The heavy transport rumbled into the misty docks, its wheels screeching in protest. Kael swerved it into the shadows between rusted cargo containers, the scent of salt and diesel hanging thick in the cold night air.
Blood trickled steadily from his wounds, staining the seat and his clothes, but his grip never loosened on the sword. He staggered out of the vehicle, boots landing heavily on the wet ground, ready to disappear into the maze of crates and steel.
A shadow leaping high across the misty air like a phantom.
Kael’s instincts screamed louder than his thoughts could follow. Without hesitation, he threw himself sideways just as a blazing spear of flame whistled past, slamming into the metal container behind him with an explosive BOOM that shook the entire dockyard.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Kael bellowed, skidding across the slick ground, heart hammering against his ribs.
Before he could even steady himself, another figure launched from the fog — swift and merciless.
Mira descended like a hunting hawk, her entire body wrapped in a swirl of heat and magic. She landed a meter from him, one hand thrust forward.
A compressed fire-blast exploded outward, slamming Kael directly in the chest. He grunted in pain, swaying backward, barely keeping his feet as the world spun.
Kael rolled across the ground with a wild snarl, his hands scraping against gravel and rust. He twisted back up to his feet, vision swimming — and froze.
Mira stood before him, her full figure now illuminated by the moonlight. The hood she had once worn was torn away.
Her long crimson hair whipped around her face, untamed and wild in the salty wind. And when it shifted, when it blew just right—
Her face was revealed.
A cold, sharp beauty carved like a blade. Crimson-red eyes burning with a ruthless light, fixing him like a hawk eating its prey.
For one wild, absurd second, Kael’s heart thudded for an entirely different reason. She was perfect — devastatingly, unnervingly perfect — almost like she had been designed to match every dark corner of his desires.
But this wasn’t what truly seized him.
It was the raw magical pressure leaking off her body, wrapping the air in heatwaves.
"You’re... a Mage?!" Kael shouted in disbelief, his voice cracking between shock and rage. "A real fucking combat Mage?!"
Mages were rare enough.Combat-ready Mages, willing to get their hands dirty, were almost myths.
Mira’s lips twisted into a mocking sneer.
"What, mage can’t be strong?" she said coldly and in a blur, dashed straight at him.
Kael readied his blade, gritting his teeth, but the speed of her movement shattered his expectations. She launched a sharp kick toward him — and halfway through the motion, a blade of compressed air sliced out from her foot.
He barely twisted aside as the air blade sheared past, carving a deep gash along his left shoulder. Blood sprayed out, hot and messy.
Kael didn’t get time to scream. Mira was already there, flowing around him like smoke, her limbs moving in snapping, whipping arcs, combining martial strikes and bursts of fire magic so seamlessly it made his head spin.
She struck low and Kael parried.She spun high and ducked, but barely.
A fireball burst from her palm mid-spin — Kael kicked it away, but the explosion still rocked him.
Gritting his teeth, Kael finally stopped retreating. He slammed his hand into the ground, muttering harsh syllables under his breath.
A vicious black mist coiled up his arms and around his sword.
Mira’s next fire blast struck him and instead of burning him alive, it vanished into the black mist.
Kael’s eyes gleamed savagely.
He swung his sword in a vicious arc. The absorbed energy burst out, rebounding the stolen magic straight at Mira.
It wasn’t perfect fire anymore — it was corrupted, crackling, heavy with curses.
Mira’s eyes narrowed. She twisted her body midair like a cat, dodging — but even then, the corrupted energy brushed her arm,
and instantly, she staggered slightly.
A flicker of bad luck. A curse seeping into her bones, slowing her step just by a heartbeat.
It was all Kael needed.
He lunged. His sword flashed, aiming straight for her exposed ribs.
Mira twisted — the blade grazed her side instead of skewering her, but she hissed, blood staining her battle outfit.
She retaliated with a brutal fist to Kael’s jaw.
He grunted but absorbed it, grabbing her wrist and yanking her forward — then slamming his forehead into her nose.
Mira stumbled back, blood dripping from her broken nose, but instead of crying out, she smiled — wide and unsettling. Blood stained her perfect lips.
"Haven’t you been taught not to strike a woman’s face, asshole?" she said, spitting blood at his boots.
Kael scoffed, chest heaving, blood dripping from his temple.
"And haven’t you been taught," he snarled, "not to attack a man’s groin unless you want to erase the next generation?"
He barely finished before Mira moved again, faster, sharper.
A flame whip lashed from her palm. Kael ducked low, the fiery strands sizzling the air inches above his head. He countered with a rapid series of sword strikes — heavy, brutal, each one amplified with the cursed mana rippling off his blade.
The ground cracked under their footwork. Every collision of blade and flame sent shockwaves through the misty dock. Steel containers were blown aside. Crates shattered. The world narrowed down to just the two of them — two wild beasts tearing at each other with everything they had.
Kael’s side burned with pain. His arm was slick with blood. Mira’s movements grew a hair slower as the curses seeped deeper.
But neither backed down.Every blow was meant to kill and every dodge was by a hair’s breadth.
They weren’t just fighting.They were devouring each other.
The fight raged on, a brutal dance of blade and flame across the cracked, blood-smeared dock.
Mira spun, her palm crackling with fiery runes, hurling another cone of flames toward Kael. The blaze roared like a living beast, but Kael, already weaving through the onslaught, gritted his teeth and raised his left hand — the dark sigils of his Maledict Counter already swirling into focus.
The flames struck him — but instead of consuming him, the fire shimmered, absorbed into the whirling dark mist that wreathed his body.