Chương 60: Chapter 59: CUT THE SHADE

Anren, who was in a relaxed stance, her sword up, the tip pointed at Daojue. Daojue, who had taken a combat stance himself, both hands on Gleaming End, the spearhead angled towards Anren. Daojue's dark violet eyes were narrowed, fixing Anren with a stare so intense it was a wonder she hadn't combusted on the spot. Anren stared right back at him, thoroughly undaunted. Smirking. Jieyuan pursed his lips but held his tongue.

After a moment's hesitation, he decided not to intervene. Daojue had been wound tight to the Heavens and back from the moment Anren had brought up the Tianzijun Clan. If she hadn't suddenly declared this impromptu duel, it would've only been a matter of time before Daojue started something. The only question here was the outcome. Normally, it wouldn't be in doubt. As far as Jieyuan could tell, everyone here was restricted to mundane parameters; he couldn't think of circumstances more favorable to Daojue.

The Tianzijun Bloodline made him an absolute monster. Agility, strength, reflexes; he had it all. Not to mention an absurd level of skill and a matching aptitude for combat. But two things cast doubt over the outcome. The first was that Jieyuan wasn't sure whether whatever improvements Daojue's bloodline had also been nullified by whatever strange rules that governed this place.

The other was that Anren was clearly familiar with the Tianzijun, so she should know about the Tianzijun Bloodline and have an idea of what Daojue was capable of. And despite all of that, she seemed absolutely sure she'd win. And then there's Anren's clash against that sword shadow. Jieyuan might have lost his perfect recall for the time being, but he could bring up the scene in his mind's eye, Anren moving far faster than a mundane should've been capable of. That had left Jieyuan with two likely takeaways.

On the one hand, that just about proved the body enhancements from bloodlines did still work here, which was to Daojue's benefit. On the other hand, that'd mean Anren had a chromal bloodline herself; that, in turn, meant she actually stood a chance at giving Daojue a run for his gold. Jieyuan tightened his grip on the Shifting Sisters. He'd let things run their course, yes, but he'd also be ready to step in at a moment's notice if things went too far. Anren was just about a total stranger, after all.

She'd been all nice and friendly so far, but Jieyuan wasn't about to take that at face value. Besides, if Anren was to be believed, she was a Violetrealm. Now, he wasn't sure what exactly a Violetsoul was supposed to be like, but Anren sure as the Heavens didn't fit his idea of a cultivator at the highest realm. That was reason enough to find her suspicious. It was Daojue who made the first move. He kicked off the ground, lunging toward Anren, Gleaming End stabbing forward.

He reached her in an instant; they hadn't been far apart to begin with, and he was clearly going full-throttle from the get-go. Any lingering doubts that Daojue didn't still have his bloodline-enhanced physique going for him were dispelled there and then. Anren didn't move until the last moment, when she stepped to the side, letting the spearhead cut past her. Even as she dodged, she dropped into a lower stance, her sword dipping under Daojue's outstretched arms. Then she stabbed up, toward Daojue's chest.

Daojue's reaction was immediate. He stepped forward, shifting his weight forward to the side as he redirected his momentum, rotating the shaft of Gleaming End to block Anren's strike. The steel blade met the crystalline shaft. Only for Anren's leg to come in at Daojue from the side, arcing sweep. The kick struck home; not just that, it struck hard. Daojue was thrown sideways by the impact.

Anren didn't waste a moment; in a flurry of movement Jieyuan didn't even manage to track, she recovered her stance in a split-second and stabbed at Daojue again before he had a chance to react. Her blade cut Daojue's left side, across the ribs. Intentionally. Jieyuan was sure she could've pierced Daojue solidly through the chest if she'd wanted.

"First blood," Anren said. Her voice came high, with a sing-song quality. Jieyuan stared, wide-eyed. Even as a spectator, watching the fight from a distance, he'd only caught Anren's kick the very moment before it struck. Daojue didn't retreat; rather, he leaned forward, bringing Gleaming End in a sweeping arc toward Anren. But Anren didn't seem interested in playing his game, and instead skipped back, disengaging.

Daojue pressed in, redirecting his swing into a stab without missing a beat, but Anren batted the spearhead to the side with almost dismissive ease. And then she looked up, away from Daojue and toward Jieyuan.

