“The Godstride?” Li Gongxuan kept his eyes shut, yet his senses shadowed Liqianyu like a kite-string in wind.

By the shrine, Liqianyu flickered between houses like a ghost in moonlight. Speed tore a long ribbon of afterimage behind her.

Her hands flew, weaving seals in the air. Her body never slowed, threading the maze of buildings like a swallow.

Then, for a heartbeat, one afterimage wasn’t quite her. A pale hand reached from the shade behind her and slid into her seals like a puzzle piece.

More shadows folded in, one after another, like fish joining a school.

Li Gongxuan’s brows pinched. He didn’t open his eyes. Her aura shifted, a new tide against his skin.

“Dragon Vaults a Thousand Shifts!” Liqianyu’s voice was low and tight. She stamped the empty air.

A sonic boom cracked the sky. She shot toward him like a scarlet comet.

Li Gongxuan tilted his head with impossible ease. Her straight punch skimmed past. His elbow rose and met her elbow joint, clean as a bell note.

That Liqianyu shivered. Her right arm felt torn away. She hissed, then unraveled into smoke.

She bloomed behind him, a low kick scything at his base like a wave.

He spun and shattered that shadow. His blades swept, slicing the rain of afterimages that flew at him like fallen leaves.

Then he lifted Jade North Star. The point lined up with Liqianyu’s true brow. It halted three inches short, a star fixed over water.

She smiled, turned midair like a willow, slipped past the mercy-cut, then snapped a heel into his face.

He didn’t blink. He took the kick like a mountain takes wind. Then Qinglong Ting traced a circle, and a domain-like ring of strange energy spun out, rolling toward her like a tide.

She rose to her toes and kneaded her aching right leg, then pushed off with her left. She shot backward, a startled bird into distance.

He watched her go and sighed. His right foot tapped down. A vast barrier blossomed, a glassy wall meant to cage her flight.

She didn’t flinch. Of course she’d guessed it. She planted a foot on the barrier and borrowed the swell, rebounding toward him like a slingshot star.

His brow quirked. Good. She knows how to borrow force.

Her flying kick came like a falling axe. He raised both swords and braced.

Clang!

Small feet in black boots smashed against two long blades of mismatched hue. Sparks scattered like fireflies.

She rode his strength again, a leaf on a gust.

He let her. His swords swept, sketching twin half-moons in the air. Force surged, and she lifted, thrown like a wave crested by wind.

She flipped backward in midair to bleed the impact. She caught the sky, hung, then spun out more afterimages like ripples. She slammed the barrier again, hard enough to hum.

Li Gongxuan frowned.

Crazy girl. Fighting like your life’s a candle you’re happy to burn.

The barrier bowed into a huge arc. She bit down and shouted, “Crimson-Scale Soaring Dragon!”

Heat roared off her, spilling like lava. The very air warped, the space around her bending like heat-haze.

She steadied midair and flew at him, a flame-blade straight to the heart.

He never opened his eyes. He felt her stormcoming and the buried dragon’s cry in that flood. He nodded, a small light of praise.

“Not bad. You can at least protect yourself.” He drew both swords in, turned his body, and raised his right knee high toward her line.

Crimson boiled from him too, a furnace under skin. He barked, “Crimson-Scale Soaring Dragon!”

When she hit, he kicked.

Roar!

A dragon’s call, clear and immense. A red dragon of energy lunged out and slammed her crimson torrent head-on.

Midair, the two tides crashed. Two scarlet rings bloomed and ate at each other, like twin suns devouring light.

His body began to fray at the edges. He had to pour more in, a river turned flood.

She was already at the limit. She watched her grand tide get chewed to nothing, then took the hit square. The blast threw her like a leaf in a gale.

Darkness flicked her eyes shut. Deep down, she bit her tongue. Pain snapped her back. Momentum still hurled her through air. She forced her eyes open against the wind and found him as he steadied.

She ground her teeth. “Now.”

