---
He set his spear, took one staggering breath, and went back to work.
Now the killing became ugly.
The captains, seeing their commander fall, tried to rally. They shouted, pulled men into order, lifted banners stained with both colors to show that discipline still lived.
Kai hunted them.
He moved like a storm down the nearest file of shields, ignoring swords that scraped his plates, bolts that burned lines along his back. When he saw a crest that denoted rank, he cut toward it. A spear through the throat here. A shattered knee there followed by a boot to the visor. Once he simply grabbed a captain by the harness and hurled him off the ramp, watching him pinwheel and vanish into the chaos below.
Five-star after five-star went down. Some died with curses on their lips. Some died with the stunned, almost fascinated look of men who realized at the last second that the story whispered around campfires about the white-haired monster on the hill had not, in fact, been exaggerated.
