Soren stood almost six feet behind Nox. Rios stood ten feet in front of Nox, sword resting casually at his side.
Soren's face wasn't just plastered with fear, there was anger too, but his body refused to move. His eyes locked on Rios, burning with vengeance.
Nox didn't understand that look. He hadn't seen Soren like this before, but then again, he'd only known him for a day.
He remembered Soren saying every member of Ten Thousand had an ability. The plan wasn't supposed to include meeting one of them, much less fighting, and he cursed himself.
He glanced back. Soren was breathing heavily, too consumed with rage to talk.
The street stretched wide, paved neatly from end to end, enough for ten carriages to ride through. Houses rose tall and elegant, walls of brick, tiled roofs glinting faintly. The colors matched the massive fortress walls.
Cramped buildings lined either side, with narrow walkways between them. If we make it there, maybe we can lose him in the alleys, Nox thought. He didn't want to figh.
Rios had powers he didn't know, speed he couldn't measure. Counting on Soren to fight with him wasn't an option. Retreat was the smartest move.
His fingers brushed the binding rings in his pouch. Then it hit him.
Rios doesn't know I can wield iora. He only sees Soren. He's not proud of it, but using Soren as bait might give him an opening. Once. Only once.
Suppressing his aura, Nox's hand slid to his short blade.
Rios finally glanced at him, then back to Soren. "So you picked up a toothless stray, huh," he said, mocking Nox's quiet demeanor.
The word stung, but Nox bit his tongue and stayed quiet. Timing mattered more than pride.
Rios slowly drew his sword, five feet of gleaming steel. Sparks scattered as he dragged the blade across the stone pavement, then rested it on his shoulder.
"Soren, dear boy," his voice dripped with malice, cold enough to make skin crawl. "Three weeks ago, when I dragged your mother from your arms on your father's orders, you stared at me just like that. Frozen, filled with rage. Helpless."
Soren's breathing spiked.
"Your father wanted you dead. But Varion saved you, at the cost of his life."
Nox's jaw tightened. Something Rios said struck a nerve.
"And now you walk back into the lion's den, for an orb?" Rios sneered.
Nox understood. The golden wave of iora from when Soren merged with the orb, it must have been felt across the city by anyone who could use iora. So that's why he's here?
Rios extended his left hand, palm open. "That orb is worth more than this nation. More than the whole fourteen kingdoms. Hand it over, and I'll grant you and your stray a quick death." His voice hardened. "Refuse, and I'll claw it from your severed hand while you're still alive."
Nox cringed at "stray" again, but his focus sharpened. After his first strike, Rios would have no choice but to acknowledge him, and hopefully he needed only one strike to end all this, but that was very unlikely.
When Rios dropped his hand after three seconds, his smile twisted. "Fine then, I'll happily grant you a slow death."
BOOM. Rios launched forward, the ground cracking beneath him, speed blurring. He wasn't coming for Nox, he was locked on Soren.
He's too fast, Nox thought. No time to draw my blade.
Rios's rush brought him past Nox's line. Instinct screamed. With no room for a punch, Nox poured every ounce of iora into his leg and swung.
THUD.
His kick connected square with Rios's torso.
CRASH. The force hurled him sideways, smashing him through the wall of a house.
BOOM. He blasted through another building behind it, collapsing stone and wood in a cascade of debris.
Silence.
Dust choked the air.
Then, clink… clink… clink… the faint scrape of steel rang beneath the rubble.
SHIIING.
From the wreckage, more than a hundred swords erupted upward, all fused into one massive hilt.
Rios rose from the dust, blood on his lips. His grin spread wide. "So it appears I stand corrected. This stray's got teeth."
Nox positioned himself in a fighter's stance, a crooked smile spreading across his face.
"Hmph."
Nox's smile was cocky, but deep down he knew he was at a major disadvantage.
He was a close range fighter, his fists and short blade were all he had. Rios specialized in mid range combat, with countless blades at his disposal. Worse, Nox had to protect Soren.
