K sniffed out the familiar scent of an aura being blared.

  It was like there was a knife being sharpened against a whetstone. The sensation permeated his senses. The harsh mingling of a Metal and Earth Core.

  And before his eyes were the sharp auras of white and yellow—

  Chin Hae and his son had formed a Pact.

  This was a Cultivational concept pertaining to the art of two Cores melding to become one.

  Essentially, it meant that you could form a connection with another Cultivator’s Core. To bring new abilities to the parties involved.

  K struggled to retain that information in his head as a long appendage tugged down at his wrist. It slammed him to the ground; the scent of old, musty coins breaching K’s nose.

  “Dae-Jung might be a bastard,” Chin Hae mused. “But he was right— you did come.”

  K’s heart beat faster. Dae-Jung had known that the Golden Phantom would be assigned to this mission. He recalled how the both of them exchanged glances outside the Dragonfly Diner.

  Cold fingers wrapped around K’s chin, forcing him to look up.

  Instead of Chin Hae, he found the child called Botan in front of him. The boy had both of his palms raised. One was extended behind him to face his father, who was still a couple of steps above him.

  His other hand was facing K. While this ordinarily wasn’t strange; it was what was poking from Botan’s hands that gave K pause.

  Because there was a spindly, crooked arm that slithered straight from the palm of Botan’s hand. Knuckles bumpy and fingers long as it kept K in place.

  And standing behind Botan’s other hand was his father; Chin Hae’s own arm raised to meet his son’s open palm. K was assaulted by the smell of loamy, fresh clay soil— packed down and stressed into shape.

  Chin Hae’s arms and legs had nearly doubled in length. "Just like we practiced, Botan! Our Grand Chain shall be perfect!"

  K could tell immediately that this man was the Metal Core— and he had a Path that allowed him to lengthen his limbs’ bones.

  That meant that Botan was the Earth Core. And from what K could see, the boy’s Path could create portals through his own hands.

  If one object went through one hand, it would go through the other. K blinked through the muddied color of their shared auras; white and yellow melting into a sickly, jaundice-like sheen in the air.

  And this was exactly what Chin Hae was doing. He had used his son’s Path to get the jump on K, and close the distance between them before K could.

  “I guess Dae-Jung was right, though,” Chin Hae drawled, hurling K straight off the staircase. “You can’t kill kids, can’t you?”

  So that was why he formed a Pact with his bastard son.

  K went tumbling down the small flight of stairs.

  A table crashed into a puddle of splinters and wood as he landed on it.

  Without even giving him a break, Botan used the length of his father's arm to propel himself into the air. He dropped down beside K.

  Desperately, K pulled out his pistol and shot three consecutive shots at the boy. He aimed for Botan’s arms— trying to keep the Grand Chain at bay.

  But Botan swallowed up the bullets with one open palm; directing his other hand to shoot them back straight at K.

  K scrambled out of the way, just narrowly avoiding the bullets.

  Four limbs circled him like the bars of a jail cell, caging him in. Chin Hae loomed over him. “Who sent you, huh? What in the eight hells could the Triads want from us?”

  K didn’t respond; especially when he could smell the sharp tang of smoke entering the air. He turned to look at the table he crashed into.

  That was when he noticed the lit candelabra he knocked over. Flames slowly ate away at a wayward curtain.

  Stretching out a long arm, Chin Hae pulled a stone bust’s head apart at a hidden hinge; revealing a small switch.

  He flicked it, smiling wickedly down at K. “That’s a line connected to the nearest precinct! You’re dead meat.”

  Hopefully, Chet upheld his end of the bargain.

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  The fire grew bigger and bigger as K jumped back to his feet. He needed to separate Chin Hae from his son if he had a chance of winning.

  So, he zeroed in on the boy— and his biggest weakness: his legs.

  Neither Chin Hae nor his son advanced too closely. Their advantage was their ability to fight while staying outside of K’s range of attack.

  But that just meant that K had to get closer to them himself.

  Without any preamble, K ran over to them. Instantly, Chin Hae’s arms tried to scoop him up, but K was quicker.

  He dropped down to his knees, letting the smooth marble floors slide his body across the ground.

  It made it so that his line of sight was leveled with the boy’s knees, and as he swept past the child; K aimed his pistol again.

  Botan’s hands couldn’t reach past his shins, so he wouldn’t be able to deflect any of K’s bullets.

  Even if Botan managed to crouch— he’d have to leave his father’s flank unguarded. K could just shoot Chin Hae either way. No matter what choice the boy made: it would lead to his own folly.

