Kael didn't move. The silence that followed Exalia's impact against the tree was almost absolute, broken only by the sound of leaves still falling to the ground and the rhythmic dripping of blood from her side.
The demon woman floated back into her lazy pose, slowly spinning in the air as if in a solitary dance. Her eyes were no longer just hungry, they were ravenous. An abyss of desire and destruction.
"This is getting interesting..." she whispered, licking the blood from the corner of her lips with a forked tongue that flickered like a snake.
Kael kept his gaze fixed on her. His hands trembled slightly—not from fear, but from the strength he held within himself, like a dam about to burst.
But then he did something unexpected.
He let out a sigh. Long. Deep. As if he had been holding that breath since the beginning of the battle, since the moment it all began.
Then he said, with frightening calm:
"Ahri. Kill her."
The air seemed to stop.
The forest groaned.
