Kel and Drako moved at the same time.
Kel expected another kick. Instead, Drako stepped forward without throwing anything. Kel reacted anyway, shifting his weight onto his rear foot and tightening his guard. The numbness from the first kick still burned through both forearms. He had blocked it properly and still felt like someone had hit his bones with a metal pipe.
Drako stopped several feet away. His Abyssal Qi remained gathered close to his body, dark pressure curling along his shoulders before sinking beneath his skin again. The grin on his face hadn't changed.
Kel frowned.
"What?"
Drako rolled one shoulder, then the other. The joints cracked softly beneath the noise of the burning town.
"You survived the first one."
Kel glanced at his arms.
"Barely."
"Still counts."
Drako looked him over again, slower this time, and Kel didn't like it. The man wasn't looking at him the way an enemy looked at another enemy. It felt more like Dyrain watching him during training, except there was none of Dyrain's patience behind Drako's eyes. Only curiosity.
Drako raised one finger.
"I'll give you one minute."
Kel's guard remained high.
"For what?"
"Hit me."
Kel stared at him.
Drako's smile widened.
"For one minute, I don't attack. I defend."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
Drako shrugged.
"But I'm still doing it."
Kel looked toward the northern road. One of Luno's insects remained near the edge of the intersection. It turned north again before disappearing around a corner. The civilians were getting farther away. Every second mattered.
Kel looked back at Drako. If the man wanted to stand here wasting time, Kel could use that.
Drako seemed to recognize the thought immediately.
"You're thinking about running when the minute's over."
Kel didn't answer.
"Good."
Drako shifted his feet.
"Means you're not completely stupid."
Kel lowered his center of gravity as Drako lifted his hand.
"One minute."
Kel's Internal Qi moved automatically into his legs.
Drako dropped his finger.
"Go."
Kel exploded forward, closing the distance in three quick steps. He didn't throw full power immediately. His lead hand snapped toward Drako's face with a jab, but Drako tilted his head an inch and let the fist pass his cheek.
Kel doubled it. The second jab came immediately, only for Drako to lift one palm and redirect the punch outward. Kel stepped deeper, turning his rear heel and driving his hip behind a cross toward the ribs. Drako lowered his elbow and caught the strike against his forearm.
Kel felt the impact travel back through his shoulder.
Drako barely moved.
"Good start."
Kel pivoted left.
"Shut up."
A hook came toward Drako's temple. He leaned back just enough for it to miss, and Kel immediately changed levels, throwing a left hook toward the body. Drako's palm met Kel's fist before it reached his ribs.
The punch stopped dead.
Kel pulled away before Drako could trap the arm.
Drako smiled.
"Terrible results, though."
Kel circled him. He wasn't angry. At least, he tried not to be. Dyrain had punished him enough times for letting frustration ruin his feet. If his shoulders tightened, his punches became slower. If he reached, his balance disappeared.
Kel breathed.
Drako was bigger, stronger, and clearly far more experienced. That didn't make him impossible to touch.
Kel moved again.
He sent a jab high. Drako slipped it, but Kel didn't retract the hand normally. He let the jab become a distraction and stepped outside Drako's lead foot. His right hand went toward the body, and when Drako blocked, Kel was already turning.
A left hook swept toward Drako's head. Drako leaned away.
Kel followed his movement instead of resetting and fired a right cross. Drako's forearm caught it, but Kel stepped closer, too close for a full punch, and drove a short hook toward the ribs. Drako shifted his body just enough for the strike to glance off before Kel pivoted away.
Drako's smile had faded slightly.
Not gone. Just smaller.
Kel noticed.
Good.
He changed rhythm.
The next attack came slower. One step, a short pause, then a jab. Drako parried, but Kel didn't follow. He backed away instead.
Drako's eyes narrowed.
Kel stepped forward again with the same movement and the same pause. Drako prepared for the jab.
Kel feinted it.
His knees bent, and he drove a straight right hand toward Drako's stomach. Internal Qi reinforced his fist before impact.
Drako dropped his elbow, but he was a fraction late.
THUD.
Kel's knuckles reached his body, forcing Drako half a step backward.
Kel's eyes sharpened.
There.
He followed immediately. A lead jab forced Drako to block. A second made him shift. Kel stepped outside, rotated his hips and fired the cross.
The punch slipped around Drako's guard.
CRACK!
Kel's fist struck his jaw hard enough to turn Drako's head. A small drop of blood flew from his lower lip.
Kel immediately jumped backward and raised his guard.
For a moment, the street went strangely quiet in his mind.
Drako didn't move.
Kel stared at him.
Then Drako slowly touched his lip and looked at the blood on his thumb. For the first time, the grin disappeared completely.
Kel's stomach tightened.
Maybe that had been a mistake.
Then Drako laughed.
Not the quiet chuckle from before. A real laugh rolled through the street as he wiped the blood away.
