The blade screamed through the air. The hair on Draven's arms stood on end, the storm's electricity singing along the rain-slicked forest. Reflexes screamed—he barely tilted his head, just enough. Steel raked across his shoulder, sending lightning flying. The edge of Cedric's lightning blade cut through flesh, severing his hand from the arm that had once gripped the dagger.
>"Bastard".
Pain shot through him like wildfire, teeth clenched, every nerve screaming. His severed hand clattered to the mud below, spinning through the rain. For a heartbeat, the world seemed to hold its breath, silent except for the hiss of rain and sizzling electricity.
Draven's other hand—his left—snapped backward, swinging in a desperate counterattack. Pure instinct. Pure fury. But Cedric was a blur; the strike met only air.
The storm raged around him. Mud and rain flew from each movement, lightning arcing off the dripping trunks. Draven twisted his body mid-fall, muscles screaming in defiance, and his eyes locked on the fallen arm.
With a speed that made even the storm seem sluggish, he lunged, catching the severed limb mid-air. blood licked along the edges of his wounds as he wove the raw flesh of the storm into the motion. With a violent twist, he reattached the arm to his body, bone knitting and sinew fusing in a violent sizzling pulse.
Rain hissed as he leapt backward, body arcing through the storm, twisting mid-air to land lightly on a slick branch several meters away. Mud and water sprayed with the force of the landing, and the forest seemed to shudder under the storm's wrath.
Before he could react, before the world could even blink, Cedric vanished in a flash of lightning.
A sudden flash.
Cedric appeared beside him again, golden-white light exploding around his form, lightning writhing along the edge of his blade, eyes blazing with cold fury. The forest shuddered at his arrival, trees snapping under the invisible pulse of power.
Draven's jaw tightened. Every muscle burned. Every nerve screamed. Yet even as the storm raged and lightning licked the leaves around them, his eyes never left Cedric's.
> "By order of my King," Cedric hissed over the thunder, "and as his loyal knight, I'll kill every one of you demons."
Cedric's blade arced straight for Draven's side, lightning coursing along the steel like a strike drawn from the storm itself.
>"Bullshit," Draven muttered..
he's left hand shot out, snapping toward the incoming blade in a flash of instinct he tried to catch the strike head-on.
The lightning-wreathed blade carved a jagged path through the air, zigzagging like a living bolt towards The edge bit through flesh and bone with a wet, metallic crack. blood could even fly. Flesh split, bone cracked— Blood spurted, but there was no time, no time to flinch—the blade didn't stop.
It continued toward his neck.
A sudden, ear-splitting clang rang through the storm as Draven's right hand—already almost fully healed—brought his dagger up just in time. Steel met steel. Sparks hissed in the rain, the shockwave rattling branches and whipping leaves into the air.
> "keep the nonsense to yourself and that dumbass king of yours I really don't care, Draven side maneuvered the dagger with precision, twisted with impossible precision as he hooked the dagger under Cedric's sword and deflecting it aside, angling it just enough to keep Cedric from pressing the attack. Without hesitation, he pivoted, snapping the dagger forward in a piercing thrust straight for Cedric's chest.
> "Just Die".
Cedric twisted effortlessly, eyes glowing, the world around him bending in his motion. The strike missed—he was already in motion, boot surging with mana as he appeared directly in front of Draven.
Crimson eyes locked on him, the boot came down, a deadly arc of power meant to crush. Draven's reflexes fired instantly. He ducked low, just under the strike, the edge of the boot whipping over his head in a hiss of displaced air.
No pause. No hesitation. Draven's dagger was already moving again, swinging with brutal intent. The clang of metal on metal echoed through the storm. Sparks sprayed, rain hissed, and the forest seemed to shudder.
Cedric blocked easily, but the strike drove him backward, momentum slamming him across the slick forest leaves. leaves and water sprayed in all directions.
Cedric twisted in the air, limbs coiling with precision, and landed lightly on a branch like a flash of lightning, the wood barely creaking beneath him. His eyes flicked toward Draven, calculating, deadly.
>" God fucking Dammit you bastards just keep on coming get rid of one and another shows up damn annoying bastard's.
>" But this one he's fast really fast, he thought. I could barely kept up with his attacks earlier and the electric coming out of his body he most be using some kind of lightning magic".
Draven crouched low on the same branch, crimson eyes fixed, every muscle coiled, every breath controlled. Rain slicked hair clung to his forehead, and the faint heat of mana ran like fire beneath his skin.
A flicker of movement, and Draven's gaze dropped to the branch. There it was—his severed left hand, hanging limply where it had been sliced from his arm.
With deliberate calm, he reached down, fingers closing around it. The cold rain slicked wood didn't slow him. He pressed the hand to his arm, and immediately, mana began to writhe along the severed wrist. Flesh knitted, bones clicked into place with a sharp, satisfying sound, and muscle and sinew wove themselves back together.
The hand twitched, fingers flexing as if nothing had happened. Draven flexed it experimentally, curling the fingers around the dagger in his right hand, testing the strength, the connection.
The storm raged around them, lightning crackling through the canopy, wind tearing at the leaves and their hairs, but Draven's focus never wavered. Every flicker of movement, every distant shadow, every tremor in the branch beneath them—all registered in the predator's mind.
His left arm, fully rejoined and whole once more, flexed as he shifted his weight. Crimson eyes locked on Cedric. The world seemed to narrow, every drop of rain, every flash of lightning, every hiss of displaced air converging into one sharp, electric heartbeat.
Draven stood, dagger in one hand.
> "let's get this shit over with the quicker the batter I'll make sure you die faster than you run," he murmured, voice low, cold, but carrying the weight of storms.
Cedric's lips curled, lightning dancing along his blade.