The odds were stacked against him, but retreat was no longer an option. With Rios's speed, and those countless blades, turning their backs would be suicidal.
And besides, Nox wanted to beat the living crap out of him. The things he said about Soren's mother made his blood boil.
Rios stood atop the pile of rubble, smiling darkly. "I didn't expect this, dear boy. You bring me a present of this magnitude?" His gaze fell directly on Soren, who was still frozen in shock at Nox's strength.
Then his eyes slid to Nox. "Where did you come from, boy? How did you gain that much power?"
For the first time since the encounter, Nox spoke. "Don't talk to me. Your voice creeps me out." He turned to Soren, his tone suddenly sharp. "I know things happened. Sometimes fear makes us take the coward's way out. But you've got to move forward, or today will be no different from those days. If you don't fight, your survival won't mean anything. And it has to mean something."
The words hit Soren like a hammer. His body trembled, then steadied. He slapped his own cheeks, leaving them red, wiped away tears, and clenched his fists, stepping into a fighter's stance.
Nox smirked. "Not bad."
But the real problem still loomed.
"Hmph, arrogant little kids," Rios sneered. "Fine then I'll kill you both very slowly."
From his single hilt, over a hundred blades extended into the sky, rising fifty feet before crashing down like a rainstorm of steel.
BOOOM. CRASH.
Soren immediately leapt back, soaring away from their range.
Nox, however, stood in the center, calm. He scoffed at the blades raining toward him. Raizen's lightning had been a hundred times faster.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
He weaved through the strikes, dodging every blade that stabbed for his life.
But as each sword pierced the ground, cracks spiderwebbed outward beneath the pavement.
RUMMMBLE.
Nox's instincts screamed. He leapt aside just before a blade burst upward from below.
On the other hand, Rios had now directed every sword toward Nox, hemming him in. But Nox smelled an opening. He slipped through the storm of blades, weaving like a shadow, and charged straight toward Rios.
"Cocky," Rios muttered.
Nox launched into the air, short blade in hand, swinging with everything he had.
"Not enough."
SCHWIK.
A blade jutted from the side of Rios's weapon, thrusting straight for Nox's chest mid air.
"Damn."
The strike landed, THUNK, but Nox poured iora into the point of impact. His chest flared, and the blade shattered. The force blasted him backward, hurling him through the front door of a nearby house.
KRRRASH.
Rios was confused as to why his sword didn't pierce but blasted Nox away, but nevertheless he got rid of the stray. Rios raised his sword again, smirking. Soren was open.
He dashed forward, the countless blades retracting into his weapon as he closed the distance. Three feet from Soren, he swung down with lethal precision.
But Soren didn't flinch. His fists were clenched, his stance firm. He would not die without even a single swing.
"HRRRAAHH."
His punch thrust forward, and an invisible gravitational force exploded from his fist, BOOOOM, slamming into Rios's chest.
"What."
The force hurled Rios backward at high speed, smashing him through one building, CRASH, then another, KRRAAASH, until he finally embedded into a fourth, the structure collapsing on top of him.
Nox burst out of the rubble of the house he'd been sent flying into, already sprinting toward Soren when this happened. But before he could say a word.
KRRRRUMMMBLE.
Rios erupted from the wreckage, body steaming with rage. His pale face was flushed red, and his eyes burned with murder.
From his hilt erupted not hundreds this time, but seemingly thousands.
SHHHHRIIIIINGGG.
The sound of a thousand blades scraping against each other filled the air, an eerie chorus of steel promising death.
Nox clicked his tongue. "Sturdy bastard."
Soren, meanwhile, looked down at his own fist in disbelief.
"How did I just do that?"
Rios's blade danced through the air, bending, scraping, singing death.
"Can you do that again?" Nox asked Soren, desperation cutting through his cocky tone.
"I think so? I don't really know," Soren admitted, uncertain.
