Taren moved first. He stepped out of the stairwell and into the heat before his mind had time to argue with him. The air hit his lungs like fire. His breath caught halfway in. His throat burned instantly. The corridor felt like the inside of a furnace that had just been opened. Seris followed a step behind him. The moment the heat reached her chest she slowed, her body reacting before her thoughts could catch up. Every step toward the center made the air worse. Raizō didn’t turn around. His eyes stayed on Cael.

  “Don’t touch the blade,” he said.

  Taren wiped sweat from his face with the back of his arm. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

  Shizume remained near the stairwell. She tried to take one step forward. Pain shot through her leg immediately. Her breathing tightened as the heat reached her lungs. Even standing this far away made her vision swim. The others were already deeper inside the corridor where the temperature was worse. Her hand tightened against the wall. She hated being useless. Even if her injuries didn’t slow her down, the heat alone would have stopped her. Raizō, Seris, and Taren were the only ones who could get that close. So she stayed where she was, watching, waiting.

  Raizō stepped forward again. Cael’s sword moved instantly. The strike came down fast and clean. Raizō stepped inside the swing before the edge could reach him. His glove slammed against the flat of the blade and forced it aside just enough to avoid the cut. Heat burned through the metal. Pain shot through his hand. Raizō ignored it and drove his fist forward. The strike landed against Cael’s chest and forced him back half a step. Seris moved at the same moment. Her feet carried her around Raizō in a quick arc, her sword flashing toward Cael’s shoulder before vanishing again as she stepped away. Her strikes came from different angles every second, forcing Cael to keep adjusting his guard. It was the only way for her to ignore the pain. Cael turned toward her. The heat surged the moment he moved. Raizō saw it. He stepped forward again. Taren came in from the opposite side. He moved like a hunter cutting into an opening. His strike aimed low, toward Cael’s leg, forcing him to shift his footing. Cael avoided it easily. His body moved faster than any normal fighter could keep up with. The magic around him didn’t just create heat. It ran through his body too, strengthening every movement. His reactions were sharp, his strength heavy behind every swing of the blade.

  Cael twisted away from Taren’s strike and swung the sword again. Raizō knocked the blade aside. The heat rolled over him again, hotter than before. His skin burned along his wrists where the glove didn’t cover. Seris struck again the moment the blade cleared. Her sword flashed toward Cael’s arm, then toward his ribs, then toward his shoulder before disappearing again as she stepped back out of reach. Cael blocked the first strike, turned his shoulder from the second, and stepped away from the third. Every time he moved, the heat around him flared harder. Raizō stepped into the moment right after the flare. His fist slammed into Cael’s torso. The impact forced him backward a full step this time. Taren didn’t give him space to recover. He stepped in again immediately, striking toward Cael’s upper body before pulling away the instant the heat surged again.

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  Seris moved again, her tempo rose. Her feet carried her around Raizō’s side in quick, fluid steps. Her sword flashed again and again, each strike aimed somewhere different. None of them stayed long enough to be countered. They forced Cael to keep turning. Cael swung again. This time the blade moved faster. The magic inside his body pushed the motion harder than before. Raizō barely deflected it. The heat blasted across his face, forcing him to blink. He stepped forward anyway. His shoulder drove into Cael’s chest and shoved him backward. Cael’s boots slid across the stone. Seris moved instantly. Her sword flicked toward his arm, then toward his neck before she pulled away again as the heat surged around him. Taren stepped in from behind and struck Cael’s back before retreating again. For several seconds the corridor became chaos. Cael swung, Raizō deflected, Seris forced him to turn, and Taren struck whenever Cael’s attention shifted. Every attack came from a different direction. Cael blocked most of them. His strength was undeniable. His body moved fast under the magic’s influence, faster than any normal fighter to keep up with them. But the heat around him began to flicker more often. Each attack forced him to move. Each movement forced the magic to surge again.

  Cael drove the blade into the floor. The corridor exploded with heat. The stone beneath the blade softened instantly. The air turned white with temperature. Seris staggered backward, coughing as the heat slammed into her lungs. Taren retreated toward the stairwell again, breathing hard. Even Raizō slid back several steps before he could stop himself. Shizume watched from the wall. She could feel the intense heat from where she was. Her fingers tightened into fists. They were all fighting, and she couldn’t move. Cael pulled the blade from the floor. The heat around him burned brighter now. Raizō forced himself forward again. His arms trembled from the pain. Seris stepped beside him, burns all over her body. Taren circled behind Cael once more, sweat covering him entirely. The three of them stood inside the heat together. For a moment the corridor went still. Raizō exhaled slowly.

  “You’re too strong.” he said calmly. “So It’s only fair”

  Seris glanced toward him. Raizō kept his eyes on Cael.

  “We attack you at once.”

  Then the corridor exploded into motion again.