Chapter 254: Stay With Me
Kumoe’s curious head closed her jaws around NineLivesLeft’s wrist guard.
The sudden bite dragged his hook away from her throat. Its tip still carved through the fur of her shoulder, but the wound was shallow compared to the killing strike he had intended.
Green light spilled from the middle head before the cut had fully opened. The right barked at the same time, strengthening the restoration as Kumoe held on through the pain in her rear leg.
NineLivesLeft’s eyes widened with genuine interest.
"She adapted. Against the hounds, that injured leg kept her from countering."
Alexandra reached them and drove her sword into his exposed side.
[Pride Mark: 1]
Kumoe’s damage amplification flared beneath the mark. NineLivesLeft’s equipment resisted part of the effect, but the combined pressure still forced him to retreat.
He ripped his arm from Kumoe’s jaws and kicked backward. Both boots struck a nearby trunk, and Prowler’s Rebound carried him into the branches.
Alexandra dropped beside Kumoe.
Blood darkened the white fur around her shoulder, though the middle head was already narrowing the wound. Her rear leg remained stiff beneath her, and Torn Tendon still pulsed over the injury.
"You should have moved," Alexandra said.
The curious head licked her cheek.
The middle leaned against Alexandra’s shoulder for a moment, but the right kept staring into the branches, searching for NineLivesLeft.
"I told you to run."
None of the heads listened.
NineLivesLeft moved through the canopy without making a sound. His voice crossed the road from one branch to another, forcing Alexandra to search for him while Kumoe’s right head watched a different route.
"You ordered her to run," he called. "Which leg was she supposed to turn on?"
Alexandra looked up. "She was about to lose her throat."
"She saved it herself. Before you reached her, she had already chosen my wrist and found a way to counter without turning on the injured leg."
"You expect me to trust advice from you?"
"No. Just watch her before your next order."
A branch dipped somewhere behind Alexandra. She turned toward it, but Kumoe’s right head kept staring into the canopy on their left.
The Pride Mark above him faded while he remained outside Alexandra’s reach.
[Pride Mark has expired.]
NineLivesLeft had stalled long enough to erase it without risking another exchange.
Alexandra stood and retrieved her second sword. Kumoe limped closer until her wet flank pressed against Alexandra’s leg.
That morning, Alexandra had reminded Martin that he did not have to carry every problem alone. She had told him that responsibility did not mean shutting everyone else out and deciding that only he could handle the pressure.
Now she was doing the same thing to Kumoe.
She had tried to fight for both of them, choose every safe position, and decide which risks Kumoe was allowed to take. Every time Kumoe moved forward, Alexandra pushed her back. Every time she tried to create an opening, Alexandra stepped in front of her and closed it.
The wolf beside her was no longer the tiny pup Alexandra could lift into her arms and remove from danger.
Kumoe chose her own targets. She watched Alexandra’s blind spots. She healed her before being told, recognized threats Alexandra missed, and kept fighting even when one leg barely supported her weight.
Kumoe had kept fighting under the threat of permanent death. Alexandra’s fear had turned every attempt to protect her into another obstacle.
A shadow dropped from above.
Kumoe’s right head barked.
Alexandra responded to the warning, but this time she did not move in front of Kumoe. She shifted left and left an open lane at her side.
NineLivesLeft noticed the change immediately.
Both hooks came toward Alexandra. She caught one with her right sword and redirected the other with her left while Kumoe’s curious head lunged through the opening beside her.
NineLivesLeft twisted away and used Alexandra’s blade to swing around her. His boot touched the road long enough to launch him toward Kumoe’s injured side.
Alexandra tensed.
Every instinct told her to block his path.
She forced herself to stay where she was.
"Kumoe."
All three heads turned slightly toward her.
Alexandra lowered her stance. "I’m scared of losing you."
NineLivesLeft laughed from the edge of their reach. "You’re doing relationship dialogue during PvP now?"
Alexandra ignored him and kept her eyes on Kumoe.
"But I won’t make that decision for you again. Choose your opening, and I’ll follow."
The curious head barked.
The middle opened both eyes, and the right gave Alexandra the same flat stare she used whenever Alexandra finally understood something obvious.
