alone?” Yuko said.

  “I show the weak that they must follow strength. It is the one true order.” Morris said.

  “Now, is there a problem here? I’m not through with him, just yet.” He straightened his posture and signaled his men to close in on her.

  “I don’t know, looks like your cronies have got that itch in their eye.” She said.

  Bandits inched closer to her, and the folks of the underground were backing away from the scene. Morris was behind the crowd, while the bandits circled Yuko. He heard a thud drop behind him, and he turned. A flare of gold he could never mistake gleamed. Veyric stood behind him with clenched fists.

  “This was an elaborate scheme against me, wasn’t it? Only I could’ve guessed it’d be you, dragon. But in the end, I was right after all. You’d either be chained and executed, or used as a weapon.” Morris narrowed his eye.

  “Looks like it was the latter,” Morris said.

  “You don’t know anything, one-eye,” Veyric said.

  “I know plenty just by seeing you in that uniform, dragon.” Morris steps closer, looking down at Veyric.

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  Morris dragged a foot back as far as it could go from his long frame. Veyric’s gaze gaped open, watching a knee bolt towards his stomach. He crossed his arms over his stomach area, bracing for impact. Morris’s knee slugged past his guard, knocking the wind out of Veyric. He wheezed for air, staggering back. Morris kept his knee airborne, pivoting on his other foot while swinging his shin into Veyric’s cheekbone.

  Veyric was knocked off balance, bumbling to the side while blood streaked down his face.

  “What’s the matter, dragon! You had more fight in you last time!” Morris wound back his arm, striking Veyric straight in the face.

  Veyric’s head tilted back, and the taste of iron overwhelmed his mouth. He focused his gaze, locking onto Morris’s next attack.

  Morris launched another strike with his other hand. Veyric dodged, throwing a punch. It landed, but Morris’s clenching muscles were unaffected. Instead, he grabbed Veyric’s long strands of hair tightly, yanking him aside and bashing his knuckles against his jaw. Then came another punch, colliding against his nose with a crunch, forcing out a slow-moving stream of blood from it. Morris tossed Veyric by the hair.

  Veyric thudded against the ground, using all of his remaining willpower to find the function of breathing. Morris walked over to him, squatting down.

  “This is all? I fight you without devaluation, and this is ALL you show me? The untapped potential between man and dragon is NIGHT and DAY!” Morris shouted.

  “You don’t even fight for a cause that defines you. Now, you obey diligently, like you are not of great strength… Frustrating, how frustrating. Your mere existence frustrates me, dragon. Had I your power, they would fear me! But yet you still ignore how nature created you.” Morris adds.

  “So… Is that it?” Veyric coughed, blood escaping onto his lip.

  “You hate me because I don’t want to kowtow to you?” Veyric began to push off the ground, arms shaking in his attempt to stand.

  “Hate? Don’t flatter yourself. I’m disappointed. You were born an unstoppable force, and you act like a servant.” Morris said.

  “You have blood of the almighty in your veins, a gift from the Gods! What else must I say to you, dragon!?” Morris grabbed the back of Veyric’s head and slammed his face into the ground.

  He stood, turning him over with his boot, watching the golden slits in Veyric’s eyes gleam.

  “Tell me, do you obey because you believe in them? Or is it because you’re afraid of what will happen if you don’t?” Morris plants the bottom of his boot against Veyric’s chest.

  Morris’s jaw clenched, his brows furrowing down.

  Veyric wheezed, feeling the pressure of the boot on his chest. He kept quiet, focusing on his breathing.

  “All right, you’ve made your point. You’re disappointed, you kicked his ass, and now he’s clinging to life. Can we wrap this up? You’re starting to get on my nerves with your high and mighty shit. Reminds me of someone I really want to carve open.” Yuko was leaning forward on her katana while it was stabbed into the ground.

  “You’re amusing, woman.” He stood, looking over to Yuko with a grin. Morris saw that she’d handled most of his lackeys.

  “Don’t look at me like that, I’m not even half as excited as you are.” She yanked her sword out of the ground, holding it in one hand.

  “Kill her, brother!” Merle shouted while still wrapped in chains.

  “Quiet, weakling!” Morris yelled back.

  “Don’t worry, you two will get all the time to fight when you’re sharing a cell.” Yuko vanished, leaving behind a trail of shadows that streamed towards the sky

  Morris looked up, watching her descend towards him in a falling arc. He rolled back, avoiding a lethal slash that cleaved deep into the ground.

