Darius was sweating now.
Not the casual kind.
Not the warm-up kind.
The real kind.
Heavy down the face.
Breathing rough.
Chest rising harder every second while Seizen walked toward him like the whole fight had already been decided.
Slow.
Easy.
Black-red aura rolling off him in waves.
Darius kept his stance up.
Kept the flowers alive around his feet.
Kept the smile on.
But inside—
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
Steam left his mouth.
His hands stayed high.
I can only use Buddhist Palm two more times.
Seizen kept coming.
One step.
Then another.
Broken stone cracked under his feet.
And he already knows about it now.
A drop of sweat slid off Darius's chin.
That first hit only worked because I caught him by surprise.
His breathing got tighter.
So what the hell can I do in this state against a monster like this?
His fingers flexed.
His shoulders burned.
His Bloom was still on, but the cost was there now.
Deep in the bones.
Deep in the lungs.
Shit.
Then, for no reason at all, one dumb useless thought popped into his head.
I need a drink.
And that—
that did it.
Darius's eyes widened just a little.
Wait.
His left hand slipped into the inner fold of his repaired cloak.
Seizen stopped.
Because what came out of Darius's pocket was not a bottle.
It was a ring.
Old.
Heavy.
Wrapped in Chun cloth and tied in rope, like something sacred and dangerous had been bound shut and carried anyway.
The Sun-Iron Ring.
Seizen's eyes dropped to it.
Then lifted back up to Darius.
Still unfazed.
Still calm.
But cautious now.
Darius saw that and grinned through the sweat.
"Ah," he said, holding it up. "You know this ring."
His grin widened.
"And you know who it summons."
Seizen said nothing.
He just watched.
Darius's pulse kicked harder.
Thank God I remembered I had this.
As he puts the ring on.
Look at that.
Looking for a drink got me my top summon.
A tired laugh almost escaped him.
I haven't used him since the last war I was in.
His grin turned a little guilty.
He's gonna be mad when I wake him.
Darius started pouring aura into the ring.
The cloth around it fluttered.
The metal started to hum.
He raised his arm toward Seizen.
"This is my trump card, kid."
Flowers at his feet bent hard in the rising pressure.
"I hope you're ready."
Then the ring flashed.
Darius's voice cracked across the yard.
"WU—MONKEY KING, DESCEND!"
The world answered.
Wind exploded through the base.
Not a breeze.
A violent howl.
Smoke got ripped sideways.
Fire bent flat.
The dark clouds above churned like something had reached into them and stirred with both hands.
Then lightning came down.
A massive bolt hammered the broken yard right in front of Darius, blasting stone apart in white-gold light so bright even Seizen had to narrow his eyes.
Thunder cracked late.
Too late.
By then the smoke was already rising.
And there was someone in it.
A figure.
Small compared to the strike.
Then larger as the smoke cleared.
A silhouette sitting high and careless on top of a bo staff planted impossibly straight in broken stone.
Tail curled.
One leg crossed over the other.
The Monkey King.
Wu.
He sat there under the crimson moonlight like he'd been there the whole time and the world had just been too stupid to notice.
Darius actually smiled for real.
Relieved.
A little emotional.
"Man," he said, "I'm so glad to see you, Wu."
Wu didn't even look at him.
His voice came dry and sharp.
"What do you want, Darius?"
His tail flicked once.
"I need your help, Wu."
Only now did he tilt his head slightly.
"Don't expect me to save you."
Darius laughed once through the exhaustion.
"Don't be like that, Wu. We go way back."
He pointed weakly between them.
"Germania battlefield. Helping Britannia push back the Germanians near the Dead Fields."
Wu's ear twitched.
"Yeah," he said. "I haven't seen you since then."
Now he looked at Darius fully.
One eyebrow rose.
Darius rubbed the back of his head, sheepish.
"Sorry, my friend. A lot's happened since that war."
Then his face brightened with the worst possible idea.
"And come on, who introduced you to the best time of your life when we first met?"
Wu's eyes narrowed already.
Darius kept going anyway, because he was Darius.
"You remember. That tall monkey therian woman that kept rubbing your tail—"
Wu moved instantly.
He was off the staff and in Darius's face so fast it looked like a jump-cut.
One hand clamped over Darius's mouth.
"I'll help you, ass," Wu hissed, face red, "just don't bring up those moments in public."
His tail had gone straight up behind him.
Darius nodded behind the hand as seriously as a man could while trying not to laugh.
"Mmph."
Wu kept staring at him for one hard second.
Then released him and sprang back up onto the bo staff in one motion, regent-like dignity restored in exactly half a heartbeat.
He looked toward Seizen.
The humor left his face.
Not all at once.
But enough.
"Hm."
His golden eyes narrowed.
"I see why you summoned me."
The staff beneath him hummed.
"Black Clan warriors are different."
Darius blinked once.
"Oh?" he said. "You fought one before?"
Wu didn't look away from Seizen.
"Yes."
A beat.
"Seventeen hundred years ago."
Even Seizen's eyes sharpened at that.
Wu's tail curled once around the staff.
"Barely made it out."
His voice stayed even.
"The user who summoned me died in that fight."
The wind shifted again around him.
"But we protected the people."
Then he smiled.
Not playful this time.
Proud.
Old.
Dangerous.
Darius let out a breath.
"That's good enough for me."
He slid back into stance beside him.
Low.
Loose.
Tired, but still in it.
Across the yard, Seizen slowly raised one hand.
Then gave them the smallest curl of the fingers.
Come on.
Wu's mouth twitched.
"Impatience, are we?"
He moved.
The floor exploded under the first step.
Just absurd physical force and perfect motion blasting broken stone backward as Wu shot forward off the staff like a launched weapon.
Seizen's hand dropped to his side.
The black dragonmascus tanto flashed back out.
Crimson eyes burning.
Black-red aura surging.
Wu came in low and fast, bo staff already turning in his grip.
Seizen stepped in to meet him.
And under the broken crimson sky, The Monkey King and the Black Prince rushed toward collision.