The Black Shore trembled.
Dozens of heartbeats pulsed in the distance — slow, patient, circling. The one in front of him was louder, closer, a steady drumbeat that mocked him with its confidence.
The intruder stood back, cloak swaying like smoke.
"Show me, boy. Show me why your mother hides you."
The creature's limbs shifted, joint plates grinding with a wet, bone-on-metal sound. Its spined head tilted, as if studying Karn, then it lunged — faster this time.
Karn didn't see it move.He felt the drop in air pressure before the leap. Heard the heartbeat stutter for half a breath. Smelled the faint shift in the metallic air as its claws cut through it.
He moved a fraction before impact, the creature's claw ripping through where his head had been, sand exploding upward. His body flowed low under its strike, pivoting on his heel with perfect balance.
The coral shard in his hand pulsed again — alive, eager.
He drove it upward into the beast's plated forelimb, twisting. A crack rippled through its armor, spilling a black, steaming ichor that hissed where it touched the sand. The smell was sharp — ammonia and burnt copper.
The beast shrieked, the sound so high it rattled the jagged ribs of coral around them.
Good, Karn thought. Now I know what hurts you.
It attacked again, this time feinting left and slamming from the right. Karn closed his eyes for a heartbeat, shutting out the blur of movement — and let his other senses lead.
He heard the way its joints strained before committing to a strike.Felt the vibration in the sand half a second before the impact.
When the claw came, Karn stepped in instead of away. The movement was pure instinct — no hesitation, no wasted motion. He slammed the base of the shard into the joint, then wrenched upward, splitting the armor open like cracking bone.
The creature stumbled, but Karn was already moving. He flowed around it, one hand gripping a spine on its crown, the other dragging the shard across its throat.
Black ichor sprayed in an arc, sizzling against the sand.
The beast fell, limbs twitching.
Karn straightened slowly, chest steady, eyes burning faint gold now, like embers under ash.
The intruder's smile was faint but satisfied.
"You don't fight like the Four Families. You fight like… him."
Karn's gaze locked on him.
"Then you know you're next."
The man chuckled — not out of fear, but out of something colder.
"Oh, no. I'm not your enemy… yet. But now they know you're here."
In the distance, the dozens of heartbeats had shifted.They weren't circling anymore.
They were closing in.
The Black Shore was no longer watching.It was coming.