The cruciform corridor narrowed and then opened into a square that swallowed light.
Two figures waited in the center.
They were the right height. They held the right weapons. Their faces were theirs without warmth.
Reflections in the obsidian matched them beat for beat.
Chaewon's shadow lifted twin blades.
"Is your kindness an excuse?" it asked. "Will it only drag Ace down?"
Tyler's shadow rested a spear across its forearms.
"You forge and watch," it said. "Do you believe you survive this Hell by never stepping in?"
Silence returned like a door closing.
Chaewon stepped first.
\[Aquasteel] gathered at her edges. Pressure was clean and small, like a breath that knew its home.
Her shadow mirrored the same hum.
They met on a narrow line.
Steel touched and parted. The blades wrote thin arcs against the dark. The square kept every ring and hid it.
"Kindness that cannot cut is surrender," the shadow said.
"Kindness chooses when to cut," she answered.
It came fast.