"So," she said, "how much do you know about the Tianzijun?" In the time it took her to say that sentence, Daojue managed ten different attacks, all of them lightning-fast. She fended all of them off, her gaze on Jieyuan the entire time.

"I…" Jieyuan felt like his eyes couldn't go any wider. Daojue's attacks didn't stop for even a beat, but Anren's defense was nothing short of perfect. She wasn't dodging but rather blocking and parrying all his attacks, reacting to him like he was an open book. Except Jieyuan knew from experience that Daojue had very little tells in combat, and Anren still hadn't looked away from Jieyuan, not so much as a glance sent Daojue's way as she held her ground against his offensive. Rather, she kept looking at Jieyuan.

Expectantly, like she was waiting for his answer. It took Jieyuan a second to remember her question. And, half-dazed and unable to think of anything else to do, he answered it, "Not much." Anren smiled. The high sound of metal and crystal meeting over and over filled the air. Both she and Daojue moved almost faster than Jieyuan could follow.

"Well," she said, easily, in stark contrast to what she was doing right now, which was as far from easy as it got, "if there's one thing you should know about them, it's that they're all about power. Even more than your average cultivator. Much more." Daojue was still attacking. Anren was still defending. Her legs and feet were in constant movement as she kept shifting positions, adjusting her balance and center of gravity as she blocked blow after blow. But she did it all without moving from the spot.

And without taking her eyes off Jieyuan.

"There's only one way to get through to a Tianzijun, be they Juechenist or Fangxuanist, " Anren continued smoothly, each of her words followed by the clash of sword on spear.

"And that way is power." Just as she said so, she redirected Daojue's spear thrust to the side. Her gaze returning to Daojue, she stepped inside Daojue's guard. Daojue tried to draw back and swing Gleaming End at her, but she counteracted the move, keeping the blade of her sword pressed against the shaft of the spear. Both Anren's hands were on her sword. Her feet, on the other hand, were free. She whipped a kick toward him. Daojue sprang back, but Anren pursued immediately.

As her kicking leg came down, she turned the landing into a driving step, her sword sweeping in from the side. Jieyuan only barely managed to follow what happened next. Daojue tried to react, bringing Gleaming End back in front of him. But then Anren snapped her left foot into the opposite side of the shaft. Her kick and her sword hit simultaneously, trapping the shaft for an instant before wrenching it sideways.

A blur of movement followed—and then Anren had both feet back on the ground, and Daojue had lost his grip on Gleaming End, the crystal spear thrown into the air. Daojue reached for it, but Anren kicked at him again, this time from the front, pushing him backward. She freed one hand from her sword and snatched the spear out of the air. Anren whirled on her feet, holding Gleaming End with just one hand, and in one fluid twist she struck the butt of Gleaming End against Daojue's chest. Daojue staggered back.

Anren, still wielding the spear with only one hand, stabbed out with its butt several more times in rapid succession, too fast for Jieyuan's eyes to follow. It struck Daojue on the chest again, then the shoulders, then the head. It was this last strike that sealed the deal, knocking Daojue off his feet and down to the floor, onto his butt.

Daojue tried to get up immediately, but Anren twirled Gleaming End in her hand lightning-fast, reversing her grip, and pressed its blade against Daojue's throat, keeping him from getting up. She stared down at Daojue.

"None of that, now." She was still smiling, but there was an edge to her smile now. Jieyuan could see both of their faces clearly from where he stood. Daojue's eyes were wide as he looked up at her, his mouth slightly parted, showing as much emotion as Jieyuan had ever seen from him. What emotion it was, Jieyuan couldn't tell for the life of him, though he reckoned there was at least a good helping or two of utter shock to it.

"I'm stronger than you, violet-eyes," Anren said.

"Are we clear on that?" Daojue kept staring at her, not speaking. His eyes went from widened to narrowed, and his lips pressed tight. But he wasn't frowning, either. Rather, Jieyuan got the impression Daojue was confused, if anything.

"You aren't getting up until I hear you say it," Anren said. Daojue said nothing. She didn't move the spearhead away. A few seconds passed. Still nothing.

"Anren," Jieyuan said, slowly.

"I'm not sure—""You are stronger than I am," Daojue said. His voice was cool, steady. But Jieyuan wasn't sure he'd only imagined the slight tremble to it.

"Hmmm." Anren cocked her head.

