The Edge of Mercy
Galvara thrashed instantly, flailing elbows, boots kicking sand into the air. Her body bucked like a beast trying to shake loose its own shadow, but Kenny cinched tighter, veins burning across his forearms. His teeth were bared, sweat pouring, every muscle in his frame screaming to keep the lock.
Dozai’s lungs felt like collapsing paper. He bit down on his own lip until copper filled his mouth, forcing himself not to pass out. His body shot up, arms clamped down back harder on Galvara’s wrists, pinning them against the sand so Kenny could hold the choke.
His voice shredded itself into a roar. “FINISH IT, KENNY! FINISH IT!”
Their voices merged into a single, raw roar, less a sound than a final, desperate act of will.
Galvara didn’t give in easy. Even as her face purpled, tears streaking, she bucked and writhed. Words bubbled out of her, wet and broken, gasped between choking sobs. “I—can’t— please—I’m sorry—Delnora…I couldn’t—I—!”
Her legs scraped trenches into the ground, her fists clawing at air. But the strength drained from her arms. Her voice grew smaller, then weaker, until it was just ragged breaths scratching against Kenny’s forearm.
Her arms twitched. Her eyes rolled back. The halo plates hovering behind her wobbled, sputtered, then fell all at once, clattering into the sand like dying birds.
And then....
Stillness.
Just the sudden, hollow absence of motion.
Kenny held on for one second too long.
Then another.
Only when every ounce of tension drained from Galvara’s body did he finally release her, letting her body slump into the sand.
Unconscious.
Alive.
The crowd held its breath.
Master Hellick raised a single finger, then smiled.
The match was over.
What followed wasn’t cheers or applause.
It was laughter.
High.
Mean.
Cruel.
The kind of laughter born in dark places, laughter used to smother guilt.
“So much for being a hunter!” a hunter jeered.
“Delnora’s dumpling? More like a burnt potato!”
“Do it again! She should’ve never joined the hunters in the first place!”
Dozai didn’t join in. Neither did Kenny.
They could only sink in the sand, lungs heaving, bodies screaming.
Hellick tilted her head from the stands.
Clap.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Slow. Methodical. Unrushed.
It echoed across the walls like thunder wrapped in velvet.
Master Hellick, seated atop her high perch, finally stood. Her frame long and thin, her hands gloved. Her mouth unreadable. She continued the applause a moment longer, then stopped, mid-clap, fingers still touching.
“Impressive,” Her voice didn't need to be loud. It carved through the silence, and every ear bent to catch it. “Five against one. Not even a single death among you. Creative, clean. Cruel, when necessary. I see promise.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Especially in you, Dozai.”
He didn’t move, but a twitch passed through his jaw.
“And now, the question of spoils.” She turned her gaze toward Galvara’s unconscious body. “Uselessness must be punished. Should we grant her demotion?” A soft, rhetorical pause. “Or simply… death?”
Dozai swam in and out of focus, pain and exhaustion pulling him under. He didn’t want to move, to talk, to even exist in this moment. But… a cold knot of dread tightened in his gut.
His voice didn’t rise, but it vibrated through his chest, “She… fought well.”
Hellick smiled faintly. “Clearly, not well enough.”
Before she could say more.
A voice rose.
“Let me speak to her.”
From the pit’s edge, Delnora appeared again, descending the stairwell, hands fluttering at her sides with a grotesque, childlike grace.
The crowd murmured. A Hunter slipping quietly, "There goes Hellick's favorite again..."
Galvara stirred at the sound. Her fingers twitched weakly against the sand. Her vision blurred and as her eyes slowly blinked open through dust and ache and blood...
There Delnora stood. Towering above her.
Her smile was all soft warmth.
“You fought well, my dumpling.”
Galvara’s lips parted, air catching.
Delnora’s eyes filled.
Quietly. Kindly. Tears, fat and shimmering, rolling down both cheeks like they had nowhere else to go.
Galvara cried with her.
“I’m sorry,” Galvara whispered, the words cracking. “I let you down. I’ll do better next time. I promise.”
Delnora knelt beside her, gathering Galvara’s broken form into her arms, brushing sand from her brow, letting her fingers gently pet tangled hair.
“I know you would,” Delnora whispered, her voice dripping with sweetness. “That’s what I loved about you.”
She kissed her forehead, gentle as breath.
"But..."
Delnora stood slowly.
She turned to Hellick with a calm, vacant look. A mask that almost passed for serenity.
“Now that I know your limit, Galvara,” she said, her voice light, almost playful, wiping her tears. “it’s no fun anymore.”
Then, without ever breaking her serene smile—
Her boot came down.
Her heel settled against Galvara’s neck.
Not a stomp. A placement.
A delicate press. A leisurely twist.
“Del—?”
Pop.
It was a dry, succinct pop.
The silence that followed wasn't an absence of sound, but a new thing entirely.
Like something sacred had been broken and everyone had heard it.
Dozai’s breath caught mid-throat. His mind screamed, refusing to process what his eyes had seen. He could only manage shallow, broken gasps, as if the air itself had turned to ash.
…W-Why did she…
Kenny clutched the burn across his arm like it suddenly meant nothing.
The crowd wasn’t laughing anymore.
Some gasped. Some cheered nervously. Most just watched, caught between awe and horror.
On the raised stone benches, Kota rolled his eyes. “Drama queen...” His finger tapping slightly harder on his arm.
Beside him, Lucious picked at his ear, utterly impassive.
Master Hellick’s expression didn’t change.
Not even a blink.
Delnora ascended back toward the stands, blood on her sole like a seal, passing Master Hellick without breaking stride.
“Don’t worry,” she said casually, brushing a speck of something from her coat. “She was useless. You would’ve killed her anyway.”
Hellick didn’t speak. One gloved finger, tap, tap, tap, against her forehead.
Then, she smiled.
She lifted her hand and placed a single finger across her lips.
Delnora’s body jerked mid-step. Her knees buckled.
Her back arched violently, the spine bending at an impossible angle. Then the convulsions began, muscles locking, then rebelling. Her mouth opened in a soundless cry.
Hellick’s voice drifted down, soft as a shadow and just as cold. “You are correct, of course… her usefulness had expired.” A blade-sharp pause. “But you do not execute my property. I do. Do not forget your place again, child.”
This last part was spoken with a terrifying softness, the gentle finality of a mother's chastisement.
Delnora’s legs gave. She crumpled, but didn’t fall. She straightened.
Her body shaking. Her hands trembling.
And still she smiled. A bright, vacant doll's smile. Cheeks flushed a feverish, happy pink.
She tilted her head back and locked eyes with Hellick.
"My apologies..."
A breath. A pause.
Something flickered behind her eyes, then smoothed over.
"...Mother."
The word hung there.
Too intimate. Too wrong
The silence stretched. Filled the space between them like smoke, where no one else could breathe.
