Krion stirred from sleep, his mind struggling to pull itself from the depths of unsciousness. His body felt heavy, limbs sluggish as if weighed down by invisible s. The world was a haze of shadows, shapes shifting in the dim light of the room. The fire had likely been reduced to embers some time ago.

  His head throbbed, seill dulled by sleep. He was just starting to drift bato sleep’s warm embrace when a voice pulled him back. Close. Urgent.

  “Krion. Wake up.”

  His eyes snapped open to find Hatsune leaning over him, her face mere inches away from his own. Her silver-grey hair framed her sharp, worried features, long ears twitg toward the door as she listeo something beyond his hearing. She was already dressed in her armor, it fitting snugly over her form. Even in the dim light, he could tell that her green eyes were sharp, alert, and focused. Whatever woke her wasn’t a bad dream.

  “Hatsune?” he mumbled, still hoarse with sleep. “What’s… what’s going on?”

  Her witched. “Someone’s banging on the front door.”

  The fog of sleep lifted a little more, repced by a creeping sense of u wasn’t just the words she spoke, but the tension in her voice, the way her fingers rested on the hilt of her sword. She was ready for trouble.

  Krion closed his eyes, and tried to listen for whatever it was that had woken the Leporine. For a long moment, he didn’t hear anything. Then just the barest bit of sound. Straining his hearing as far as he could, he could just make out a rhythmic thudding eg through Banor. The longer he listehe more it seemed like each impact vibrated through the stone walls, heavy enough that Krion was surprised that he himself hadn’t been jerked from sleep.

  Someone was at the front door. No, someone was beating on the front door.

  Krion’s instincts fred, his mind finally catg up to the urgency of the situatioried to push himself up, but his body protested, heavy and unwilling from a ck of sleep. “What time is it?”

  “Middle of the night, perhaps a bit ter,” Hatsune answered. “No one would e here at this hour unless it was important. Or dangerous.” She looked to the door of the room, her ears still straining to caty noise, before turning ba. “The banging hasn’t stopped. It’s been rhythmice I woke you, like someone’s using all their strength. Might be trouble.”

  That got him moving. The haze of sleep vanished as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, pnting his feet on the cold floor. He ighe bright blush on Hatsune’s face, and the way her eyes darted across his body as he bent over to pull on his uniform. Once dressed, he stepped around the Leporio take the greatsword Rolfun had given him from its spot o the dresser. His hand closed around the hilt, the familiar weight a fort.

  He looked for Hatsune, finding her already moving toward the door, the hilt of her swripped tightly in her hands, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. She looked back at him, her expression firm. “I’ll go first.”

  He wao protest, to remihat he was the one who should be leading the way, but the look in her eyes stopped him. She was his bodyguard, sworn to protect him. He couldn’t take that from her.

  “Alright,” he agreed, nodding. “But stay close.”

  Hatune’s ears flicked, and a small, determined smile appeared on her lips. “Always.”

  Together, they moved swiftly and silently through the dark halls of Banor. The rhythmic thudding grew louder with each step, reverberating through the walls. Krion’s grip tightened on his sword, his heart pounding in his chest. Who would be banging on the front door of Banor in the dead of night? And with such force?

  Before he could po further, they had arrived at the foyer, and Hatsune moved toward the door, her movements graceful and silent. Krion followed close behind, his senses on high alert. The front door loomed before them, its thick wood trembling with each impact.

  Hatsuated, drawing her sword, ready for whoever, whatever was oher side.

  She gnced back at him, her eyes steely despite her . “Are you ready?” she mouthed.

  Krion readied his greatsword, then nodded.

  The hud was louder, more desperate. Whoever was oher side was running out of strength.

  Hatsuook a breath, then yahe door open, her sword rising in the air as she did so.

  A figure colpsed inward, falling face-first onto the floor of the foyer. Hatsune jumped back with a startled yelp, and Krion’s eyes widened as he reized the bloodied armor and white mask.

  “J-65!”

