Ray sprinted through the ruined corridor, Heartbreaker hammer clanging against her back. She spotted Saff hauling a pack stuffed with stolen relics. Fury surged like fire in her veins.
She closed the distance, swung hard, and cracked her fist across Saff’s jaw.
The bultungin spun, hit the ground with a grunt.
“You lied to me!” Ray barked, voice shaking with rage.
Saff wiped her muzzle with the back of her paw, blood streaking her armour. Then she grinned, sharp and mocking. “Look at you—finally grew some teeth. Cute.”
Ray’s eyes narrowed, burning green. “Nobody lies to me. Not anymore. You screwed the mythics, and when Celeste blows, the purebloods’ll pin it on all of us. That’s your mess, Saff. Yours.”
Saff spat into the rubble, a bitter laugh cutting through the tension. “Good. Maybe it’ll force the cowards to stop hiding and actually fight for once.”
“The hybrids here will think it’s my fault,” Ray snapped. “They’ll think I brought you down on them. They trusted me because I came back with Celeste, and you’ve made us look like traitors.”
Saff’s expression barely shifted. “Then they’re weak anyway.”
Ray went still.
Saff rolled her shoulder, eyes cold. “If a few scared runaways turn on you that quickly, they were never worth protecting.”
Ray’s voice came low and dangerous. “They’re more loyal than you ever were.”
For the first time, Saff’s grin twitched.
Ray stepped closer. “They stood with us after one day. You had years with Brassmane. Years with me. And you still stabbed everyone in the back the second you saw something shiny enough to call destiny.”
“You’re off your rocker,” Ray snapped, voice hard but brittle underneath.
Saff’s tone sharpened, venom spitting out like glass shards. “No, I’m done. Done bowing my head, done pretending we’re equal when we’re not. And don’t act like you don’t feel the same, Ray. You’ve been on the leash your whole life—don’t you dare look at me like you’re free.”
Ray’s grip tightened on her hammer, voice cracking under the weight of anger and betrayal. “Why now? Why betray Brassmane? He believed in you. You could’ve been his heir—you’re stronger than Kirrin ever dreamed.”
The grin vanished. Saff pushed herself up, her growl low and feral. “I can’t live soft like him. His way is weakness. And I’m done being weak.”
Saff lunged, claws sparking as they tore gouges into the concrete wall. Ray swung Heartbreaker in a wide, vicious arc, forcing her back—the hammer’s weight cracking the floor with every pass. Sparks spat and flared where steel bit against claw.
Saff slashed for her throat, but Ray twisted, planting Heartbreaker’s head hard into the floor. Heat shimmered up the weapon as her grip tightened.
“Let’s see you handle this.”
She swung left—slam—then right—slam—each blow sending shockwaves rattling through the cracked floor. In a burst of firelight, Ray leapt, hammer raised high over her head.
“Heatwave Drive!”
She came crashing down, the hammer exploding into an arc of violet flame. The ground erupted outward in a fiery circle, forcing Saff to stagger back. The floor burned beneath her paws, patches of fire licking hungrily at the edges.
Saff hissed, shielding her face with one arm as she scrambled clear. “Still hiding behind fire and noise, Ray? That won’t change what you are!”
Ray dragged Heartbreaker free from the scorched crater, chest heaving. “It’ll change you if you don’t shut your mouth.”
Saff’s claws snapped outward, mana hardening around them like jagged red glass.
“Fangflare Rake!”
She tore both claws through the air. Three burning crescents of mana ripped forward, cutting through smoke and flame. Ray ducked the first, blocked the second with Heartbreaker’s haft, and took the third across her thigh with a sharp hiss.
Saff grinned. “Still quick. Not quick enough.”
Ray’s hammer slammed into the floor, fire roaring outward. Saff staggered back through the blaze, shielding her face, fur singed.
Then her lips peeled into a grin. “Fine. You want to play with names? Try mine.”
She drew in a ragged breath, claws glowing with a searing red hue. Mana sparked off her arms like molten metal. With a snarl, she lunged forward, spinning in a brutal, corkscrewing slash.
“Rendfang Spiral!”
Her claws carved a spiralling arc of burning energy, shredding through the scorched floor and tearing chunks of stone into the air. The attack whistled past Ray’s head, close enough to scorch fur. The shockwave sent her tumbling backward, Heartbreaker nearly ripped from her grip.
Ray skidded to her feet, panting, fury burning through the pain. “You’ve really lost it, Saff.”
“Lost it?” Saff growled, her claws still glowing. “No. I finally found it.”
“You don’t get it!” Saff snarled, feinting low before slashing high, her braid whipping like a copper lash. “Brassmane’s dream is a cage! A leash! We’ll never be anything but scraps if we keep kissing pureblood boots!”
Ray met the blow head-on, Heartbreaker’s haft braced against her chest. The shock rattled her ribs, but she shoved back, teeth bared. “And you don’t get shit either! You’re just handing them ammo—every stunt you pull proves them right about us!”
Saff spun into a roundhouse, her boot slamming into Ray’s ribs. The fox staggered with a grunt, but slammed Heartbreaker down, sending a shockwave ripping through the floor. Saff stumbled, cursing, arms windmilling.
Ray stalked forward, hammer dragging sparks. Her voice cracked with fury. “Nobody lies to me. Not family. Not lovers. And sure as hell not you.”
Saff spat blood, lips curling into a grin. “Then shut me up. If you can.”
