The kneeling man raised his head, slow and deliberate. Blood streaked his side, dripping down the inked lines of a glowing blue tattoo that coiled around his ribs and shoulder like a serpent. The moment held, breathless, still, until he moved.
Fast.
He lunged, not away from the man in the coat, but through him.
For a second, I thought he'd missed. The crowd gasped. And then-
A ripple.
The coat shimmered, split at the seams, and fell in two clean halves to the arena floor. The Sworn inside hadn't flinched. He tilted his head.
And behind the man who'd struck, a sudden shape formed, his own afterimage, delayed by half a beat, mimicking the same movement.
It collided with him.
There was a crunch.
The first Sworn tumbled sideways, thrown by his own echo, spine slamming into the wall with a sound that made my teeth clench. The impact left a crater, shallow, but visible. Another scar on the arena wall.
"What the hell," I muttered.
Karu didn't respond. Her eyes tracked every movement below with the precision of someone cataloguing risk.
The man in the coat stepped forward. His movements were minimal, calculated. Each step triggered another flicker behind him, ghosts of movement, ready to replay what he'd already seen.
"Is that a projection?" I asked.
"Echo Vow," she said. "He can mimic actions he's witnessed. Twice. Once in body, once in mind. Second one always hits harder."
"Is that why the first guy's not dead?"
"Not yet."
The tattooed man staggered to his feet, breathing hard. He spat blood, then grinned, teeth red, eyes gleaming like someone who didn't know how to quit.
And then he moved again.
Not straight this time, a blur, ricocheting off the arena wall, flipping mid-air, landing low and slamming a fist into the floor. A shockwave pulsed out, not visual, not sound. Just pressure. My bones ached like the gravity had shifted.
The man in the coat slid backward several meters, boots carving a neat line through the dust.
He didn't fall.
Karu exhaled softly beside me.
"Didn't expect that," she said.
"What was it?"
"His Vow. Motion-linked pain denial. The longer he moves, the more damage he stores. That shockwave wasn't force. It was everything he'd taken, released all at once."
The crowd was screaming now. Not words. Just sound. Hungry and wild.
But I only watched the man in the coat.
He smiled.
And then the real fight began.
—
We started moving again, or at least Karu tried to. She tugged my sleeve. "We've seen enough. Exchange is that way."
I didn't move.
Below, the Coil launched into another sprint, this time feinting high and twisting low at the last second, spinning on one hand. A blur of blue light shimmered from his tattoos as he struck.
A perfect hit.
Except it didn't land.
An echo caught it first, invisible until the moment it connected. The Coil staggered back, chest heaving. He wasn't just fast. He was strategic.
He paused. Just long enough to let his body shudder. His shoulder dislocated, popped, reset. Blood poured from his nose. The pain hit him like a wave, all at once, and passed.
Then he moved again.
"What is he doing?" I asked.
"He has to let it hit him in pieces," Karu said. "If he stores too much… it'll break him."
"Like... if he doesn't let out the steam, the whole thing just bursts?"
"I guess."
She tugged again, harder this time.
"Come on, pretty boy."
Reluctantly, I followed.
But the crowd roared again, louder this time. I turned. Couldn't help it.
Another hit. Another echo.
And then Karu sighed, stopping beside me.
"Fine. Five more minutes. But if we're staying…" she tilted her head at me, grin tugging at the corner of her mouth, "…we're betting."
"What?"
"You heard me. Who's your pick?"
I looked at the arena. The Coil was bleeding worse now, but his grin hadn't faded. The Echo Sworn stood tall, but his movements were slightly slower, like the strain was catching up.
"I think blue guy's got it," I said. "He's reckless, but smart. He's been learning."
Karu shook her head. "Nope. Echo has him pegged. He's already seen all his tricks. That kind of Vow doesn't get surprised twice."
"You're on," I said.
"Loser pays for dessert."
"You already gave me food for free."
She shrugged. "Then I'll take it in pride."
We leaned over the railing, side by side, both smiling now.
The Coil darted forward.
He twisted mid-step, planting his heel and lunging into a roll that turned into a sweeping low kick. His form was fluid, precise, less like a brawler, more like a dancer trained in pressure points and velocity. His foot skimmed the dust, then launched him into a corkscrew leap, aiming a glowing elbow strike for the Echo Sworn's temple.
The coat shimmered. An echo blinked into place, just a fraction late, but enough.
