The air crackled, thick with unspoken violence. This wasn't just a confrontation; it was a declaration, the scent of blood in the water drawing predators. Scar stood before them, a mountain of muscle and menace, his small, greedy eyes devouring Kai before flicking dismissively towards Elira.
"Very alone," Scar repeated, his ugly smile widening to reveal stained teeth. "Or maybe you found yourself a new pet, Elira? Gonna protect him when the real price comes due?"
Elira didn't blink. She stood her ground, radiating a dangerous stillness. "I don't keep pets, Scar. And you know I always pay my debts." Her voice was quiet, but it carried an icy edge that made one of Scar's remaining men take an involuntary step back.
Scar refocused on Kai. "So, newcomer. That little trick you picked up… Echo of Fear. Nasty piece of work. Maybe you should hand it over to someone who knows how to use it properly. Or perhaps… just a few Soul Units to soothe my wounded feelings? Say, fifty? A small price for your continued well-being."
Fifty units. Half of what Kai had left after buying the poisoned sensation and the penalty inflicted on the other challenger. It was blatant extortion, backed by the barely veiled threat of violence. Kai felt the Echo of Fear pulse beneath his skin, a cold, trapped insect. Could he use it? Should he?
*What is Scar's deepest fear?* Kai wondered frantically. Pain? Betrayal? Or something stranger, rooted in whatever twisted past led him here? But using the power required focus, a target. Was he ready to delve into the filth of Scar's mind? More importantly, was he ready for the consequences if it failed, or if it wasn't enough?
*"Don't show weakness."* Elira's earlier words echoed.
"I think I'll keep it," Kai said, striving to keep the tremor out of his voice. "I won it fair and square."
Scar barked a harsh, grating laugh that echoed in the blue-lit space. "Fair? Nothing's fair here, boy. There's only power, and who holds it." He nodded to his men. "Time to teach the newcomer a lesson about reality."
The two thugs moved, the burly one and the one with cold, dead eyes. They spread out, attempting to flank Kai and Elira.
Kai's heart hammered. He risked a glance at Elira. She remained preternaturally calm, but her body was coiled, tense as a drawn bowstring. Her eyes never left Scar.
*"Find the anchor."* Her advice during the fear challenge returned. Was there an anchor here? Something to hold onto?
He hesitated. Part of him screamed to unleash the Echo of Fear on Scar, to watch the bully crumble. Another part, the one that yearned for that false safety, just wanted this to end, for the threat to vanish. And a third, deeper, darker part whispered that hesitation was weakness, that survival here demanded a ruthlessness he wasn't sure he possessed… or perhaps, one he simply didn't remember possessing.
In that fraction of a second of Kai's indecision, Scar moved. Not a direct attack, but a flicker of temporal manipulation. Kai saw the faint golden shimmer around Scar's head – the Time Echo. In the next instant, Scar had shifted two steps to the side, avoiding a position where Elira might have struck first, while the burly thug lunged forward, aiming for Kai.
It happened too fast. Kai saw the fist coming, instinct screaming at him to move, but his hesitation made him fatally slow. He wasn't a fighter. He didn't know *how* to fight.
But Elira did.
She moved with blinding speed and lethal grace. She didn't intercept the man attacking Kai. Instead, she spun low, driving her elbow with brutal force into the knee of the cold-eyed man flanking her. Kai heard a sickening *crack*, followed by a sharp cry of agony as the man collapsed, clutching a leg bent at an unnatural angle.
Elira didn't pause. Straightening, she snapped a kick backwards, the heel of her boot connecting with excruciating precision against the throat of the burly man just as he reached Kai. The man made a choked, gagging sound and stumbled back, hands clawing at his neck, eyes bulging with shock and pain.
It was over in less than three seconds – the duration of Scar's Time Echo. But Elira hadn't given him the chance to use it again. Her eyes were now locked onto Scar, her stance defensive yet radiating undeniable menace.
Scar froze, his grin vanishing, replaced by a wary calculation. He glanced at his incapacitated men, then at Elira, then at the stunned Kai. He clearly hadn't anticipated this level of vicious efficiency.
"You're making a mistake, Elira," Scar growled, the earlier threat significantly diminished.
"The mistake was yours, thinking you could touch what isn't yours," Elira retorted coolly. "Leave. Now. Before I decide to take more than just a knee."
Scar hesitated a moment longer, eyes flashing with fury and humiliation. But he saw something in Elira's gaze that made his decision. He gave a curt, angry nod.
"This isn't over," he spat, before turning and stalking away, melting back into the shifting blue shadows, abandoning his injured followers. The man with the broken knee whimpered on the floor; the other still gasped, clutching his throat.
As Scar disappeared, the sharp tension in Elira's posture eased slightly, though she remained watchful. She glanced at the two men on the floor with cold disdain, then turned to Kai.
Kai was still reeling, trying to process the sudden, brutal violence. Elira's speed, her efficiency… it was both incredible and deeply disturbing. She'd saved him, but the *way* she'd done it… it was terrifying.
"Thank you," he managed, his voice thin.
Elira looked at him, her expression unreadable in the dim blue light. "Don't thank me. I was protecting my investment."
"Your investment?" Kai asked, confused.
"You drew attention, Kai. That makes you a target. And it makes anyone near you a target by association." She stepped closer, her eyes searching his face. "But you also showed something else… resilience. You endured the Echo." A pause. "But you hesitated."
Kai felt a flush of shame mixed with defensiveness. "I didn't know what to do. I've never fought before."
"Maybe *you* haven't," Elira said softly, the words hitting Kai with unexpected force. "But *he*… *he* never hesitated." She stared at him for a long moment, as if seeing someone else superimposed over his features. "*He* would have done anything to survive. Anything to win."
*Him.* Again. Who was this *him* she kept referring to? Was it the owner of the bloody hands in his vision? Was it the person Kai was somehow a fragment of, a pale imitation?
Before Kai could voice the question burning in his throat, a new sound intruded. Not the Auctioneer's voice, not the whimpers of the injured men, but a dry, slithering, chitinous whisper that seemed to emanate from the very shadows surrounding them.
*"…Blood spilled… outside the auction… sweet scent… fractured souls… price must be paid…"*
Kai and Elira froze. It wasn't human. It was something ancient, hungry, utterly alien. Kai looked towards the deepest pools of darkness between the patches of blue light, a primal dread crawling up his spine. Something was watching them. Something far worse than Scar and his thugs.
"What is that?" Kai whispered, the hair on the back of his neck prickling.
Elira grabbed his arm, her grip surprisingly strong, her eyes wide with something that looked, for the first time, like genuine fear. "The Hall Guardians," she hissed, her voice tight. "They're drawn to unsanctioned chaos, to soul-stuff spilled improperly. The fight… we drew their attention. We have to move. *Now!*"
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