“Jō, the vampire should be unconscious now. Drag him out of here quickly and stay hidden.”

  Ji-ae’s voice carried no hesitation. No softness. It was command distilled into a single sentence.

  Ratsuyo’s body twitched weakly beneath the sai, blood bubbling at his lips. The impact and the impalement had finally stolen his strength. His spine-whip lay slack across the ruined floor, no longer writhing.

  “B-but what about Bea… are you going to kill her?”

  The words left Jō’s mouth before he could stop them.

  Ji-ae did not look at him.

  She did not blink.

  “I’ll do what I have to do.”

  There was nothing emotional in her tone. No anger. No regret.

  Only inevitability.

  And with that she launched forward.

  Her feet barely touched the ground as she closed the distance, bowstaff spinning into motion. The air cracked around her acceleration. Dust lifted in spirals as she aimed straight for Beatriz, who still crouched over the pinned Duke like a predator guarding its kill.

  Beatriz’ head snapped toward her.

  Fangs bared.

  Ji-ae closed the distance first.

  Beatriz did not retreat.

  She dropped low, shoulders hunched, movements no longer elegant but predatory. Her remaining arm dragged lightly against the fractured floor as she circled, head tilted unnaturally, eyes locked onto Ji-ae with animal focus.

  Then she vanished.

  Not with technique.

  With instinct.

  She lunged on all fours, claws scraping concrete as she darted in a jagged, erratic pattern that would have disoriented any normal fighter.

  Ji-ae did not flinch.

  Her bowstaff snapped forward in a clean horizontal strike.

  Crack.

  It connected with Beatriz’s ribs mid-charge, the silver-coated surface searing flesh on contact. A hiss tore from Beatriz’s throat as smoke rose from the burn, but instead of recoiling she twisted around the staff, using the impact to spin her body into a sweeping kick.

  Ji-ae released one hand, pivoted, and slipped outside the arc. Her elbow drove downward into Beatriz’s exposed shoulder joint, forcing her into the ground.

  Concrete fractured beneath the impact.

  Beatriz rebounded instantly, rolling backward onto her feet with feral agility. She launched again, this time from above, kicking off a collapsed beam to dive down with claws extended toward Ji-ae’s throat.

  Ji-ae stepped inside the attack.

  Her bowstaff rose vertically, intercepting the strike at Beatriz’s forearm. The silver burned deeper this time. Flesh sizzled. Beatriz snarled, snapping her teeth inches from Ji-ae’s face.

  Ji-ae’s knee drove into Beatriz’s abdomen with controlled brutality.

  Air left Beatriz’s lungs in a violent exhale as she was forced backward.

  “I suppose I should be grateful,” Ji-ae said calmly, adjusting her grip as she advanced. “One arm makes this considerably easier.”

  Beatriz roared and charged again, movements even more chaotic. She crawled up a broken wall, sprinted across it sideways, then launched herself off toward Ji-ae’s blind spot.

  Ji-ae rotated on instinct.

  The bowstaff spun in a tight arc, striking Beatriz across the jaw with incensed force. The sound of bone cracking echoed through the ruined building. Beatriz slammed into a pillar, leaving a web of fractures behind her before springing forward again as if pain did not exist.

  Ji-ae was in control.

  Every step she took forced Beatriz into worse positioning. Every strike drove her toward structural debris, limiting her angles. Hand-to-hand, Ji-ae flowed seamlessly between staff strikes, palm thrusts, elbows, and precise kicks, each movement economical and devastating.

  Silver continued to burn wherever it touched.

  Beatriz’s skin blistered under repeated contact. Smoke curled around her as she fought harder, faster, more desperate.

  Ji-ae’s tempo increased.

  Her strikes began landing with greater weight. Each blow carried compressed anger, disciplined and measured. The bowstaff cracked against Beatriz’s collarbone. A palm heel snapped her head sideways. A spinning back kick sent her skidding across the floor.

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  “You were always the most emotional of us,” Ji-ae remarked coldly. “Predictable.”

  Beatriz lunged again, teeth bared, but Ji-ae stepped forward into the attack and brought the staff down across her back with crushing force.

  The ground cratered beneath them.

  Ji-ae was no longer reacting.

  She was dismantling her.

  Beatriz did not stay down.

  She twisted violently, her body spinning in place as the air around her warped. Wind coiled around her torso in a tightening vortex, debris lifting and spiraling upward as she lashed out in a rotating strike. Concrete dust became shrapnel. Steel fragments tore free from the walls.

  Ji-ae planted her feet.

  The bowstaff rose diagonally, catching the spinning blow with precise timing. The impact sent a shock through the room, but Ji-ae flowed with it, weaving beneath the follow-up swipe as Beatriz descended from the ceiling in a feral dive.

