Soul of the Dragon Emperor Reincarnated to destroy

THE DUAL OF DESPERATION

James's knuckles were white around the arena railing. Three days. He had three days before Tega turned his sister into another broken toy.

"You'll die, James." Emily gripped his arm, her nails digging through his sleeve. "Please. I'll go with him. I'll survive it."

He pulled free. "No."

The word hung between them like a blade. Around them, Dragon Nation's capital buzzed with whispers. Everyone knew what happened to girls Tega wanted. Everyone had seen the ones who came back wrong, or didn't come back at all.

"Your father's looking for you." Old Chen shuffled past, not meeting their eyes. No one met their eyes anymore. Fear had a smell in Dragon Nation, and it reeked of Lucas's rule.

James turned toward the market square where his father would be closing up their vegetable stall. Twenty years ago, people said Lucas and his wife Vivian had saved Dragon Nation alongside a man named Davis, some legendary warrior. Now those same people locked their doors when Lucas's guards walked past.

"James." Emily's voice cracked. "He has the Dragon Soul. You know what that means."

He knew. Tega could shatter stone with his bare hands. Could move faster than eyes could track. The Dragon Soul made him something beyond human, and Lucas had given it to his son like a birthday gift.

"I challenged him already." James kept walking. "It's done."

Emily stopped. Her silence pulled at him worse than her arguing.

"The duel's in three days," he said. "I'll think of something."

"There's nothing to think of. Father spent all morning begging the magistrate to cancel it. They laughed at him."

James had heard about that. His father, on his knees in the courthouse, while Lucas's officials placed bets on how long James would last. Under ten seconds was the popular wager.

They reached the stall. His father sat on an overturned crate, head in his hands. At fifty-three, he looked seventy. That's what tyranny did. It aged you from the inside.

"Son." His father's voice was barely audible. "Tell me you've reconsidered."

"Can't do that."

"Then you're a fool." His father stood, and for a moment James saw the man he used to be. Strong. Proud. Before Lucas's taxes bled them dry, before his wife died from an illness they couldn't afford to treat. "You think dying for honor means anything? You'll be dead, and Emily will be his anyway. That's not heroism. That's stupidity."

The words hit harder than any fist could. James opened his mouth, closed it. His father was right. He was absolutely right.

"I know," James said.

"Then withdraw the challenge."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

Because every night, James heard Emily crying through the thin wall between their rooms. Because yesterday, Tega had cornered her outside the market and traced a finger down her cheek, promising all the things he'd do once she belonged to him. Because in Dragon Nation, you either fought or you crawled, and James was done crawling.

"Because someone has to," James said.

His father's face crumpled. "You're all I have left."

"You'll have Emily."

"Tega will have Emily. I'll have nothing."

The truth of it sat between them like a corpse. In three days, James would step into that arena. Tega would break him apart. Emily would be dragged away screaming. And their father would be alone, with not even his son's body to bury because Lucas's law said challengers who lost had no right to funeral rites.

"I'm sorry," James said.

His father turned away. "Get out of my sight."

James left. Emily followed him through the twisting streets, past the execution square where Lucas had hanged twelve people last month for not meeting their tax quota, past the burned remains of the temple where people used to pray before Vivian declared religion illegal.

"Where are we going?" Emily asked.

"Old Market."

"Why?"

"To find someone who'll train me."

Emily grabbed his shoulder, spun him around. At nineteen, she was two years younger than him but had their mother's steel spine. "Nobody trains people to fight Dragon Soul users, James. It's suicide."

"Then I'll die educated."

"Stop joking."

"I'm not joking." He met her eyes. "Three days, Em. Maybe I can learn something. Anything."

"Or maybe you'll waste your last three days chasing fantasies instead of saying goodbye."

That stopped him. She was right again. Everyone was right today. He was walking toward death with his eyes open and his brain shut.

"I have to try," he said.

Emily's face softened. She pulled him into a hug, and he felt her shaking. "I hate you for this."

"I know."

"If you die, I'll never forgive you."

"Deal."

She pulled back, wiped her eyes. "Old Market's this way. I'm coming with you."

They found the Old Market in the shadow of Lucas's palace. The palace used to be a hospital. Lucas had evicted everyone, claimed it as his seat of power, and now the sick died in the streets while he ate off golden plates.

The Old Market sold things the legal markets wouldn't touch. Stolen goods. Forbidden books. Rumors. James and Emily pushed through the crowd until they found a stall selling weapons under a torn canvas.

The vendor was ancient, skin like leather, one eye clouded with cataracts. "You're the boy," she said.

"What boy?"

