K's attack hit

and everything went white.

But instead of tearing through flesh, bone, and the girl he swore — instinctively, irrationally to protect…

…it bent.

Not outward.

Not sideways.

But around them.

As if the world itself refused to let Khael die.

Or let Ceyla be touched.

The white glare thinned, fractured, then spiraled into a vortex of violet and silver.

It coiled like a serpent, then snapped its fangs toward the ground, carving a crater that wasn't supposed to be there.

K's eyes widened the first real break in his composure.

"What—?"

The redirected blast detonated behind them, shattering the ridge into floating shards of earth.

Khael felt his knees buckle as the power tore through him.

It wasn't a technique he knew.

Wasn't a shield he cast.

Wasn't a miracle granted by the heavens.

It was instinct.

A Dragon's instinct.

Ceyla felt his arms around her loosen, but she didn't fall she grabbed him, holding him upright.

"Khael—!! What was that?!"

His chest heaved.

His pulse roared in his ears.

His vision flickered with veins of violet light dancing beneath his skin.

He didn't answer.

Couldn't.

He was still staring at K the man who tried to kill her. The man who hadn't expected Khael's power to answer on its own.

K took one slow step back.

Then another.

"So," he murmured, voice low, almost hungry, "the shard is reacting. Even when you pretend not to have it."

Khael's grip tightened around Ceyla's shoulders, trembling not from fear but from the power still leaking out of him, wild and unrestrained.

Ceyla looked up at him, breath caught in her throat.

He wasn't glowing.

He was burning.

"Khael… say something." she whispered.

He couldn't.

His throat was locked.

His mind was a storm.

He hadn't chosen to redirect that attack.

He had simply decided one thing:

She would not die.

And the relic, the shard, the dragon blood whatever lived inside him had obeyed.

K's smile sharpened.

"A guardian instinct," he mused. "How convenient. How predictable. You protect those you cling to… even if it kills you."

Khael's eyes narrowed.

Ceyla's hand slid to his arm, gripping it, grounding him.

Juno yelled from the debris, voice cracking:

"KHAEL!! CEYLA!! GET OUT OF THERE!! HE'S ABOUT TO—"

K raised one finger.

Void gathered at the tip, swirling like a black star collapsing.

"Enough games," K whispered. "Let's tear your truth out."

He fired.

The void shot like a spear.

Khael didn't think.

He stepped forward, placing himself in front of Ceyla again

but this time Ceyla grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.

"No!" she shouted. "You're done taking these hits alone!"

And the void spear closed in

A flash of green tore across the battlefield.

Mari.

She dropped between them, blades spinning, scales flashing, slashing the void spear mid-air. The attack cracked, splintered, then dissipated like smoke.

Mari exhaled harshly, sweat dripping down her jaw.

"Khael," she growled, "stop trying to die for people."

She gave Ceyla a short glare not angry, but fierce.

Then she glared at K.

"As for you," she spat, "I'm sick of hearing your voice."

K tilted his head, amused.

"So the siblings protect the Dragon Knight. Touching."

Ryn's voice echoed from behind Mari deeper, sharper, dripping with fury.

"We're not protecting him," Ryn said. "We're protecting each other."

He stepped up, sword igniting with pale fire.

"And if you want the shard so badly…

come and try taking it from all of us."

Khael straightened barely but enough for the others to see fire return to his eyes.

He stepped beside Ryn.

Beside Mari.

Ceyla's hand stayed on his arm.

Juno limped forward from the rubble.

Andromeda pressed a hand to his bleeding side.

Matthew unconscious still stood behind Juno, barely breathing but refusing to fall.

The whole world felt like it was trembling.

K exhaled slowly.

"Very well," he said.

And even his voice seemed darker now.

"Veinwalkers. Dragon Knight. Tashi's little remnants."

His hand lifted toward the sky.

"Let us see how long you stand."

Khael's fists clenched as the violet light around him sparked brighter, answering something ancient and furious deep in his chest.

