I whirled around, looking desperately for a sign of the Huntress. The wind howled across the field, moving erratically. A slight crinkle of flowers made me drop to the ground. A second later, Aerendyl rocketed through the air with the howling winds trailing her every move. I angled my shield upward to block any stray claws. Sure enough, I felt something scrape into the wood.

  This time, I didn't take my eyes off her as she landed back down on the flowerbed. She didn't turn to look at me, and instead kept running straight at the wall before her figure scattered into wisps of black smoke.

  "What the fuck..." I muttered, then caught my wits. "Iron! Watch my back."

  He chirped in affirmation and zoomed into the sky. His grey figure almost melded with the moonlit backdrop.

  Climbing back to my feet, I backpedaled toward the silver pillar, anything to keep my back from being exposed. She was fast as the wind. Even with Iron covering my back, I might not be able to react fast enough.

  I stepped inside the moonlit shadow cast by the pillar. Something felt wrong. Iron chirped madly and I whipped around. My heart dropped. Her white fangs flashed inside the patch of darkness before she appeared, pouncing up from the ground.

  Throwing my shield up, I managed to slam into her jaw before she tore my throat out. Instead, she bit deep into my right shoulder.

  I screamed and tried to shake her off, but she clung to my side and pinned my spear arm close to my body. Hot blood gushed out of the bite wound and several smaller cuts I received from her claws as I struggled to get her off.

  I clenched my teeth and bashed my shield into the side of her head. "Let. Go!" I groaned, hitting her again.

  The second hit got her good. Splinters of wood sprayed into my face and her jaw slackened around my arm. Not willing to stick around, she darted away and melded with the shadows.

  Alone and panting, I pressed my shield hand against the wound. Pulses of searing pain made my sight darken with black spots. She'd gotten me good. I ground my teeth.

  My eyes never stopped moving, inspecting every shadow in the arena. A deep crack ran through my shield after the second hit. It was a damn miracle it had held up this long. I hadn't exactly been kind to it.

  "Stop hiding," I growled and stepped away from the pillar.

  She came from the shadows. I couldn't stay close to them. The most dangerous places for me were near the pillar or the walls which cast shadows onto the ground.

  As I hurried into the most well lit area of the arena, my spear arm felt heavy. My favored tactic of throwing spears would not work here. I could barely lift the damn thing above shoulder height.

  I unclenched my grip and let the weapon fall to the ground as I unsheathed my sword. Blood poured down my arm from my shoulder and pooled in my hand, making the grip feel slippery. I couldn't hear her, I couldn't see her, I couldn't smell her, but she was close. I kept that in mind as I backpedaled in circles, trying to catch a glimpse of her.

  With my sword, I cut loose a part of the shield's sling and wrapped it around my sword hand. At least now I won't drop it, I thought, and swung it a few times. My shoulder ached. I needed to end this before blood loss took me.

  Lowering my posture, I readied myself for her next attack. This time I would get her back. I don't know how long I waited; each second felt excruciatingly long. Sweat dripped down my brow and into my eyes. I blinked it away, not daring to wipe it off.

  I focused on my breathing. Crisp air entered, I sucked it down into my lungs, I exhaled. Repeat. Before I knew it, I hit a rhythm and time seemed to slow. My senses kicked into overdrive. Each brush of wind against my midsection and face, each trickle of blood down my arm—I felt it all in vivid detail.

  I entered Flow State.

  A chirp cut through the silent scene, and I turned. Aerendyl's amber eyes shot at me from the wall, her body shaping as she charged. I was already moving. Using my left arm, I hurled my shield at her. It sailed through the air like a malformed frisbee and made her eyes go wide with shock as she dodged with a diagonal sidestep. The shield bounced against the far wall with a clamor.

  Now!

  That one moment was enough to halt her momentum. I darted forward, summoning a spear with my now free arm as she tried to regain her speed. Her center of weight was low and close to the ground, which suited me just fine. Slashing upward right now would suck anyway.

  Cutting horizontally with my sword, I forced her to retreat or trade blows. I struck nothing but air as she bounced back, but I quickly followed the cut with a stab of my spear.

  A satisfying rip resounded, and a human scream escaped the wolf's mouth. I flinched and remembered how she had looked before the morph.

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  A few days ago, that alone might have been enough to stop me, but not anymore. She would not be the first person I killed, and in all fairness, she struck the first blow.

  Slamming a paw against the spear, she dislodged it with a spray of blood and dove into the nearest shadow.

  Now we were both bleeding. I smirked. She didn't need to attack me—if she just waited, I would have been dancing in the palm of her hand. I hadn't pegged her as someone so arrogant. There was more to it. With my enhanced focus, I could tell what: the shadows had shifted ever so slightly since the start of the fight.

  "It's moving..." I muttered and glanced up at the moon.

  A large piece of it was already covered by the mouth of the cave's roof, blocking out a significant amount of light.

  It didn't take a genius to conclude that a Huntress of the Moon received boosts from the moon. This was good news for me. All I needed to do was survive long enough for the moon to set. Piece of cake.

  I clenched my fingers around my weapons, feeling the false security they granted me flood through my veins. Something was missing—something heavy and wooden. I glanced to the side. My shield lay on the other side of the arena. I considered getting it; although battered and cracked, it was still better than no shield, but it had fallen into the shadow of the silver pillar.

