Two figures crossed in the darkness, a brief collision igniting a heavy, muffled boom that shuddered through the air.

  Time seemed to stretch for a singur heartbeat.

  In that instant of contact, the hybrid girl saw her opponent’s eyes clearly—there was no fear, no hesitation. Instead, she saw something that intensely irritated her.

  Determination. The resolve to protect something precious.

  “...You’re really protecting the humans?”

  The hybrid girl spun as she nded, her eyes churning with a rising fury. Saliya steadied her stance, her breathing remains calm.

  “Yes.”

  Short. Unwavering.

  The hybrid realized this woman was intent on ruining her hunt. She made a decision then: she would tear her apart completely.

  She took a deep breath, leaning her torso forward, and then, slowly—she rose onto her tiptoes. The earth beneath her feet creaked and fractured under the sudden pressure. Saliya’s gaze shifted downward instantly.

  The hybrid’s toes were deforming. Knuckles pushed outward, muscle fibers coiled tight, and gray-bck cws extended from the tips of her toes, mirroring the savage weapons on her hands.

  “...I see,” Saliya murmured, her voice carrying a rare trace of surprise. “It wasn't just her upper body.”

  In the next heartbeat, the hybrid moved. She charged directly at Saliya. Every step she took pulverized the ground, kicking up sprays of dirt and shattering stone. It looked like the impact craters left behind by a heavy-caliber autocannon firing in a straight line.

  Saliya raised her hands in a combat ready-stance—then the hybrid suddenly veered, streaking past her.

  A side-cut.

  The hybrid moved low, hugging the ground as if unched by a catapult. Her cws weren't aimed at Saliya's vitals—she was targeting Saliya’s center of gravity: her legs.

  Saliya didn't retreat. She reached downward with one hand, fingers spyed as if summoning something from the void. Shadows swirled at her feet, surging upward like a living tide. A pitch-bck halberd materialized in her grip—silent, lightless, as if it had always existed there.

  “—!”

  There was no ringing of metal against metal. Instead, there was only a low, compressed thud.

  The hybrid’s first strike was caught by the side of the halberd's shaft, the force redirected terally. Saliya rotated her wrist, allowing the weapon to glide with the impact rather than meeting it head-on.

  She was shedding the momentum.

  The moment the hybrid hit the ground, her foot-cws dug deep into the earth to kill her inertia. Instead of being thrown off, she used the recoil to lunge back. The next strike came from below—a cwed kick, angling viciously toward Saliya's shin.

  Saliya raised the halberd and smmed it down. The shadow-bde carved a dark trench into the earth, driving the kick back by sheer force.

  The two put distance between them. Less than four paces.

  The hybrid’s breathing grew heavy. It wasn't fatigue—it was exhiration.

  “...That thing you’re holding,” she growled, her eyes locked onto the obsidian weapon. “It’s not a weapon. It’s an extension.”

  Saliya didn't answer. She simply adjusted her stance, the tip of her halberd lowered slightly, pointed away from the other girl’s throat. This detail did not escape the hybrid’s eyes.

  Round Two.

  This time, the hybrid held nothing back.

  She accelerated violently, using all four limbs in a cruel, three-dimensional path of attack. Cws, elbows, low sweeps, knee strikes—she even utilized a headbutt. Every blow carried the explosive power of a grizzly, yet she retracted her force at the exact moment of a stalemate, instantly shifting her form.

  She wasn't filing. She was testing Saliya’s limits.

  She tried repeatedly to seize the halberd or force Saliya to drop it. But every time she grabbed the shaft, it felt like she was grasping at thin air. When she tried to strike from Saliya’s blind spot during a wide swing, the halberd would simply reshape itself, the spearhead and pommel swapping positions in an instant.

  And Saliya... never once countered. The halberd remained a fluid barrier: blocking, parrying, deflecting, and neutralizing.

  The hybrid’s brow finally furrowed. “...Do you even want to fight?”

  Saliya’s breathing remained perfectly steady. “I don't want to hurt you.”

  The response was met with an even colder gre. The hybrid exploded off the ground again, this time—aiming straight for the heart. Saliya raised the shaft to take the hit head-on.

  The two forces collided. The ground shook.

  In the brief stalemate, the hybrid felt it clearly for the first time: that strength was not inferior to her own. It wasn't a burst of adrenaline; it was a strength so stable it was unsettling.

  Her pupils contracted. “...I see.”

  A second ter, she leaped back. Not in defeat, but for a total reassessment. The night wind flowed between them again. They stood several paces apart, neither falling. They were perfectly matched.

  “...Tch.” The hybrid leaned forward again, but she didn't charge immediately. She changed her rhythm.

