While Shay dealt with the remaining low-ranking soldiers, his movements still light, still almost playful, the fight around him hadn't truly slowed.
It shifted.
A sharp sound cut through the air.
A arrow bolt.
Fast too fast it tore through the space between them, aimed directly at one of the children.
There was no warning.
No time but Shay moved.
His hand shot forward, catching the bolt just before it reached its target.
The impact drove through his grip, the sharpened tip biting deep into his palm before stopping.
The force alone pushed his arm back slightly, a thin line of blood trailing down from where the metal pierced skin.
The bolt didn't move further.
Neither did Shay.
Behind him, the child froze, eyes wide, body trembling from how close it had been.
"Mister…" the kid whispered, clutching onto Shay's arm. "W-who… who is that…?"
Shay didn't answer immediately.
His gaze had already shifted upward at the top of the outpost wall.
someone stood watching.
An elite soldier.
The crossbow in his hands lowered slowly, his posture steady, unaffected.
For a moment, there was only stillness between them.
Then, without hesitation, the soldier dropped the weapon aside and stepped forward.
He fell from the wall.
Not uncontrolled deliberate he landed below with a heavy impact, knees bending slightly before straightening as if nothing had happened.
No reaction.
No strainbon his legs.
Shay pulled the bolt free from his hand, letting it drop to the ground as blood continued to drip from the wound.
His fingers flexed once before he turned slightly toward the children.
"Hide," he said.
The tone was different now.
Not playful, nor light behind in his voice.
"Let me take care of this."
The children didn't argue.
They didn't need to.
One of the older kids quickly stepped forward, gathering the others and guiding them away, pulling them toward the edge of the forest where they could stay out of sight.
"I don't know who he is…" the older one muttered quietly, glancing back once. "…but he saved us."
They disappeared into cover.
Shay stepped forward.
Alone again.
His eyes settled on the elite soldier approaching him, the distance between them slowly closing.
"Targeting a kid…" Shay said, his voice low now, stripped of its earlier playfulness. "After everything you've already done…"
He exhaled once.
"…that's not acceptable."
The soldier didn't respond not a single word come out.
Not even a reaction.
Behind the mask of the soldier, there was nothing no emotion, no hesitation.
Only that same unnatural glow beneath his skin.
Veins pulsed faintly, magic flowing through him in unstable currents, yet somehow still controlled.
The same substance.
The same force...just like Project X.
Shay's hand tightened slightly, blood still running down his fingers.
And this time he didn't smile behind the mask.
When a drop of blood hits the ground...
The elite soldier didn't hesitate.
He stepped forward with steady, crushing intent, closing the space between them in an instant.
There was nothing flashy in the way he moved no wasted motion, no hesitation just pressure.
Heavy.
Relentless.
Shay shifted his footing, raising his guard slightly, trying to read him.
"…Alright," Shay muttered under his breath, forcing a bit of breath back into his lungs. "You're one of the serious types, huh…"
He moved first.
A sharp palm strike shot forward, aimed clean at the soldier's chest but it missed by the smallest margin.
The soldier slipped just outside the line of attack, and before Shay could pull back his wrist was caught.
Tightly unmoving.
The grip locked like iron around his arm, and the faint glow beneath the soldier's skin flared brighter.
Heat surged through the contact point, unnatural and burning.
Shay's expression tightened.
"—that's not normal…"
The soldier didn't answer.
A knee drove straight into Shay's midsection.
The impact folded him.
Air left his lungs in a harsh, broken sound as his body jolted from the force.
The hit wasn't just strong it was dense, packed with something unnatural that pushed straight through his guard.
Before he could recover, the soldier followed up with an elbow aimed clean for his head.
Shay barely reacted in time, tucking his chin and shifting just enough for the strike to crash against the top of his forehead instead of his temple.
Even then, the force rattled him, sending his vision swimming as he staggered backward.
He caught himself.
Barely.
"…okay," Shay breathed out, shaking his head once as he steadied his stance. "That actually hurt."
He lowered his center of gravity, adjusting his footing, magic flowing down into his legs to keep himself balanced.
The playful rhythm he usually carried was gone replaced with something tighter, sharper.
He stepped back in.
A quick jab snapped forward, followed immediately by a cross aimed at the soldier's face.
The motion was clean, precise, backed with just enough force to test for weakness.
The soldier blocked both.
His guard stayed tight, forearms absorbing the strikes with minimal movement.
Shay felt the impact travel back through his own arm it didn't feel like hitting a person.
It felt like hitting stone.
