Marcus/Rocco
The streets were almost empty by the time we
reached downtown.
Police sirens echoed somewhere in the distance
as emergency vehicles pushed civilians farther away from the city centre.
Above the rooftops, the tear shimmered like a
crack carved into the night itself. It was small.
Barely the size of a house. But I knew better
than anyone that size meant nothing.
All it took was one mistake. One minute too
long. One demon slipping past us. And dozens of innocent people would pay the
price.
Seraphina stepped beside me, her long sword
already drawn. "Formation." Nobody
questioned her.
Months of training kicked in instinctively.
Callie twirled her whip once before letting it snap against the pavement.
Noah rolled his shoulders, spinning both tonfas
effortlessly between his hands. Riley extended her metal batons with two sharp
clicks.
Darren stayed behind evacuation line, several
laptops already balanced across the hood of his car.
"I'm tracking the tear's stability," he called
through the comms. "If it starts expanding, you'll know."
"Copy." I slowly drew both swords.
Beside me, Valen's voice was calm. "Steady
breathing."
"I know."
"I'm reminding you." I smiled despite myself.
"I noticed."
The tear pulsed. Then, it split open. The first
demon dropped onto the street. Then another. Then ten more.
Within seconds the road became flooded with
lesser demons crawling through the opening.
"Move!" Seraphina ordered. The team exploded
into action.
Callie's whip cracked through the air, wrapping
around a demon's neck before she swung it into another.
Noah slipped between two attackers with
practiced ease, one tonfa slamming into a jaw while the second crushed another
demon's rib.
Riley fought like a machine. Every movement
economical. Every strike deliberate. A baton spun through the air before
returning to her hand after smashing a demon across the face.
Seraphina barely seemed to move. One clean
slash. Every swing of her blade ended another demon before it could even
retaliate.
I stepped forward. Then stopped. The smell
reaching me before I see them.
I turned toward the direct and see him. Tall
broad shoulders and that familiar creepy smile.
Cassian.
He dusted ash from one sleeve before looking
around the battlefield. Then his eyes landed on me.
"Well," his grin widened. "I was wondering when
we'd get to meet again, properly of course."
I tightened my grip around my swords. "So was
I." he looked me over carefully.
"No scars."
"I healed."
"A shame." The smile never left his face. "I was
rather proud of those stab wounds."
Valen sighed. "He's insufferable."
Cassian tilted his head slightly. His crimson
eyes narrowed. "Vespera was right." My heart skipped slightly.
"What?" he ignored me. He looked beside me. A faint smile crossed his face. "It's great
to officially meet you."
Valen went silent. Cassian chuckled. "I can't
see you but I can certainly feel you."
He shifted his attention back to me. "No wonder
you seem confident." I raised one sword.
"That's because I worked for it." Cassian
laughed.
"There he is." The air exploded. He vanished.
I barely caught the movement. I sensed him in my
right. So, I twisted. Claws clashed against steel as on of my blades
intercepted his strike.
The force pushed me backward across the asphalt.
Cassian smiled. "Much better." He attacked again. Fast.
I meet him in the centre. We clashed in a blur
of sparks. I flowed with him instead of resisting.
One lesson Seraphina had drilled into me over
and over. Don't fight strength. Redirect it.
Cassian's claw swept toward my ribs. I stepped
outside the attack. My left leg snapped into his inner thigh. A sharp thigh
kick.
His stance buckled for the smallest fraction of
a second. Enough. My right sword slashes toward his shoulder.
He twisted away. I answered with an elbow aimed
straight for his jaw. He blocked.
I spun. My heel crashed downward. An axe kick.
The pavement shattered where he'd stood a split second earlier.
Cassian landed several meters away. Still
smiling. "Now that's new." He rushed me again. I met him head-on. My sword
moved almost independently now. One attacked. One defended. A rhythm.
A dance. Not unlike Seraphina had shown me
during countless mornings at the training house.
"Don't stop moving," Valen reminded quietly. I
didn't. Cassian aimed low.
I vaulted over the strike, planting one foot
briefly against his shoulder before flipping behind him.
The instant I landed, blue light erupted from my
wrist. A chain shot forward.
Cassian reacted instantly, slicing through it.
The broken links dissolved into light. "Still relying on tricks?"
"Not anymore." Three more chains burst from the
bracelet. One wrapped around his arm. Another shot toward his ankle. The third
came straight for his chest.
Cassian cut the first. Dodged the second. The
third brushed across his shoulder before disappearing.
A thin line of black blood appeared. "You've
improved."
Behind us, explosion echoed through the street.
Callie swung her whip around three demons before Noah finished them with
crushing strikes from his tonfas.
Riley slid beneath another creature, driving
both batons upward beneath its jaw.
Seraphina stood at the centre of the
intersection. Every demon that reached her fell within seconds.
She glanced toward me briefly. She didn't try to
interfere. It seemed like she trusted me to finish this myself.
Cassian attacked again. Harder and faster. He
drove me backward through the street. Windows shattered around us. Streetlights
collapsed.
He was strong. But the gap, wasn't nearly as
wide anymore. I ducked beneath another slash.
A knee drove into his stomach. Before he could
recover, a spinning elbow to the side of his head. He stumbled. I pressed
forward.
Swords blurred through the night. Chains erupted
between every strike. Not as a separate attack anymore. They had become part of
my fighting style.
One chain pulled. A sword followed. A kick
created space. Another chain redirected his claw. Everything flowed together.
Valen smiled. "There you are, Rocky."
Cassian locked another strike before jumping
backward onto the roof of an abandoned bus. This time, he stopped smiling.
"You've changed."
I looked up at him. "No." I lifted my swords. "I
finally know who I am."
Cassian's eyes narrowed. Then, he smiled again.
"Good." He lowered his stance. "Then show me."
The air around him exploded with demonic energy.
I took one steady breath. Chains slowly unfurled from the bracelet, coiling
around my arms like living serpents.
Valen spoke only three words. "Finish the
lesson."
I nodded.
Then launched forward.