  The Sentinel y motionless on the cold stone floor, her body battered and broken. Blood started to pool beh her, staining the floor crimson, and her breathing was shalled. Her armor was cracked in multiple pces, the once-pristine bck smeared with dirt and blood. Krion’s heart lurched. He had never seen a Sentinel like this before — defeated, vulnerable.

  Without thinking, he dropped to his knees beside her, his hands h over the worst of her injuries, struggling to figure out what he could do to stop the bleeding. Fug hell, what he wouldn’t give to have another of Rolfun’s healing potions on hand. “J-65! you hear me?!”

  Her masked head moved, ever so slightly. Her voice was weak, barely a whisper of sound. “...break… the… …”

  Krion’s eyes so where her trembling hand struggled to reach for her exposed neck. Beh the mask hung a delicate silver around her bruised throat. It glinted in the moonlight, half-hidden under her armor.

  Hatsune dropped beside him, her face pale. “Krion, she’s hurt badly,” she said, ho pushing aside whatever feelings she had expressed previously about the Sentinel. “We o stop the bleeding.”

  Krion didn’t hesitate.“Get some of the towels from the kit. They should be clear. Hurry!”

  While the Leporine ran to the kit, Krion lifted the Sentinel, armor and all, as if she weighed no more than a small child. He winced as she whimpered in pain. Pausing only to kick the front door closed behind him, he carried her limp body deeper into the foyer. He id her down on the rug as Hatsuurned with the towels. His bodyguard began examining the Sentinel’s injuries with swift, precise movements.

  “She’s barely breathing,” Hatsune said, expression grim. “Whoever did this… they meant to kill her.”

  Krio a surge of anger, his hands shaking as he reached for the silver around J-65’s injured neck. It was delicate, impossibly thin, and cool to the touch. He didn’t uand what it was or why she wanted him to break it, but the desperation in her voice earlier still echoed in his mind.

  He gripped the and pulled, snapping it with a sharp jerk.

  A burst of light exploded from the broken , flooding the room with brillia radiated outward, passing through the walls of Banor and into the night beyond. Krion shielded his eyes, his heart rag, and Hatsune cried out as the light enveloped them.

  Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the light was gohe snapped fell from his hand, turning to dust before it touched the floor.

  Silence followed, heavy and suffog. Krion looked around, his ears ringing for some reason. Nothing happened. Nothing ged.

  “What… was that?” Hatsune whispered, eyes wide with shock.

  Krion shook his head, his heart still pounding in his ears. “I don’t know. But she asked me to break it. I’m guessing we will have some visitors soon.”

  Krion’s hands trembled as he took a folded towel from Hatsuo press it against a deep wound along J-65’s side, blood soaking through faster than he could tain it. His breathing had bee ragged, mirr hers, though his desperation fueled every movement. This wasn’t w.

  “We have to get this off,” Krion said, fingers fumbling at the csps of J-65’s breastpte. The leather straps were slick with her blood, making her difficult to grip. Hatsune k beside him, her armaus king as she worked oher side.

  “I’ve got it,” she said grimly, loosening the st strap.

  The metal breastpte came away with a heavy g, revealing J-65’s torso ed tightly to prevent her armor from chaffing. No time for modesty with her life on the line, Krion and Hatsune worked to remove what they could, slowly revealing several weeping wounds. Applying pressure with the towels against the worst of the wounds, Krion couldn’t help but notice how pinpricks of light seemed to shift uhe woman’s dusky skin. W just what kind of race the woman was, he stared closer. Yes, there were, in fact, little lights moving under her skin. It wasn’t an illusion.

  That was wheiced the scars.

  Every inch of exposed skin not marred by blood or bruises dispyed tless small scars — old wounds crisscrossing her skin like some sort of macabre tapestry.

  Scars so much like his own.

  Whenever J-65 had been around him, she had carried herself with an air of untouchable strength, cealed by the cold efficy of a Sentinel. Yet now, stripped of her armor, she was id bare to them — another soul shaped by pain and hardship.