"…Right," Shay muttered. "Definitely not normal."
The counter came instantly.
A low kick slammed into Shay's leg.
He tried to check it, turning his shin into the impact, but the weight behind it nearly took his footing out from under him.
The force traveled up his body, shaking his balance.
Before he could disengage, the soldier closed in again.
They locked.
An clinch.
Shay tried to shift inside, slipping an arm upward to catch the soldier's neck, attempting to secure a hold but the moment his grip tightened, he felt it.
Resistance.
The muscles beneath his arm didn't move like they should.
They held rigid...
Unyielding...
"…You're kidding me…" Shay muttered, straining slightly.
Then pain shot through his hand.
The soldier's thumb pressed directly into the open wound Shay had gotten from catching the bolt, twisting into it with deliberate precision.
Shay's body reacted instantly.
A sharp, muffled sound escaped him as his focus broke for just a second.
That was all it took.
The soldier shifted his weight and executed a clean, controlled throw.
Shay's body lifted and slammed hard into the ground, the impact cracking the dirt beneath him.
His vision blurred.
Before he could roll away, the weight came down.
The soldier mounted him, pinning him in place.
Fists followed hitting shay.
Heavy and direct...
Each strike drove down with magic-infused force, hammering against Shay's guard.
He brought his arms up instinctively, crossing them over his face, trying to absorb the blows but every hit still pushed through, the impact rattling his skull.
The rhythm didn't stop.
There was no pause between strikes.
No opening.
The soldier didn't slow down didn't even breathe or hesitate.
"…damn…" Shay forced out between impacts, his voice strained now. "You really don't… feel anything, do you…?"
Another punch landed.
Then another.
Blood smeared across his mask, dripping down as his defenses held barely.
The small bells attached to his outfit, usually bright and lively, hung still now, silent under the weight pressing him into the ground.
since the fight started Shay wasn't playing, he wasn't setting up tricks.
He was just trying to survive the next few seconds.
Then—
something struck the back of the soldier's head.
A dull impact. Not strong enough to damage but enough to interrupt.
The barrage stopped.
Since it began, the soldier's movement halted completely.
His fist remained raised for a moment before lowering slightly, his head turning just enough to look over his shoulder.
Shay lay beneath him, arms trembling as he tried to move, the weight and force of the strikes still lingering in his body.
Even lifting his hands felt heavy now, his breathing uneven as he struggled to recover even a little space.
"…what…?" he muttered weakly.
A small rock rolled off the soldier's shoulder and dropped to the ground.
Behind them stood a child.
The same one Shay had saved earlier.
The kid's hands were shaking, his stance unsteady, but he didn't run.
Fear was written all over his face, yet he stayed there, forcing himself not to step back.
"D-don't…" the child stammered, his voice trembling but refusing to break completely. "Don't hurt him…"
The words came out uneven, but there was something behind them something that held.
The soldier turned fully now, his gaze locking onto the child.
No emotion just silence.
On the ground, Shay's eyes widened slightly as he forced his head to turn.
"…hey…" he rasped out, his voice rough. "I told you to hide…"
The kid didn't move didn't listen.
He stood there anyway.
The kid's hands shook at his sides, fingers curling slowly into fists as he tried to hold himself together.
Every instinct told him to run, to hide, to disappear like the others but his feet refused to move.
He didn't want to die.
The fear was there, crawling up his spine, tightening his chest, making it hard to breathe.
His legs felt weak, his voice barely holding but even then, he stayed.
Because behind him
Shay was on the ground.
Hurting...
And something in the kid's chest twisted at the thought of turning away.
"…I can't…" he whispered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else. "I can't just leave him…"
His fists tightened harder, small knuckles turning pale as he forced himself to stand his ground, even as his body trembled.
"He… he saved me…"
The words came out broken, but they were enough.
Shay's mask had cracked slightly from the earlier blows, a thin fracture running along its surface.
Through it, just enough of his expression showed just enough for his eyes to catch what was happening.
The kid still there.
Still standing.
Shay's breath caught for a second.
"…you idiot…" he muttered weakly, but there was no bite behind it.
Only something softer.
Something heavier.
Because the kid wasn't standing there out of strength.
He was standing there despite the fear.
And somehow that was worse.
Shay shifted slightly, forcing his body to respond, even through the pain.
His fingers twitched against the ground, trying to find something anything to move.
"…you're not supposed to be the brave one here…" he murmured, his voice quieter now.
But the kid didn't move, didn't run.
He just stood there, facing something he knew he couldn't beat..
Because he refused to watch the person who saved him die alone...