---
Kai accepted the hit and paid him back by stepping into the blow and jamming a claw into the joint of Skall's shoulder, ripping out across meat until he felt the arm go dead. Skall's face changed in a way only men who have lost a limb's worth of trust understand.
"Sit," Kai said. The word came out colder than the desert ever gets.
He finished it. A short thrust under the heart; a twist to kill kindness; a pull. Skall sagged without drama, exhausted life leaving like a held breath.
[Ding! Level Up: 57. Aura +100. Soul Power +100.]
Oru chose that instant to make art. He came up behind Alka's shadow, using her edge to hide inside her darkness. Clever. He reached for Kai's neck with a loop of iron-salted cord meant to blind and burn and choke all at once.
