While Mei bled against Zirkyu, the sky above Levi turned into a death sentence.
Elia lay crumpled at his feet, unconscious. Levi dropped to one knee, shielding her body with his own. Blood ran down his temple from the last thing he didn't see coming.
Across the field, Master Ansen was a storm of his own. Rhett and Nix at his sides, carving through waves of Xaphan's clones. Steel flashing. Bodies dropping.
They hadn't seen it yet. Levi was alone.
FWISH.
The air above him rippled. No footsteps. No warning. Just a blur dropping from the clouds.
Zephyr landed ten meters away without a sound. The 100's aerial commander. Recon specialist. The last thing most enemies ever saw.
He looked like a man, but moved like a falcon. Lean. Sharp eyes. Wind already curling around his boots.
"That girl's done," Zephyr said, voice light, almost curious. "You're not the target, Sukuna boy. Let her go and you live ten more seconds."
Levi stood, sword trembling in his grip. He planted himself between Zephyr and Elia. "Then I'll use those ten seconds."
Zephyr tilted his head. Predator's Vision locked on. He'd already mapped Levi's stance, his injured side, the way his weight favored his right leg.
VWOOSH.
Zephyr vanished.
Levi swung blind.
CLANG!
A blade tapped his wrist from behind. He spun. Empty air.
SHHKT.
Pain bloomed across his back. Three shallow cuts in a perfect line. Zephyr was already twenty meters up, hovering on a wind current, watching.
"Too slow," Zephyr said. "Your eyes track, but your body lags. That's why that Hanzo lady didn't see it either."
Levi coughed blood. "You think speed's enough?"
"Speed is everything," Zephyr answered. Wind howled as he climbed higher. Higher. Until he was a speck against the red sky.
He folded his arms back. The air compressed.
"Falcon Dive."
BOOOOOOM!
He dropped. Not flying. Falling like a spear. Air split around him in a cone of white pressure. The ground beneath Levi cracked before Zephyr even arrived.
Levi shoved Elia aside and raised his sword with both hands.
KRAKOOOM!
Impact. The shockwave flattened grass for a hundred meters. Levi's blade shattered. The force drove him into the dirt, armor crumpling, bones screaming.
Dust cleared. Zephyr stood in the crater, one foot on Levi's chest, pinning him down. Not a scratch on him.
Levi spat blood, hand clawing for his broken sword. "Ansen... Cmon..."
Zephyr crouched, eyes cold and bright. "By the time he notices, you'll both be dead. That's the point of reconnaissance." He raised his hand, fingers forming a blade of compressed wind. "Last words?"
Levi stared past him. At Elia, stirring on the ground. At the clones still swarming Ansen's position.
He forced a grin through broken teeth. "Yeah. Look up."
Zephyr frowned. His Hunter's Instinct flared. Too late.
SHHRRRAAAK!
A chain shot from the dust and wrapped his ankle. Master Ansen's voice boomed across the field.
"Reconnaissance works both ways, boy!"
Ansen yanked. Zephyr's perfect dive turned into a fall. For the first time, his feet left the air.
Zephyr ripped the chain off his ankle and stood. Dust slid off his coat. He scoffed, eyes sharp as a blade.
"Who are you calling boy, you stupid Hanzo?" He cracked his neck, wind whipping around his sleeves. "Since you showed up gladly, I might as well take you out first. I can't stand you Hanzo bastards and your annoying visual prowess. Always watching. Always trying to read opponents move."
Ansen didn't answer him. He dropped to one knee beside Levi in a heartbeat, hand checking the pulse at his neck.
"Levi. Why haven't you fully transformed?" Ansen's voice was low, urgent.
Levi coughed, blood flecking his lips. He gripped Ansen's sleeve with a shaking hand. "He... didn't even give me a chance, Master Ansen. He's really fast. Be careful..."
The word wasn't even out of his mouth.
VWOOSH.
Silence.
Zephyr was gone. No wind. No footstep. No afterimage. Just empty air where he'd stood.
Ansen's head snapped up. His Hanzo eyes flared, pupils narrowing as they scanned the sky, the rubble, the air itself. Nothing. Not even a ripple in the dust.
His stance shifted. Feet wide. Sword half-drawn. Every muscle locked.
"Levi, stay down," Ansen said quietly. "He's here. I just can't see him yet."
Above them, the wind changed direction. A single feather drifted down through the red light.
The feather touched ground.
FWISH.
Zephyr appeared behind Ansen. Blade already swinging.
Ansen twisted. Hanzo reflexes screamed. Steel met steel.
CLANG-KRAAK!
Sparks burst between them. Zephyr rode the momentum, launched back into the air without touching dirt. He was a speck in one blink, a streak of silver in the next.
"Got your eyes on me now, Hanzo?" Zephyr's voice came from everywhere. Above. Left. Right. Wind carried it. "Let's see if they're fast enough."
He vanished again. Predator's Vision locked onto Ansen's blind spots. Every time Ansen turned, Zephyr was already somewhere else. Hit and run. Cut and vanish.
SHHK. SHHK. SHHK.
