Chapter 76

Third Person’s POV

BANG!

“SIR JAYDEN!”

Earn’s voice tore through the ruined street just as Jayden staggered violently sideways.

The bullet had struck clean through his shoulder.

For a split second, his entire arm went numb before the pain surged all at once—hot, vicious, and deep enough to rattle through his chest. His body slammed hard against the nearest stone wall as instinct forced him to brace himself before his knees could completely give out.

Blood immediately began soaking through the dark fabric around the wound.

“Damn you…” Jayden muttered under his breath, teeth grinding together as he forced himself upright again.

His breathing had long since lost its rhythm.

Too fast.

Too heavy.

Every inhale scraped through him now.

He had been running across Tungsten nonstop ever since arriving—fighting through ambush after ambush while desperately searching for Queen Miu. And now, after exhausting himself through half the city, he had ended up facing one of the most infamous knights in all of Elysia.

Cole.

Jayden pressed harder against the wall and forced himself to peek around the debris.

Bodies littered the shattered street.

The Ravaryn knights he and Earn had managed to take down earlier remained motionless across the dirt and broken stone.

But—

His eyes sharpened instantly.

One was missing.

Jayden’s grip tightened around his rifle.

He was just about to move for the next piece of cover when instinct screamed at him.

Movement.

Right beside him.

He turned sharply—

Steel flashed into view.

CLANG!

Jayden barely managed to raise his rifle in time as Cole’s sword slammed into it with enough force to send vibrations screaming down his wounded arm.

The impact nearly buckled him on the spot.

For several brutal seconds, neither of them moved.

Steel ground violently against steel as both men pushed against each other with raw force alone, their boots digging into the dirt beneath them.

Cole’s expression remained calm.

Almost amused.

Jayden’s jaw tightened harder as pain pulsed mercilessly through his shoulder.

Then—

A smirk slowly spread across Cole’s face.

And before Jayden could react—

Cole’s free hand shot directly toward the bullet wound.

His thumb dug viciously into it.

“UGHHH—!” Jayden’s entire body jerked violently from the agony.

The pain exploded through him so suddenly his strength faltered for a single fatal moment.

And Cole took it immediately.

With one brutal shove, he slammed Jayden straight onto the ground.

The air left Jayden’s lungs harshly as debris scattered beneath him.

His rifle nearly slipped from his grasp.

Cole stepped forward slowly and towered over him, sword still in hand.

But he didn’t strike again.

Didn’t finish him.

Didn’t even seem interested in ending the fight quickly.

No—

He was enjoying this.

Jayden could see it clearly now.

The satisfaction in Cole’s eyes as he looked down at him sprawled across the dirt, blood staining his shoulder while his breathing fought desperately to stabilize.

Then—

Cole chuckled.

Low at first.

Then louder.

“To see the Great Jayden himself looking like this…” he mused mockingly. “The men who trained you must be rolling in shame.”

Jayden groaned quietly as he forced himself back upright, using the rifle to support his weight.

“You imbecile…” he spat through ragged breaths.

Cole laughed openly this time.

“There it is,” he said with amusement. “That arrogant mouth of yours.”

He slowly began circling him now, completely unhurried.

“Do you know how many knights hated you back then?” Cole continued casually. “The prodigy. The favored one. The untouchable genius knight.”

His smile thinned slightly.

“I was one of them.”

Jayden glared upward silently.

Cole finally stopped moving and lifted his sword once more.

The blade pointed directly toward Jayden’s throat.

“Now then…” Cole said softly, almost pleasantly. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The street around them had gone eerily still.

Even the distant gunfire felt far away now.

Cole’s grin widened.

“Beg for your life.”

His eyes darkened with cruel anticipation.

“Kneel before me, Jayden.”

Just as Cole was savoring the sight of Jayden struggling to stay upright, movement burst through the side of the ruined alley.

“Step away from Sir Jayden before I blow your head off.”

Earn’s voice cracked through the chaos like steel striking stone.

In a single motion, she raised her handgun and aimed it directly at Cole’s head, her breathing uneven from the sprint she had forced herself through just to reach him. Dirt stained her sleeves, blood smeared across one side of her uniform, and strands of hair clung to her damp face—but her grip never wavered.

Cole’s eyes shifted toward her.

But there was one more problem.

The gun in Earn’s hand was empty.

The chamber had run dry the moment she forced her way through the last of Cole’s men to reach Jayden.

