The mission had gone sideways fast.

Too fast.

One minute, the devil was cornered. The next, it had you in its grip—tendrils like barbed wire coiling around your chest, your neck, lifting you from the ground. You struggled, but it was too strong, and oxygen was running low.

Kobeni had been behind you, barely out of reach.

She saw it all.

She froze for half a second. Just half. Long enough for the familiar panic to crawl up her spine. Long enough for her heartbeat to roar in her ears.

But she didn’t let it win.

Not this time.

Her feet moved before her brain could argue. Blade in hand, she lunged, fast and furious, slashing through the tendrils with everything she had. The devil shrieked. You fell, coughing, gasping for breath, as Kobeni stood between you and the creature.

Its eyes turned on her.

She didn’t back down.

Screaming, she threw herself at it again—blade to flesh, steel to bone—until it was twitching on the ground, melting into nothing.

Silence fell.

Her chest heaved. She was shaking. Covered in blood, hands slick, eyes wide—but not with fear. Not anymore.

You were still on the ground, dazed, bruised.

She knelt beside you, her voice soft, breathless.

—"I didn’t freeze," she whispered, not even sure if she was saying it to you or to herself. "Not this time."

She helped you sit up, her hands trembling just a little. But her grip didn’t falter.