Saff suddenly vanished in a burst of copper smoke.
Ray’s ears twitched.
A whisper came from behind her.
“Gladly.”
Saff reappeared at Ray’s back, claws raised.
“Copperbite Step!”
Ray barely twisted in time. The claws raked across her shoulder instead of her spine, burning furrows of pain into her skin. Ray snarled and shoved straight through it—driving her forehead into Saff’s muzzle.
Bone cracked, and Saff reeled, snarling, blood flecking her teeth.
Ray roared, Heartbreaker blazing as she raised it high. “This ends now, bitch!”
Saff caught the hammer’s descent in both hands, the impact driving her to one knee. The flagstones split under her boots.
Their eyes locked—Ray’s blazing with betrayal and fire, Saff’s burning with defiance and wounded pride. Neither gave an inch.
Ray planted her paws, fire flickering in her eyes. Heartbreaker’s haft spun in her grip as she twisted her body, momentum building.
“Molten Sweep!”
She whipped the hammer in a blazing crescent, the ground splitting open in a burning arc of violet fire. The flames clawed forward, forcing Saff into the kill zone.
Saff snarled and snapped her wrists together. With a hiss of mana, heavy gauntlets shimmered into existence around her forearms, red-hot runes glowing like fresh brands. She slammed them against the floor, conjuring a wall of heat that met Ray’s crescent head-on.
The clash thundered through the ruins. Sparks and embers exploded between them, scattering in all directions. Saff’s boots slid across the stone, her teeth bared in pain as her ribs protested every breath.
Blood dripped down her temple, and one gauntlet flickered, unstable. Still, she forced her body forward, shoving against Ray’s flames.
“You’re strong, Ray,” she hissed, “but you’ve always been predictable.”
Ray gritted her teeth, forcing Heartbreaker down harder. “And you’ve always been full of shit.”
The fire roared, the gauntlets cracked—and Saff’s legs buckled, the injury stealing her strength even as she refused to back down.
Saff’s hand snapped to her pack, dragging free a sleek pureblood sidearm. The barrel lit with a cold, clinical glow.
The crack of the shot split the air.
Ray choked out a curse as it scorched into her shoulder, spinning her half around. Heartbreaker slipped from her grasp, clanging against the floor.
Her ears flattened, eyes wide. “Now you’re using their toys? Stars, Saff—you’re a bloody hypocrite.”
Saff’s grin was feral, bloodied teeth bared. “You think strength gives a damn where it comes from? Pureblood, mythic, hybrid—doesn’t matter. You grab what you can, or you die.”
She raised the pistol, aiming dead centre at Ray’s chest.
“Guess you never figured that out.”
Ray’s breath hitched, her voice raw. “Saff… don’t. You’re not this far gone.”
“Oh, I am.”
Her finger tightened on the trigger—
—when the ceiling above screamed with Celeste’s warped presence.
Stone split. Metal shrieked. Rubble poured down like judgment.
A slab crashed against Saff’s side, sending her shot wild. The blast shredded through a support beam, and in an instant it collapsed—burying a cluster of mythics beneath a cage of twisted steel.
Saff hissed, clutching her ribs.
Ray staggered to her feet, clutching her seared shoulder. Her gaze followed the bultungin’s retreat for half a second—then the groans of the pinned mythics dragged her back.
She snarled, planted her paws, and heaved. Heartbreaker forgotten for the moment, she wrenched the beam up with a guttural roar.
“MOVE! NOW!”
The last mythic scrambled free. Ray let the beam crash down, her arms trembling, breath ragged.
Saff watched from the smoke, breathing hard, one paw pressed to her side.
Behind her, Dex and the remaining loyalists emerged from a side passage, packs bulging with stolen artifacts and supplies. A few clutched relic cases to their chests. One had blood on his sleeve. Another looked back toward the chaos with open terror.
Saff lifted her chin. “Good. Move. We regroup at the eastern gate.”
Nobody moved.
Dex stared at her.
Then slowly, he adjusted the strap of his stolen pack and stepped backward.
Saff’s eyes narrowed. “Dex.”
He shook his head. “No.”
The word landed harder than a blow.
Saff’s muzzle twitched. “What did you say?”
Dex’s voice was quiet, but it carried. “You’re on your own.”
Several loyalists turned with him.
One by one, they backed away from Saff—not toward the fight, not toward Brassmane, but toward the broken outer corridor, relics still clutched in greedy hands.
Saff stared, disbelief cracking through her fury. “You cowards.”
Dex looked at her one last time. “You wanted everyone to take what they could. We listened.”
Then he ran.
The others followed, scattering into the smoke with stolen artifacts for themselves.
Saff lurched after them. “Cowards!” she screamed, voice tearing raw. “Thieves! Traitors!”
Dex didn’t turn back.
Saff’s face twisted with rage and humiliation.
“I hope the zombies eat you!” she shouted after them.
Only echoes answered.
Ray stood there, shaking, staring at her through the smoke. For one brief moment, Saff looked smaller. Not beaten. Not sorry.
Alone.
Then her eyes snapped back to Ray, burning with hatred.
She shot Ray one last look—rage and something like regret flashing together—before bolting into the smoke.
Injured.
Abandoned.
But not finished.
Ray watched her vanish, chest heaving, shoulder bleeding, Heartbreaker lying at her feet.
Her voice cracked, low and venomous, but heartbreak bled through every syllable.
“You were never who I thought you were…”