Alexandra raised both swords.
"Stay with me."
Kumoe moved first.
She shifted sideways instead of retreating, keeping most of her weight off the injured leg while the curious head threatened NineLivesLeft’s face.
He adjusted toward the bite.
Alexandra used the space Kumoe had created.
Her first sword cut across his chest.
[Pride Mark: 1]
The second drove beneath his arm before he could close his guard.
[Pride Mark: 2]
NineLivesLeft twisted toward Alexandra, exposing the wound behind his knee.
Kumoe sank her teeth into it.
Damage amplification flared again, and her attack refreshed Alexandra’s mark timer before the crimson symbols could begin fading.
NineLivesLeft tried to kick her away.
Alexandra caught his ankle against the flat of one sword, turned it aside, and opened his thigh with the other.
[Pride Mark: 3]
He snapped both hooks toward Alexandra’s wrists, attempting to lock her weapons before she could continue.
Kumoe pulled his wounded leg in the opposite direction.
The sudden imbalance opened his ribs.
Alexandra dragged her free sword across them.
[Pride Mark: 4]
NineLivesLeft tore his leg from Kumoe’s jaws and retreated toward the nearest tree.
The right head barked before he could reach it.
Alexandra followed the warning and cut across his shoulder.
[Pride Mark: 5]
[Wolf Pride has been activated.]
Warm strength spread through Alexandra’s limbs.
Her stance settled, harder to interrupt, and the shallow wounds across her body began returning small amounts of HP whenever her blades struck him.
All five marks burned above NineLivesLeft.
Alpha Rend had reached full power.
His calm expression finally cracked.
Alexandra smiled. "Found you."
She dropped into the opening stance for Alpha Rend.
Crimson light gathered around both swords, the five Pride Marks answering the skill as one.
NineLivesLeft sprang away before she could release it.
His boot struck a tree, and Prowler’s Rebound carried him deeper into the forest. He redirected again from a branch, putting trunks and heavy rain between himself and Alexandra’s blades.
Alexandra wanted to chase.
Instead, she watched Kumoe.
The curious head raised her muzzle and tested the air. The middle continued restoring the damaged tendon, while the right focused on a branch that had not moved.
NineLivesLeft’s stolen instincts made him almost impossible for one person to follow. He changed direction without warning, hid his landings, and attacked from whichever angle his target had stopped watching.
Kumoe had three pairs of eyes.
Alexandra finally let herself rely on all of them.
The right head barked toward one tree.
Alexandra turned her swords in that direction, but NineLivesLeft came from somewhere else.
The curious head growled before he left the branch.
Alexandra shifted her guard and met him properly.
Her swords crossed against his hooks as Kumoe rammed her shoulder into his legs. The hit broke his balance long enough for Alexandra to slip out of the lock.
Her heel caught his chest and sent him backward.
At the same time, green light from the middle head narrowed the cut across Alexandra’s ribs. Bloodscent Lock pulsed and refused to let the wound seal completely, but the restored HP steadied her.
The right head barked again, strengthening the restoration and the damage amplification around NineLivesLeft’s wounded leg.
He looked between them.
"You’re letting the pet decide your movement."
"I’m using the angle she gives me."
"And if she reads it wrong?"
"Then I cover the mistake, just as she covers mine."
Kumoe’s right head huffed without taking her eyes off the branch above him.
NineLivesLeft attacked again.
Bloodscent Lock followed Alexandra when she dashed left. Prowler’s Rebound redirected him toward Kumoe, but the right head caught the change while the curious one forced him farther out.
Alexandra met him at the end of the rebound.
He pulled away before she could land another clean cut, refusing every exchange that might refresh the Pride Marks. His retreat carried him through the trees, keeping him beyond both Alexandra’s blades and Kumoe’s teeth.
The crimson symbols above him began to dim.
Alexandra lunged after him, but a hooked blade caught a branch and flung NineLivesLeft farther into the rain.
[Pride Marks have expired.]
[Wolf Pride has ended.]
The full-power Alpha Rend disappeared with them.
NineLivesLeft landed on a high branch and smiled down at Alexandra and Kumoe.
"There goes your finisher."
Alexandra raised both swords again.
"I’ll build it again."