CHAPTER 48: NON PYRRHIC VICTORY, NO VICTORY AT ALL

The headbutting continued. Shallow cuts flew open across my face and his, blood mixing where our foreheads met. He shoved my hand aside at some point and grabbed my face, trying to throw me off with his weight.

The moment I saw his strength winning, I did the only logical thing.

I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into the meat of his lower palm, right above the wrist, biting down hard.

He yanked his hand away, screaming.

"You crazy bastard!!"

’Takes one to know one.’

Using the momentum of his shock, I shoved away from his body. As I rolled across the ground, my hand found cold steel — his sword. I snatched it up and scrambled back, holding his own blade at him.

Worth it.

He slowly stood, one of my daggers in his grip. The other was still with me. Kai leaned heavily on one knee, breathing hard, examining his wrist with its neat ring of teeth marks and reddened, bleeding skin.

Then he gave me an irritated glare.

"What are you, a dog?"

I raised my chin, grinning like a maniac.

"Honey badger, you moron!"

I ran forward, the sword awkward in one hand. The weight distribution was all wrong, slowing me down despite Emperor’s Presence consistently bolstering my strength — hell, the ability’s proficiency had even increased from all this.

’Fat lot of good that’s doing me right now.’

Kai met me with my own dagger, catching it at the hilt of his sword and trying to wrench the blade from my grip. But I swung the other dagger at his face. He weaved. I yanked his sword backward, angling it behind me and swinging it forward in what I hoped was the fast, simple arc I’d watched Kassie execute repeatedly.

But all of it was wrong.

The position. The applied force. The angle. The sword was going to break my wrist before it delivered any meaningful slash to Kai.

Luckily for me, he intercepted and yanked the sword from my hand, bringing it down on me with both hands.

But between yanking the sword from my grip and bringing it down...

Of course, he was slow.

I slammed my foot into his belly again, sending him staggering back. He hit the wall hard, lost his balance, lost his grip on the sword.

Perfect.

I came at him immediately, twisting my dagger as I drove it straight into his chest.

"Arrgghhhh!!!"

A guttural scream tore from his throat as I pushed the blade deeper. His hand scrambled desperately across the ground and found something — a random chunk of stone. He grabbed it and smashed it against the side of my head.

My world tilted. Went blank.

He shoved me off and snatched up his sword, bringing it down hard. Like a desperate rat, I tried to shift away.

It was too late.

He stood over me and drove the sword straight through my right shoulder.

"Fuckkkk!!"

The pain hit harder than I’d expected. White-hot. Blinding.

’This is fine. Everything’s fine.’

With pure anger and frustration, I raised my leg and slammed it into his groin. He squealed — actually squealed — and I shifted out from underneath him, delivering a final kick that sent him stumbling back. He fell, clutching his dick hard enough to probably do more damage than I had.

Small victories.

I slowly lifted myself. My vision swam, blurry and unfocused. Pain assaulted every part of my body, a throbbing, searing ache that made everything feel raw and wrong. I could literally feel my lifespan reaching the end of its cycle.

’Bit dramatic, but probably accurate.’

Moving became so impossible that I just stood there for a second, swaying.

Kai, by the way, was also embedded in the wall. Small chunks of stone had fallen on him where he’d crashed — right where Ironhold had been slammed into before. The summon was long gone now, though. Only the crater-shaped mark remained.

I wanted to move. To finish this.

But I couldn’t.

My body had other ideas. Specifically, the idea that standing upright was ambitious enough for now.

Suddenly, golden specks flew around Kai, swirling like embers before beginning to coalesce.

At the same time, the cave trembled. Hard.

’Oh, great. What now?’

Something was definitely coming.

Kai’s summon — Emperor Rex — materialized between us, golden light solidifying into armored form. The Heroic Spirit extended one gauntleted hand and summoned his signature weapon: a massive golden greatsword that practically radiated "compensating for something."

At the same time, Kassie was walking toward me.

She stopped beside me, and somehow — somehow — her featureless helmet was emanating viciousness and malice in their darkest, most undiluted form. Like she was personally offended by the concept of mercy.

’That’s my girl.’

The cave shook again. In that moment, standing became impossible. My legs buckled and I started to fall—

But Kassie caught me by my collar and lifted me into her arms, cradling me like an oversized baby.

’My dignity... fuck dignity. Yes, mommy.’

She retreated slowly, almost contemplatively. Then she twirled — because of course she did — before dashing away into the cave tunnel. The ground shook yet again beneath us, tremors growing stronger.

Behind us, Kai’s summon stood motionless, unresponsive. Like a statue. A very intimidating, golden statue.

It seemed that immediately after summoning his Heroic Spirit, Kai had passed out cold, leaving Emperor Rex standing guard. Since there was still a flow of essence between them, the Heroic Spirit would remain manifested — at least until the spirit essence was depleted or severed by the summoner’s death.

In that situation, they returned to wherever Heroic Spirits came from.

’Probably somewhere with better lighting and fewer collapsing caves.’