  Yuko rushed forth, thrusting a stab towards his chest once he recovered. Morris put his hands out, and Yuko’s blade pierced through one of his palms, blood leaking like a fresh stream of water.

  “Real smart idea.” Yuko dragged her blade up in his palm, splitting it in half vertically.

  Morris winced, staggering back while his fingers flopped apart. He placed his non-injured hand over his bleeding hand. Yuko rushed forward, turning her torso while pivoting. She swung a leg back, bashing the back of her heel against his face, executing a spinning heel kick. On impact, a blast of shadowy energy seared Morris’s skin. His head whipped to the side, his mind completely rattled, while his body followed the motion of the kick. Morris collapsed on his side with a mountainous thud.

  In the aftermath, Yuko took a deep breath and looked around. She walked over to Veyric.

  “What happened? I thought you said you’d be fine up against him.” Yuko said.

  “... I wasn’t ready.” Veyric wheezed out.

  “Of course you weren’t. It’s my fault for setting my expectations so high,” Yuko said.

  “Ma’am, please! You can’t arrest Merle—he runs the underground. Without him, everything here will fall apart!” A man said.

  “See, that’s not my problem. King Alan will have to figure this out, not me.” Yuko wrapped Morris in chains.

  Yuko froze, looking beyond the raging crowd. The eye-mark on her shoulder flashed red, burning into it with a gnawing sensation. She closed her eyes, trying to pinpoint a pair of footsteps. Yuko could feel that they had mana in their body. A tall, pale, white creature leaped out of the crowd and at Yuko.

  “Why’s it always me?” Yuko’s eyes burst open, and she side-stepped out of its way.

  The creature staggered off-balance. Its limbs were mismatched, and its head was shaped like a corkscrew. The folks of the underground screamed like caged animals and scurried like a sea of mice. Many hit up against what felt like an invisible barrier. Further panic rose amongst them, realizing that they were trapped.

  “You’ve done me a favor without even knowing,” Zeta said.

  “Great, just who I wanted to see.” Yuko scowled while the corkscrew-headed creature charged at her.

  She held her blade with two hands, the steel of the katana turning black. Without any resistance, Yuko cleanly sliced off one of its arms, then, while flanking behind it, she chopped off a back leg. To finish it off, she dashed forward and through, splitting the creature in half in a massacring finish. The corkscrew-headed creature fell apart into two halves, inner organs spilling from its body with the pooling of thick blood.

  Veyric placed his hands on the ground, pushing himself up. It took a while for him to stand, but he was now just barely on his two feet.

  “The other dragon is here? Oh, my luck exceeds me,” Zeta said.

  “What made you come here, freak?” Yuko raised her blade, blood trickling out of her scalp and streaming down her face.

  “Something about that man’s spirit is like nothing I’ve seen before. His desire to conquer is akin to a pact, one that surpasses the gift of an entity. Fascinating. Truly, truly, fascinating. I’ve been keeping a close eye on him ever since I saw him. But this was an opportunity above all else that you’ve provided.” Zeta approached.

  “You can drool out of the mouth for him as much as you want. I won’t even let you leave with his dead body.” Yuko’s palms curled with umbra-colored energy while she sheathed her blade.

  Shadows poured into Yuko’s weapon. The scabbard grew slightly longer, with the hand guard of the katana being wrapped in a crown of dark feathers. Yuko slowly and dramatically unsheathed the new form of the katana, reveling in the change of Zeta’s expression. The blade was thicker, and the length of the sword had stretched a few inches. Veyric’s eyes gleamed, his eyes tracing the details of Yuko’s sword. He observed how the mana flowed throughout her body, as if the sword were another extension of it.

  Zeta’s entire face had clenched.

  “Would you like to hear the best part about being here, and not in the main districts?” His lips arched into a grin.

  “Spit it out, I don’t have all day for your chit-chat,” Shadows writhed around her wrist and to the sword.

  “There won’t be a single soul that’ll miss anyone from the underground. They’re expendable little maggots that cling to life despite there being no reason to.” Zeta clenched his fist.

  Folks of the underground began to turn pale, their bodies stretching further than normal, skin tearing, and muscles contorting. An army of new creatures began to form right in front of Yuko’s eyes. Veyric’s jaw slightly hung open. He tried to advance, but felt a sharp pain in his ribs and fell back down to a knee.

  “Keep the boys in check, Veyric.” Yuko grabbed Merle and pelted him back towards Veyric.

  “Are you sure you can handle this by yourself?” Veyric said.

  “We’re about to find out.” Yuko clutched the handle of her sword tighter, the newly born creatures approaching her.