From the bar Koi was grabbing a mug from a pale elven man with dark unkempt black hair. She turned around, her tail smacking the other man with them in the face.

  He swung his arm around to bat it away, messing with his long brown hair in the process.

  “Buy me a drink first damn.” He let out.

  “Shut up Kyric. I've paid for all the drinks. You wanna turn in the cage?” She replied, pointing towards the owner who was still shouting at her for another round.

  Kyric just took another drink instead

  “Hard pass. Valokyr?”

  She looked towards the pale elf, who was staring off in the distance still, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.

  “How… ‘Here’ are you Val?” she asked quietly.

  He met her eyes and gave a toothy grin.

  “A few,” He replied, “go get em girl.”

  The cage opened with a shriek of rusted hinges. Angel stepped inside, boots heavy, shoulders low. She didn’t even look at Koi at first.

  Koi tilted her head, arms crossed, tail swishing lazily behind her. “You don’t look like you want this.”

  Angel raised her voice enough for the crowd to hear. “I don’t. Last time I fought, I buried a friend.”

  The words hung in the air, colder than steel. For a breath, even the crowd faltered.

  Koi’s expression shifted. Understanding flashed. She didn’t like this either. But the crowd wanted a show, and the owner wanted blood. She smirked, a snarl hidden in it, and lifted her fists.

  “Then let’s give them a show.”

  Angel hesitated, hands loose at her sides. She swung slow, a half-hearted punch that Koi dodged with exaggerated flair. Koi reeled back as though struck harder than she was, stumbling into the bars. The crowd roared, eating it up.

  Another swing. Another dodge. Their bodies collided with the bars, iron groaning. It was theater, empty violence. Every fake blow dragged at Angel’s chest, tearing open the memory of the last fight that mattered. The face of her fallen friend rose with every feint.

  Koi saw it, the strain in Angel’s jaw, the grief in her eyes. She leaned in close enough that only Angel could hear.

  “Let it out, girl.”

  Angel’s fists tightened. This time, when they swung, it wasn’t half-hearted. Both punches met in the air, knuckle to knuckle.

  The impact cracked like thunder. Between their fists flared a sudden burst of fire, a shockwave of heat that rippled outward. For a heartbeat, the crowd fell silent.

  A man standing too close yelped, swatting at his hair as it smoldered. Then the room erupted into wild cheers, the noise rattling the rafters.

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  Angel blinked, stunned. “Was that you?”

  Koi grinned, fangs flashing. “Mostly.”

  The crowd surged forward, hammering fists on tables, mugs splashing ale into the air. Shouts for blood shook the room. Someone hurled a bottle into the cage. It burst against the bars, spraying shards across the floor.

  Angel growled low in her throat. The grief she’d tried to bury broke free, twisting into fury. Her next strike landed hard against Koi’s shoulder, sending her reeling. Koi laughed, loud and unrestrained, rolling her neck like she’d been waiting for this.

  They collided again, harder now, and the bars rattled so violently that bolts popped loose. Koi jammed her elbow under one and wrenched.

  Metal screamed. The cage wall buckled outward, spilling fragments onto the nearest table and toppling a pitcher of ale into a gambler’s lap.

  The man shot to his feet, shoving the one beside him. The tavern went still for one fragile breath.

  From the bar, a smooth voice cut through the noise. Kyric leaned lazily against the counter, a grin plastered across his face. The woman he’d been charming moments ago had already fled, shrieking when the cage broke.

  He sighed dramatically. “Do we even like this place?”

  Valokyr, calm as a still pond, lifted his mug for another sip. “Not anymore, it seems.”

  The owner’s face purpled with rage as he snapped his fingers. Doors slammed. A wave of guards and bouncers pushed into the room, cudgels and swords drawn.

  The fight exploded.

  Angel and Koi moved like twin storms. Angel ducked a swing and drove her knee into a man’s ribs hard enough to make him spit blood. Koi’s tail whipped another guard’s legs out, her fist breaking teeth a breath later. Floorboards groaned under the weight of the brawl. Tables toppled, mugs burst against walls, and sweat and blood mingled on the air. Angel began pulling her punches, but rage won; soon every strike landed with bone-cracking force. Koi laughed through the chaos, wild joy in every hit.