Three cuts opened across Ansen's coat. Shallow. Precise. Blood welled up in perfect lines. He didn't see any of them coming.
Levi forced himself up on one elbow, sword broken, breathing ragged. "Master... he's not landing. You can't track at this speed!"
Ansen wiped blood from his cheek, eyes cold. "Then I stop trying to track him."
He closed his eyes and exhaled. Chi surged from his feet.
"Hanzo Art: Shadow Snare."
Invisible Kairo Threads filled the air around Zephyr. Threads no normal eye could see. Ansen's vision locked onto them, pale lines shimmering like spider silk.
He didn't bind Zephyr's body. He bound the threads around him.
Zephyr dove for another Falcon Dive. Mid-air, his wings of wind stuttered.
ZRRRT.
For a second, his shadow on the ground below jerked. Anchored. His balance slipped. His perfect dive angle warped half an inch.
"Ghk! What is this?" Zephyr hissed. The air felt heavier. His reflexes still worked, but his senses lied. Every direction felt wrong. Up felt down.
That half-second was enough.
Ansen shot up, sword wreathed in pale light. "Caught you."
SHRAAAK!
Their blades met. The collision ripped wind apart. Both were thrown back. Zephyr flipped and landed hard, skidding. Ansen carved a trench with his boots.
Zephyr spat blood, grinning despite the cut. "Hanzo bastards... You all are annoying little pricks."
Ansen steadied his stance. "Your speed means nothing if your perception breaks."
Zephyr's eyes narrowed. Wind howled louder. He shot straight up, higher than before. Clouds shredded.
"Fine. No more games." His voice dropped. "Falcon Dive... Terminal Velocity."
Pressure dropped across the field. Even the Xaphan clones froze.
Levi's breath caught. "Master Ansen, he's—"
"I see the threads," Ansen said, sword steady. "Let him fall."
Ansen's sword was already rising. He saw it. The threads snapping. The dive coming.
But the Zephyr falling from the sky was wrong.
FWIP.
A millisecond shift. Air flickered.
The "Zephyr" above Ansen shattered into wind and feathers. A decoy. A current of air shaped like a man.
The real Zephyr hit from the side.
KRAKOOOM!
Ansen only felt the wind current of the fake Falcon Dive rush past his head before steel bit his ribs. He barely twisted. The blade tore through his coat and carved a line across his side instead of his heart.
Ansen skidded back, boots tearing stone, blood spraying. He was wide open. Breathing hard.
Zephyr landed in a crouch twenty meters away, grinning. "Hanzo eyes see threads. They don't see misdirection." He tapped his temple. "Predator's Vision plus Hunter's Instinct. I read your move before you finished it."
Levi saw it too late. Ansen open. Zephyr's blade already lifting for the finish.
Levi's broken sword fell from his hand.
Darkness answered.
"Panther Shadow."
SHHHHUNK.
Levi's body dissolved. Flesh became smoke. Light bent around him. In one breath he was a shadowy, humanoid form. Black, fluid, eyes burning like coals.
He moved without sound. No footsteps. No air displacement.
Zephyr's Hunter's Instinct flared. "What—"
SHRAAK!
A claw of dark energy sliced across Zephyr's back before he could turn. He spun, fast, but Levi was already gone. Just a smear of shadow across the ground.
Zephyr gritted his teeth, blood running down his spine. "So the kid has teeth too."
Levi reformed behind him for half a second, voice low and echoing. "You're dead..."
Then he vanished again. The whole field went dark around Zephyr's feet.
Zephyr's eyes darted. Wind spun around him, trying to blow the shadows away. But darkness didn't have weight to push.
Ansen pressed a hand to his side, steadying himself. He looked at Levi, then at Zephyr.
"Good. Now he's serious..."
Levi stepped between Ansen and Zephyr. His shadow form rippled, solidifying just enough to place a hand on Ansen's chest. Right over the cut near his heart.
"Stop, Master Ansen." Levi's voice was steady, but low. "You can't continue like this. That cut was a breath away from your heart. If you push more, your vitals will give out."
Ansen opened his mouth. Nothing came out. He frowned, jaw tight. His own student shutting him down stung more than the blade.
For years he'd carried one weight. Vengeance. Xaphan's head. He'd chased it through blood and ruin, and here it was finally close. But now his breath felt short. His vision blurred at the edges. The injury was an anchor he couldn't ignore.
Zephyr watched from the edge of the shadows, arms crossed. "Touching scene. But I don't wait for—"
"Shut up," Levi cut in without looking back. Then softer, to Ansen: "And Master Ansen, please take care of Elia. Her vision's been knocked out. If you can do anything about it."
Ansen glanced past him. Elia lay still, breathing shallow. The weight in his chest doubled. Vengeance vs duty.
He exhaled, long and slow. The fight in his eyes cooled. "Alright, Levi." He pressed a palm to his side, staunching the blood. "Be careful. Most importantly... win."
Levi's shadow face cracked into a grin, sharp despite the blood drying on his chin. "Sure."
He turned back to Zephyr. Darkness spread from his feet, swallowing the red light.
"Now it's just you and me, bird."
Zephyr's grin returned, but smaller. Sharper. Wind started to rise again.