Xiao Ke tightened his grip on his combat knife. Across from him stood Wild Wolf—barefoot, bare-chested, a heavy battle blade held loosely in his hand.
"I know you want me dead," Xiao Ke said, his voice low. "So bring it on."
A savage grin split Wild Wolf's face. "Don't mind if I do."
He lunged, blade flashing, and in an instant, the two were a whirlwind of deadly steel.
They were both masters of the craft, but their philosophies of violence were worlds apart.
Xiao Ke's style was still raw, forged in the brutal, efficient crucible of the Imperial military. His techniques were viciously simple, each move a straight line to his enemy's death. He was all offense, no defense—a man willing to trade a pound of his own flesh for a fatal strike. To his opponents, it looked like suicide.
Wild Wolf was the quintessential mercenary. He was a dancer, his feet a constant blur as he circled his prey, his blade a viper tasting the air—feinting, testing, always searching for that one perfect opening. Survival was his creed, which meant killing without getting killed. He'd never risk a serious injury, not when a wounded mercenary was a liability—a smaller cut of the prize for his so-called comrades.
This fundamental difference came down to belief. The Imperial soldier fights for glory and trusts the man next to him to cover his back. To die on the battlefield is the highest honor.
The mercenary fights for gold. His allies are his competitors. Getting hurt means getting left behind.
From the sidelines, Qin Bing watched with a clinical eye.
Honestly, Wild Wolf was probably the better fighter, a seasoned professional. But Xiao Ke fought with a terrifying madness, a reckless abandon that went beyond military training. He simply didn't care about getting hurt.
This maddening tactic threw Wild Wolf completely off his game. The mercenary, so used to calculated strikes and careful retreats, found himself hesitating. Every time he saw an opening, Xiao Ke offered one in return—a trade Wild Wolf instinctively refused to make. He was forced back, step by agonizing step, a howl of pure frustration building in his throat.
Finally, he snapped. Done with the evasions, Wild Wolf met Xiao Ke's charge head-on.
With a scream of steel, they flashed past each other.
For a split second, they stood frozen before blood bloomed on both their bodies.
Wild Wolf looked down in shocked fury. Xiao Ke's knife had carved a deep gash across his chest, so deep he could almost see bone. The pain was a sharp, cold fire.
Xiao Ke was hurt worse—a long, deep cut under his arm—but he gave no sign of it. He just turned and lunged again, his knife streaking toward Wild Wolf's throat. His movements were just as fluid, his attack just as lethal, as if the bleeding wound was on someone else's body.
Wild Wolf's mind reeled. The pain was making him gasp, yet Xiao Ke seemed immune. Did this lunatic even have nerves? He wondered. Was he incapable of feeling pain?
There was no time to think. He parried, the blades clanging together. Xiao Ke used a rebound technique, his knife bouncing off the block and instantly chopping down, slicing open Wild Wolf's shoulder to the bone. In the same exchange, Wild Wolf's blade raked across Xiao Ke's left arm.
They broke apart again.
"You're insane," Wild Wolf snarled, clutching his shoulder.
Watching from the shadows, Qin Bing was reminded of Xiao Ke's duel with Duan Canglong. He, too, had been broken by this same relentless, unhinged assault. Wild Wolf had grown soft, his tolerance for pain no match for Xiao Ke's masochistic ferocity.
Xiao Ke didn't answer. He just charged again.
Of course, he felt the pain. But he had lived his life at the bottom, clawing for survival every single day. He'd endured worse. This was nothing.
The fight devolved into a bloody exchange. Time and again, Wild Wolf tried for a killing blow, but Xiao Ke's relentless, self-destructive offense kept him on the defensive. Soon, they were both drenched in their own blood.
But there was a difference. Though wounded, Xiao Ke's eyes were still clear and focused. His body still obeyed his commands.
Wild Wolf was falling apart. A deep stab to the chest had him coughing up blood, his vision blurring. "Madman," he wheezed, stumbling back. "A complete psycho…"
Clang!
Xiao Ke smashed Wild Wolf's blade aside, creating the opening he'd been waiting for. He didn't hesitate. With a final, decisive slash, he took Wild Wolf's right arm off at the shoulder.
The arm and the blade fell to the floor with a wet thud.
Xiao Ke followed with a vicious kick to the chest that sent Wild Wolf flying into the far wall.
He walked over, his blood-soaked figure looking like a demon of war, and stared down at the broken man. "You lose," he said coldly. "I don't normally kill an unarmed man. But for what you did to that little beggar girl, you're the exception."
Wild Wolf just glared, his breathing ragged, his eyes full of disbelief and hatred.
