The March of The Broken

  Pain and agony detonated instantly. White-hot and absolute.?He?wrenched his head, a shift, just enough to the side, avoiding the full impact of the punch.?The edge of the blow?glanced off his temple,?crunching?into the rail beside him.

  Still he was hit.

  Blood sprayed.?The world?upended,?darkness clawing at the edges of his vision.

  His body flew, skipped along the ground he could feeling it snapping, breaking, bending. Until he erupted into the huge pile of gravel, that was left there by Roi’s previous explosive trap.

  The pain was indescribable.

  But he was alive.

  One eye was blind, sealed shut with blood.?The other?swam in a red haze. Every inhale scraped his chest raw. He forced himself to steady it, to take stock of what still worked, what didn’t.

  The match should’ve been over by now. Sero should’ve been cutting loose, ending it.

  But…

  His team was still fighting. Still clinging to hope with bleeding hands.

  Through the?deafening ring?in his ears, he heard?fragments, Kenny’s?raw bellows,?Roi’s?furious screams.?He?blinked blood from his eye, barely making out the scene. Sero’s legs were tangled, partially pinned by Roi’s trap, strands of wreckage webbing him against The Spine.

  If they could bind his arms too, maybe—just maybe—they still had a chance.

  Dozai’s gaze dragged across the chaos. Nobu, who he thought had already been knocked cold, was dragging himself forward on elbows, inching toward Kenny and Roi.

  Even now, coughing blood and broken bones, Nobu hadn’t given up.

  Rei was closer. Right beside him. Her hands pressed against his chest, desperate, her voice rising toward the crowd. He couldn’t make out the words, but he caught the name Lucious.

  Lucious stood at the edge of the arena, arms crossed, watching Sero with an unreadable expression

  She was begging him to heal Dozai.

  No use.

  Lucious didn't even acknowledge her.

  Dozai?took inventory through a wall of pain.

  Arms??Useless.

  Eyes??One gone.

  Ears??Ringing.

  Legs??Shaky, but functional.

  Ribs??Cracked. Agony.

  Jaw??Intact. Mostly.

  He tried to?form words.?Fire lanced through his chest, a?white-hot spike?he was sure would?pierce his lung.?He?choked,?swallowing the sound and the blood that came with it.

  Rei’s face swam above him, streaked with tears, her hands trembling as she tried to stem the blood. When their eyes met, she froze.

  Dozai was exhausted, his body broken, vision slipping at the edges. He knew if he closed his eyes too long, that would be the end.

  And yet.

  Beneath the wreckage, a single ember glowed.

  The will to fight.

  Rei’s eyes widened, like she understood, though he couldn’t be sure.

  Dozai’s gaze slid to the ground—there, a length of chain,?half-buried in the gravel.?His body?collapsed forward,?face?grinding into the dirt.?He?bit down on the cold, rusty links.

  And then, he began to rise.

  Inch.

  By.

  Agonizing.

  Inch.

  Rei clutched his side, bracing him, steadying his stagger as they moved—step by step—toward Sero.

  Toward the fight that still hadn’t ended.

  Dozai and Nobu locked eyes. Both battered, both half-dead. Then Nobu’s gaze dropped to the chain clinking in Dozai’s teeth.

  His lips curled into the faintest grimace of understanding. Without a word, he crawled the last stretch, wrapped his hand around the other end of the chain, and forced himself upright beside him, using the chain as leverage.

  Together, they walked.

  Well, It wasn’t really a walk.

  It was a?death march.?A?trail of blood and sheer will.

  Each step?fought a gravity that wanted to claim them forever.

  Dozai’s knees buckled with every movement, ribs grinding, vision fogging to white and black.

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  Nobu’s breaths were short, wheezing knives, but his grip on the chain stayed iron.

  Rei was between them, her small frame wedged under Dozai’s and Nobu's arm, shouldering weight she had no right to carry.

  Her boots?slipped in the muck of blood and dirt, but she kept them upright, step after agonizing step. Sweat and tears carved clean paths through the grime on her cheeks.?Her lips?moved in a constant, silent mantra.

  A prayer.

  A plea.

  A promise.

  They advanced.

  Through the haze, Sero came into focus.

  His boots were tangled in Roi’s traps, cords of wreckage biting into his ankles, knees and thighs. Yet even bound, he was still a storm. Kenny hurled himself at him again and again, only to be swatted back by crushing strikes.

  Roi was beside him, raw fury in her voice, hammering at Sero’s torso, but the man laughed through it, his body twisting, redirecting, surviving.

  Even restrained, he was still winning.

  Sero’s eyes?found them.

  Dozai. Rei. Nobu.

  Three shattered figures materializing from the dust, a chain between them like a lifeline from the grave.

  His grin?died.

  Confusion. Shock.

  Something almost like respect.

  Dozai tried to shout, lungs burning, throat raw. He had to.

  He was their leader, the one who got them into this mess, the one who had to pay the cost. If tearing his lungs open was what it took to call the final plan, so be it.

  His?chest heaved—

  “KENNY!! ROI!!!”

  Rei’s voice?cut through the din before his could, sharp and clear and commanding.

  The two fighters snapped their heads toward her instantly, like they’d been waiting for the call.

  Rei’s voice rang clear, sharper than the clash of steel, louder than the roar of the crowd. “HE CAN’T REDIRECT EVERYONE SIMULTANIOUSLY! WE GO AS ONE!!”

  Dozai’s eyes widened. That was it. The same weakness he’d spotted, the one he couldn't say out loud without also giving Sero a hint to his plan.

