~THE ASHEN COURT~

~XANDER MORTAIN~

The three guards moved at once with absolute, unnatural speed.

I met the first one head-on. My sword clashed against his blade.

The impact shuddered up my arm hard enough to numb my fingers.

These weren’t ordinary weapons. But neither was the man standing in their way.

I drove my blade deep into the first guard’s shoulder. Black blood welled, but before I could even wrench the steel free, the bleeding stopped.

I froze.

The sundered muscle and flesh were already knitting back together, fusing closed right before my eyes. In a heartbeat, the lethal wound had completely vanished.

How……?

I barely twisted away from...