  Her steps became lower, slower, her center of gravity almost hugging the dirt. Her limbs tensed simultaneously, looking as if they might burst from the pressure. Saliya didn't retreat, but her stance shifted. Her feet spread for a more stable base. She held the halberd horizontally, the butt lowered and the head raised, pointing toward her opponent.

  A nearly pleasant curve touched the hybrid’s lips. “...You’re finally taking this seriously.”

  She vanished from her spot. It wasn't just acceleration. It was an explosion followed by an immediate pivot—a feinted charge to cover her true angle of attack. Her silhouette suddenly rose mid-way, knees tucked, her cws slicing upward from a reverse angle toward Saliya’s ribs.

  A blind spot.

  Saliya’s halberd was out of position to fully deploy. She chose another solution. The shadows contracted violently. The form of the halberd changed in her hands instantly—the shaft shortened, the center of gravity moved forward, and the axe-bde became blunter.

  It wasn't meant to cut. It was meant to endure.

  Cws and shadow collided. This time, there was a sound. It wasn't metal, and it wasn't bone. It was a dull, heavy rip, like thick canvas being torn apart. The shockwave radiated across the ground, kicking up sand and stones that pelted both of them.

  The hybrid was forced into a back-flip, her foot-cws dragging ten deep furrows into the ground before she finally stopped. She looked down at her hand. Her cws were intact, but from her wrist to her shoulder—she was numb.

  It wasn't an injury. It was the vibration of her own force being fed back to her.

  She looked up. Saliya stood her ground, knees slightly bent, resetting her posture. She, too, was enduring the impact. But she had not moved.

  The hybrid’s eyes narrowed. “...You aren't just defending,” she whispered, her voice carrying a note of genuine scrutiny for the first time. “You’re—stalling for time.”

  Saliya didn't deny it. The night wind caught her bck hair as the halberd returned to its full form.

  “Because I can feel it,” Saliya said, meeting the hybrid’s eyes. “If you lose your judgment to the bloodlust, you will be hurt. And you... you don't want to become that.”

  A brief silence followed.

  Suddenly, the hybrid ughed. It wasn't anger or mockery. It was the ugh of someone forced to redefine their opponent.

  “...You’re really annoying,” she grumbled, though there was no irritation left in her.

  In her past battles, she only had the choice between killing and being killed. Now, she had found an equality she had never encountered before. This was no longer a one-sided sughter, but a game of wills between equals.

  She dropped low one st time—and then, she suddenly stood straight. She didn't change her stance; she abandoned it. She disengaged completely.

  A look of confusion crossed Saliya’s face.

  “...Are you—willing to die for those humans?” the hybrid asked.

  “Not for the humans—for that man.” Saliya’s halberd began to lower.

  The hybrid ughed again—but this time it was a weary, "I give up on you" sort of expression. She rexed into a casual, nonchant posture.

  “...Whatever. Killing those humans would take too much effort anyway—and I’m not in the mood for blood right now.” She gnced toward the meteorological ruins where she had been led away from. Gunfire was still audible, but it was tapering off. The hunt was coming to an end, regardless of who won.

  “Name,” the hybrid said, bringing her eyes back to Saliya.

  “—?” Saliya was bewildered by the sudden shift.

  “I’m asking your name. Every time I call you the 'Silver-haired Halberd-user,' you look so unhappy.” The hybrid wore an expression that said How are you this dense?

  Saliya fully disengaged her combat stance, holding the halberd by the shaft as the bde began to dissipate like smoke.

  “...Saliya.” At the moment, she decided that was enough.

  “Saliya... sounds like that fallen angel, Sariel, doesn't it? How ironic...” The hybrid began to back away, though she kept her eyes on Saliya, maintaining a wary distance.

  “Lenka—Kojin Lenka.”

  As the name drifted from her lips, she leaped backward, her silhouette vanishing behind a heap of rubble and concrete fragments.

  Saliya waited for two minutes, ensuring the presence had truly left, before turning back toward the ruins of the station. Upon arrival, she scanned the area and quickly found the person she was looking for.

  Ana was walking toward her with a look of perfect composure.

  “...Yamamoto is fine. I went ahead and dealt with the human snipers who might have exposed your location.” Ana’s expression was as casual as if she had just taken out the trash.

  As for the fate of those snipers, Saliya knew it was unavoidable. She didn't hate them, but... she felt no great stir of emotion either.

  “Mm...” Saliya’s attention was caught by a bck, reflective object partially buried in the debris. It was a Company-issue radio.

  Driven by a sudden, inexplicable intuition, Saliya reached down and picked it up.

  “Let’s go—before the Company notices us.”