My crows soared into the air, rapidly gaining height for a dive bomb.

I thought if I were quick to act, I’d gain an advantage—but Tristan didn’t slouch. He pulled out a jet-black pill from his pocket. Even as my feet pounded the pavement to get to him, he downed it.

Spiritual pressure crashed out in waves from Tristan. It became hard to breathe as the very air swelled with power. Tristan had a horrible grin as his eyes burst into yellow. I had no clue what he’d done, but I knew this needed to end quickly. I reached him a few steps later and tossed a fist—flowing like molasses through the dense it. It was effortless for him to dodge. He followed through by steeping in and punching me in the gut.

My back cracked against the concrete, and it was only followed by the sharp and dizzying pain of my head bashing against it too. Tristan took his time walking my way. “Begin,” he called out, looking to the side.

I traced his eyes to his two lieutenants downing similar jet-black pills. One of them touched the arm of the Knight right after—before the girl let out a shriek, flung from the pier and zooming over the surface of the water. The other's jaw unhinged, and a thick curling crimson smoke spread towards the viceroy.

Tristan stopped a foot away, black veins running down his neck. “Do you know what my Soul Ability is?” His Manifested Soul grew more prominent; its endless swirling black slid between us and the fight breaking out at the end of the pier. His eyes flashed yellow once more.

“What the fuck are ya doing?” I tossed a fist at him, but he caught my wrist. His fingers dug in with the same strength as the Knight launched from the pier.

“I can see the future. Fifteen seconds to be exact. That is before I took that pill. Your Alchemist friend is amazing: a refugee from a Sect across the sea. All I needed for a pill of this caliber was the correct ingredients—and to supply him with proper motivations. While expensive, it was worth it. Those dimwits had no idea what they were sitting on.” Tristan shrugged, cocking back his other fist and sending it into my torso. It hit like a truck; blood and spit flew from my mouth. “I see further now.” I nearly sank to the ground—but his grip on my arm kept me somewhat up.

My head swam when a sudden caw pulled me back. One of my crows swooped through the air and missed Tristan as he sidestepped the creature. He let my wrist go, which caused me to stumble as I had to support my weight again.

Romeo had spent copious amounts of effort to drill his training into me. He’d driven me through fatigue and complete mental and physical exhaustion. Thanks to that, I could shift from the awkward position and lurch forward. I attempted a blow and directed my second crow to dive bomb, Tristan.

Tristan once more predicted my movement. His leg swept out and hit like a steel beam—smashing into my shin and knocking me off my feet. At the same time, he ducked under a set of sharp talons. It only took him one single efficient movement to counter me. His eyes filled with sadistic glee. “I’ve seen what happens here. First, your Captain dies, then the Viceroy dies, and the rest of your squad flees like rats as I toss your corpse into the water,” he gave a small apologetic smile; his voice carried the same weight and tone of a weather forecaster. There was a certainty there. “If it's any consolation, they do manage to grab your brother when running. But don’t worry, I’ll hunt him down later.”

This was predetermined. Tristan wasn’t lying. I was fated to die here at his hands; those eyes of his had seen it. My heart ran overdrive. I looked to the dock. His lieutenant clashed with the Viceroy—the woman kept conjuring ice swords from thin air, slicing at the crimson mist and preventing it from reaching her. But still, there were clear red welts and marks on her face and hands from where it’d made contact. Meanwhile, Captain Atkins was attempting to make her way past the man who flung away the Knight, but he was having a hard time staying out of his range.

And the Knight was still long gone.

“What the fuck—why?! Weren’t you obsessed with taking control? What the hell does this get you?!”

“It’s not just about that. Every step I’ve taken brought me closer to my true goal. You assumed wrong—I don’t want to control the gang. I want complete and utter domination over the future. This gang was a means to that end—but any other gang will do. The Crimson Eagles are willing to bend to my will. I can whip them into whatever shape I want now that they’re broken. I would have preferred to slide a knife into the Brass King and take his spot—I’d charted my path, but you always have a way of fucking things up.” Tristan shook his head, hand going into his pocket.

Panic welled as he pulled out a knife. It was a small thing, only four inches long. But plenty enough to leave me bleeding out on this pier. His callous eyes told me the only difference between my corpse and now was only a matter of time. Past the shadowy form of his Manifested Soul that blocked my squad from saving me or the Captain, I saw Bruno. His hands flared into a roaring inferno as he tried to fight through the shadow.

This entire time he’d been trying to break through to save me. But the Manifested Soul’s tendrils were lashing out like a whip—leaving lines of blood and strips of missing flesh from my friend.

If I were going out, I wouldn’t go out like a punk. I intended to make this bastard pay for the right to kill me, even if it was a tiny bit. He said my friends escaped? Well, if he were going to make my death come true, I’d make sure they escaped. “Get Alex and run!” I screamed at the rest of the squad.