  No way.

  Instead, I stuck to the bright patches of moonlit flowers, always moving and spinning to limit my blind spots. There were three major danger zones: the shadow cast from the silver pillar, the one cast from the walls, and the one cast from myself. All of them were shrinking as the field of darkness grew. That's where I needed to go, but it wasn't large enough yet. I needed time.

  Grinding my teeth, I shifted my grip on the spear into a reverse one and began edging myself closer to the dark patch near the wall. A soft wind blew through the arena, rustling through flowers as it hurtled toward me. I could see the change happen now. Moonlit petals greyed as their shadows stretched out. The bright spots shrank with each breath I took.

  Iron chirped once, sharp and urgent.

  Then Aerendyl moved.

  She burst out from the wall straight ahead of me, tearing free from shadowy tendrils like she'd been shot out of a cannon. Petals and dirt sprayed from the impact of her paws as she charged. There was no trick to her attack; she knew what I was doing.

  And she was not having it.

  I barely had time to raise my sword.

  Claws raked against iron, jolting my arm to the side hard enough that my shoulder screamed. She pressed on, staying inside my space while snapping and slashing. Her assault forced me back step by step, closer to the darkness.

  I lashed out with the spear, stabbing low with a wide swing of my arm. She twisted aside and slammed into my shoulder first. The impact knocked the breath out of me and sent us skidding and tumbling through the flowers. Petals sprayed into the air like confetti and slowly descended with a gentle sway. I pushed myself up to my hands and knees and gritted my teeth at the flaring pain in my shoulder.

  From behind the storm of petals, her amber eyes locked onto mine. She was upon me before I could rise.

  I reared back. Teeth snapped a finger away from my throat as I rolled, hacking blindly with my sword. The blade bit into flesh. She howled furiously and dove onto me, planting her paws on my shoulders to push me to the ground.

  Warm blood spilled onto my chest. I couldn't tell whose it was as I struggled to get her off.

  I kicked, felt my shin connect, and she sprang back, landing clumsily in the moonlight. The outline of her body blurred into wisps of shadow. They lagged behind her, then tore loose from her body and dissipated. She was struggling.

  She flattened her ears and shifted her stance. It was much lower now, aggressive and impatient.

  Heaving for breath, I pushed myself to my feet using the spear as a crutch. I groaned and forced myself to move, countering her circling movements.

  We both limped, and I bled from more places than I remembered. My pulse roared like a raging river in my ears as my vision darkened. I shook my head and spat a glob of blood onto the ground. The dark crept closer, crawling over my boots now.

  A low growl echoed through the arena, and the mooncast shadows surged, sucking the vitality from the field of flowers as they formed a blade of pure light in her mouth. I barely had time to register it before she lunged again, faster than before, as she abandoned all finesse for raw power.

  The blade of moonlight slashed forward, cutting through the air like a phantom. I threw myself sideways, felt the wind pressure of the cut, and rolled hard across trampled flowers. My vision flashed. It had clipped my side and almost made my knees buckle from the searing pain. This was no normal cut.

  I hissed and staggered upright, mind racing as I tried to come up with ways to deal with her new power. She didn't give me time to think.

  Aerendyl pounced and cut at my throat. I met her blade with a slash of mine and felt the vast difference in our strength as I bounced back. She was quick to follow, but this time I was ready.

  Control the fight.

  Slashing my sword upward and angled at her face, I diverted her strike, letting my sword slide down her blade in a spray of sparks. Her amber eyes flashed with rage and pain as my steel cut into her lower jaw.

  She retreated with a snarl, struggling to hold the blade. The shadows lingering on her body rippled and tore outward. Her claws gouged the soil as she fought to keep her footing.

  I didn't let her breathe.

  Pain screamed through my shoulder as I surged toward the dark. It already clad most of the arena—it wouldn't be long now.

  Aerendyl roared and gave chase, her sword hanging limply in her jaw and dragging across the ground. She lunged, and I met her blade with my own. The sword of pale silver light dissipated. She crashed into me, claws and teeth snapping madly.

  I caught her with the spear shaft across her chest, but her momentum was too great and sent us tumbling to the ground. Her fangs dug into my sword arm as I jammed the spear shaft into the ground and twisted, using it as leverage to push her off.

  Her weight shifted, just enough. I slashed upward with my sword, shearing into her stomach as she fell away.

  I clawed myself to my feet as she rolled on the ground next to me. She screamed a human scream as blood poured out of the wound on her stomach.

  Behind her, the last spot of moonlight dimmed, then vanished.

  The pillar of silver flashed once with the power of a miniature sun, and the shadows clinging to Aerendyl's body exploded outward. Her form flickered. Fur peeled away like smoke. Her snout shortened, her claws retracted as she climbed to her knees.

  "No!" she rasped.

  I stood over her, swaying as blood dripped from my fingers onto the once white bed of flowers. Iron screeched overhead, screaming at me to end it.

  I dropped my spear and clutched my bloodied hand, raising my sword above my head with trembling arms.

  Her skin was pale once more, pitch black hair draped over her body, but not enough to cover her nakedness. She looked up, staring at me with those beautiful eyes of amber. She knew what was coming, but she didn't beg.

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