The quiet settled heavily once Skadi and the Hallviks disappeared into the Hold's labyrinth of steel and frost. Akiko pressed against a wall, ears tilted toward the faint hum of the Haven patrol nearby. Her tail twitched, betraying the nervous energy simmering beneath her calm.

Raya stood a few paces off, arms folded. Watching her.

"Alright," she said quietly. Her voice cut clean through the hush. "How are we handling this?"

Akiko straightened. Ran a hand through her hair.

"Simple," she said, keeping her voice low. "I draw the guards. You wait, stay out of sight. Once they take the bait, you head into the maintenance bay."

"And you?" Raya asked, frowning.

"I'll loop back. Meet you inside," Akiko said. She smiled. Not quite her usual grin, but enough to pass. "Easy."

Raya's frown deepened. "Akiko, if you get caught—"

"I won't," Akiko said, firm. "You told me yourself. Loud has consequences. So I'll keep it quiet. No unnecessary risks."

"Drawing Haven away from their post isn't exactly quiet," Raya pointed out, her voice dry.

Akiko shrugged. "It's not about noise. It's about finesse."

Raya sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Finesse. Right."

"Hey, trust me," Akiko said, stepping closer. "I know I've been… impulsive. I'm working on it. Ten minutes, that's all I need."

Raya nodded, reluctant. "Akiko…"

"I'll be fine," she said. Softer now. "Promise."

Akiko reached into her jacket and pulled out the datapad Skadi had given her.

"Here," she said, holding it out. "Access codes for the maintenance tunnels. In case I get pinned down."

Raya took it slowly, her fingers brushing Akiko's. She held Akiko's gaze a moment longer. The silence between them stretched, thick with things unsaid. Finally, she exhaled and nodded once.

"Ten minutes. If you're not back, I'm coming after you."

Akiko's tail flicked. "Fair deal. But you won't have to."

Raya stepped back into the shadows, disappearing into a narrow alcove. Her absence left a chill Akiko didn't expect.

Akiko waited a beat longer, watching the entrance to the bay. Haven enforcers clustered near the security door, disciplined and methodical. At their center stood Marcus Vehrin, all razor-cut uniform and calculated authority.

Akiko's tail twitched again. Subtle, huh?

She took a breath. Flexed her fingers. Foxfire danced faintly along her claws.

No charging in. No flair. Just a clean distraction. One thread pulled.

She glanced once more toward Raya's hiding place, then slipped into the dark. Another shadow in the frost-lined corridors of Isvann Hold.

The cold crept around her, clinging to metal and skin alike. Pipes hissed. Boots echoed faintly.

Haven's perimeter was tight, their comms clipped. Marcus Vehrin's voice sliced through the static now and then, issuing commands she couldn't quite catch.

Akiko crouched behind a maintenance panel, stilling her breath. The frost on the grates shimmered in the low light, mist curling from half-frozen pipes.

She waited. Watched.

Her claws flexed, pale blue foxfire flickering faintly as she considered her approach. Something subtle. Something clean. No theatrics, no unnecessary noise. Just one precise distraction.

She took a breath.

Then the temperature dropped. Subtly at first. Like the air stopped circulating. Her next breath scraped cold through her chest, and frost began to gather at the edges of her vision.

A whisper slid through her mind, silk over blade.

"So predictable, little fox."

Akiko froze.

Her claws flared, light spilling into the frost-hung corridor as she turned sharply, gaze scanning the gloom. "No," she muttered. "Not now."

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

A soft laugh rippled around her. Inside her.

"Oh, but now is perfect," the entity cooed, its voice wrapping around her spine. "You stand at the edge, alone and uncertain, clinging to scraps of a plan. You think this moment is yours?"

The shadows at the far end of the hall bent. Space folded inward like fabric drawn tight, and from that unnatural seam stepped a shape too familiar.

Her own silhouette, forged of cold symmetry.

The entity's body gleamed like her own, but subtly wrong. Every movement too fluid, every joint too perfect. Its hair hung weightless in the stale air. And its eyes, her eyes, burned with amber light.

"You're floundering," it said gently. "Still pretending you can be more without becoming more."

Akiko's ears flattened. "I don't need you."

"But you already carry me," it said. "I feel the shape of your thoughts. The hesitation before every decision. You want to grow, but only by your own rules. It doesn't work that way."

Foxfire crackled along her claws, casting fractured reflections on the corridor walls. "You're not real," she hissed.

It smiled. "Neither were you, once."

She stepped forward, slow and deliberate. "Whatever game you're playing, I'm not interested."

The entity tilted its head, mimicking the motion like a lover teasing a dance. "No game. No bargain. A gift. Direction. Clarity. Power. You only need to stop resisting the evolution already blooming inside you."

Akiko's breath came faster. Her claws flared again.

"Get out of my head," she growled.

The corridor felt smaller now. Narrower. Less hers.

The entity stepped closer. Its voice dropped, softer than thought.