  Across the hall, Valerik and Valokyr found themselves back-to-back, blades flashing. They spun, collided, both raising weapons at each other on instinct.

  “Same side?” Valerik asked, his voice low, shadows dripping from his darkened blades.

  Valokyr smirked, his own knives lifting into the air, turning translucent.

  “Measure later, boys,” Kyric’s voice echoed off the wall, bouncing with magical precision. His chuckle lingered like smoke.

  Valokyr’s floating blades shot forward, two streaks of ghostly steel that whistled past Valerik’s head. They pierced through the chests of bouncers rushing in, leaving clean holes before the bodies toppled.

  Valokyr grinned, until a sword burst through his chest from behind. He gasped, eyes widening.

  “Shit!” Valerik shouted.

  The attacker laughed, yanking his blade free.

  Valokyr winked. Then his entire body compressed, imploding violently into a pinpoint. The shockwave blasted outward, throwing Valerik to the floor and hurling the attacker across the room into a pile of chairs.

  Valerik’s ears rang as he stared in disbelief.

  From the bar came a dry voice. “Oh no…”

  Valokyr still sat on his stool, sipping his drink. Kyric leaned against him, amused.

  Three others in booths across the room stood, their illusions shattering like glass. Each one was another Valokyr. They drew blades in perfect unison and leapt into the fray.

  Floating daggers appeared around one, spinning rapidly until they shot outwards, piercing through the chests of two more guards. Another guard took a swing of his sword through a Valokyr clone, only to pass through him like smoke. The clone grinned before evaporating. Before the guard could curse he had two blades through his back, dropping him to the floor.

  Kyric stayed seated, twirling his glass. Two hired swords stalked toward him, grins sharp.

  “Your friends made a mess,” one growled.

  “They do that,” Kyric said mildly.

  “Now we gotta make you a mess.”

  Kyric sighed. “I’ll pass. So… fuck off.”

  Red lightning flickered across his eyes. His words rippled through the air. The two men stiffened, then turned on each other with savage roars, fists slamming into flesh, bones cracking.

  Kyric lifted his empty glass. “Another bottle, your finest.”

  The barkeep’s eyes glowed faint red. Calmly, he reached beneath the counter and set a dusty ornate bottle in Kyric’s hand.

  “Now take a nap,” Kyric said casually.

  The barkeep slumped to the floor, snoring before he hit the wood.

  Kyric took a drink and watched the men fight, letting out insults and cheers as his enemies broke each other.

  On the far side of the hall, Kaiya struggled to shield Xander. The bull’s size filled the room, blocking any path to the stairs. She flung her hands outward, wood splintering and reshaping. Chairs sprouted branches and tangled together, forming a barrier of twisting wood.

  Dante threw his arms toward the broken cage. Metal shrieked, twisting into jagged spears before he hurled it across the room, pinning two bouncers to the wall.

  “We’re not fitting up those stairs,” Kaiya shouted. “Dante, now!”

  Dante turned, sweat running down his face. Xander loomed huge again, panic in his eyes.

  “Make Xander smaller,” Dante whispered, closing his eyes. Magic coiled around him. He pushed it outward, but a charging mercenary tackled Kaiya into the path of the spell.

  Both she and the man shrank in an instant.

  “Shit. No. This is worse!” Kaiya’s voice squeaked as her body dwindled. She scrambled up onto Xander’s back, now barely smaller than him.

  The mercenary, even smaller, stared up in horror. He barely had time to squeal before Xander’s hoof slammed into his chest, punting him across the room like a doll.

  “Go!” Kaiya shouted, clinging to the bull’s shoulders.

  Chairs sprouted branches around the fallen mercenary, trapping him in a cocoon of wood.

  Through the chaos, Koi hurled another bouncer into the wall and shouted toward Angel. “Get out! I’ll handle him.” She nodded toward the owner, who was crawling backward across the floor, fear in his eyes.

  Koi tossed a ring of keys to Angel. “We won’t need these tonight. The inn’s a few blocks away.”

  Angel caught them, hesitated, then nodded.

  Xander barreled up the narrow staircase. His shoulders shredding the thin wooden walls as he forced his way through. Kaiya gripping his fur with her small hands to not be tossed off.

  The group fought their way free, stumbling into the night air. Behind them, the roar of the brawl grew fainter as they ran.