The white sword met the black one with a sound like thunder.
Light and darkness exploded where they touched. The impact threw Kael backward off the table. He landed hard, rolling to his feet as Julian's lieutenants scattered.
"Guards!" someone shouted.
"Kill him!" another screamed.
Julian walked forward calmly, the white blade glowing brighter with each step. "Did you really think I wouldn't prepare for this? I've known you'd come eventually. I've been ready."
Kael charged. Their swords met again, and this time Kael felt it—pain, real pain, as the holy steel touched Soulrender. The black blade screamed in his mind.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Julian said, pressing the attack. "Holy weapons are anathema to cursed ones. Every touch burns."
He was right. Each clash sent agony through Kael's arms. Soulrender was weakened, its power suppressed by the blessed steel.
And Julian was good. Better than Kael expected. Trained, skilled, moving with the confidence of someone who'd actually prepared for this fight.
Guards poured into the room. Twenty, thirty, more. All armed, all converging on Kael.
Then Lyra dropped from the balcony, her knives already moving. Two guards fell before they knew she was there.
"I told you to wait!" she shouted, covering Kael's back.
"I got impatient!"
"I noticed!"
They fought back-to-back, surrounded. Kael blocked Julian's strikes while trying not to get overwhelmed by guards. Every clash with the white sword sent pain through him. Soulrender was screaming, hating the holy steel, weakening with each touch.
"You can't win this," Julian said. "The sword is the only thing that made you dangerous. Without it, you're just a boy playing at revenge."
A guard's spear caught Kael's side. Pain exploded. Another blade opened his arm.
Too many. Even with Lyra helping, there were too many.
"We need to leave!" Lyra said, killing another guard. "Now!"
"Not without Julian's head!"
"Then we'll both die here!"
She was right. Kael knew she was right. But walking away now, after coming so close—
Julian thrust forward. The white sword pierced through Kael's guard, driving into his shoulder.
White fire erupted through Kael's body. Not metaphorical fire. Actual holy light, burning from the inside out. He screamed, falling to his knees.
"Kael!" Lyra's voice, distant.
"This is how it ends," Julian said, standing over him. "Not with some grand battle. Just you, broken and bleeding at my feet. Where you always belonged."
He raised the white sword for a killing blow.
Soulrender pulsed.
"Let me out," the sword whispered. "Let me protect us. Give me control."
"No," Kael gasped. "I don't... give you... control."
"Then we die. Is that what you want? To fail? To let Lyra die because you're too stubborn?"
Kael looked up. Saw Lyra fighting desperately, surrounded. Saw the white sword coming down.
Saw everything he'd fought for ending in this moment.
"Fine," he thought. "Do it."
Power exploded from Soulrender.
Red light erupted, throwing everyone backward. Kael stood, but it wasn't quite Kael anymore. His eyes burned with red fire. Shadows coiled around him like living things.
"Magnificent," the sword's voice came from Kael's mouth, deeper, inhuman. "Finally, you let me out."
Julian stared, the white sword trembling in his hands. "What—"
"I am Soulrender," Kael said, but it was the sword speaking. "And you are food."
The black blade moved with impossible speed. It shattered the white sword, cutting through blessed steel like paper. Then it took Julian's hand, severing it at the wrist.
Julian screamed, falling backward.
"No!" Kael's voice, fighting for control. "Not like this!"
"Quiet, vessel. I'm saving your life."
Soulrender turned toward the guards. They were running now, trying to escape. The sword pursued, each strike consuming a soul, growing stronger.
This was wrong. This wasn't what Kael wanted. This was the sword, unleashed, doing what it was made to do.
Devouring everything.
"Stop!" Kael shouted inside his own head. "I said stop!"
"Why? This is what you wanted. Revenge. Power. Victory."
"Not at this cost!"
Lyra appeared in front of him, her knives raised but her expression desperate. "Kael, I know you're in there. Fight it. Come back."
The sword raised the blade to strike her down.
"No," Kael said, and this time there was power behind it. This was his body. His will. His choice.
The red light flickered.
"She's nothing," Soulrender hissed. "Just another human. Let me—"
"She's everything!" Kael roared. And with every ounce of will he had, he pushed.
The red light shattered.
Kael collapsed, fully himself again, the sword quiet in his hand.
Lyra caught him before he hit the ground.
"Got you," she said. "I got you."
Around them, the hall was carnage. Bodies everywhere. Julian was crawling away, clutching his severed hand, leaving a trail of blood.
Lieutenants fled through every exit. The entire meeting had been destroyed.
"Can you walk?" Lyra asked.
"Maybe."
"Then we're walking. Before reinforcements arrive."
She supported his weight as they made their way through the fortress. Guards tried to stop them, but half-hearted attempts. Most were too terrified to approach the man with the demon sword.
They escaped into the night, leaving the fortress burning behind them. Lyra had set fires before they left—covering their escape, destroying evidence.
They didn't stop running until they were miles away, collapsing in an abandoned barn.
"That was stupid," Lyra said, breathing hard. "Incredibly, monumentally stupid."
"I know."
"You almost died. Multiple times."
"I know."
"And you let the sword take control. Do you have any idea how close you came to—" Her voice broke. "I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm sorry," Kael said. "I just... I saw him, and I couldn't wait. I had to—"
"I know," Lyra interrupted. "I know." She pulled him into a fierce hug. "But don't ever do that again. Promise me."
"I promise."
They sat there in the darkness, holding each other while their heart rates slowly returned to normal.
"Julian's alive," Kael said finally. "I failed."
"You destroyed his organization," Lyra countered. "Killed or scattered all his top people. He's crippled, Kael. Maybe not dead, but close enough."
"It's not enough."
"Maybe not. But it's progress." She pulled back to look at him. "And you came back. From the sword's control. That's... that's huge, Kael. You proved you're stronger than it."
"Barely."
"Barely is enough." She touched his face gently. "You're still you. Still human. That's all that matters."
Kael leaned into her touch, exhausted beyond measure. "What now?"
"Now we rest. Heal. Figure out our next move." Lyra glanced at the barn door. "And we need to find a real safe house. Ethan's waiting, and he'll be worried."
"Tomorrow," Kael said. "Can we just... sit here for a bit? Not think about Julian or revenge or any of it?"
"Yeah," Lyra said softly. "We can do that."
They sat in comfortable silence, leaning against each other, watching through the barn door as dawn began to break.
The fight wasn't over. Julian was wounded but alive. The sword was still bonded to Kael, still hungry.
But for now, in this moment, they were alive. Together. Still fighting.
And sometimes, that had to be enough.
* * *
END OF CHAPTER 28