Page 122 of Property of Scar

I am already moving.

My body snaps into motion, dhampir instinct taking over in a clean, brutal surge that doesn’t hesitate and doesn’t ask for permission. The distance between us collapses fast, the world narrowing down to a single line that runs straight through Mordain’s center, everything else falling away under the clarity of it as I commit fully to the strike.

He sees me coming.

Of course, he does.

His head turns just enough for his gaze to lock onto mine, that same cold, calculating precision still intact, still reading the moment as it unfolds, and whatever he sees is enough to pull him out of observation and back into action without the slightest delay. He moves to meet me, ready, his hand snapping out with the kind of speed that doesn’t belong to anything human, cutting across my path with the clear intent to break my momentum before I can close the final distance.

I twist into the strike instead of away from it, redirecting the force rather than trying to avoid it completely. The impact glances off my shoulder hard enough to jar through bone but not enough to stop me. He adjusts immediately, as if the redirection was something he’d already accounted for, his other hand coming in low with lethal precision, angling for my ribs again. This time, the hit lands harder, solid enough to knock my alignment off by inches that matter, enough to threaten the line I’ve committed to.

For a fraction of a second, I feel the opening slip.

Feel the moment start to tilt back in his favor.

Something tightens around Mordain, a shift in the air sharp enough to raise every instinct I have. I don’t need to look for the source. I know Roxy’s magic when I feel it.

The effect is almost invisible, but I catch it in the way Mordain moves. For the first time since this fight began, there is a flaw in the motion. A hesitation so small, it exists more as instinct than sight, a momentary catch that disrupts the relentless precision he’s been fighting with.

Mordain immediately drives against it, power erupting from him in a violent wave as he tries to crush whatever is interfering with his control.

The effort nearly works.

Nearly.

But a crack has already formed. His timing is no longer perfect, and when you’re fighting at this level, a crack is all it takes.

It buys me a heartbeat.

A heartbeat is enough.

Ruckus layers into it next, not with strength, but with distortion. The space around Mordain shifts in ways that shouldn’t be possible, angles skewing just enough to disrupt his footing, his balance, the clean recovery of his movements. It doesn’t stop him—nothing here stops him—but it forces him to compensate, to spend effort correcting what should have been instinctive.

I smirk at Ruckus, giving him a wink as I gain my footing and lunge for Mordain again.

A rogue breaks through the edge of the fight, drawn to the opening, but it never reaches us. Hellfire tears across the chamber in a controlled arc, black-orange and violent, while Holy Light slams into it from the opposite direction, the two forces locking together into a contained barrier that cuts off the battlefield behind me. Rhett and Bennett move in perfect alignment, their power holding the perimeter without spilling into the center, ensuring nothing else interferes with what’s happening here.

Mordain feels it.

All of it.

The shift in pressure, the layered interference, the way the fight is no longer something he can isolate and control. His focus sharpens fully onto me now, the last trace of detached observation gone, replaced with something more intent.

Mordain blasts through one of Roxy’s threads and launches himself at me before the magic has even finished snapping apart. The shift is immediate.

Gone is the careful bullshit.

Gone is the patience.

The next punch detonates against my guard and sends me stumbling backward. Pain shoots up both arms, and I barely get reset before another one follows.

Then another.

I give ground because the alternative is ending up on my ass.

Every hit feels like getting clipped by a truck.

He is stronger, still faster in ways that matter.