The wind cut through the valley with a brutal sharpness, carrying flecks of snow across the barren ndscape of Russia. In the dimly lit outpost, Zafira stood with arms crossed, watg her men prepare the shipment.

  "Secure the iron first" she ordered. "And... whatever the hell else Emery asked for. The weird coils and... copper ptes? Whatever. Just get it all."

  Her third-in-and, Jun, stifled a chuckle. "You don't even know what yathering, do you?"

  Zafira scowled. "If it makes lightning or whatever, I don't o know. I will support Emery to build it."

  Despite her irritatiohoughts drifted. Jinhai knows my real name. But he'll never find me. I kly where he is—because he's the Emperor.

  Her pn to ighe war was ing together, but then—

  Emery's words echoed in her head.

  "Lay's vision wasn't to wage war. It was to ge the world."

  She ched her jaw.

  Was I really doing this for revenge? Was I abusing Emery's teology as a on, rather than the progress he intended?

  Torween instind doubt, she stormed into Emery's workshop, interrupting his lesson with Haoran's children.

  "The materials will be here by January" she announced.

  "Now fight me."

  Emery sighed. "No."

  "Why?"

  "Because I might kill you." Emery said ftly, crossing his arms.

  "Zafira, let me expin this in simple terms. You're built like a fortress, sure, but Qi is still a biological force. My ons bypass that pletely. You reinforce your body with energy—I use something that tears through it like paper. If I hit the wrong spot, I don't care how strong you are, yans will still rupture, and you will die. Not because I want you to, but because physics does not care about cultivation."

  Zafira rolled her shoulders, unimpressed. "So what? You think I 't dodge?"

  Emery sighed, making a facepalm "I know you dodge. But what happens when I create ons you 't? When I build something that fires faster than human reflexes? Qi is not magic. It's aension of biological fun. And biology loses to sce. Always."

  Zafira narrowed her eyes. "You're scared of the power you're creating."

  "No, I'm scared of what happens when people like you try to use it for things it was never meant for" Emery snapped back.

  "Lay's vision was for ge, not war. This? This is escation. And if you push too hard, too fast, we'll all regret it."

  Zafira exhaled, folding her arms. "Then trust me. If you believe in your sce, then believe ioo."

  Zafira smirked. "Trust me to survive."

  Emery didn't answer immediately. Instead, his mind spun, running calcutions, modelling outes, predig failure points.

  How do I fight her without killing her?

  Gunfire wasn't like Qi. There was no half-measure, no pulling back at the st sed. The sed a bullet left the chamber, it followed the ws of physiot the will of a fighter. The differeween a warning shot and a fatal wound was a matter of degrees and milliseds. And Zafira—she wouldn't hesitate. She trusted herself to survive. But do I?

  She moves at aimated speed of 30 meters per sed in bat. At least, that's what I deduced. If I fire at her torso, she'll instinctively sidestep at a 30-degree angle, meaning the bullet will miss—but what if she reacts too slow? What if the shockwave from a near-miss disrupts her footing?

  His fiwitched.

  If I aim for the limbs, I could disable without lethal damage. But if she deflects the shot using Qi reinfort at the wrong ahe kiic force alone could break something internally.

  His mind flicked through alternatives.

  Blunt force? Rubber rounds? No, impact trauma is still too uable. Sedation? No, too slow.

  No. Too many variables. Too many risks.

  Emery ched his jaw. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."

  Before Zafira could respond, Jun and Seraphine appeared at the doorway, both with knowing smirks.

  "If you twoing to try and kill each other," Jun said, crossing her arms, "at least do it somewhere eaining."

  Seraphine nodded. "The arena is prepared. Everyone's gathering already. You wouldn't want to deprive them of a show, would you?"

  Zafira scoffed. "Tch. Of course not. Let's go."

  Emery sighed, rubbing his forehead. ''I don't recall agreeing to a public execution."

  "Rex, professor" Jun said.

  "You might actually win."

  Meanwhile, Callum, who had been in the middle of instrug Haoran and Renshu on dojo ma, was also summoned.

  "What's going on?" he asked as he was dragged along.

  "Oh, nothing much" Seraphine said, grinning.

  "Just a battle between sd martial arts."

  Haoran's children were brought along as well, their eyes wide with excitement as they followed. Soon, the etlement gathered in the arena, anticipation crag in the air.

  Zafira rolled her shoulders, stepping into position.

  Emery's gaze swept over her, analyzing every detail. She was dressed for battle, reinforced bbat attire that g to her frame yet allowed free movement. The light armor was supposedly Qi-treated, meant to absorb shod reduce damage—but it wouldn't stop his bullet. Her twin swords, sleek and deadly, rested at her sides. He had seen her use them before—precision and efficy, every movement calcuted for the kill. The bdes gleamed uhe arena lights, curved just enough to allow both sshes and precise thrusts.

  Those swords have cut through Qi-enhanced bullshit steel before. They will not be easy to ter.