"Well, that'll do, I guess." She stepped back, pulling Gleaming End away, and Daojue got to his feet. He kept staring intently at Anren. Anren, for her part, shifted her gaze down to Gleaming End. Still holding it in one hand, she twisted the spear this way and that in the air as she looked it over.

"Interesting," she said, quietly. She looked up at Daojue.

"Quite the loyal spear you've got. It's very rare for me to come across a weapon that doesn't like me." She threw it over without further ado. Daojue grabbed it, gaze still firmly fixed on Anren. For a moment, as Daojue held the spear in front of him, Jieyuan wondered if he'd attack. But then Daojue held it off to the side.

"Now, here's how this'll go," Anren said to Daojue.

"I'm not expecting you to obey my every command, but if I say something, you will listen. Is that understood?" There was another few moments of silence before Daojue answered, "Yes."

"Good. Keep playing nice, and maybe I'll give you some pointers later." She turned to Jieyuan.

"Well, that's one matter solved. Now, there's something else we need to address. I've got the feeling you two don't really know much about the Absolute Sword Trials." Jieyuan put everything that had just happened aside for the moment, focusing on Anren's words. He glanced at Daojue, who unsurprisingly was still giving Anren that strange look. But before Jieyuan could come up with something, Anren cut in.

"Don't worry. I get it," she said.

"Your master's the eccentric type, right? It's not my case, thank the Absolute, but I've heard rumors of masters who just throw their disciples into the sword's path without explanation. What do you know? How bad is it?"

"That's…" Jieyuan did his best to keep a straight face. He gave Daojue another discreet glance, but the taller man didn't look like he had any intention of speaking. It looked like whatever well he'd been drawing all those earlier answers from had dried up.

"That's about right," Jieyuan settled on. She'd just handed him an excuse on a golden platter. He wasn't all that sure about it, but it was better than anything else he had right now. He knew too little about the situation to come up with a proper cover story.

"We were just sent here without much explanation." Honesty wasn't always the best policy, but in this case Jieyuan felt like toeing around the truth was their best bet. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"I knew it," Anren said.

"Well, that's fine. It'll take no time at all to get you two caught up." She tilted her head back, toward the massive but extremely thin shape in the horizon.

"First things first, then. We're currently in the first trial of the Absolute Sword Trials, and it's simple enough. Get to the Sword Tower." She turned back to them.

"Let's walk and talk. We've got a long way ahead of us." She set off in the direction she'd just indicated. Without even a second's worth of hesitation, Daojue followed. After a few steps, though, he looked back, and sent Jieyuan—who had stayed put—a look that was just the slightest bit questioning. This was the Daojue equivalent of screaming at him why he hadn't gotten a move on yet.

Because of course Daojue would see nothing odd about following the awfully helpful stranger who'd moments ago just about beaten him to a pulp. And that wasn't even getting into all the dozens of other things off about this whole situation, among them the fact that they were in another world and, if going by Anren's words earlier, supposedly in competition with Violetsouls. No, to Daojue, it was all business as usual. And the worst part is that he's right, Jieyuan decided as he took off after them.

Though he still felt like something was off about Anren, she seemed to be entirely on their side so far. And if her fight against Daojue was any indication, she wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of acting and playing nice if she wanted them dead. Besides, she'd mentioned giving Daojue pointers, and Jieyuan could really do with some instruction himself. Violetrealm or not, Anren might just be the best martial artist he'd ever seen if her clash with Daojue was any indication.

And then there was how she'd recognized the amphis earlier and implied she was trained in it. Jieyuan kept his gaze on Anren's back as they walked and she started talking about the Absolute Sword Trials. This might all still be some really elaborate trap, sure. But if Jieyuan knew one thing, it was recognizing an opportunity when he saw one. By the time Jieyuan got moving, Anren was already near the edge of the platform, and Daojue was halfway there.

Reaching the black slice of void splitting the terrain, Anren stopped. Jieyuan both slowed their pace a bit as they drew closer. Jieyuan hadn't forgotten about the shadow-like creature that had jumped out from one of those void lines earlier. He put up his guard, bracing himself. Beside him, Daojue did the same, shifting his grip on Gleaming End. When they were just a few steps away from Anren, she put an arm out, as clear a sign to stop as any. She didn't look away from the gap between the platforms.

"Now," Anren said, "here's the second thing you need to know. I'm sure you saw the sword fiend I fought on my way here. I take it you don't know what they are?"

