The silence was absolute. Hykee did not lunge. He did not even flinch. He simply stood in the center of the street with his arms hanging loosely at his sides his eyes locked onto Kota with a terrifying unblinking focus. He was a statue of manic intent waiting for the boy to crack.

  Inside Kota something stirred with a violent and sudden urgency. The flickering silver embers didn't just glow they roared. The boy posture shifted becoming rigid and precise. The desperation in his eyes was replaced by a cold ancient hunger that did not belong to a child. The time for waiting had ended.

  A low breath escaped Hykee as his grin widening just a fraction. He was enjoying the hesitation. He was savoring the moment where Kota realized there was no way out.

  Suddenly the atmosphere around Kota changed. He moved with a speed that even caught Lokee off guard. Kota vanished into a blur of silver light. He projected himself across the gap like a spear launched from the hand of a god aiming a palm strike fueled by a massive concentration of Yen at the opponents throat.

  Hykee watched with delight. He tilted his head back just as the silver palm whistled past his neck but he did not back away. Instead he coiled his power and delivered a punch so hard it sounded like a thunderclap. The blow caught Kota square in the chest sending him flying back through the air.

  Kota hit the stone street and skidded several feet his body trembling. Leiya ran to him despite the danger. She reached down and grabbed his arm desperately trying to pull him up while her eyes darted toward the others in terror.

  "Get up Kota!" she pleaded her voice cracking. "You won't win this we need to run!"

  Kota looked at her his breathing heavy and shallow. He tried to push himself off the ground but his arms gave way. "I can not." he rasped through gritted teeth. "This body is too weak. I have expended too much Yen. I can not move girl."

  Hykee stood still and let out a jagged manic laugh that echoed against the broken down houses. "I am done playing."

  He reached up and grabbed his own jaw his fingers digging into his skin. Hykee's void was different from his siblings allowing him to store objects within a pocket of nothingness inside his own body. His throat served as the gateway to this internal abyss and drawing his weapon required him to physically reach into the dark. This violent process was another reason why he was always covered in bandages as the internal pressure of the void frequently tore at his own flesh from the inside out.

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  He let out a low guttural sound as his throat began to bulge and shift. Hykee reached deep into the darkness of his own throat his hand disappearing past the wrist as he grasped the hilt hidden within the dark void.

  With a slow agonizing pull he dragged a hilt out from his throat. The metal was jagged and black coated in a thick dark residue that smoked when it hit the air. Hykee pulled the full length of the blade out a long curved sword made of a material that swallows light. He wiped the residue from his lips with a bloodied hand.

  "Did he just?" Juno whispered her face pale as she watched the display.

  "Ew that's disgusting." Kana added stepping back with a look of pure revulsion.

  At the Haven the atmosphere was thick with a different kind of tension. Kova stood by the Roundtable with Koma and Kaola. Koma was leaning against a pillar watching Kaola with a hungry predatory look while she sat in the chair directly across from him.

  Kova suddenly went still his eyes narrowing. He felt a sharp surge of energy emitting from the south a jagged and familiar vibration that cut through the void. He knew that signature. It was the sound of Hykee unsealing his full malice.

  "He is losing his patience." Kova thought to himself his expression remaining a mask of cool neutrality. "If he releases that thing there won't be a boy left to bring back."

  Back in the settlement the fight took a turn toward the nightmare. Hykee threw his sword into the air and snapped his fingers. A black puddle appeared on the ground beneath it and the sword flew into the darkness vanishing completely.

  "Where did the sword go?" Juno asked herself her eyes wide with confusion. "Why did he pull it out to just get rid of it?"

  Suddenly a memory of Kova's voice flashed through her mind. He had warned her about this. He had told her that if he ever did that gesture by throwing his sword in the air she needed to get away immediately. The realization hit her like a physical blow. This was not a bluff. It was a death sentence.

  Hykee looked at Kota and his face was no longer human. He covered his eyes with one hand his tongue sticking out in a gnarly scary look. As he held his hand up the bandages wrapped around the back of his hand began to fray and rip apart under an immense unseen pressure.

  What was most terrifying was a sewed eye on the back of his hand which began to slowly open as the cloth fell away in tatters. The air began to crackle. Lightning started striking the stone street and the sky turned a bruised purple color. Something ominous was about to happen as the eye wept black tears.