Her right hand opened. At some point, an orb of azure had gathered, like her water-blue hair waving in a current.

She took her line and threw.

The orb slipped through the crimson-lit battlefield. When he wasn’t looking, it smashed into his left foot. He lost his plant and tipped forward.

She flashed a victory V. “Yay! ...Eh?”

He just tapped the floor with his palm. His body rolled and corrected, smooth as a swallow’s wing.

She rolled her eyes and coughed blood. You can do that too?

Dust settled.

She lay sprawled, skin mapped with cuts, breath ragged like torn silk. He stood where he’d begun. His clothes were mussed, his breathing uneven, but his skin was clean of wounds.

“Little sister. Enough. You know you can’t. Even with me holding back this much, you still can’t.” He sighed and shook his head, a willow in rain.

“Tch. As if it’d be that easy.” She pushed up, stiff as a rusted hinge. Her right eye had clipped something; a shallow cut traced her brow. Blood trailed down. She pinched her right eye shut, wiped the blood and grime from her face, and bared a neat line of white teeth.

“Brother. You know me. Once I decide, no one changes it. Not Father. Not you.” Her smile was bright as first light on frost.

“Don’t be so stubborn. In a hundred years, I’ll let you go wander.” He let out a long breath.

“A hundred years? By then... I might have no hope left.” She chuckled low and lifted her head.

“But thanks for the energy.” She grinned toward the side, at Li Gongxuan, who looked a little lost.

“What? You’re force-devouring energy again? Do you want to die?” His temper flared. “What are you risking your life for, just to go out?”

“Ah... nothing. I just realized my life’s dull. I’d rather be with them. You think I don’t know you burn lifespan to probe the heavens? Eli and Edlyn are about to be in trouble, right?” She smiled, soft as rain.

He held his face like stone and said nothing.

“Yiyi told me we’ll win.” He sighed, slow as falling ash.

“We’ll win, sure. But I doubt anyone gets a good ending.” She lifted a shoulder.

“How do you know that?” Surprise cracked his calm.

“I’m not stupid. Alright, big bro, test me now.” She wiped the smear at her lip and showed her signature grin.

He frowned and shut his eyes again. His twin swords slid from behind his back. They circled him, shedding an eerie azure light like foxfire.

She forced herself upright. The azure energy on her swelled, thick as tide, almost enough to swallow her whole.

They blurred and slammed together again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

They wove through the chapel, steel singing, a peal of bells chased by echoes.

Yiyi strained to keep the barrier up, so the little ones wouldn’t be touched by the splash of force.

Liqianyu’s small fists, sheathed in blue, poured down like storm rain on a tiled roof.

He wouldn’t cut her. He used blade flats and spine, parrying the gale. When he saw an opening, he’d boot her away, a blunt reminder.

“Stay down!” Her fists only got faster. Blue flecks spattered him like sparks. His face tightened; he swept the energy away.

They flickered and clashed, again and again, until he couldn’t keep up. Habit raised Jade North Star. The thrust darted out. She couldn’t quite slip it. A line bit her cheek. Blood flew like red thread.

She staggered a breath. Then she bit down, pulled her focus tight, and pushed her speed higher.

He grimaced. That was his fault. His hand hadn’t held enough.

Watching her grow more feral, he couldn’t keep his heart hard. He sighed, a sound full of helplessness and hurt.

What’s wrong with wanting to protect you?

Eli is my friend. His pain twists me too. But I have to guard these civilians. That was the dying wish of that old Fiend.

He was like a father to Eli. How could I ignore a last wish?

I’m strong. I can shield you all till the war ends, untouched by fire.

Why must you rush out to die? Don’t you know your fated calamity falls within two years?

He lifted his sword. In the end, he couldn’t let it fall.

She took that moment. A flying tackle slammed him back. They smashed into a pillar in the great hall. He looked up and sighed. She’d already fainted.

He was already on the floor.

From that shove, her body had gone soft. She crumpled not far from him, and lay there, unconscious.