  Krion’s chest tighteill further. “She’s been through hell,” he whispered, though whether he was talking about her past or the injuries from tonight, he couldn’t say.

  Hatsune’s ears flicked, but she kept her focus on the Sentinel’s wounds. “Focus. We o stop the bleeding.”

  Together, they worked frantically, binding the Sentinel’s weeping wounds with the limited supplies of towels they had. Blood seeped through the makeshift bandages, stubborn and refusing to stop. J-65’s breathing was being shallower, and he desperately pressed his fingers against her neck, searg for a pulse. It was faint aing fainter.

  “e on, don’t give up,” he whispered, almost begged, as he looked down at the Sentinel.

  Abruptly, Hatsuensed by his side, ears fixed ba the front door.

  “Krion! Someone’s —!!”

  The front door of Banor exploded inward with the force of a thundercp. The thick wood shattered, splinters spraying across the foyer as the door was ripped from its hinges. A powerful gust of wind smmed through the hall, sending tapestries fluttering and scattering dust into the air.

  Krion barely had time tister the shock before an overwhelming presence flooded the room. It was as though the air itself bowed beh the weight of it, the atmosphere crag with a suffog pressure that drove him back down to his knees. Hatsuaggered beside him, struggling to remain in a seated position, but she could not withstand the force that pressed down against them. She hit the floor, lying beside J-65.

  A figure stepped through the ruined doorway with deliberate, ominous grace. His silhouette was framed by the moonlight spilling in from behind, making him appear almer than life. Heavy bck armor encased his t form, each pte gleaming with a faiallic sheen that caught the dim light. Strapped across his back was a massive, wickedly serrated two-handed sword, its dark bde radiating an aura of dread that made Krion’s blood run cold.

  The man’s face was fully obscured by a white mask streaked with crimson lines, as though painted with blood. The red streaks radiated from the mask’s eye slits and mouth, giving the impression of a silent, screaming visage. An aura of menace g to him, so potent it felt tangible, like icy fingers ing around Krion’s throat.

  The Lord Sentinel.

  Krion’s heart pounded, his every instinct screaming at him to flee, to escape this crushing presence. But his body refused to move, pinned beh the weight of the man’s power. Hatsune remained colpsed beside him, her breathing bored, eyes wide with fear. Even J-65, battered and broken on the floor, shivered involuntarily.

  Before Krion could muster any words, three shadows moved swiftly past the Lord Sentinel, charging into the foyer. They were Sentinels, their sleek armor dark aureless, white masks gleaming as they dreons in perfect, synized motion. Bdes fshed, the air humming with deadly i as they lu him and Hatsuh precision and speed beyond human capability.

  With a herculean effort, Krion barely mao raise his sword before the first strike desded, the force of the blow sending vibrations up his arm. Fear filled him as he saw that Hatsune would not be able to get her own on up in time. Her fear-filled eyes found his own as the other Sentinel’s bde came sweeping in.

  “STOP.”

  The single word echoed through the manor, reverberating off the walls with the weight of authority that could not be denied. It was more than a and; it was a decree.

  The three Sentinels froze mid-motion, their attacks halting instantly. Their masked faces soward the Lord Sentinel, who stood in the shattered doorway, his preseninating the room.

  Krion’s chest heaved as he gasped for breath, the crushing pressure around him easing only slightly. He looked up, eyes wide with involuntary fear, fear he was struggling to push away, as the Lord Seepped forward. The aura of menace did not waver, the air shimmering with raw power as his gaze swept over the se, lingering on J-65’s broken form.

  The room was deathly silent, no one daring to breathe as the Lord Sentinel’s crimson-streaked mask turo face him. Even behind that expressionless visage, Krion could feel the weight of that stare, as if those hidden eyes were peering straight into his soul.

  His voice cut through the silence, cold and unfiving.

  “Expin.”

  Hope you all ehis test chapter. e back Friday to see what happens with the Lord Sentinel and J-65/Jezeri.

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