"The one who challenged Tega." She cackled. "Every fool in the capital's talking about it. You here for a weapon? Won't help. Dragon Soul users don't die from swords."

"I need training," James said. "Three days worth. I'll pay whatever you want."

"I don't train anyone."

"Someone who does, then."

The old woman studied him. Her good eye was sharp as broken glass. "There's a man. Lives in the eastern slums. Used to be a soldier, before Lucas purged the old guard. Some say he fought alongside Davis himself, back when Dragon Nation had heroes instead of tyrants."

James's pulse quickened. "What's his name?"

"Doesn't use one anymore. But tell him Old Wei sent you. Tell him it's for Davis's sake." She leaned closer. "And boy? Don't get your hopes up. Even if he trains you, you're still dead. Tega's nineteen years old and has been cultivating the Dragon Soul since he was twelve. You're starting from nothing with three days to live."

"I know."

"Good. At least you'll die with your eyes open."

They left the Old Market as the sun began to set. The eastern slums sprawled across what used to be Dragon Nation's university district, before Lucas burned the university and declared education a luxury for the rich.

The slums stank of rot and desperation. People lived ten to a room here, where Lucas's guards rarely patrolled because there was nothing left to steal.

"We should've brought Father," Emily said.

"He'd have stopped us."

"Maybe he should have."

They found the address Old Wei had given them. A collapsed building, walls held up by hope and habit. Inside, a man sat on the floor, surrounded by empty bottles.

"Go away," he said without looking up.

"Old Wei sent us," James said. "She said you fought alongside Davis."

The man's head snapped up. He was maybe forty, maybe sixty. Hard living erased the years. But his eyes were clear, and in them James saw something he hadn't seen in Dragon Nation for a long time.

Rage.

"Davis is dead," the man said. "Murdered by Lucas and Vivian twenty years ago. They stabbed him in the back and threw him off the northern cliff. I should know. I watched them do it."

The room tilted. Emily gasped.

"You're lying," James said.

"I wish I was." The man stood. He moved like a fighter, balanced and ready. "Davis was my commander. Best man I ever knew. He had the Dragon Soul, the real one, earned through cultivation and sacrifice. Lucas and Vivian wanted it. So they killed him and took it."

"Then how does Tega have it?"

"Because Lucas can't use it himself. Too old, body's too corrupted. So he gave it to his son, hoping the boy could master what the father never could." The man stepped closer. "Why are you here?"

James told him. The challenge. Tega. Emily. Three days.

When he finished, the man laughed. It was a horrible sound. "So history repeats itself. Another good man dies trying to protect someone he loves from Lucas's family."

"Will you train me?"

"Train you to do what? Die slower?"

"If that's all you've got, then yes."

The man studied him. Outside, guards shouted. Someone screamed. Just another night in Dragon Nation.

"I'm Marcus," the man said finally. "And I'll train you. But not here. Tomorrow morning, before dawn, meet me at the old northern garrison. Come alone."

"I'm coming too," Emily said.

"No," Marcus and James said together.

Emily's face hardened. "He's my brother."

"And if Lucas's guards see you with me, you'll be arrested before the duel even happens," Marcus said. "They've wanted me dead for years. Only reason I'm alive is because they think I'm just another drunk."

"He's right," James said. "Em, please. Stay with Father."

She looked between them, fury and fear warring on her face. "Fine. But James? If you die because you wouldn't let me help, I meant what I said. I'll never forgive you."

She left. The door slammed behind her.

Marcus grabbed a bottle, took a long drink. "Your sister's got spirit. That'll get her killed in Dragon Nation."

"That's why I'm doing this."

"Noble." Marcus threw the bottle at the wall. It shattered. "Davis was noble too. See where it got him."

"Then help me do better."

Marcus smiled. It looked painful. "Northern garrison. Dawn. Don't be late. We've got three days to teach you twenty years of training."

James left as full dark fell. The streets were empty now. Dragon Nation had a curfew. Break it, and Lucas's guards had permission to kill on sight.

He made it home. His father was still at the stall, or maybe drinking somewhere, trying to forget he was losing his son. Emily was in her room, door locked. James didn't knock. What could he say?

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. In three days, he'd fight Tega in front of the entire capital. He'd lose. He'd die. And Emily would become another ghost in Lucas's empire of broken things.

Unless Marcus could work a miracle.

James closed his eyes. Sleep wouldn't come. Instead, he saw Tega's face, heard the bastard's laugh, felt the fear that crawled through Dragon Nation like poison.

Three days. He had three days to become someone who could stand against a Dragon Soul user.

It wasn't enough time.

But it was all the time he had.