"When it all falls apart, when she's gone, you'll remember this moment. You'll remember that I offered you the strength to save her. And you chose fear instead."

That struck deeper than claws. She sucked in a breath, ragged with fury. Her vision blurred with anger.

"Mention her again," Akiko said, low and sharp, "and I'll find a way to hurt you."

The entity smiled wider. Too wide. "You only hurt yourself."

And then it was gone.

The pressure lifted. The temperature crept back toward normal. The corridor stopped bending.

Akiko stood there, claws still glowing, shoulders tense, breath shallow.

She exhaled. Hard. Let the claws fade. Shook the tension from her limbs like water.

Then she turned back to the task at hand. Steps light, posture calm, eyes focused. No tremble in her fingers. No fear in her face.

But behind her eyes, the echo remained. A shimmer of frost, a flicker of red.

And a whisper she refused to listen to: not yet.

The guards' voices drew closer, boots pounding in rhythm, echoing through the steel corridors.

Akiko straightened, claws flexing as foxfire shimmered faintly across her fingertips. She inhaled, held it.

"Alright, fox," she murmured. "Time to earn that attention."

She scanned the corridor, eyes flicking from a wall conduit to a stack of crates tucked into a recessed alcove. Perfect.

She darted across the hall, boots tapping sharp against the deck. Just loud enough.

"Movement! West junction!" a voice barked behind her.

Akiko grinned, foxfire flaring a little brighter in her palms as she grabbed the nearest crate and shoved it into the middle of the hallway. Metal shrieked against metal, the sound bouncing off every surface.

The guards rounded the corner seconds later, weapons up.

She didn't hide.

"Hey, fellas!" she called, stepping into full view, claws alight. "Looking for me?"

One guard reached for his comm. "We've got eyes on the anomaly. South corridor!"

"Anomaly?" Akiko placed a hand over her heart. "That's no way to talk about a lady. Haven really needs to work on its manners."

"Stand down!" the lead snapped, rifle leveled.

She winked. "Where's the fun in that?"

Then she ran. Foxfire flared at her heels as she launched herself into a sprint, vaulting over the crate and tearing down the corridor.

Behind her, the guards shouted, boots crashing against the deck.

Akiko raised a hand mid-stride, fingers flicking foxfire through a practiced gesture. A ripple of heat shimmered across her skin, then vanished.

Applied Spellform Initialized: Obfuscation (Tier I)

Concealment wrapped around her, fuzzing her image, blending her into the shadows.

"The anomaly is confirmed nearby," Marcus Vehrin's voice crackled over their comms. "Deploy the detector grid. Box her in."

Akiko ducked around a support beam, sliding to a stop behind its frosted bulk. Her claws flickered at her sides, ears twitching.

The low hum of mana tech started up nearby, deep and resonant. Her heart sank.

A detector. That was a problem. If she got too close, its field would strip her concealment magic, rendering her a glowing target. No shadows to melt into. No tricks to vanish behind.

"Great," she muttered. "There goes Plan A."

The clatter of boots grew louder. They were sweeping the hall. Tight formation, coordinated. Seconds left, maybe.

"Okay. Plan B, then."

She visualized the layout. Walkways above. Pipes overhead. Gravity light. Enough to move fast and stay unpredictable. And the detector, just coming into view, cradled between two guards.

Akiko flexed her claws, blue fire dancing brighter now.

"Sorry, fancy tech," she murmured. "You're about to have a bad day."

She rolled her shoulders, then moved. A leap, clean and high, vaulting onto the lowest catwalk. One of the guards shouted, weapon rising just a heartbeat too slow before she vaulted again. Metal groaned under her weight.

She twisted, kicked off the opposite wall, caught a rusted pipe with one hand, and swung herself higher, flipping neatly onto a narrow ledge above.

Marcus's voice snapped through the comms again. "Activate the detector! Now!"

The pulse grew louder. A deep vibration that crawled into her teeth, fraying the edges of her magic.

Alert: Anomalous Field Detected

Mana integrity degrading. Concealment efficacy at 63%… 48%… 22%…

She crouched, just above the glowing cylinder. It pulsed like a heartbeat. Hungry.

"Let's cut the cord," she whispered.

She dropped. Foxfire surged along her limbs, claws slicing down in a clean arc.

The detector sparked, the casing rupturing in a shower of light and sound. A sharp pop cracked through the corridor, followed by a whine as its core destabilized.

It fizzled out. Dead.

"Oops," Akiko said, landing lightly.

The guards scrambled, raising weapons, but her fire was already dimming. With the detector down, her concealment reasserted itself.

She vanished into shadow.

"Find her!" Vehrin's voice roared. "Do not let her escape!"

Too late. She was already gone, weaving through service ducts and frost-lined corridors, doubling back on a trail they couldn't follow. Her breathing stayed even. Light. Every step measured.

By the time they regrouped, she was three turns away and fading fast. A ghost in a frozen maze.

Just the way she liked it.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.