Koda had expected an explosion, a flash of light or maybe some dramatic collision that would announce the beginning of the battle.
Instead, the fight began with a single note.
The woman’s sword shifted slightly in her hand, and a soft ringing sound spread through the room.
Nothing happened.
Then Master Gabriel vanished.
The Master dissolved into smoke so quickly that Koda almost thought he had imagined it.
One moment he was standing there with his hands in his pockets.
The next, his body unraveled into a dark gray fog that surged outward through the room.
The woman’s expression didn’t change.
She moved.
A violent sonic boom erupted from her position.
The entire room shook.
The smoke occupying the center of the room was torn apart as an invisible wave of force blasted through it, pulverizing furniture and punching a crater into the opposite wall.
Koda instinctively threw himself to the floor.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
His ears rang.
For a moment, he couldn’t understand what had happened.
Then a gunshot echoed through the room.
The sound came from behind the woman.
A dense black projectile emerged from the smoke and crossed the distance between them in an instant.
She turned.
Her blade moved.
Steel met compressed smoke.
The resulting ring nearly shattered Koda’s eardrums.
The sound was magnified.
And a portion of the room exploded.
The projectile burst apart into a storm of black smoke while the amplified shockwave ripped through everything nearby.
Koda stared.
“What the hell?” He spat in disbelief.
The woman didn’t pause.
She immediately lunged into the smoke.
The movement confused him.
How was she charging someone she couldn’t see?
Then he realized she wasn’t searching.
She knew exactly where Gabriel was.
Her sword flashed.
The smoke ahead of her exploded apart.
A split second later, Gabriel emerged from the cloud itself, twisting sideways while another revolver shot rang through the room.
Three compressed bullets erupted from different directions simultaneously.
The woman spun.
Each impact against her blade created another ringing note.
Each ringing note became another sonic explosion.
The entire building transformed into chaos.
Walls shattered.
Floorboards split apart.
Windows disintegrated into glittering fragments.
Koda scrambled backward on instinct, trying desperately to stay away from the center of the battle.
“M—my house!” He yelled, but no one heard his cry.
Neither fighter paid him any attention.
Gabriel remained almost impossible to track.
He never stayed visible for more than a second.
One moment he appeared beside a broken wall, revolver raised.
The next, his body dissolved into smoke before the woman’s sword could reach him.
Then a dozen feet away, the smoke condensed again.
But unfortunately for Gabriel, the woman adapted frighteningly quickly.
Rather than chasing Gabriel directly, she began attacking the smoke itself.
Her blade flashed.
A sonic boom erupted.
Entire sections of the black cloud were blown apart.
The room seemed to expand and contract beneath the pressure of their powers colliding.
Gabriel clicked his tongue.
“Annoying, you must be from a pretty prominent criminal organisation.” He muttered, but Koda heard it.
The woman didn’t answer.
The silence somehow made her more intimidating.
Koda felt his stomach twist.
The hunger hadn’t disappeared.
If anything, it had become worse.
The smell of dust.
The smell of blood.
Even the smell of Gabriel’s cigarette smoke suddenly seemed appealing.
His stomach growled loudly.
The sound felt absurd amidst the destruction.
Gabriel glanced toward him.
Even while fighting.
Even while turning into smoke and dodging attacks capable of demolishing large scale structures.
The Master somehow found time to smirk.
“Hang in there, kid.
She’s tough.” A sonic explosion immediately tore through the spot where he’d been standing.
The smirk vanished along with the rest of him.
Koda blinked.
‘Masters are insane.’ He thought in horror.
The battle intensified.
Smoke flooded every corner of the room.
At some point, the building itself stopped mattering.
Large sections of the walls had already been destroyed, exposing the night beyond.
Wind rushed through the shattered structure, carrying smoke and dust across the battlefield.
Gabriel appeared atop a pile of rubble, tilting his hat slightly as his revolver barked three times.
The smoke surrounding him condensed instantly.
Three projectiles tore through the air.
The woman met the first with her blade.
A ringing note echoed outward.
The second exploded before reaching her.
The third slipped through the smoke from another angle.
For the first time, she was forced to move her feet.
The compressed projectile grazed her shoulder.
A shallow cut appeared.
