Seris stood with her back to the archive door. Arden stood several steps to her right, angled between her and the center of the chamber. She attacked first. Her blade moved fast and clean, striking high toward his shoulder. He barely raised his guard in time. She drove her shield forward and forced him back a full step.

  “You’re slower,” she said, cutting low before he could reset.

  The blade bit into his thigh. He grunted but stayed upright. She pivoted and struck again, carving a line across his forearm.

  “You remember the Captain trials?” she asked, circling him, keeping the door behind her shoulder.

  “I remember you winning,” Arden replied, deflecting another strike.

  “I always won.”

  She pressed harder. Her sword slammed into his guard twice, then slipped through and cut his side. Blood darkened his uniform.

  “You hated that,” she said. “You never liked being second.”

  He parried again, but she forced him back another step.

  “You were weaker,” she added.

  That was the one. Arden stepped back.

  “That may have been true,” he said quietly.

  Seris advanced immediately, ready to break him before he could recover.

  “Then.”

  The air changed. Arden’s Kaijin spread. Seris took another step forward. Her foot landed exactly where she intended. But her body followed a fraction slower than expected. Arden’s blade was already moving. She raised her shield to block. The strike landed harder than it should have. She pushed back and cut toward his ribs. The blade moved cleanly. Her recovery did not. The space between her strike and her reset felt stretched. Arden filled it. His sword clipped her shoulder. She stepped back to reset her stance. The step happened. But her balance returned late. Arden was already inside her guard.

  “Now,” he said evenly, “we’re not in the same league.”

  Seris attacked again. Her speed had not changed. But her timing had. Her sword cut toward his neck. He blocked and answered immediately. Her shield came up a heartbeat slower than she intended. His blade slammed into it. The impact rattled her arm. She tried to circle left. Her feet moved. Her weight shifted. But the transition between them dragged. Arden adjusted mid-motion and struck again. A crack split across her shield. Seris pushed forward harder, trying to overwhelm the delay with force. She cut across his shoulder. The blade landed. But when she pulled back, her arm lagged just enough. His counterstrike drove into the center of her shield. The crack widened.

  She attacked again. High, mid, low. The sequence was clean. But each change of direction felt heavier. Like her body needed permission to finish what it had already started. Arden did not rush. He waited for the drag. He stepped into it. His blade struck the shield again. The surface fractured completely. Wood and metal shattered outward. Seris staggered as the weight disappeared from her arm. She raised her sword alone now. Arden attacked immediately. She caught the first blow. The second drove her to one knee. She tried to stand. Her legs responded. But the rise felt slower than the command. His third strike hit her blade before she fully recovered. Steel screamed. He twisted and struck across hers. Her sword snapped near the middle. Half of it fell to the stone floor.

  Seris looked at the broken steel in her hand. Her movements were still precise. Her experience still intact. But she was no longer dictating the pace. She was reacting to a tempo she could not match. Arden stepped forward calmly.

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  “That’s the difference,” he said.

  Seris did not drop the broken sword. She shifted her grip higher on the remaining steel and stepped back into stance. The blade was too short for reach, too long to discard. She lunged anyway. Arden blocked easily. She stepped inside and slashed toward his face. He tilted his head and let the steel pass inches from his cheek. His counter came slow. Measured. She barely deflected it. The impact numbed her wrist.

  “You’re still trying to win clean,” he said.

  She drove forward again, ramming her shoulder into his chest to break his stance. He absorbed it. Her recovery dragged under his Kaijin. He stepped in and cut across her thigh. She stumbled but stayed upright. She slashed wildly toward his throat. He caught her wrist mid-swing. For a moment they stood close.

  “You were stronger,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “That was before,” he replied.

  He released her. She attacked again out of instinct. He sidestepped and drove his blade across her collarbone. The cut was clean. She dropped to one knee. Her broken sword scraped against the stone as she tried to rise. Arden lifted his blade.

  Then the air changed.

  Weight. It settled into the chamber like something immense had stepped inside. Arden felt it immediately. Lightning tore through the space. Raizō entered at full speed, his Kaijin already active. Arden’s blade came down. Raizō caught it, lightning snapped violently along the steel. He shoved it aside and stepped in until their shoulders nearly collided. Arden remembered. The last time they fought, Raizō had done exactly this. No distance, no breathing room. He collapsed space and drowned structure. Arden did not retreat this time. Raizō drove a knee into Arden’s ribs. Arden twisted, taking the blow along his side instead of full impact. Raizō followed with a low kick to the inside of Arden’s thigh. The strike landed solid. Then a mid kick to the ribs. Arden blocked, but it forced him sideways. Raizō stepped in with a straight punch toward the face. Arden slipped it. The glove scraped across his cheek and opened skin. Blood ran. Raizō didn’t pause. He hooked his leg behind Arden’s ankle and swept.

  Arden hopped just enough to avoid being taken down fully, landing unevenly. Arden tightened his Kaijin. The delay returned. Raizō stepped forward to press the advantage. His foot planted. But the follow-up elbow dragged a fraction. Arden felt it. He slashed toward Raizō’s shoulder. Raizō caught the blade between both gloves, lightning cracking bright along the edge. He twisted hard, forcing the weapon off line. Then drove his shoulder into Arden’s chest. The impact forced Arden back two steps. Stone cracked beneath Raizō’s boots as he advanced.

  “You don’t get to surprise me with that again,” Arden said, breath heavier now.

  Raizō answered with a high kick toward Arden’s head. Arden leaned back and let the heel skim past. Raizō used the rotation to drive a spinning elbow toward Arden’s jaw. Arden blocked, but the impact rattled him. Raizō pressed chest-to-chest again. He drove a rising knee into Arden’s abdomen. Arden absorbed it and twisted free, cutting shallow across Raizō’s side during the transition. Blood marked the fabric. Raizō did not step back. He snapped a low kick to the inside of Arden’s knee. Then a mid kick. Then stepped in with a heavy straight punch. Arden slipped two. The third grazed his jaw. Lightning pulsed heavier in the chamber. Arden smiled.

  “Yes,” he said quietly. “Now you’re an opponent worth fighting.”

  Inside the archive, Seris’ hands shook violently. She forced the door open and stumbled inside. Shelves towered around her. Ledgers stacked tight, bundles sealed in wax. She grabbed the nearest ledger and tore it free. The binding ripped. Pages scattered across the floor.

  “Focus,” she whispered.

  Outside, Raizō drove another punch toward Arden’s head. Arden deflected and answered with a fast cut toward Raizō’s thigh. Raizō dropped his hand and redirected the blade outward. Lightning snapped along the steel. Seris crouched and gathered loose pages with trembling fingers. Ink smudged across her gloves. Another ledger slipped from her grip. She cursed and grabbed it anyway.

  Outside, Raizō swept low again. Arden shifted early this time and struck downward. Raizō raised both gloves and caught the blade above him. With the weapon trapped, he drove a head kick upward. The heel caught Arden along the side of the head. The impact forced him sideways. For a moment, Arden’s timing slipped. Raizō pressed instantly. Low kick, mid kick, straight punch, and elbow. Each strike layered over the last.

  Arden blocked two, redirected one. The fourth cut across his guard and forced him back. The chamber groaned under the collision of both Kaijin. Seris shoved documents into her cloak without reading. Footsteps echoed faintly deeper within the Church. More were coming. She stepped back out of the archive, clutching what she could carry. Raizō and Arden were locked in close again. Lightning coiled tight along Raizō’s arms. Arden’s Kaijin delayed and tightened around him, but the weight pressing against him forced constant adjustments. Blood marked both of them. Neither stepped back. And the fight was only beginning to escalate.