  Mid-weave, Ji-ae’s eyes flicked toward the exit.

  Jō was gone.

  Good.

  Ratsuyo’s body had been dragged out as ordered.

  From outside, faint but growing, sirens echoed closer.

  Police.

  Ji-ae exhaled slowly.

  “This is getting inconvenient,” she muttered.

  Beatriz lunged again from above, claws descending in a vertical tear meant to split her skull.

  Ji-ae stepped back, then forward.

  “We’re taking this outside.”

  She jumped.

  Not away.

  Up.

  Her foot caught the side of the wall and propelled her upward mid-attack. In one smooth motion she rotated her hips and brought the bowstaff around like a professional batter lining up a final swing.

  The strike connected.

  Full torque.

  The crack was explosive.

  The bowstaff smashed into the side of Beatriz’s head with such force that the air detonated outward. Everything in the room lifted. Papers, debris, shattered concrete, loose beams all rose in a violent wave.

  Beatriz’s body shot upward like a cannonball.

  The ceiling imploded as she tore through it, rock and steel bursting apart in her wake. She vanished into the night sky trailing fragments of concrete.

  Ji-ae did not hesitate.

  She bent her knees once.

  Then launched.

  The rooftop beneath her fractured as she shot upward in pursuit, clearing the shattered ceiling and ascending far higher than before.

  Higher than the buildings.

  Higher than the sirens.

  Straight into the open sky after her prey.

  And for a fraction of a second, everything was still.

  Tokyo stretched beneath her in neon and shadow.

  She scanned.

  One heartbeat.

  Two.

  There.

  Beatriz’s body arced upward, momentum finally slowing as gravity prepared to reclaim her.

  Ji-ae adjusted midair.

  Her legs coiled.

  Then she pushed.

  Not off a surface.

  Off momentum itself.

  The air compressed beneath her feet as she redirected her trajectory with violent precision, closing the distance in an instant.

  Beatriz’s eyes fluttered open just as Ji-ae appeared before her.

  Confusion flickered across her blood-smeared face.

  Ji-ae clicked her teeth.

  Then the bowstaff came down, harder than before.

  Ji-ae rotated her hips fully into the strike, channeling every ounce of controlled force through her core and into the silver-coated staff.

  The impact broke the sound barrier.

  A thunderclap cracked across the skyline as the staff collided with Beatriz’s torso midair. The shockwave rippled outward, rattling windows across multiple blocks.

  Beatriz’s body disappeared from sight.

  Then—

  An explosion of glass.

  She tore through the side of an abandoned office building, shattering walls and cubicles in a straight line before bursting out the opposite end and slamming into a warehouse across the street.

  Machinery crumpled.

  Metal warped.

  Concrete gave way beneath her.

  She landed in a heap among twisted steel and shattered equipment, blood pooling beneath her broken frame.

  Ji-ae did not wait.

  She redirected herself again mid-descent, angling toward the warehouse. Her body cut through the air with surgical accuracy, crossing the exact path Beatriz had carved.

  She landed first.

  The impact shook the entire structure.

  Dust fell from the rafters.

  Steel beams trembled.

  Ji-ae stood between Beatriz and any possible escape, bowstaff resting at her side, eyes cold and unwavering as the room settled into silence around them.

  Ji-ae stepped forward once.

  With a quiet click, she twisted the top of her bowstaff.

  The end detached.

  Mechanisms shifted internally with smooth precision as the staff extended, locking into place. What had been a blunt weapon elongated into a gleaming spear, its silver tip catching the faint warehouse light.

  Beatriz stirred.

  A low groan escaped her lips as awareness returned. Blood coated her face. One eye swollen. Her body was a ruin of fractures and burns.

  “…Jia…?” she whispered weakly. “What… happened…”

  Ji-ae did not answer.

  She angled her body slightly, spear leveled at Beatriz’s chest. Feet planted. Knees loose. Weight balanced forward.

  One lunge.

  That was all it would take.

  Impale the heart.

  Then a second strike to sever the head.

  Clean.

  Instant.

  Merciful.

  Beatriz’s gaze sharpened slowly as memory flooded back. Her breathing hitched. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes, slipping down her dust-streaked cheeks.

  “…I see…” she murmured, voice trembling.

  Ji-ae’s expression did not change.

  “Any last words?”

  Beatriz coughed, blood touching her lips. Her voice was barely audible.

  “I… don’t… hold any resentment…” she managed, forcing a weak, fragile smile. “Do… what you have to…”

  For a fraction of a second, Ji-ae’s grip faltered. Her eyes softened.

  But she would not allow herself to fall for sympathy, she hardened again, eyes sharp to deliver the final blow.

  She exhaled once and vanished.

  Closing the distance in an instant, spear poised to end the life of her closest friend.