I jerked forward, my fingers wrapped around Tristan’s ankle. He reacted immediately. It’d be child’s play to kick it free and then follow through with a kick to my face.

It would be if I’d let things be. But I called upon Fickle Fate—sparks of red showered from our point of contact.

His foot still got free and kicked me. But it threw him off balance. His arms went out to maintain his position, but the timing of my crow was impeccable. Tristan narrowly dodged to the side—his knife jabbed through the air with surprising speed and speared my crow.

But the knife caught with the momentum of my slain Soul—tearing the weapon from his grasp as the crow slammed into the concrete pier. Sparks of blue and red burst from it as I shuddered and tried to cope with the disorientation.

However, the knife was on the ground.

I looked at him, intending to throw out one last spiteful insult. But the words caught in my throat. He stood still, his face a pallid white, just like at the park. His eyes flashed with yellow again as he activated his Soul Ability. As it ended, he looked at me with a severe frown.

He didn’t hesitate further and dropped a knee into my stomach as his hands stretched out towards my throat. In desperation, I called Fickle Fate again—a hand brushing against my leg. Fickle Fate fucked me. It flared red, and I thought I’d sealed my fate. His knee compressed my diaphragm, causing the air to gush out of me, his hands tight and like iron wrapped around

He slammed the back of my head against the pier, and stars swam through my vision. His eyes flickered yellow once again, alarm on his face. “Stay still and die!” His voice went hoarse.

Fuck him. I tried to pry his hands free, but the grip was too tight. My hair grew warm and wet from the lacerated back of my head.

My vision was going black from a lack of oxygen, but my hands flashed red as I desperately used everything in me to survive. There—the knife was close enough—I let go of him and stretched, grabbing the discarded knife and driving it into his arm. Tristan screamed and jumped off me.

But he wasn’t my only target. As I forced myself to my feet—I turned to look at my last crow; it’d reached Captain Atkins—flashing blue at the end of the pier as it made contact with her. Tristan’s eyes went wide. Captain Atkins made a break for it around the flinging Lieutenant—her violet ribbon tricking him into overextending as she stepped past. The ribbon snapped forward and wrapped around the mist user’s neck in an instant.

“No!” Tristan screamed, forgetting about me. The fucker started to run down the pier—to my horror, right in Alex’s direction. His Manifested Soul flowed behind him as he rushed to intrude on the fight and threw Bruno to the side.

I didn’t understand what had changed. Why had he flown into a sudden panic? My chest hurt, and weariness practically bled from my bones. But I intended to offer the Captain whatever I could give. I felt surprised to still be alive at this point—the intent of the crow flying to her had been one last “Fuck you” for Tristan.

Tristan reached the fighting as his Lieutenant sunk to the ground. Mist crowded around his neck, but he seemed unable to do anything about the ribbon. I attempted to get my last crow out of there to find a better angle—but one of the dark tendrils from Tristan’s Manifested Soul snapped into the air and caught it. It burst into a shower of red and blue sparks. A wave of dizziness bloomed in me; I was about to collapse—Bruno reached me and held me up by my shoulder.

“Luca, we need to leave!” Kayson yelled out, joining us. Now that Tristan’s shadow had gotten out of the way from blocking my squad, they had free reign to move to my position.

Tristan laid into both the Viceroy and the Captain. He paid no attention as one of his Lieutenant convulsed on the ground. The tide shifted quickly, the wounded Viceroy and Atkins put up a good fight, but neither were able to handle Tristan. Tristan focused his efforts on Atkins, dodging her ribbon with ease as he pushed her towards his remaining Lieutenant.

Behind them was Alex, his eyes wide as my brother inched towards the water.

I didn’t need my training with Romeo to know this fight was going to end in a bad way. Pumped up on drugs, Tristan’s overpowered ability gave him too vast of an edge for the Captain or the Viceroy to counter.

Bruno kept his eyes on the fight. Blood flowing like a river from the strip of removed skin on his face.

“Alex,” I said. “We gotta save Alex; we also can’t let that fucker get out of here. I don’t know what he’ll do, but he’ll come after my family—or you all.” I looked at Bruno. “We need to save my brother. Are ya in this with me, big guy?”

“If we die, we die in glorious combat! There is no other end for men like us.” Bruno roared with laughter, helping me press forward one lumbering step at a time. There were yells behind us as we moved closer to the jaws of death.

“Dumbasses! You’re not going alone! No fucking way!” Eve ran up our side; she scowled and squeezed her fists.

“N-no one’s going to die,” Suzaki was behind us—a flush of healing ran over me as that halo of his wrapped around my head and eased the pain. I turned to see Kayson at the edge, indecision on his face and a pale cast to his expression.

“Fine. We go together, as a squad. Let’s save Luca’s brother and then take this bastard out.”