"That's right," Jieyuan said.

"I told you how we're at the first trial," Anren said.

"The sword fiends are the test. They spawn from these fissures in the floor, they're called abyss lines." She gestured vaguely at the ground in front of her. Or rather, at the lack of ground. The abyss line.

"Their spawning is random for the most part; you can't really predict it. But they start popping up more and more the closer you get to the Sword Tower. Moreover, stay close enough to an abyss line, and they'll appear eventually, regardless of where you are in the plains. This far away…" She squinted into the distance.

"I'll give it ten minutes, at the most. Of course, it can happen any moment now. Now, we'll be waiting here until it appears. J— It's Jieyuan, right? I've seen what the Tianzijun can do, and you've seen what I can do, so I want you to take it."

"Fine by me," Jieyuan said.

"Any advice?" Not looking away from the fissure, Anren took a few steps back until she was standing by his side.

"I'm sure I'll have plenty to say after I see you fight. But for now? They're called sword fiends for a reason. They're sword artists, and very good ones at that. Physically, they're near the limits of what a non-bloodblessed can reach. You don't have a chromal bloodline, do you?"

"Unfortunately," Jieyuan said. He couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice. She gave him a glance; a quick one, so fast he almost didn't catch it.

"Hmmm. I won't deny they're a massive advantage, but they're not everything. My oldest brother doesn't have one, and he's the strongest cultivator I know." Her brother doesn't have a chromal bloodline? Jieyuan wasn't quite sure how that could be, unless one of them was adopted; given what Jieyuan had seen of her earlier, as well as the way she'd just phrased that sentence, she definitely had a chromal bloodline herself.

Then again, he didn't really know much about chromal bloodlines; there could very well be some mechanics he wasn't aware of. Anren should be just the person to ask, given that she was a self-professed Violetsoul with a chromal bloodline. But now wasn't the time for it, so he held back his questions for now. Anren gestured with her head back to the line.

"Anyway. Sword fiends. They're skilled, fast, strong. But they're also dumb. They don't employ tactics or anything like that. Honestly, any cultivator good enough to be picked for the Trials should be able to beat one in combat. The real challenge is later on, closer to the Tower, when they start coming at you in droves."

"Got it," Jieyuan said. Dumb. He could work with that.

"Just one question, then. You cut off the head of that one you fought. Is that the only way to kill them?" Anren flashed him an approving smile.

"That's right. They're limited to mundane parameters, except for regeneration, where they're no different from your average Violetsoul. They'll recover from anything short of beheading in an instant. Severed limbs, even a split skull, they'll regenerate it all before you can even blink. So go for the neck. Don't bother with anything else." Jieyuan breathed in sharply. Not because of the sword fiends' regeneration rate, though.

That wasn't too much of a shock; he'd fought more than one beast in the Dome that was hard to put down, even if none could quite regenerate limbs instantaneously. The implication of Anren's words, though: now that was a different business altogether. It wasn't a surprise to him that Violetsouls had absurdly fast regeneration, but he hadn't thought it'd be at that level. Does this have anything to do with how the neck is considered such a taboo location in the Chromajie, always covered?

he wondered, before forcing his attention back to the abyss line. Still no sign of the fiend, but if Anren was right, one could pop up any moment. Anren took a few more steps back, motioning for Daojue to do the same as she did. To Jieyuan's surprise, Daojue immediately complied, joining her at the back.

"Now," Anren continued.

"In here you can't access your mantle, but you also won't grow tired, no matter what you do. It's one of the Laws of the trialworld. So no need to hold back." Interesting. That sounded good, but it did make Jieyuan think of a possible problem.

"What about hunger and thirst? Do we need to find food, or—""No. There's ambient chroma in the trialworld even if you can't sense it, and chroma sustenance works normally. You could even cultivate, if you wanted to, but that's a waste of time. And more than half of the competitors should already be at tenth-step Violetrealm, anyway." A waste of time sounded about right. Jieyuan could cultivate on the outside world with prisms; using ambient chroma was much less efficient.

And there was no way he wasn't taking advantage of becoming untiring all of a sudden. It meant one thing. Non-stop training. It was nothing short of a dream come true, even more so with Daojue and Anren for sparring partners.

"That's about it. Like I said, you shouldn't have any issues. But I'll step in if it goes wrong. And worse comes to worst, there's always your trial token, so it's not like you're at any real risk." That gave Jieyuan a pause.

