The room was empty.

  Not abandoned. Not unfinished. Just… empty.

  Smooth steel walls curved upward into a ceiling lost in shadow, dim lights embedded along the edges casting a cold, sterile glow across the floor. No windows. No furniture. No markings to tell him where exactly he was. Only space. Too much of it.

  Rei stood near the center, knees slightly bent, weight balanced on the balls of his feet. His pistol rested low in his right hand, blade sheathed but ready at his left. His breathing was controlled, slow, even, but his heart refused to follow the rhythm.

  Across the room, Dante stood just as still.

  They faced each other from opposite ends, neither willing to be the first to close the distance. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, they began to circle. Footsteps echoed softly, boots scraping against metal in a quiet, deliberate rhythm. A predator’s dance.

  Rei’s eyes flicked around the room, cataloging exits, angles, anything that could be used. That was when he noticed it.

  A locked door.

  Heavy. Reinforced. Set directly behind Dante.

  Of course it was.

  Dante noticed the shift in Rei’s gaze and chuckled, the sound low and amused. He rolled his shoulders once, the faint whir of servos whispering beneath the metal of his mechanical arm.

  “I’ve been wanting this,” Dante said, breaking the silence at last. His voice carried easily in the open space. Calm. Almost conversational. “Ever since that café.”

  Rei didn’t answer. He kept moving, slow and steady, never letting Dante out of his sight.

  Dante continued anyway. “You remember it, right? The look on your face when you realized you were in over your head.” He lifted his mechanical arm slightly, flexing his fingers. The metal shifted, plates adjusting with a soft click. “Had to leave that fight early. Cops, civilians, all that annoying noise.”

  He took a step closer. Then another.

  “But I hated walking away,” Dante went on. “So I made sure it wouldn’t happen again.”

  The arm changed.

  Segments slid apart, reconfiguring, the surface rippling as if it were liquid metal. Blue light pulsed briefly along the seams before fading into a deeper, sharper glow.

  “Little upgrade,” Dante said, clearly pleased. “Cost a fortune. Worth every credit.”

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  Rei’s jaw tightened. “You’re talking a lot for someone who ran away.”

  Dante stopped.

  For a fraction of a second, the air shifted.

  Then Dante smiled, slow and sharp, eyes narrowing. “I only left because you had help,” he said flatly. “And because I didn’t feel like killing cops that day.”

  Rei didn’t flinch. “Sounds like excuses.”

  The smile vanished.

  Dante planted his foot, pivoted sharply, and exploded forward.

  Rei reacted instantly. His pistol snapped up and he fired.

  The shots rang out in rapid succession, muzzle flash briefly illuminating the room. Bullets streaked toward Dante, but his mechanical arm surged forward, unfolding into a curved barrier just in time. Sparks flew as rounds ricocheted off the reinforced plating.

  Dante didn’t slow down.

  He closed the distance in seconds.

  Rei dropped the pistol and drew his blade in one smooth motion, steel meeting metal in a shower of sparks as Dante swung. The impact rattled Rei’s arms, the force behind the blow far heavier than it had been in the café.

  Dante followed up immediately, his other arm snapping toward Rei’s face.

  Rei twisted aside just in time.

  Pain flared as something grazed his cheek. Warmth spread, and he felt the sting of blood. He jumped back, boots skidding as he forced space between them.

  Dante was relentless.

  He pressed forward, attack after attack, never giving Rei a moment to breathe. Punches. Sweeps. Heavy, crushing blows aimed to break through his guard. Rei blocked what he could, dodged the rest, each movement tight and efficient.

  Too tight.

  The wall loomed closer behind him.

  Rei felt it before he saw it. The corner was closing in.

  He inhaled sharply.

  Then he activated his Grace.

  Tick. Tick. Tick.

  The world shifted.

  Gold light ignited in his eyes, a soft but unmistakable glow. The faint ticking began, subtle but constant, like a clock buried deep inside his skull. The room fractured into possibilities.

  Paths.

  Movements.

  Outcomes.

  Golden points bloomed around Dante, branching and overlapping, each one a possible future. Rei moved without thinking, following the clearest line, the one that pulsed brightest.

  He struck.

  Dante’s eyes widened slightly as Rei slipped past his guard, blade flashing toward his shoulder. Dante twisted at the last second, metal screeching as the blade scraped across his arm instead of biting deep.

  Rei didn’t stop.

  He flowed into the next motion, then the next, each step perfectly placed. Dante was forced back for the first time, shifting into defense, blocking and parrying with precision that bordered on mechanical perfection.

  “Huh,” Dante muttered, stepping back again. “So that’s new.”

  Rei pressed the advantage, breathing hard but steady, every strike guided by the golden trails only he could see. Dante didn’t attack. He waited. Studied.

  As if counting.

  The glow in Rei’s eyes flickered.

  Then vanished.

  The ticking stopped.

  The world snapped back into a single, unforgiving reality.

  Dante moved instantly.

  He ducked under Rei’s next slash and drove his fist into Rei’s gut. The impact knocked the air from his lungs, pain detonating through his core. Rei was sent flying backward, crashing hard against the wall.

  He slid down slightly, coughing, vision swimming.

  Dante straightened, rolling his neck once. “Too bad,” he said casually. “You and me.”

  Rei forced himself upright, chest burning.

  Dante continued, voice almost instructional. “Your Grace. Three seconds active. Two seconds before you can trigger it again. But you’re not done yet, are you?”

  He took a step closer.

  “You need time to turn it on again don't you? That's Three extra seconds.”

  Dante smiled.

  “Five seconds,” he said. “That’s an eternity.”

  Rei’s stomach sank.

  Dante reached into a small pouch at his waist and pulled out a vial filled with swirling purple liquid. He held it up briefly, letting Rei see it.

  Then he inserted it into a port along his mechanical arm.

  The reaction was immediate.

  The liquid drained into the metal, and purple veins spread from his shoulder down the arm, glowing faintly beneath the surface. Dante’s eyes shifted color, pale purple light bleeding into the whites.

  He laughed.

  The sound was loud. Unrestrained. Almost joyous.

  “Now,” Dante said, locking eyes with Rei, “you’re dead meat.”

  He vanished.

  Rei barely had time to register the movement before Dante reappeared in front of him, swinging with terrifying force. Rei twisted aside by instinct alone, the blow missing him by inches and slamming into the wall instead.

  The impact cracked the steel.

  The entire room shuddered.

  Dante turned his head slowly toward Rei, purple light burning in his eyes.

  “Today,” he said calmly, “is the day you die.”

  Rei tightened his grip on his blade, blood dripping from his cheek, heart pounding in his ears.

  Five seconds.

  That was all he had.

  And it was already counting down.

  [End of chapter]