The town felt smaller with him standing there.

Dannis didn't advance. He stood between Gabriel and the gate like something placed there on purpose, feet set, weight balanced, soft eyes fixed forward.

Behind them, steel rang as Tess, Gilbert, and Adan drew the rest of the attackers away, the sound of their fight bleeding into alleys and rooftops.

Gabriel adjusted his stance, spreading his weight. His blades stayed low, points angled toward the stone.

His eyes began pulsing, the red glow lighting his features.

"You're steadier," he said. "There was a time you couldn't hold yourself like that."

He didn't smile.

"If this had been when we first met," Dannis continued quietly, "you would have run."

The giant inclined his head, raising two fingers and tapping his chest.

His hand reached up to the hilt protruding over his shoulder.

The grip worn smooth by use, the spine of the blade visible even before it cleared the scabbard. He drew it slowly, the steel whispering as it came free, the weight of it settling naturally into his grasp as if it belonged there.

Dannis didn't lift it into a guard.

He let the tip rest near the mud, one hand on the grip, the other loose at his side, stance open and balanced.

"I will bring you back to the order," his deep voice boomed.

Gabriel didn't respond.

The red glow in his eyes pulsed once, brighter now, reflected faintly along the twin edges of his blades as he shifted his footing.

The giant stepped first, sending vibrations through the ground as his boot came down.

Gabriel matched him.

Neither rushed.

They closed the distance in measured steps, the frozen dirt scraping softly beneath their steps, each movement deliberate. The space between them shrank.

The moment they were within reach, Gabriel lunged.

No warning. No wind-up.

He drove in low and fast, both blades snapping upward toward Dannis' neck in a single, precise strike meant to end it before the giant could attack.

Dannis reacted instantly.

The greatsword came up just enough to intercept, the flat of the blade catching Gabriel's strike with a jarring impact that rang through the street. The force bled off into Dannis' stance instead of his arms, boots digging in as the ground shuddered beneath him.

Gabriel had already moved.

He retracted both blades instantly, breaking contact before the block could settle. His body spun with the motion, weight dropping as he slipped inside the giant's reach, shoulders dipping low.

One sword snapped down and punched into Dannis's leg just above the knee, driven in with a short, brutal thrust meant to cripple rather than kill. Gabriel tore the blade free as he passed, twisting out of range before the greatsword could follow.

Blood spilled onto the frozen ground.

Dannis shifted his footing immediately, compensating without hesitation, the injury registering only as a change in balance.

He turned with the motion.

The greatsword came around in a wide, horizontal sweep, driven by rotation rather than speed, the blade cutting through the space Gabriel was moving into.

The former Paladin saw it a fraction too late.

He adjusted on instinct, abandoning the follow-through and snapping both swords up instead. A teeth-rattling crack reverberated around as the impact slammed into his blades.

The force drove him back, boots skidding across the frozen dirt as his arms absorbed the blow.

Dannis didn't press the advantage. He let the blade pass through, resetting his stance as if they were still measuring one another.

Gabriel lowered his guard a fraction, breath steadying, weight shifting again.

He lunged again, this time lower, his blade thrusted towards the other leg,

He lunged.

This time lower.

One blade shot forward in a tight thrust toward Dannis' uninjured leg, aimed to take what stability remained.

Dannis reacted.

The greatsword came down in a brutal overhead cut, not fast, but heavy enough to end the exchange outright if it landed.

Gabriel didn't stop.

He spun with the falling blade, letting its weight pass just behind him as he slipped inside the arc, momentum carrying him forward and up. His sword drove in hard between Dannis' ribs, the point biting deep before Gabriel wrenched it free mid-turn.

The giant grunted once.

Gabriel didn't disengage.

He completed the rotation, pivoting back on his heel, and buried the blade again.

This time into Dannis's stomach. driving it in down to the hilt before ripping it free and retreating a step.

Dannis's grip loosened on the greatsword, its tip striking the ground with a dull, heavy thud as his knees followed. He didn't cry out. One hand braced against the street as he lowered himself, breath coming slower, deeper.

"Captain!"

A shape broke from the shadows, rushing forward, blade raised on instinct rather than discipline.

Gabriel felt the movement.

He heard the shout.

He turned, lifting one hand, his blade still firmly gripped in it.

Crimson fog poured from his palm.

It struck the charging man mid-step, wrapping tight around his torso and limbs, locking him in place before he could close the distance.

His attention snapped back to Dannis.

His eyes stayed locked on the giant as the fog tightened.

Bone cracked as a scream rang out.

The sound ended as abruptly as it began.

When the crimson haze recoiled back into his hand, the body collapsed, hitting the floor with a wet thud.

Dannis drew a slow breath.

He lifted his head.

Blood ran freely now, dark against his clothes, pooling on the ground beneath his knee. His grip had slipped from the greatsword entirely, the weapon resting where it had fallen, no longer part of the moment.

His eyes met Gabriel's.

There was no anger in them.

Only understanding.

"The Commander was right to let you go," Dannis said quietly. Each word cost him effort, but he spoke them cleanly. "You grew stronger on your own."

He drew another breath, slower than the last, chest rising unevenly.

"We succeeded-."

Gabriel didn't allow him to finish.

He stepped in and drove both blades up into the giant's neck in a single, decisive motion, the steel tearing deep on either side of the spine. Dannis' breath hitched once, the sound cut short as Gabriel twisted hard, turning his wrists outward.

The former Paladin ripped the blades free sideways and stepped back as the body collapsed forward, weight hitting the frozen ground with a dull thud.

Blood seeped out, collecting next to the giant's head.

The street went quiet again.

Gabriel didn't look down.

He turned toward the gate.

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