  Her stance was aggressive but posed, weight evenly distributed, her fingers lightly gripping the hilts. She looked every bit the warrior she owerful, unshakable. But Emery knew better. He khe flicted thoughts runnih that hardeerior.

  Zafira, in turn, studied him.

  Emery stood with an uling calm, his usual coat repced by something more fitted—lighter, tailored for movement. The holster on his thigh carried a sleek revolver, the same one she had seen him modify tirelessly in his workshop.

  That gun isn't like the ones before. He's ged it.

  His hands rested lightly at his sides, but there was no mistaking the precision in his fingers—ready to move in a fra of a sed. His eyes were sharp, calg, sing her for any weaknesses she could have.

  She exhaled. "Ready or not, Emery, this is happening."

  Emery exhaled, adjusting his on. "This is a mistake."

  His fiwitched against the grip of his revolver, but his mind wasn't in the arena anymore. Instead, it was adrift in memories—years of knowing Zafira, years of sailing through storms, fighting off raiders, and watg her make the worst business decisions possible with full fidence.

  He could still hear her voice from months ago, standing at the edge of a dock, arms crossed, proudly deg:

  "I bought aire warehouse of stolen tea leaves for half price!"

  "Zafira, that means you just got ed."

  "No, it means I have a lifetime supply of tea."

  He could still remember the look on her face when she realized they had to throw half of it away because it had been soaked ier.

  Then there were the quiet moments. The rare dinners where she actually sat down to eat instead of barking orders. The times she leaned ba her chair, exhaustion in her eyes, but still smirked at his pints like she had all the answers in the world.

  And now, here she was, standing across from him, asking him to shoot her.

  He swallowed hard. "This is a mistake" he repeated, softer this time.

  His hand hovered over his gun, not because he wasn't ready to draw—but because for the first time, he wasn't sure he wao.

  Then Zafira moved.

  She dashed forward, c the distan an instant—thirty meters per sed, at least. To Emery's eyes, it was nearly imperceptible, a blur of motion that made his heart lurch. His body tensed, instincts screaming at him to react.

  But amidst the rush of movement, her voice reached him—steady, calm, and strangely sincere.

  "Fight me with your on, Emery. Not your fear."

  The words struck deeper than he expected. His mind snapped into calode.

  If I move now—thirty-degree pivot to the left, let her momentum carry her past me—I ter without diregagement. But if she anticipates it? A feint to mislead? No, too risky. Timing is critical.

  His hazel eyes tracked every minute shift in her form, analyzing the way her weight adjusted, the micro-twitch of her muscles as she prepared to strike. She wasn't holding back.

  Emery inhaled sharply, his deade in milliseds.

  Step back. Twist left. Redirect the angle.

  His body responded before his mind fully caught up, his foot barely grazing the ground as he executed the most optimal dodge—ohat kept him just out of her bde's range, but close enough to retaliate.

  Emery didn't hesitate. His gun was already raised, his finger squeezing the trigger before his sind could sed-guess the a.

  The gunsh out, deafening in the arena.

  And then—a fsh of steel.

  Zafira's twin swords moved so fast they blurred. A metallig echoed as something split in midair.

  The bullet—the one he had calcuted at a speed no human should be able to track—was cleaved ly in half.

  Time seemed to slow for Emery. He watched, stunned, as the two halves of the bullet spiralled off-course, embedding themselves harmlessly into the dirt.

  That's… impossible.

  His grip on the gun tightened.

  Even with Qi, even with enhanced reflexes—cutting a bullet? That wasn't just skill. That was something beyond reason.

  Zafira rolled her shoulders, spinning one of her swords before levelling it at him again. She smirked.

  Emery exhaled sharply, heart hammering. "That shouldn't have been possible."

  The moment the bullet split in half, the areed.

  A deafening roar of cheers and shouts filled the air as the gathered warriors, merts, and disciples exploded with excitement.

  "ander Ezra!"

  "She cut the bullet in half—IN HALF!"

  Callum stood frozen, his mouth slightly open. "That... that shouldn't be possible."

  Lianfei, , and Feng—Emery's students who had been rigorously studying sd physics—were equally stunned. Everything they had learold them this was beyond human capability.

  "Even Qi shouldn't allow for something like that..." Lianfei muttered.

  "It defies every principle of rea time."

  Seraphine, Zafira's best informant, narrowed her eyes. "I knew she was fast. But that... even I didn't expect that."

  Jun, the assassin and Zafira's third-in-and, crossed her arms, her brows furrowing. "I've fought alongside her for years, but even I wouldn't be able to do that. Cutting an arrow? Maybe. But a bullet? That's not normal."

  Meanwhile, Haoran and Renshu exged uneasy gnces. Haoran ched his fists. "This is why she's dangerous. This is why she must be feared."

  Renshu nodded slowly. "No warrior should be able to do what she just did. Ezra isn't just strong—she's something else entirely."