The scorching night wind carried the lingering heat of the fire, sweeping brutally across the clearing.
The blood soaking the ground grew tacky in the hot wind, mingling with dust and the acrid smell of burning to form a strange, suffocating stench.
Ryusui lay quietly on the cold ground, his body slowly growing colder and stiffer.
Li Xiang slowly braced herself against the ground and straightened up, inch by inch.
Her eyes were dark.
She lowered her gaze slightly. Grief pushed to its utmost left no tears, only madness.
The next second, she raised her eyes and locked her gaze on the man ahead.
Not far away, Thorn held a hand over his torn, bleeding ear. Warm blood soaked half his face and his neck.
The mangled wound looked hideous, all the more so with the expression he wore.
Agony kept tearing at his nerves, yet instead of fearing Li Xiang as he looked at her, he broke into wild, cackling laughter.
His shrill, piercing laughter echoed over and over across the deathly silent clearing, making everyone's skin crawl.
"You?"
He raised an eyebrow, his tone dripping with contempt.
"I'd love to see what you've got left to fight me with, looking like that."
The instant the words fell, Thorn wasted no more breath and charged.
A fierce gust struck her head-on.
Li Xiang's nerves stretched taut. She twisted aside and retreated sharply, barely avoiding the fatal blow and forcing some distance between them.
Li Xiang kept dodging, trying to draw him away.
But the gap in their fighting strength was simply too vast.
Punches and kicks rained down in a relentless storm. Wave after wave of attacks squeezed away the space she had to dodge, leaving her no room to breathe.
The wounds rubbed into her wrists by the