  She looked back at him,?a bloody, defiant grin on her face.?“Let’s finish this, leader.”

  He couldn't speak. He couldn't even breathe right.

  He just nodded.

  Rei inhaled deep, filling her lungs until her whole frame trembled with it.

  Then her cry split the arena like thunder.

  “NOWWWWWWW!!!”

  “FINE!! SHOW ME WHAT RATS CAN ACHIEVE!!”?Sero?roared,?arms?spreading wide in a mad, welcoming gesture.

  It wasn’t a sprint. It was a?covenant.

  A broken, bloody, unwavering advance into the inevitable. Every step rattled with exhaustion, lungs scraping for air, but none of them slowed.

  Kenny’s face was a mask of blood and grit, his fists clenched like iron. Roi dragged her chain low against the gravel, her broken wrist strapped tight, teeth bared in a snarl.

  They eased their pace just enough to match Dozai and Rei’s tortured stride. Nobu lurched beside them, barely upright, but present.

  Sero’s eyes flicked from one to the next, sharp, calculating. The grin was gone. He wasn’t mocking now, he was thinking, grinding through each possibility, searching for the first crack to shatter them with.

  Dozai could see it in the glint of those emerald eyes, the way his head tilted ever so slightly. Sero was already playing the sequence five steps ahead.

  But Dozai understood something Sero didn’t.

  It didn’t matter who he redirected. It didn’t matter who he hit first.

  They’d already committed.

  And Dozai would make sure they all walked out of this.

  Victorious.

  The?final clash began.

  Kenny lunged for Sero’s right arm. Roi for his left arm. The timing was raw, desperate, but perfect.

  Sero’s eyes narrowed... He chose Kenny. The head tilt came, the shift, and suddenly Kenny was hurled sideways like a cannonball, redirected straight toward Dozai.

  Dozai braced himself. The moment Kenny’s momentum whipped toward him, Dozai?hipbumped Rei toward Roi.?Rei?didn't break stride, she?ran,?already grabbing for the chain with Roi.

  Kenny held firm, grabbing Dozai to stay on his feet as he bumped into him.

  Sero shifted his focus to them, intent on crushing Rei and Roi before they could finish. His torso twisted—

  Kenny pushed Dozai to?slammed forward into Sero, Dozai?driving his shoulder into Sero’s face.

  Pain?rocketed down both their bodies as Dozai spat out the chain from his gritted teeth, giving it to Kenny.

  “YOU—!” Sero?bellowed,?wrenching his right arm.

  But Kenny was already there,?chain wrapping around Sero's right,?veins bulging?as he?held on with everything he had left.

  The struggle was chaos. Rei and Roi looped the chain over his trapped left arm, pulling it tight against the steel beam. Nobu staggered into the left, seizing what slack he can help with Kenny. The harder Sero tried to redirect their weight, the more the beam itself caught the recoil, absorbing the backlash.

  Sero’s eyes?bulged, bloodshot with rage.?He?snarled,?twisted with monstrous strength,?and?hurled Kenny off his left arm.?Kenny?crashed down in the gravel.

  Then he backhand Nobu, sending his already exhausted body to the side.

  Dozai pulled back, head cocked, skull ready to crash forward again.

  Sero saw it, the tell was perfect.?His head?tilted,?ready to?send the force into Roi's chest.

  Dozai's bloody smirk was the only warning.

  It was a feint.

  Dozai?jerked?his head forward, stopping mid motion. A convincing flinch without any force.?Sero?committed to the redirection and?his balance?faltering for a critical second.

  And in that sliver of imbalance, Rei’s hands?struck like a snake.?She?grabbed his left wrist,?her?small hands locking?onto the larger limb. Her?whole body shook,?teeth?ground together,?tears?cutting through the filth on her face.

  “I’M NOT… LETTING… GO!”

  Sero?howled,?thrashing wildly, almost knocking her off. “NO! NO!! I WON’T—!”

  Roi?lunged?beside Rei after locking his right hand to the beam,?adding her own weight.?Kenny?staggered upright,?spitting blood,?and?pulled?on the chain with everything he had, which wasn't much.

  Dozai?roared,?a?raw, guttural sound torn from his ruined throat.?He?ignored the white-hot agony that spiked through his jaw and skull with the effort.?He drew his head back.

  Sero's eyes widen. “DO IT! I DARE YOU TO—”

  “FUCK YOU!”

  Dozai?slammed his forehead?into Sero’s nose.

  The crack was sickening.

  Blood erupted from them both.

  Sero’s scream?dissolved into a wet, choked gurgle.

  Dozai's vision whites out.

  The chain yanked tight. Rei, Roi, Kenny—a single, screaming, pulling force.

  SNAP.

  The sound of the chain locking into place.

  The?final arm was secured.

  Sero?convulsed,?jerking against his bonds,?but he was?caught.?Every attempt to redirect?slammed his own force back into the unyielding steel.?Blood?poured?from his nose, his mouth.

  His eyes?darted, wide with shock and disbelief.

  It was over.

  Nobu face first in the dirt, eyes half lidded, breath heaving.

  Dozai collapsing onto the ground next to him, closing his eyes and only focusing on his breathing.

  Rei, Roi and Kenny all slowly stepping away, collapsing together in tandem.

  For the first time, the?monster was finally caged.

  Now came the count.

  Ten seconds.

  Ten heartbeats that would decide everything.

  Dozai's eyes fluttered open slowly, eyes locked on Sero's thrashing form.

  One.

  Two—