"My what? Trial token?" He could feel it as Anren's gaze returned to him.

"Your master didn't even explain that? It's the silver coin with the sword on it. You must've been given one; it's how you entered the trialworld. You know, when it lit up and you appeared here?" Clearly, Anren believed that to be a given, because she didn't wait for him to answer.

"Anyway, if you take fatal damage, the token will save your life. However, it'll break in the process, and you'll be kicked out of the trialworld and returned to your original location." Jieyuan felt a spike of tension. He most definitely did not have any such thing on his person. Neither did Daojue, he was sure. And from the looks of it, they were the only two people here without it. He recalled the words of the silver-eyed man that had sent him and Daojue here.

He could almost hear the Plunderer's flat, deep, steel-like voice again: Should he survive, I will return him here.

"Being maimed won't activate the token," Anren went on, "but whatever happens here will be reverted once your regeneration is back to normal, so it's no real issue; and if you're hurt too badly to continue, just break the token and you'll be out."

"Right," Jieyuan said dryly.

"The silver coin." Really, it wouldn't have been an issue if nobody had the token, if everyone here was running the same risks. Up until a moment ago, Jieyuan hadn't known those tokens even existed; he'd been more than prepared to put his life on the line. But from the looks of it, only he and Daojue seemed to be in danger of death here. And of maiming, too. Because unlike the other competitors, the two of them weren't, in fact, Violetsouls.

Fatebloom Renewal was amazing, but he wasn't sure if he could use it to regenerate a whole limb. It had regenerated his heart twice now, but his heart was special; he didn't know if the other parts of him could be regenerated just as well. That complicated things. The trials here must've been designed with the guarantee that contestants wouldn't die no matter what in mind.

Also, if further down the line there was a dueling phase or something along those lines, he'd be up against people who were justifiably unafraid to die.

"Anyway," Anren said, "I think—" The abyss line shimmered. A sword fiend surged out of it. Moving on instinct, Jieyuan threw both his arms up, and the Shifting Sisters met the fiend's sword. Before, he hadn't been able to properly see the fiend; it'd been too far away, and moving too fast. Now it was close enough that Jieyuan had no choice but to get a good look. The fiend's body was a featureless black, as unnervingly dark as the abyss it'd spawned from.

So much so that the area around it seemed to dim, like it was swallowing the surrounding light. It was humanoid, but only in outline: two arms, two legs, a head. Its sword seemed to be part of it; the weapon wasn't so much as held in its hands as it extended out from its grasp, made of the same amorphous substance that comprised its body. Anren hadn't been kidding about its strength; Jieyuan found himself being pushed back even with both the Shifting Sisters holding off the blow.

The fiend broke off, pulling back, only to attack again, swinging its sword upward. Jieyuan swung his Shifting Sisters down just in time to block it again. Again it disengaged and followed up with another attack; again, Jieyuan only barely managed to block. The strength of the blow had him taking a step back, and the fiend pressed forward, stabbing forward with its sword. This time Jieyuan moved to the side, parrying the blow with a Shifting Sister.

But as he swung the other splitfangs at the creature, it spun on the spot, dodging out of the way before coming at Jieyuan with a sweeping swing that had him jumping back to avoid. The fiend didn't give him a moment to rest, charging at him; Jieyuan stayed on the defensive, blocking and parrying its attacks. Any attempts to counterattack failed. It wasn't just a matter of strength and speed. The fiend had both in spades, but not so much Jieyuan couldn't manage.

When he wasn't holding back, Daojue was both faster and stronger than the fiend, and he was the standard Jieyuan measured himself against. No, the problem was that Jieyuan couldn't read the sword fiend. Because you couldn't read something that didn't exist. There was nothing to read. The fiend's head was just a black, oval shape. It didn't have eyes Jieyuan could track, or any other tells he could exploit. Even Daojue had tells.

Far from obvious ones, granted; most of them, Jieyuan had only started noticing recently. But Daojue did have them: flashes of tension, subtle signs before an attack. This wasn't working. Staying on the defensive like this was a surefire way to lose. He thought back to what Anren had told him about the sword fiends. Strength, speed, skill—but stupid. He wouldn't just take her word for it, of course, but she'd seemed to be on the level so far. And he could at least put it to the test.

