Natalia heard his ribs break. The sound was wet and awful, like someone stomping on a bag of chips filled with meat. His combat suit tore open across his chest, revealing the ruin beneath. The impact lifted him off his feet and sent him skidding through the black water, leaving a red trail in his wake.
He hit a pillar.
Slid down.
Coughed blood.
"SATORI!"
The name ripped out of Nataliaâs throat before she could stop it. Her barrier flickered. Her concentration shattered. For one terrible moment, she forgot about everyone else, forgot about the mission, forgot about everything except the broken boy bleeding in the black water.
You idiot. You absolute IDIOT. Why would you break yourself for her? Why would you throw your body away like that? Whyâ
Emi was crying.
The healer had collapsed to her hands and knees, tears streaming down her face, her whole body shaking with sobs. But she wasnât looking at Satori with the gratitude of a saved teammate.
She was looking at him like he was a god.
A savior who had descended from the heavens to shield her from darkness.
Natalia felt something ugly twist in her chest. Something hot and possessive and completely inappropriate for a near-death situation.
Heâs MINE. He protected you because youâre USEFUL, not because he cares about you. Donât you DARE look at him like that. Donât youâ
Satori stood up.
Nataliaâs thoughts crashed to a halt.
He shouldnât be standing. His chest was caved in. Blood poured from his mouth with every breath. His left arm hung at a wrong angle. By every law of biology and common sense, he should be dying.
But he stood up anyway.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his functional hand.
And he grinned.
That infuriating, arrogant, scumbag grin that made her want to slap him and kiss him in equal measure.
"Is that all you got, calamari?"
His voice was rough. Wet. It bubbled with blood. But it was steady.
Something was happening to him. Natalia could see it now. The air around him was shimmering. His eyes were too bright, almost glowing with crimson light. Every wound on his body seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat, and with each pulse, he moved a little easier. Stood a little straighter.
The pain is making him stronger.
Sheâd known about this ability. Heâd told her about it during one of their private sessions, voice casual as he explained how agony was just another resource to exploit. Sheâd thought she understood.
She hadnât understood at all.
"Isabelle!" His voice cracked like a whip. "Grab Soomin and fall back to the barrier! Emi, keep the others alive! Natalia!"
He looked at her.
His eyes found hers across the chaos of the battlefield, and everything else faded away. The monster. The dying. The crushing weight of the gravity field. There was only him, broken and bleeding and beautiful in the worst possible way.
Possessiveness.
"Hold the line, Nat. Iâll handle the big guy."
Isabelle didnât argue.
The queen of the Onyx Hounds retrieved her spear from the water, grabbed the injured Soomin by the scruff of her neck, and retreated toward Nataliaâs barrier without a word of protest.
Satori turned to face the Abyssal Nerve.
The monster pulsed with what might have been amusement. Its child-face tilted, those empty eyes studying the broken human who dared to challenge it.
"Foolish,"
the voice whispered in their heads.
"You are already dead. Your body simply hasnât realized it yet."
Satori raised his bat.
"Funny. Thatâs the same thing my guidance counselor said when I told her I wanted to be a Hunter."
He attacked.
Fire erupted from his hand. [Thermal Incision] carved a burning line through the air, searing into the entityâs gelatinous body. Steam exploded from the wound. The monster screamed, its psychic voice tearing at Nataliaâs mind.
Satori pressed forward.
He swung the bat like a demon possessed, each impact sending ripples through the creatureâs form. He was carving chunks out of it. Burning away its mass. Forcing it backward for the first time since the battle began.
But he was taking hits too.
A tendril caught his left shoulder. Natalia heard something pop. His arm, already damaged, went completely limp.
He kept swinging.
Another tendril swept his legs. He crashed into the water face-first, disappeared beneath the black surface for a heart-stopping moment, then exploded back up swinging.
Blood sprayed from his mouth with every exhale.
Stop. Stop. Please stop. Youâre going to die. Youâre going toâ
He went down to one knee.
His bat drove into the stone beneath the water, the only thing keeping him upright. His entire body shook like a leaf in a hurricane. The water around him had turned red with his blood.
The Abyssal Nerve loomed above him.
Its tendrils retracted. Its mass condensed. All that darkness, all that ancient malice, gathered into a single point at the center of its body. A spear of void energy crystallized in the air, aimed directly at Satoriâs head.
The weapon pulsed once. Twice.
Ready to fire.
The battlefield went silent.
Natalia couldnât breathe.
Time stretched like taffy, each second lasting an eternity. She saw everything with horrible clarity. The blood running down Satoriâs face. The way his hands trembled on the batâs grip. The smile still carved into his features, that arrogant scumbag grin that refused to die even when he couldnât move.
He looked up at the void spear.
He looked death in the face.
And he laughed.
A broken, bloody, defiant sound that echoed through the cathedral chamber.
No.
Something cracked inside Nataliaâs chest.
No no no no noâ
The logic broke. The strategy broke. The carefully constructed mask of the ice princess, the tsundere armor sheâd worn for years, shattered into a million pieces that scattered across the black water like broken glass.
She didnât care about the plan anymore.
She didnât care about the hierarchy.
She didnât care about anything except the fact that he was about to die and she couldnât let that happen. WOULDNâT let that happen.
Her barrier dropped.
The gravity slammed down on the unconscious bodies behind her, but she was already moving. Her hand reached out, telekinetic power flaring in a wild, uncontrolled burst that sent black water exploding in every direction.
The void spear began to move.
And Natalia screamed.
Not his title. Not his role in her life. Not any of the careful, distant names she used to keep herself safe.
Just the only word that mattered.
"SATORI!!!"