Blood and Steel

A strange, disturbing calm swirled around Crow’s frame. The breeze blew gently into the alley, but his presence made it feel like an incoming disaster.

Lambert’s men turned their heads to the rubble that buried their leader. Then at Crow.

His face glowed red, and his eyes were hollow yet burning. A vague, ominous terror crept in— they were trapped in the eye of the storm.

He marched forward, tossing his jacket aside. He gave an unfamiliar salute, like an ode before the funeral.

The thugs charged at him, biting back their apprehension.

A baton came swinging from above. Crow rammed the attacker's chest with the blunt end of the pipe. He staggered, then his jaw was shattered from an invisible angle.

From behind—another attack. Crow spun on instinct. A lightning-fast series of thuds folded the man like a sack.

A goon struck from the right but missed. Crow coiled the steel around his arm to twist the elbow out of its joint, dropping to the ground with a howl.

They were fast. Well-organized.

But his brutality was clean and precise, like a vow without words.

Keep. Her. Safe.

More bodies hit the floor. Bones stuck out of the skin. Teeth were knocked off. Blood splattered everywhere. The mob men dropped one after another, confused by what hit them.

And Crow’s silhouette towered over them, outlined by fire.

From behind, Hinata watched him transform into something she couldn’t grasp—yet couldn’t tear her eyes from.

It wasn’t the same man who offered her the couch without question. The guy who handled her silence in warmth and let her exist without prying had vanished into smoke.

Not the knight on a bike. The Horseman of War.

She forced herself upright. Her body screamed—shoulders burning, legs aching, head pounding—but she didn’t stop.

She couldn’t.

As she watched him rip everything apart, her thoughts spun.

Why are you like this?

Why do you care so much?

Why are you fighting like I matter?

Crow took a bat to the side and winced. Then, he dropped his attacker with twice the fury. He picked up another pipe and leapt back into the fray.

One flanked him, landing a clean hit to his face, unraveling his hair bun.

He staggered back, bracing himself, arms on guard. As the mob ganged up on him, Hinata’s fists clenched. Her jaw tightened.

“He will die.”

For some reason, that pain of that thought felt sharper than any wound she’d taken tonight.

She moved without hesitation. Her foot slammed down on a thug’s skull, spiking him into the pavement.

With a growl, she planted her feet firmly, injecting adrenaline into her veins.

And just like that— The Empress and the Horseman, side by side.

Like two storms dancing around each other, they tore through the remaining thugs without words, plans, or nods,

Just trust earned in silence.

As the last man fell, the noise began to subside, leaving only the sound of heavy, ragged breaths.

— • —

Blood trickled down Crow's brow. Hinata hunched beside him, pain pulsing all over her.

And then—a guttural roar of a beast.

Marcius Lambert rose from the wreckage, reborn from fury. Blood ran down his face, but his eyes blazed with unrelenting rage. He faltered once, then lunged forward.

Massive legs thundered against the pavement as he charged. The ground shook beneath him.

Hinata gritted her teeth. But Crow—he sprinted forward.

She moved a split-second later, pushing off her doubts with everything she had left.

The impact of their collision split the air.

Lambert threw wide swings. Crow dodged the first, but the second grazed his temple, sending him reeling. Hinata charged and drilled her fists into Lambert’s ribs—but he absorbed the blows and swiped her with a vicious backhand, knocking her to the ground with a sharp gasp.

Back on his feet, Crow moved like lightning. He pivoted low and snapped steel against the brute rapidly—knees, ribs, temple. Each movement flowed into the next, the pipes changing angles in his hands, leaving no chance to breathe.

Crow struck, vanished, then struck again. He blasted Lambert’s elbow, then cracked his knee in a fluid motion.

But Lambert was still bigger, stronger.

Crow hovered off his feet as Lambert caught him by the collar. Before Lambert could hit him, Hinata drove a knee into the giant's groin—once, twice. He flinched. Crow slipped free, landing lightly on his feet, missing the punch by inches.

An exchange erupted again. Lambert caught one of Crow’s weapons mid-swing and flung it away with a loud clatter.

With no time wasted, Crow hurled the other one towards Lambert like a boomerang.

A diversion.

Lambert blocked, then got tagged by Crow from a blind spot. Hinata followed up with an uppercut to his chin.

Lambert retaliated with a solid hit to Hinata’s gut. She staggered, wove back in, and launched a flurry, breaking Lambert’s guard. Crow threw a short hook to his liver.

Strikes flew from all angles in a continuous chain of punishment.

Lambert’s legs wobbled. Sweat and blood dripped from his face, his body sagging as he dropped to one knee.

Hinata busted an elbow into Lambert’s teeth. Crow then landed a knee to his chin.

They felt something break—Lambert’s skull or their bones, it didn’t matter.

The moment Lambert’s jugular was exposed, her hand speared forward, an inch away from the kill.

Suddenly—

She froze. Her eyes widened as she felt a strange warmth from her wrist.

Crow’s grip. Familiar. Enough to stop her.

Saving her from losing the last shred of her humanity.

With a few breaths, she lowered her hand calmly.

Lambert’s body rocked stiffly and crashed face-first into the pavement, motionless.

The roar was gone. Only silence remained.