"Oh, one more thing," Xiao Ke said. "Tonight, when we took out your little Wolf Pack… it was just me and the Centurion. The two of us. So no, you didn't die in vain. You just died outmatched."
Wild Wolf's eyes went wide with shock. His entire crew… taken out by just two people?
A flash of steel ended his thoughts as Xiao Ke's knife plunged into his heart.
"That," Xiao Ke whispered, "is for her."
The moment it was over, his adrenaline vanished. A wave of pain crashed over him, and he swayed, nearly collapsing.
Qin Bing stepped out of the shadows. "Are you alright?" she asked, her brow furrowed with concern.
Xiao Ke forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Reportin', sir. Not dead yet."
She tossed him a small vial. "You may not be dead," she snorted, "but you're damn close. You didn't use a single one of the techniques I taught you. Did you really need to get this torn up just to kill one mercenary captain?"
He caught the vial, still warm from her touch. The warmth spread through him. "No, sir," he said quietly. "I'll do better next time."
"Drink it," she ordered. "I didn't spend all that time training you just to watch you bleed out."
"Yes, sir!"
He downed the recovery agent. A fiery heat spread from his stomach through his limbs, dulling the pain and pushing back the exhaustion. As his head cleared, a small sound made them both turn. A woman on the bed was staring at them, her hand clamped over her mouth in pure terror.
Qin Bing gave her a dismissive glance and led Xiao Ke out of the room.
Hu Benan was waiting in the hall, standing ramrod straight. He'd seen everything. The fear in his eyes was unmistakable.
"Get some people to clean this up," Qin Bing ordered. "And bring all their gear and supplies to our camp. Now."
"Yes, my lady!" he stammered.
Back at the Zhou family compound, the sentry saw them approach and cried out, "Centurion! What happened? Were you attacked?"
Soldiers poured out from every corner, weapons drawn. "Who was it? Who attacked the Centurion?"
Duan Canglong pushed through the crowd and saw the state Xiao Ke was in. "Captain!" he roared. "Who did this? Was it the Wolf Pack? We'll go right now. We'll slaughter every last one of them!"
Seeing the genuine rage and concern on his face, Xiao Ke knew the big man truly considered him a brother. It warmed him, but he put on a stern face. "I'm just a little scratched up. What's with all the shouting? Show some discipline! The Centurion is right here."
Duan Canglong was already helping him stay upright. "To hell with discipline, Captain! You're a bloody mess! We have to get revenge!"
"No need," Xiao Ke said.
"No need?" Duan Canglong stared, then turned to Qin Bing, his frustration overriding his fear of her. "Centurion, I know you don't want any infighting before the horde gets here. But look at him! They did this to our captain! We can't let them get away with it!"
Qin Bing just smiled. "Xiao Ke, why don't you tell them?"
The men looked at Xiao Ke, confused. What's left to explain?
Xiao Ke grinned. "When I said 'no need,' I didn't mean we're letting them off the hook. I meant that, as of about a half-hour ago, the entire Wolf Pack has been… eliminated. By the two of us."
Silence.
Then, chaos.
"What?"
"Wiped out?"
"The two of you… took out the whole pack?"
Duan Canglong and the others just stared, their faces masks of stunned disbelief. "Captain," he whispered, "are you serious?"
Xiao Ke rolled his eyes. "If you don't believe me, you should at least believe in her."
All eyes turned to Qin Bing. Standing there in her uniform, her dark hair unbound and flowing over her shoulders, she looked less like a soldier and more like the warrior goddess of legend. Her power was undisputed.
"She's right," someone said, nodding. "If the Centurion was there, those bastards never stood a chance."
"You're mistaken," Qin Bing said, her voice carrying easily over the crowd. "I was mostly backup tonight. Decanus Xiao Ke killed most of them himself. Including their leader, Wild Wolf. He took him head-on."
Every jaw dropped. Everyone stared at Xiao Ke as if seeing him for the first time. When had he gotten this strong?
As if on cue, Hu Benan and his servants arrived, hauling carts loaded with the Wolf Pack's weapons and supplies. They also brought a body. It was Wild Wolf, and Hu Benan wanted permission to hang him in the town square as a warning.
The soldiers crowded around, looking from the mangled corpse to their own blood-soaked captain. They could suddenly picture the brutal, desperate fight that must have taken place. It all clicked.
Duan Canglong looked from the body to his captain and shook his head. "I can tell just by looking at him," he said, a strange look on his face. "You went and pulled that same reckless, 'to-hell-with-my-own-life' stunt again, didn't you?"