Still, she stood her ground.

For one brief second, nobody moved.

Then the sound of boots crashing through debris shattered the stillness.

Cole’s remaining men emerged from the surrounding ruins almost instantly, rifles lifting toward Earn without hesitation. Metal clicked in rapid succession as safeties came off one after another.

Earn’s eyes narrowed.

Damn it.

At the exact same moment, another figure slipped out from behind a collapsed wall nearby.

Loki.

His breathing was ragged as he raised his own handgun toward one of the Ravaryn knights, finger tight against the trigger despite the obvious tension in his shaking arm.

And just like that, the entire alley locked into place.

One wrong movement.

One twitch.

One shot.

Every weapon pointed somewhere different, the crossing aims tangling together into a deadly standstill where anyone could die first.

Cole glanced around the scene before letting out a low chuckle.

“How pitiful,” he mocked. “Are these truly the palace knights people speak so proudly of?” His gaze dragged lazily over Earn and Loki before settling back on Jayden. “I didn’t even bother wearing armor beneath my cloak.”

Loki’s expression darkened immediately. “You talk big for someone winning through numbers alone,” he spat. “Do knights in Ravaryn not know shame?”

Cole barked out a laugh.

“You’re quite talkative for someone who isn’t even a knight.”

The insult landed, but Loki didn’t answer right away. His eyes briefly shifted toward Earn… then Jayden… calculating desperately, searching for some opening that didn’t exist.

Because they were losing.

And all of them knew it.

Jayden could barely stand.

Earn’s weapon was empty.

The Ravaryn knights still had the advantage.

Cole slowly lowered himself into a crouch before Jayden, the tip of his sword stayed just beneath the Major General’s throat.

“Listen carefully, you worthless fools,” he said softly, almost conversationally. “I don’t care how noble you think you are. I don’t care about honor, duty, or whatever pathetic ideals the palace fed you.”

His smirk deepened.

“Right now, we are the ones standing above you.”

The sword pressed slightly closer against Jayden’s neck.

“And you…” Cole tilted his head mockingly. “You’re the ones waiting to die.”

Silence stretched heavily through the ruined street, broken only by the distant echoes of gunfire somewhere deeper within Tungsten.

Cole’s eyes gleamed.

“The one who survives in the end is the winner. Isn’t that the first thing war should’ve taught all of you by now?”

The words lingered heavily in the air. For a brief moment, no one answered him.  Then Cole exhaled softly, almost amused.

“Ah, the sun is setting.” Cole tilted his head slightly as he glanced toward the darkening sky above the streets of Tungsten, orange light stretched across the horizon. A satisfied smile slowly crept onto his face. “It’s time to finish this. We still have something far more important to do.”

His gaze shifted lazily toward the men behind him.

“Tell everyone to set everything on fire. We’ll need some light on our way back.”

“Fool!” Earn snapped immediately, her voice raw from exhaustion. “Do you think we’ll just let you do that?!”

But before she could even move, another wave of armed men emerged from the surrounding alleys and broken streets, rifles lifting toward the group in practiced coordination.

“Stay still!” one of the bandits barked.

The tightening circle forced Earn to halt.

Then glass bottles began appearing one after another from the attackers’ cloaks.

Loki’s expression darkened instantly.

“No…”

The men uncapped the bottles and started splashing the liquid against nearby walls, unfinished homes, scaffolding, and piles of lumber. The sharp stench spread through the air almost immediately.

Gasoline.

Cole watched the scene unfold with visible amusement, adjusting his gloves casually as though he were merely overseeing laborers instead of destruction.

“Ugh… Sir Monde specifically asked for a fire large enough to be seen from Ravaryn,” he muttered with annoyance. “Honestly, the man has such dramatic tastes.”

Earn’s grip tightened around her handgun so hard her knuckles whitened. She could do nothing except watch as flames were lit one after another.

The fire spread hungrily.

It climbed unfinished beams. Crawled across wooden supports. Devoured curtains and dry roofing in seconds. Wind swept through the streets and carried the blaze farther, turning scattered flames into a growing inferno that slowly began surrounding the entire block.

The buildings the people of Tungsten had spent months rebuilding disappeared beneath orange light.

Smoke billowed upward into the evening sky.

The heat became suffocating.

And something inside Earn snapped.

Her breathing shook violently as she stared at the flames swallowing everything Miu had fought so desperately to protect. Every exhausted farmer. Every starving family. Every hopeful smile she had witnessed in the city.

