Zed stood in the shadows, cloaked in the dim light of the moon, his form barely more than a whisper against the stillness of the night. His red eyes flickered in the darkness as he gazed at the figure before him, the one he had once called a comrade, a fellow student in the ways of the Kinkou. The memories of their shared training, the hours spent perfecting their craft, were distant now—faded by time and stained by betrayal. But some things, no matter how much the years tried to bury them, never fully disappeared.

His breath was steady, betraying none of the turmoil gnawing at him from within. Zed knew well that this meeting, like all others before it, would end in conflict. His former master’s second pupil, now his enemy, stood before him—blade drawn, eyes burning with disdain and anger. Yet, despite all the years and the bloodshed that had come between them, there was something that never left him.

"You’ve become... so much more," Zed murmured, his voice low and tinged with something that might have been admiration, but which would never be allowed to show fully. His hands twitched instinctively toward his own blades, but he did not draw them yet. "So much more than what you were... beautiful, even."

The words escaped before he could stop them, but Zed never flinched. He would not be vulnerable. Not now. Not in front of them.

Despite the hostility between them, despite the hatred that lay thick in the air, Zed’s eyes lingered on their form. His mind tried to justify the impossibility of it all—the bond, the war, the lost future—but his heart refused to yield. They were the only one who had ever understood him, truly understood him, back when things had been different.

He took a step forward, his voice hardening. "You’ll never understand... why I do this. But I will save Ionia, even if it costs me everything. Even you."