Koda saw Gabriel’s grin immediately.
The Master pointed the revolver.
“Gotcha.” The woman glanced at the wound.
Then she looked up.
For the first time, her calm expression cracked.
Not from anger, but from recognition.
Gabriel seemed to notice it too.
His grin faded slightly.
The room fell silent for half a second.
“Wait.” The Master frowned.
The woman said nothing.
Gabriel scratched his beard.
“You’re kidding me.” No response.
The realization visibly settled over him.
Koda didn’t understand what was happening.
The woman hadn’t changed.
The battle hadn’t changed.
Yet somehow Gabriel suddenly looked far more interested.
The Master slowly lowered the revolver.
“Well.” Smoke drifted around him.
“You aren’t some random Ascended after all, not sure why your lot is after a snobby brat like him.” The woman finally spoke.
“You should leave.” Gabriel barked out a laugh.
The sound echoed through the ruined building.
“That’s usually my line.” He said.
“You do not understand who you’re making an enemy of.” The woman said calmly.
The statement wasn’t a threat.
It sounded more like a warning.
Gabriel considered that for a moment.
Then shrugged and muttered.
“Probably.” Koda stared.
‘That was it?
Probably?’ He thought.
The woman seemed equally unimpressed.
The sword in her hand shifted slightly.
Another note rang through the air.
Gabriel sighed.
“Yeah, that’s about what I expected from one of you guys.” The smoke around him thickened.
The entire battlefield darkened.
For the first time since the fight began, Koda couldn’t see the Master anymore.
Not even briefly.
The woman’s gaze sharpened.
She slowly turned.
Listening.
Waiting.
Searching.
A gunshot erupted from somewhere above.
Another came from behind.
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
The smoke itself seemed alive.
Every cloud concealed another attack while every shadow hid another angle.
The woman moved through the barrage with a certain grace, her sword creating constant waves of ringing force that detonated projectiles before they could reach her, but Koda could tell something had changed.
Before, she had been advancing.
Now she was reacting.
Gabriel had seized control of the fight.
The smoke became denser.
Darker.
The room disappeared entirely.
Koda could barely see his own hands.
Gunshots echoed endlessly through the darkness.
Sonic booms answered.
The building shook.
More walls collapsed.
For several seconds, the battle became completely invisible.
Only sounds remained.
Then a sharp crack echoed through the darkness.
Not a gunshot.
Not an explosion.
Something else.
Koda saw the woman emerge from the smoke.
A fresh wound marked her side.
Another stained her sleeve.
The sword remained steady.
Her expression remained calm.
Yet she no longer seemed interested in continuing.
Gabriel’s voice drifted from somewhere inside the smoke.
“Running already?” Silence.
The woman glanced toward Koda.
Then toward the smoke.
Then toward the ruined remains of the building.
For the first time, she appeared to weigh her options.
A moment later, her sword moved.
A devastating sonic boom erupted outward.
The smoke parted.
The building’s remaining walls collapsed.
Koda shielded his face.
By the time he looked up again, she was gone.
The night beyond the ruined structure was empty.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the smoke began gathering together.
A familiar figure emerged.
Gabriel stepped out of the darkness, revolver tucked away and cigar already hanging from his lips as though the fight had merely been a minor inconvenience.
He watched the direction the woman had disappeared for a moment.
Then he sighed.
“…Yeah.” Koda frowned.
“Yeah what?” He asked.
Gabriel lit the cigar, took a drag, exhaled.
“Getting a target painted on my back by none other than the great Clan Song is far above my pay grade…” he sighed, twirling his revolver before placing it back in its holster.
Koda stared at him.
The Master stared back.
Then Gabriel pointed toward the ruined building.
“Anyway… sorry about your house, I guess I won’t charge you too much.” He looked around.
“So, what did you do?” He asked.
Koda didn’t know how to respond, so he just tilted his head.
“What did you do to warrant one of clan Song’s retainers to come and take you away herself?
You are very lucky it wasn’t one of their saints because not even I could help you in that case.” He asked, raising an eyebrow as he took another drag of his cigar.
Koda’s eyes widened.
“Clan… Song?!” He exclaimed, not even knowing himself what he had done.
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