"Yes or no," Nox pressed. "Our lives depend on it."
"Yes, I can do it again," Soren answered with conviction.
"Good. I need you to do it twice."
"What? Twice?" Soren's eyes went wide, but after a sharp breath, he clenched his fists. "Fine. I'll do it as many times as you need."
Nox focused iora into his short blade, the air humming. Then he tore at his sleeves, loosened stitches giving way, fabric falling into his hands. He wrapped the cloth tight around his knuckles and fingers, focusing iora to his knuckles, turning his fists into steel. And then he sheathed his short blade.
"I only need you to do it twice," he said, voice steady. "One for me. One for that bastard." He pulled a binding ring from his pouch, crushing the iora within. Crack, fwooom.
Soren didn't understand what he had in mind, but he trusted him completely. "Okay."
Nox crouched low, feral, bloodshot eyes gleaming, a grin twitching across his face as the iora from the ring surged inside him.
"When I leap," he barked, "launch me with whatever power you just used. Straight at him. Then run behind me with everything you've got. You'll know the rest instinctively."
"Understood," Soren replied with fire in his eyes.
Rios's laughter was low, cruel. "Blitz. A kingdom of three million people. Seven hundred thousand soldiers. Seventy-eight confirmed iora wielders. I am the strongest. I lead the army of this great nation. I have killed more than you two can count together. I've only lost once. I'll admit you're strong, but you're children. Snot nosed brats who'll die today. Remember the name of the man who killed you, Rios, commander of Ten Thousand."
His thousand blades rattled and shrieked together, singing their chorus of death.
Nox's smirk widened. "Then it just means you've only fought weaklings. It's about time you lose again."
With a BOOM, Nox launched upward.
"Now, Soren."
WHAM. Soren's gravitational punch connected, launching Nox like a cannonball straight at Rios.
The blades screamed forward, but Nox's fists tore through them, shattering steel like glass. Sparks sprayed as broken swords clattered across the pavement.
Rios pushed harder, blades lashing, but Nox shoved through with raw force. Landing in front of Rios, two blades struck at his chest, a move Nox was familiar with. Nox planted his feet, shattered the two blades aimed at his chest, then ducked low and swept Rios's legs from under him.
"Cocky brat," Rios snarled, trying to counter.
Too late. CRACK. Nox's hook smashed into his jaw, launching him skyward.
In the same motion, Nox grabbed Soren and hurled him upward.
"Wha," Soren panicked midair, but clarity struck as he soared past Rios's flailing body. Vulnerable. Exposed.
He clenched his fist. THOOM. A gravitational strike hammered into Rios's torso, folding him like paper.
Down he fell.
And Nox was waiting.
Iora condensed into his fist, the cloth on his knuckles glowing, the air warping with pressure.
BOOOOOOM.
The punch landed like thunder. A sonic boom ripped through the street, tearing stone apart, shockwaves scattering rubble in every direction. Rios was launched like a comet, tearing through the six-foot-thick capital wall and crashing far beyond.
Dust and silence.
Soren plummeted, but Nox caught him, both collapsing to the ground. Laughter burst out of them, wild and breathless. "We… we actually did it."
But Nox's grin froze.
The air changed. Heavy. Crushing. Iora, denser and darker than anything he had ever felt.
THOOM. THOOM. THOOM. Boots marching. Spears clattering.
A shadow spread across the ruined street.
Hundreds of soldiers stood lined in formation. And at their center, robed in red and gold, brown hair tied in a ponytail bound with a golden pin shaped like a thunderbolt, stood a man.
Nox didn't need anyone to tell him. The look on Soren's face confirmed it.
"Father," Soren whispered.
But Nox knew.
This wasn't a king.
This wasn't a man.
This was a demon.
And although he had never seen one before, he was convinced. This wasn't just any demon, this was the type of demon Raizen warned him to steer clear of most in his journey.
A demon lord.