"That's good."
Kel didn't lower his hands.
Drako looked at him with something new now. Respect wasn't the right word.
Interest.
Much worse.
"Very good."
Kel's chest rose and fell steadily.
"Minute over?"
Drako glanced toward the burning building beside them as though there were somehow a clock hidden inside it.
"Close enough."
Kel's muscles tightened.
Drako rolled his neck once.
"Your turn's over."
Inside the damaged building nearby, Roku heard every word. He sat against the wall with one hand around the handle of his remaining dagger while Solara crouched beside him, maintaining the thin Soul Qi cloak around both of them and the sealed case.
Roku looked toward the wall.
"He's playing with him."
Solara didn't answer. Her jaw was tight. She could feel Kel now that she knew what she was looking for. His newly awakened Internal Qi was easier to recognize through the town's chaos, especially when it surged during the fight.
Kel was tired. Badly hurt. And somehow still attacking Drako.
Roku shifted his weight.
Solara immediately looked at him.
"Don't."
"I'm not doing anything."
"You were about to."
Roku's expression hardened.
"He's sixteen."
"So are we."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
Solara looked toward the sealed case. The cloak around it flickered faintly.
"If we go out there, they find this again."
Roku knew. That was the problem. The second Solara stopped hiding the package, every searching group in the town could converge on them again.
He leaned his head against the wall.
"Kel better be smarter than he looks."
Solara almost smiled.
"He isn't."
Then Drako exhaled, and the smile disappeared from her face.
Outside, nothing happened at first.
Kel waited while Drako stood in the center of the street with his arms hanging loosely at his sides. Flames crackled around them, and ash drifted through the space between them.
Then the Abyssal Qi around Drako began to change.
Until now, he had kept it compressed close to his body. Kel had felt the power there, but only as pressure beneath the surface.
Drako stopped holding it back.
The first wave rolled outward without sound, and Kel felt it in his chest before he understood what was happening. His breath caught.
Then the rest followed.
Abyssal Qi poured through the street in thick black-red pressure. It didn't explode wildly like the armored beings. It expanded slowly and deliberately, as though Drako were allowing the world to understand exactly how much power he had been keeping inside himself.
The flames bent away from him. Loose ash lifted from the ground and spiraled outward while broken pieces of stone trembled across the street.
Then the full weight reached Kel.
His knees almost collapsed.
Kel's eyes widened as his lungs locked. The pressure pressed against his shoulders, chest and spine at the same time. Every muscle in his body tightened automatically, but that only made it harder to breathe.
His Internal Qi surged in response.
Not enough.
Kel tried inhaling. His chest barely moved.
"What... the hell..."
Drako stood calmly in the center of it all. Nothing about his posture changed.
Around the settlement, the reaction spread. Several infected humans stopped moving. Armed fighters farther down the street staggered as the pressure rolled over them, and one dropped to a knee before forcing himself back up.
Even some of the Abyssal presences moving through the town changed direction.
Not fleeing.
Acknowledging.
Inside the hidden building, Solara's hands hit the floor as the cloak flickered violently. Roku immediately grabbed her shoulder.
"Solara."
"I'm fine."
She wasn't.
The Abyssal pressure pushed against her Soul Qi from every direction. Maintaining the cloak had already been difficult. Now her arms trembled from the effort.
Roku felt it too. His shadow twisted beneath him before flattening unnaturally across the floor.
He stared toward the wall.
"That's Drako?"
Solara swallowed.
"Has to be."
Her voice came quieter.
"He's been holding back this whole time."
Roku's grip tightened around his dagger.
That was worse than he'd expected.
Outside, Kel fought just to remain upright. His Internal Qi moved through his legs and back, reinforcing his body automatically, but Drako's pressure still made him feel as though a mountain had settled across his shoulders.
His hands started shaking.
He couldn't stop them.
For the first time since entering the town, Kel didn't have to argue with Harven's lesson. Everything in him agreed.
Run.
The armored Abyssal beings had frightened him.
Drako terrified him.
There was a difference. Those creatures had felt dangerous because they could kill him. Drako felt dangerous because Kel couldn't imagine what stopping him would even look like.
Drako tilted his head.
"Most people are on the ground by now."
Kel forced one foot backward to keep his balance. His legs trembled.
Drako's eyes moved over him.
"But you're still standing."
Kel tried raising his guard. His arms felt heavier than the armor he'd been punching earlier.
"Congratulations to me."
Drako laughed softly.
"Still talking too."
Kel's heart hammered as he glanced toward the northern road.
Gone.
The insects were gone.
Good.
Luno had gotten enough distance that the scouts Kel left behind had finally followed. Kel had done what he stayed for.
Now he needed to leave.
Drako seemed to read that thought too. His stance changed.
Kel saw it.
Rear heel light. Hands rising. Weight forward.
Kel's eyes widened.