Jieyuan stopped trying to read its movements; he didn't bother trying to make another attack, either. He just fully focused on defending. And once he got the rhythm of it, he started experimenting. Just after knocking aside a strike with both Shifting Sisters, he swung both splitfangs down at the fiend, leaving a glaring opening in his form, just over his shoulders. And the fiend took advantage of it. Expecting it to do just so, Jieyuan pulled his head back, and the shadowy blade cut nothing but air.

Jieyuan grinned. He retreated, and the fiend followed. Behind him, he heard footsteps; Daojue and Anren making space. As the sword fiend lunged, Jieyuan launched an attack of his own. This time he left his right side wide open. Sure enough, the fiend avoided the attack, and stabbed at Jieyuan's right side, just over the stomach. Jieyuan kept it up a little while longer, leaving more openings for it to take. Some obvious, some not so much. The fiend was skilled, no doubt about that.

It always noticed his openings, even the really subtle ones. But there was also no doubt that it was stupid; it always went for the openings, no matter how obvious. Jieyuan also noticed something else. Sometimes he'd feint an attack, and it always reacted to it. That gave him another idea. Breaking off from another clash, Jieyuan swung one of the Shifting Sisters, and the fiend reacted to it—only for Jieyuan to sacrifice the motion for momentum with the other splitfang, bringing it in from the other direction.

The fiend managed to avoid the strike in time. But Jieyuan had figured out not one, but two things. It always reacted to his attacks, including his feints. It didn't distinguish between actual attacks and fake ones. That was what he'd wanted to confirm. But he'd also noticed something else. Just like the wildshape fox that had taken Meiyao's form, the way to kill the fiend was by cutting off its head.

But it still reacted to all attacks, even though it supposedly could regenerate from anything short of beheading in an instant. Its instincts were that of a mundane human. One without absurd regeneration. And just like that, Jieyuan knew exactly how to end this. He saw it so clearly that Huaxin might as well have sent him a sequence. As the fiend crouched low, stabbing up, he angled his body away and swung Ruby down at it, aiming for its neck. It rose up, cutting off its attack to defend.

And as the golden splitfang met the black sword, Sapphire came at it from the side, targeting its waist. The fiend threw off Ruby to stop Sapphire, and Jieyuan whipped a leg up for a kick just as it managed to block Sapphire. But now, as it reacted to the kick, swinging the sword down at his leg, Jieyuan brought Ruby down at its neck again. The fiend reacted, pulling its sword up, but it'd been midway through a downswing. It didn't manage to reach up in time. And Ruby cut cleanly through its neck.

Jieyuan pulled away. The fiend's head didn't fall to the ground; it stayed in the air, floating. The body didn't drop, either. Just stayed, frozen in place, its sword half-raised, like it was frozen in time. There was a small gap between the body and the head, where Ruby had cut through. The fiend began to fade. It started from the bottom for the head, and from the top for the body, the black substance that made up its body vanishing. Disappearing into thin air.

Just a few beats later all of it was gone, like it'd never been there at all. Jieyuan took a moment to steady himself, let his heart settle. Focusing on his body, he noticed how he didn't feel any aches, any tiredness. He felt as good as new. This wouldn't have been a surprise outside; a fight like this was far from enough to tire out a seventh-step Redsoul. But he should be back to mundane parameters right now. So Anren had been right about this part too. He turned around.

Daojue and Anren were standing there, near the middle of the platform. Daojue's face was the same as ever. Neutral, stony, expressionless. But then there was Anren. She was frowning at him, eyes narrowed, nose wrinkled.

"Anren?" Jieyuan asked, confused. Sure, he hadn't beaten the fiend on the spot, but he didn't think he'd done half that bad. Once he'd gotten the hang of it, he'd ended it on the spot. And this was apparently a trial meant for cultivators from Violetrealm sects. For Violetsouls, even if they'd be reduced to mundane standards. And yet Anren looked nothing short of disgusted right now.

"That," Anren said, slowly, "hurt to watch. What in the Absolute do you think you're doing?"

"I— What?" She stormed over to him. He stood his ground, but when she reached forward toward his hands, he pulled his arms back—except it wasn't his hands she'd been going for, but the Shifting Sisters. She gripped the shafts of both splitfangs just under the blades. Standing just inches away from him now, she met his eyes.

"Hands off the amphis," she demanded, utterly—absurdly—serious.

"You clearly don't know what you're doing with it."