Tristan folded his arms and glared at me; two of the Fourth Division Lieutenants sat on either side of him. One sported black and blue bruises across his face. He looked familiar. My jaw gaped as I realized he was the guy that Suzaki whacked over the head with a piece of lumber. He spat on the ground and stared daggers at our healer. I laughed, shook my head, then flipped the fucker off.

Captain Atkins sat beside the Viceroy—a person whose presence was surprising. But more importantly, Alex hid behind her, head bowed and shaking like a leaf. I took all I had in me not to rush out and grab him right there—if he weren’t between my captain and the Viceroy, I would’ve.

Lastly was the Knight, who wore a version of a Brass King’s jacket I’d never seen before. The lady’s long black hair had been pulled back in a ponytail, and there was a goddamn sword strapped to her back. She’d completed her look with leather pauldrons decorated in our gang colors. She looked less like a delinquent and more like a rogue-fucking-euro cultivator.

“Nice to see y’all. Excited to see me kick the shit out of a traitor?” I smirked, taking a drag of my cigarette and boldly striding forward. The moment's thrill started to tug on me, and I balanced it with the concern for my younger brother; he wasn’t safe yet. As soon as he was over on our side, I felt confident this would be fine.

Tristan’s expression didn’t shift at all, “Luca.”

“Asshole.” I paused, gesturing for Alex. “C’mere. I’m sorry, Alex. We’ll get you home in no time.”

“Your brother isn’t moving an inch until we’re done,” Tristan said, and I sprang forward, driven by the flash of anger burning in me. Before I made it five steps, the Knight slid between us, catching my arm and twisting it in a smooth gesture. I gasped; I barely tracked her movement, but fighting back against her strength was impossible.

“Please wait until the duel begins!” The Knight said with a smile on her face, my arm a single jerk away from snapping.

“Alex has nothing to do with this!” I yelled, trying to free my arm, but her fingers were like iron. Tristan shook his head.

“The nerve to come in here and call me a traitor. You’re a rare breed of stupid. I came with the intention of working out our differences, and he just wants to take cheap shots and spew fake accusations. I’d say I was surprised, but that’d be a lie.” The Knight let me go, pushing me back a bit, before returning to the Viceroy’s side. That smile hadn’t left her face—but it wasn’t fake. She didn’t even have a measure of animosity hidden in her eyes.

The Viceroy cleared her throat, and spoke, “Your brother will be under my care during the duel. I believe that is satisfactory. Regardless of the results he will be safely returned to your household. I’m looking into the matter. Tristan claimed to have freed him from the Crimson Eagles.” Her face was blank, with the eyes of a poker player.

I hated being unable to tell if she was lying or believed that line of bullshit. “If it was them, they only did it because that asshole has been working with them. He murdered our last Captain, and I’m sure he’s the one leaking intelligence to our enemies—“ I began.

“I’ve done more for this gang than you could have given a hundred years. Yet you keep making these baseless claims. Meanwhile, I have verifiable evidence you and your squad attacked my men—and reports of your squad breaking into my home.” Tristan spread his hands wide. “How dare you. Even after I went and saved your brother.”

“You fucker, I’ll bash your smug face in—“

“Viceroy?” Tristan said.

“Enough!” The Viceroy yelled out, her voice cutting like a knife. “As you’ve agreed, the Brass Kings have accepted your trial by combat. We’ll levy up the accused transgressions between the two of you and abide by the results of this fight through the expulsion of the loser. This stupidity needs to end, and this will be the conclusion of the conflict. Additionally…” The Viceroy turned her attention to Captain Atkins.

Our Captain stood straighter, fighting off the pissed expression on her face. She ran her eyes over all of us, her lips puckered. “Kayson, Bruno, Eve, and Suzaki. You four are hereby suspended from the Brass Kings pending an investigation. We’ve received multiple reports of issues caused by you tonight—both the Sects and even the Segreto family have been exerting increasing pressure on us. While I believe the choices you’ve made are justified, if you do anything else, I’ll have no choice but to toss your asses out of my Division. Am I understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kayson bowed his head. “I thought that will be the case, so I’ll submit my report and my gathered evidence regarding this affair—and this.” He fished out Tristan’s journal. Tristan twitched.

“Drop that right now,” Tristan ordered, voice taking a deep tone.

“What is that?” Captain Atkins asked, tilting her head.

“We recovered this from Tristan’s home. It has an alarmingly thorough documentation of Brass King gang members, including the Brass King himself, which I don’t believe the Viceroy or the Brass King would appreciate very much. I believe that Tristan is plotting an eventual overthrow of the gang.”

“Conjecture of a thief with no basis in reality. Hand that back now.” Tristan demanded, actually snarling. “You promised to hand it over.”

“Whatever gave you the impression that I would honor words given to a murderer? You tried to ambush us once—do you think I’d go along with what you wanted?”

Tristan worked his jaw but didn’t say a thing. Quietly he folded his hands behind his back; the Viceroy gave the nod to Kayson, and like that, he brought the journal to our Captain. Tension and unease reeked in the air, accompanied by palpable hate. I now saw a caged animal replace his relaxed confidence. He’d realized dealing with me wasn’t going to be the end to all of his problems. In a single move, Kayson had stripped his control over the situation.

He cracked his knuckles.

The Viceroy directed Tristan and me an equal distance apart further down the dock. It seemed she’d rather deal with this before proceeding onward to sort out the more confusing aspects this conflict brought. The weight of Tristan’s evil eyes rested heavy on me as if it pinned all that went wrong squarely on my shoulders. I didn’t buckle beneath that malice. I wouldn’t cower before him; I straightened my back and returned the same expression. No matter how this went, for better or worse, I’d get my fucking satisfaction.

I’d made a vow. I’d dreamed and had nightmares about this fight. No matter what happened, I’d keep my head held high.

In an instant, his shadow snaked out of his eyes—a mass of tendrils, flowing behind him and moving erratically as he Manifested his Soul. I took satisfaction in calling forth my Soul—a crack of red and blue popped from my shoulders. Two crows, this time, perched and cawing for blood.

“They said you’d broken through to the next stage.” Tristan paced slowly around; we drew a circle while waiting for the Viceroy to call the fight to a start so we could tear into one another.

“Yea and I’m going to use these crows to tear your fucking eyes out.”

“I’m looking forward to tossing your corpse into the ocean tonight.”

The Viceroy’s voice cut through the air—our observers giving distance as she began. My view of the world narrowed to this single bubble of space. A few seconds later, the fight started.