Then, Kayvaan faltered. It was barely noticeable at first—a slight shake in his movements, a momentary loss of bance. He staggered back, his posure breaking for the first time.

  The red-haired witch’s eyes lit up with savage glee. She didn’t hesitate. Her magic sword came down in a blur, aimed directly at him.

  Kayvaan saw the bde ing, but he was too slow to fully evade. Twisting his body, he mao avoid a mortal blow, but the sword struck his left arm. The bde severed his forearm, leaving his hand and the Raven's Talons cttering to the ground. Pain ripped through him, white-hot and searing. Blood sprayed across the floor, and his vision wavered for a moment.

  The witch’s lips curled into a triumphant smile. She could almost taste her victory. “One arm down,” she taunted, her voice dripping with mockery. “You won’t be fighting for much longer. You’ll bleed out before you even scream. And the magic sword? It amplifies your pain tenfold. Most of my victims don’t die from blood loss—they die from agony.”

  But there was none of that. Kayvaan’s face remained unnervingly calm. There was no scream, no fear, no despair. Only determination.

  A chill ran through her. In an instant, she felt an unpreted danger, and then—sharp, searing paihrough her chest. Something had pierced her heart. When her sword had severed his left arm, Kayvaan hadn’t faltered. Without a moment’s hesitation, he had caught his own severed limb mid-fall with his remaining hand. Using it as an improvised on, he drove the still-ched Raven's Talons straight into the witch’s heart.

  The cws, still sparking with energy, puhrough her armor, pierced her chest, and emerged from her back. The lightning c through them roasted her bck heart into a charred lump. Kayvaan didn’t stop there. Releasing his grip on his severed arm, he left it embedded in her chest and turned sharply to avoid Rosina’s bde. Pivoting on his heel, he brought his right hand down like an axe, his Raven's Talons slig through the witch’s forearms. Her hands fell to the ground, but the witch didn’t scream. She was no ordinary creature; she had risen through the ranks of Chaos through ruthless determination and unyielding will. Grittieeth against the agony, she twisted her body and shed out with a powerful kick.

  Any part of the witch’s body could kill, and her legs were no exception. Her foot shot forward like a bde, stabbing into Kayvaan’s abdomen and bursting through his back.

  Kayvaan looked down at the witch’s foot, now embedded in his stomach. His breathing was bored, but his expression remained unged. With his one remaining hand, he gripped the witch’s thigh firmly. Instead of retreating, he surged forward, driving her leg deeper into his body until her entire calf emerged from his back.

  The red-haired witch froze, her eyes wide with horror. This man—this thing—was more terrifying than any daemon she had ever entered. Her hatred turret. She should have left when she had the ce. But Kayvaan didn’t care about her thoughts. Using his abdomen and pelvis to trap her leg, he raised his right hand high and brought it down with savage force. His Raven's Talons severed her leg ly at the hip.

  The witch screamed, hopping backward on her remaining leg. Her hands were gone, her heart charred, and now her leg severed. Yet even with her extraordinary vitality, the fear in her eyes was unmistakable. She looked at Kayvaan as if he were a ghost. Kayvaan, unfazed, reached down to pull the witch’s severed leg from his body. Tossing it aside, he stomped on it, crushing the limb underfoot.

  At that moment, the tdown in his mind hit zero. The stimunt’s effects ended abruptly, and a flood of pain and exhaustioook him. Kayvaan stood motionless in the ter of the arena, blood p from his wounds, his strength gone. Yet his expressiorayed nothing. He stared at the witd the shocked Spirit Tribe warriors with calm defiance, even as his body threateo colpse. He knew his time had run out. Whatever came was out of his hands. Inwardly, he prayed. ‘God-Emperrant me your blessing.’

  The red-haired witch roared in a mixture of pain, fury, and terror. The humiliation she had endured was unbearable, but worse than that was the fear gnawing at her ihis human—this mortal—had made her feel fear. Such a being could not be allowed to exist. Hopping back to create distance, she screamed, “Kill him! No matter the cost!”

  Rosina, standing silently nearby, tilted her head. “Any cost?”

  “Yes!” the witch bellowed. “Whatever it takes! Kill him!”

  Rosina’s expression didn’t ge. “Uood.” Amid the daemon’s frightened screams, Rosina raised her executioner’s bde and drove it into the red-haired witch’s back. The long knife pierced through, its tip emerging from the witch’s chest before tinuing its dest. With a sharp thrust, Rosina smmed the bde downward, pinning the witch to the ground.

  Kayvaan, too weak to resist, fell with the bde. The witow a one-legged mess, lost her band colpsed onto Kayvaan, the two of them skewered together by the same knife. “What the hell are you doing?!” the witch shrieked, her voice high-pitched and raw with panic. Between the bde in her bad the terrifying proximity to Kayvaan, she was pletely unhinged. “Rosina, you traitorous bitch! Have you lost your mind? You stabbed me! Me! Do you even care about your precious little lover’s life? How dare you—ahhh, it hurts! It hurts!”

  “Calm down, Redhead,” Rosina replied, her voice cold aached. “Take a closer look. I didn’t really hurt you. The bde avoided your vital ans.” She paused, her tone sharpening. “Do you know why you couldn’t beat him? Because he dodged every single one of your attacks. His footwork is impeccable, and he sees through your moves before you make them. As long as he move freely, you’ll ouch him. But now?”

  Rosiured to the two of them, piogether on the knife. “Now he’s stuo matter how skilled he is, he ’t use that to his advantage anymore. This is the best way to deal with him.”

  Kayvaae the situation, found this utterly absurd. He wao ugh, and so he did—harder than he had in a long time. Tears welled in his eyes from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Rosina had goo such lengths when he was already too exhausted and io be a threat. Between gasps of ughter, he mao choke out, “You didn’t o go this far. I’m not more dangerous than a baby right now.”

  The witarled, turning her fury toward him. “What are you ughing at, human? You’re at the end of your rope!”

  Kayvaan grinned. “Oh, nothing. I’m just proud. As a mortal, I scared the two of you this much. Heh, it’s an achievement worth celebrating.”

  The witch’s expression darkened. “Proud? You should be terrified. Look at where you are—pinned beh me, with no way to escape. Do you know what I’ll do to you now?” Her lips twisted into a wicked smile, and she leaned closer, her voice dripping with malice. “I’ll devour you.” She raongue along her lips, her body shifting against Kayvaan’s in a deliberate motion. Her voice dropped into a low, magie. “So? Being this close to me—feeling my body pressed against yours—doesn’t it make you feel something?”

  Kayvaan’s face twisted in disgust. “Oh, Emperor save me—I think I’m going to vomit.”