Drako disappeared.
Kel barely registered the first step before a knee came toward his ribs. His body moved before his mind caught up, twisting sideways.
Drako's knee missed him by inches and smashed into the ground.
BOOM!
Stone exploded.
Kel was thrown sideways by the impact alone. He hit the dirt, rolled and scrambled back to his feet before Drako could follow.
His breathing was out of control.
His mind wasn't thinking about winning anymore. That thought was gone completely.
Dyrain's lessons rearranged themselves inside his head.
Don't trade strength. Don't stand still. Don't let him set his feet.
Survive.
Kel raised his guard.
Drako stepped toward him.
The pressure made every movement harder, but Kel's fear had changed. Instead of freezing his legs, it sharpened them. He watched Drako's hips, his shoulders, his feet—the places where movement started.
Drako smiled.
"There it is."
Kel breathed through his nose.
"What?"
"You're done trying to beat me."
Kel didn't answer.
Drako rolled his shoulders.
"Now you're trying to survive."
Kel shifted sideways. The movement was small and careful.
Drako followed.
Kel understood immediately that he couldn't fight Drako the way he'd fought the armored creatures. Those enemies had patterns.
Drako watched patterns.
If Kel repeated himself, Drako would learn him faster than Kel could adapt. His boxing had to change.
Not disappear.
Change.
Kel loosened his shoulders. His stance became lighter, less planted, with more freedom to move.
Drako noticed.
"Good."
Kel hated hearing that.
Drako threw a low kick.
Kel barely lifted his leg in time.
Shin met shin.
Pain shot through Kel's entire body, and he stumbled sideways. Drako didn't chase immediately.
Testing.
Kel understood.
He was being studied.
Drako came forward again. Kel jabbed, not to hit but to block Drako's vision, then pivoted away before the counter.
Drako's elbow passed through empty air.
Kel's heart jumped.
Elbow.
He had almost forgotten.
Punches weren't the only danger. Drako's entire body was a weapon.
Kel moved farther away.
Drako smiled.
"Learning."
Kel wiped blood from his mouth.
"You're really annoying."
Drako stepped forward, and Kel moved backward. For every step Drako took, Kel gave ground at an angle, refusing to retreat in a straight line. He kept burning debris between them when possible. Broken walls, carts and narrow sections of street became part of his defense.
Dyrain had taught him how to box.
Harven had taught him how to survive missions.
Now Kel used both.
Drako lunged.
Kel slipped behind a collapsed beam, and Drako's shin smashed through it. Kel moved around the opposite side and jabbed toward Drako's face.
Drako parried.
Kel never intended to land it. The punch only bought the half second he needed to escape.
Drako's grin widened.
Kel realized something then.
This man was enjoying himself.
Not pretending. Not acting intimidating.
Actually enjoying it.
That somehow made Kel more nervous.
Inside the hidden building, Solara listened to the impacts moving farther down the street.
"He's running him around."
Roku frowned.
"Kel?"
"Drako."
Roku understood.
"Testing him."
Solara nodded. Her face tightened.
"And Kel keeps adapting."
Roku looked toward her.
"Is that good?"
Another impact shook dust from the ceiling.
"No."
Outside, Drako stopped chasing.
Kel stopped too.
They stood twenty feet apart. Kel's chest heaved while blood ran down one side of his face. His forearms were bruised from blocking, one leg throbbed from checking the kick, and his ribs hurt every time he moved.
The heat from the burning town still sank into his body whenever he passed close enough to the flames, keeping his Internal Qi active despite the punishment. But it wasn't replacing what he lost.
Kel was reaching his limit.
Drako looked almost untouched.
That was the real difference between them.
Kel had adapted.
Drako hadn't needed to.
Drako raised his hands again.
"Still want to run?"
Kel swallowed.
"Very much."
Drako laughed.
Kel shifted his stance.
"But you're in the way."
The smile on Drako's face slowly disappeared.
Not anger.
Focus.
Abyssal Qi tightened around his arms, legs and torso. Kel felt the pressure change immediately.
Drako wasn't testing anymore.
Not completely.
Kel's survival instincts screamed.
His Internal Qi moved automatically through his feet, legs and back before reinforcing his guard. Everything prepared for what was coming.
Drako lowered his chin.
Kel stared at his hips.
Neither moved for several seconds.
Then Drako stepped forward.
Kel did the same.
He was still afraid. He was still injured. And he knew beyond any doubt that if he tried fighting Drako like an equal, he would die.
So Kel stopped trying to be one.
He would slip, move, counter and learn. He would survive long enough to find a way out.
Across from him, Drako smiled one last time.
"Now we're fighting."
Kel tightened his guard.
"Yeah."
The Abyssal pressure rolled between them as the fire bent around the street.
Kel took one slow breath.
"Unfortunately."
Then Drako attacked.
Chapter 39 — One Minute to Survive