The two collided.
There was a sound like metal being crushed inside concrete.
The Coil landed on his feet, barely. His tattoos flickered erratically now, like too many signals overlapping. He stumbled, chest rising like a bellows. He moved again, jab, feint, twist, but his balance faltered.
Too much. He hadn't stopped since the match began.
The Echo Sworn watched. Still. Silent. When he moved, it was only to mirror, his hands following the same path a moment later, each one casting a flicker of delayed intent into the air.
And then-
The Coil buckled. Just stopped.
For the briefest moment, everything went quiet.
Then his body screamed. Bones cracked in his limbs, bruises bloomed like fire across his ribs. Blood erupted from his nose, ears, even his eyes. He stumbled backward, laughing, or choking. The pain he'd stored had come crashing back all at once.
He raised a fist, just one more strike, and the Echo Sworn stepped through it.
Not around. Through.
His echo followed a heartbeat later, a mirrored palm driving gently, almost respectfully, into the Coil's sternum.
Something inside gave way.
The Coil collapsed, twitching, body locking mid-spasm. His tattoos sputtered once… then died.
Dust rose.
Only one figure stood.
The Echo Sworn straightened his coat.
What... I hadn't expected them to fight to the death.
Karu nudged me gently, with an unfairly cute smile that didn't match the violence, her soft voice somehow cutting through the roar of the crowd.
"Dessert's gonna be sweet."
—
We slipped away from the edge and back into the tight arteries of the Gutter, narrower now, quieter. Neon gave way to rusted steel and faded paint. The echoes of the crowd died behind us.
Karu didn't say much at first, but I didn't mind. I was still processing what had happened at the arena. Somehow, walking beside her like this, I didn't feel the need to fill the silence. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't either. She just moved, fluid and certain.
We passed a broken vending machine. Karu paused, tapped it once, twice, then kept walking.
"It owe you something?" I asked.
She shrugged. "There used to be one outside my shop. Every time I walked past it as a kid, I hit it. Just in case."
"And?"
"Once, it worked."
She didn't smile.
"Out came a donut, warm if you could believe that. I ran home and split it with Kairo. We hadn't eaten in days."
"Oh..."
We walked in silence for a bit.
"You have to know which routes to take down here," she said eventually. "The Gutter's like a body. Some paths bleed. Others heal. If you don't know which is which…"
"You get swallowed?" I offered.
She gave a single nod. "Or worse, you think you're safe, until you aren't."
We ducked under a low pipe. A trickle of light flickered from a cracked wall panel. It felt like we were the only people left down here.
It was quiet down here. Real. Maybe if I stayed long enough, I could… I don't know. Work at the shop. Fix the lights. Keep Kairo company. Make runs for broth.
Karu would probably roll her eyes, say I'd mess it all up. But maybe she'd smile, too.
My fingers drifted toward my pocket. The ring was still there. Twisted gold foil, light as nothing, but reminding me why I couldn't stay.
Anya was still out there. Heading toward something worse than this. And I was here, fantasizing about… noodles and nirvana.
Karu didn't need saving. She didn't need anyone.
It would be so easy to stay next to someone like that.
Too easy to stop needing to be someone else.
I shook the thought off as we turned another corner. Some of the walls were tagged with strange symbols, crude red slashes, spirals, warning marks that didn't look like normal graffiti.
"So how'd you learn the right paths?" I asked, needing to think about anything else.
Karu didn't answer immediately. Just stepped over a sagging grate and glanced back.
"By taking the wrong ones."
The corridors turned angular, harsher. Industrial. At the end of a long hall, an elevator door sat embedded into the wall, dented but still humming faintly.
A faded emblem glinted on the metal, a lion's head over a sunburst.
The House of Hale.
Of course it was.
Of course the legacy had its hands down here. And of course Eitan was part of it.
Karu tapped the panel again. Once. Twice. Her fingers paused a second longer than necessary.
The elevator rumbled awake.
The doors split open.
"You okay?" I asked.
Her expression was the same as when I first saw her at the restaurant. Controlled. But her knuckles were white against the panel.
She noticed me looking and forced a small grin.
"Don't worry, pretty boy. I just don't like the smell down there."
Beyond them, the air felt colder.
Karu hesitated for a second, before stepping into the elevator.
"Coming?"
I paused at the threshold.
What if I did as Anya said? Could I move on with my life?