And in one breath broken, quiet, but unyielding he whispered:

"Then come.

I didn't survive for nothing."

The battlefield cracked.

Everything moved.

K's killing step never landed.

A shadow blurred in front of him

and a fist, heavy as a meteor and glowing with blazing Taishin force

slammed directly into K's jaw.

The sound cracked the sky.

K's head snapped sideways.

His body lifted

then flew across the fractured battlefield, skidding through stone and void-soaked dirt.

Everyone froze.

Even Khael.

Even the void.

Even death.

K slammed into a broken pillar, coughing out dark mist.

His hand wiped the blood from his lip as he hissed, voice shaking with something close to disbelief:

"You… you're still alive."

Juno's eyes burst wide, tears instantly forming.

"MASTER VINCE!!!!"

From the smoke, limping but defiant, stood the man who should have already been dead.

Master Vince.

His mullet hair was wild, burned at the edges.

His right arm wrapped in glowing bandages of Taishin light.

His entire torso was marked with deep gashes, bruises, ash.

But he stood.

Breathing.

Burning.

Alive.

He rolled his neck, cracked his remaining knuckles, and spat blood into the dirt.

"I'm not dead yet, bastard."

K's eyes narrowed, trembling with fury.

"Impossible… I crushed your veins. It collapsed your heart. I shattered your spine….HOW.."

"Master Vince…" Khael whispered, voice breaking.

Vince didn't look at him.

Not yet.

His gaze stayed locked on K with a predator's precision.

Then, slowly

finally

his single functioning arm lifted, pointing at the group behind him.

"All of you. Stay back."

He straightened his spine despite the agony twisting through it.

"I'm back."

K snarled.

Not in cold calculation this time

but in genuine, frustrated rage.

"What did you do, Vince?!"

"What trick? What heresy did you use?!"

Master Vince inhaled deeply.

And only then did he turn slightly, just enough for the others to see the truth carved into his exhausted smile.

"When the drawback crushed my heart," he said, tapping his chest lightly, "I wasn't thinking about survival. I only wanted to give Khael the shard."

Khael stiffened.

Ceyla's hand flew to her mouth.

Everyone stared.

Vince continued, voice steady

"I let the Taishin Gate collapse inward. Forced every remaining life vein into one point."

He tapped his sternum.

"Right here."

He lifted his arm

the bandages around it glowing brighter.

"And the second you walked away, thinking I'd died… I used it."

The earth trembled.

A pulse of Taishin energy radiated outward from his body, stabilizing the injuries that should've ended him.

He grinned, almost wild.

"The Taishin Gate Master's last resort…bReverse Pulse Resurrection. Costs a lifetime of cultivation. But it keeps the heart pumping."

Ryn's eyes widened.

Mari whispered, "He burned his life… just to stand again."

Juno, tears running down his face, choked,

"Master… you idiot…"

Andromeda's voice shook, "You shouldn't even be moving…"

Khael finally spoke, barely audible.

"Master Vince… you shouldn't have done that for me."

Vince turned fully toward him then, expression softening

but only a fraction.

"Khael," he said, voice gravel but warm,

"You are the hope of this world… The Dragon knight."

He smiled faintly.

"That's why we… I swore on my life to protect."

He shifted his stance, placing himself between K and the others.

"And I'd die a thousand times before letting that tactician lay one finger on all of you."

K growled, rising to his feet, void seething around him.

"You fool… you burned everything you had.

You are weaker than you were before."

Vince smirked.

"Maybe."

He slammed his foot into the ground

Taishin energy surged.

The earth cracked in a perfect circle around him.

"Or maybe burning everything simply means

I have nothing left to lose."

K's jaw clenched.

Vince rolled his shoulder.

"Now then," he said, eyes gleaming like a man ready to die for the right reason,

"round two?"

K's teeth bared in a furious snarl.

"You should have stayed dead."

Vince laughed once, sharp and fearless.

"Too bad. I don't follow your tactics."

The air shattered.

The duel began.

To be continue

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