Gone.

“NO!”

The scream tore from her throat before thought could stop it.

Earn threw her empty gun aside and charged forward with her sword drawn, fury completely overtaking reason as she lunged directly toward Cole.

Steel clashed.

Cole blocked her strike effortlessly with one hand.

“These people worked so hard for this land!” Earn shouted as she attacked again, her movements faster now, rougher, driven entirely by emotion.

But emotion made openings.

Cole stepped aside smoothly.

His blade flashed once.

Earn’s leg gave out instantly.

“AGH—!”

She stumbled violently and crashed against the dirt before she could recover her footing. The impact knocked the air from her lungs.

Cole did not hesitate.

The tip of his sword drove downward toward her back.

“EARN!” Loki’s scream cracked through the chaos as he instinctively tried to rush toward her.

Several rifles immediately shifted toward him.

“Don’t move!”

The bandits closed in before he could take another step.

Loki froze in place, trembling violently as tears burned his eyes. His gun shook uncontrollably in his hands while Earn remained pinned beneath Cole’s shadow.

“Earn!” he shouted again, voice breaking apart completely. “If you die here today, I swear I’ll never forgive you! Do you hear me?!”

Jayden’s vision blurred.

His shoulder burned unbearably from the gunshot wound, blood soaking through his uniform as he forced himself upright using the last scraps of strength left in his body.

No.

Not while he was still breathing.

With a strained groan, he pulled out his sword and swung toward Cole from behind.

But the injury to his dominant arm ruined the force behind the strike.

Cole turned instantly.

CLANG.

The sword was knocked clean out of Jayden’s hand and sent spinning uselessly across the burning street.

Jayden froze.

For one horrible second, all he could hear was the roar of fire.

How…

How could he be this weak?

Of all moments—

Why now?

“I usually avoid troublesome things,” Cole said casually as he turned fully toward him. Flames danced across the reflection in his eyes while the growing inferno painted the street in violent shades of orange and gold. “But beheading you could actually be entertaining.”

Jayden struggled to breathe as Cole slowly approached.

“It would become quite the story, wouldn’t it?” Cole chuckled softly. “The man who sliced off the head of Major General Jayden.”

He lifted his sword slightly.

“I think I’ll skin your face afterward and pass it down to my children. So feel honored.”

Then—

Distant shouting echoed somewhere beyond the burning streets.

Cole paused.

More voices followed.

Louder this time.

Hundreds of them.

He frowned slightly and turned toward the distant noise.

“Looks like our men finally finished—”

A laugh interrupted him.

Cole’s eyes narrowed.

Jayden was laughing.

Not mockingly.

Not bitterly.

Relieved.

“What exactly are you laughing at?” Cole asked coldly.

Jayden lowered his head for a moment before looking up again, exhaustion still visible across his face—yet somehow, his expression had changed completely.

“Cole… you fool,” he muttered between breaths. “Are those really the voices of your men?”

The hollering grew louder.

Not battle cries.

Something else.

Something alive.

“Listen carefully,” Jayden continued, the faintest smile finally appearing across his lips. “Men. Women. Children. Even the elderly.”

Another roar rose in the distance.

“That,” he said quietly, “is the voice of Tungsten.”

Cole’s expression stiffened.

“You’ve lost.”

For the first time that evening, uncertainty flickered across Cole’s face.

His grip around the sword tightened instantly and he raised the blade toward Jayden’s throat.

But Jayden simply closed his eyes.

It was over.

Reinforcements had arrived.

The fire would be stopped.

The city survived.

And strangely enough… he found peace in that realization.

If death came now, then so be it.

Still…

A small ache lingered somewhere deep inside him.

Just once more.

If only he could see that person one final time—

But then, sharp slashing sounds suddenly tore through the street.

Then another.

Then screams.

Jayden’s eyes snapped open.

Bandits were dropping one after another.

Something moved through the fire with terrifying speed, weaving between the chaos as a whip cracked violently through the smoke-filled air. One man was dragged forward by the throat. Another collapsed clutching his face. A rifle spun uselessly across the ground.

The figure stepped through the flames at last.

Firelight illuminated bloodstained clothes.

Sharp eyes burning brighter than the inferno itself.

And for one fractured second—

Time stopped.

Jayden’s breath caught violently in his chest.

“P-Prince Matthew…?”