  Two bullets exploded forth from the mouth of K’s gun, implanting themselves easily into Botan’s shins.

  The child let out a hollow screech, falling to his knees.

  Chin Hae didn’t seem to care about the entire ordeal. One arm tried to catch K. The other tempered the flames that were beginning to pose more and more of a problem.

  “Look what you’ve fucking done to my house!” Chin Hae billowed. “I’ll kill you for this!”

  Before he could swipe at K again, a loud thumping went down the stairs. Serpentine flesh twisting and glowing brighter against the fiery light it reflected off its scales—

  “Hun!” K called out.

  The Beast regained his original form.

  Hun slipped back downstairs with his turquoise mane wildly fluttering in the wind. He zipped over to K, slithering into the air as he said, ‘I found it, Sire!’

  K could see the golden ticket peering from between the Beast’s jowls. He nodded, and prepared to jump onto the Beast’s back to make their timely escape.

  “Help…” a weak voice called. “P-Please… I c-can’t…”

  K looked down, and he met Botan’s eyes.

  They were watery from the fire and smoke. Blood slowly pooled beneath his small, quivering frame. “I can’t b-breathe…”

  K didn’t need to waste any time thinking.

  “Hun,” he ordered. “Take him.”

  ‘Yes, Sire,’ Hun obeyed, his massive maw opening and closing softly around the child’s body.

  The Beast kept him tucked in his mouth, before depositing Botan behind K’s place on the Beast’s back.

  “No, no!” Chin Hae growled after them. Steady, quickened steps padded over to Hun’s tail, the man hounding towards them on all-fours. “You’re not getting away with this!”

  “You’ll be safe, now.” K said absently, thumbing through Hun’s mane as they swept into the air.

  They careened past narrow hallways, sending a few pieces of furniture flying. The fire was getting bigger.

  “Botan, you stupid brat!” Chin Hae called one last time, coughing horribly from the smoke. Slowly, his aura dissipated. It was impossible to control one’s Path without the proper breathing. “Fucking kill him!”

  Succinctly, a knife dug into K’s back.

  He gasped around the foreign piece of metal that ran through his torso, K turning around to settle on Botan’s face.

  It was empty, ruthless. K could see the flutter-point of the boy’s pulse beneath his neck.

  But the child had died a long time ago. The bruise swelling around his eye was evidence enough of that.

  Even Botan knew it, it seemed— as he kicked himself off Hun’s back.

  The flames surrounded his small body, now that his job was done.

  K gasped wetly, his vision blurring.

  “Hun…” he tried.

  But the voice of his Beast was far away, slipping away from his mind as the entire world went black.

  The whole building was up in flames, by the time the precinct finally arrived.

  Chet lingered behind the mass of reporters, faces lit up by the fire.

  There was only one life taken, they said: Chin Hae. Though they found the possible remains of a child, charred beyond recognition.

  Chet listened in on the reporters.

  “Chin Hae had an expansive network of lines that gave him direct contact with the Militia." One of the reporters said into a ribbon microphone. “And yet, the Militia arrived twenty minutes late. Calls are already coming in, criticizing the District 21 precinct for their performance.”

  From the edge of his vision, Chet could see Naomi. Her head was ducked low, staring aptly at the flames as she stood beside him.

  “The Captain is gonna have a field day with us, I hope you know that,” Naomi said darkly. "He might even take your coin away."

  Chet frowned, playing with the silver coin between his fingers.

  He didn't need A Step Toward the Sky to understand that this was his Path's biggest weakness. It was a power that hinged on a piece of metal. One that could easily be nicked, taken, or hidden away.

  But this was the Militia's contingency. If an Enforcer ever stepped out of line— their Path could be stripped away from them. All they needed to do was confiscate the coin.

  His only Path— gone.

  Was this what patriotism brought him?

  “They're not gonna confiscate anything. I didn’t know that the line was Chin Hae’s.” Chet spat back. “The man hadn’t used that line in over fifteen years. I didn’t even recognize the address… I thought it was just a prank call or something.”

  That was an absolute lie.

  “Be straight with me, Chet. Two lives were lost today.” Naomi looked up at Chet, eyes narrowed.

  “I told you—” Chet tried to keep his shoulders steady. He hadn’t expected K to kill anyone tonight. One of them was a child, damn it. “I made a mistake. I didn’t recognize the call… and I’ll take any punishment that the Captain will see fit.”

  “You’re lying,” Naomi sighed, turning away from him. “You’re still lying.”

  They both faced the flames.