Chapter 52: Forces Of Evil: Culmination Arc [13]

"Three minutes," Theodore said.

"I know."

"We need two more."

"I know, Theodore."

Kreasial came back through the undergrowth empty-handed and Arthur felt her frustration before she said anything.

"Nothing on the west side." She pointed at the dead tree cluster ahead. "What about there?"

Arthur closed his left eye. His anchor pushed out low through the dark between the roots. He felt along the ground. Weight. Density. Cold metal sitting two inches under the soil near the base of the furthest trunk.

"There. And one more by the flat rock behind you."

Kreasial was already moving. Theodore turned and crouched at the rock without asking which one. His bellus was already at it, pawing the edge.

Arthur crossed to the tree. Reached into the root gap. His fingers closed around something small and circular.

[+100 credits]

Theodore held up a pendant. The cloud appeared.

[+100 credits]

[Class F Triad: Misfits — 3,600 credits]

"That’s thirty-six hundred," Theodore said.

"That’s enough," Arthur said.

Kreasial looked at the credit count hovering overhead. She made a sound through her nose and brushed the dirt off her palms.

"Third is fine," she said. "We beat Class C."

"We beat Class C with a spike through your shoulder," Theodore said. He said it plain. Just noting the fact.

"And a worm," Kreasial added.

"The worm wasn’t that bad," Arthur said.

Both of them looked at him.

"It was a little bad," he said.

"It was enormous," Theodore said. "It cleared the canopy."

"It’s dead now."

"Because the three of us hit it from every angle while you were holding a bind on zero reserves and a bleeding shoulder."

"That’s called teamwork."

"That’s called you almost dying again," Kreasial said. She said it flat. Not angry. Just the fact of it sitting between them.

Arthur opened his mouth.

"That’s the third time since I’ve known you," she continued. "And I’ve known you for two weeks."

"The first one doesn’t count."

"The cafeteria. First day."

Kreasial stared at him. "That wasn’t almost dying. That was you breaking someone’s nose."

"It felt dangerous at the time."

Theodore made a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. He looked back at his notes. "We should go before something else comes out of the ground."

"That’s what I said," Kreasial said.

"You said get us out before something comes out of the ground."

"Same thing."

"Almost exactly the same thing," Arthur said.

Kreasial pointed at both of them. "I will leave you both here."

Arthur pressed the relic stone.

The coliseum hit him before his eyes adjusted.

Noise first. Light second. Then ten thousand people cheering from every direction at once.

Arthur blinked. The floor under his feet was stone again. Triads materializing across it in blue-white flashes, some clean, some stumbling, one Class B pair coming through with a member already half-carried by the other.

The cheering didn’t stop.

[+1 RP]

[+1 RP]

[+1 RP]

The passive gain fired faster than it had on the island. Arthur looked up at the stands. At the sponsor clouds still active. At the rows of observers leaning forward.

This is bad. I didn’t expect people to notice me this fast.

Another RP ticked in.

But I don’t mind the bonus.

Roz said nothing. He fixed his bow tie and looked at the stands with the expression of tired of the constant noise.

The results board assembled above the center of the floor. Numbers climbed and locked.

CLASS A — 6,240

CLASS B — 4,890

CLASS F — 3,600

CLASS C — 3,200

CLASS D — 1,100

CLASS E — 0

Kreasial went still beside him.

Theodore stopped writing.

The crowd read the board the same second they did. The cheering sharpened — not louder, more specific. Focused on the third line. Someone in the upper rows started it and it spread section by section until the whole east stand was making noise about a number that had no business sitting where it was.

"That’s us," Theodore said quietly.

"That’s us," Arthur said.

Kreasial stared at the number for two full seconds. Then she laughed. One short real sound. She looked away immediately like she hadn’t done it.

Theodore looked at the board. Then at Arthur. Then back at the board. He uncapped his pen and wrote something. Arthur caught a glimpse of it — just the number, circled once, nothing else written around it.

He looked away before Theodore noticed him looking.

In the family section, Velja had both arms crossed and was grinning at the results with the energy of someone watching a bet pay off. Next to him Welya’s hands were folded in her lap. She wasn’t looking at the board.

She was looking at Arthur.

He looked away.

[+1 RP]

Before he closed the notification, white coats were already moving across the floor. Fast. Coming from both tunnel mouths, cutting between triads with practiced efficiency.

One reached Arthur before he registered her approach. Both hands pressed flat to his shoulder. The warmth came sharp and immediate — nothing like Roz’s slow careful work. This moved through the wound in a straight line and sealed it clean in seconds.

He breathed in.

His aetheric reserve filled. Not gradually. All at once, the density behind his sternum pushing back to full like water rising fast in an empty container. The hollow scraping feeling from the island was gone. His arms stopped aching. His hands steadied.

He looked at his palms.

Roz looked at the healer.

She moved on without a word.

"REPRESENTATIVES." The announcer’s voice cut through everything. "THE FIRST CATEGORY IS COMPLETE."

CLASS D and CLASS E grayed out on the board and went dark.

"ADVANCING TO THE SECOND CATEGORY — CLASS A. CLASS B. CLASS C. CLASS F."

Another wave from the stands.

"ALL REMAINING REPRESENTATIVES WILL BE GIVEN A FIFTY-MINUTE BREAK. PLEASE FOLLOW YOUR ASSIGNED ESCORT."

The floor started moving.

Arthur’s eyes moved first.

He found Elias in eleven seconds. East side. Standing with his triad, jaw set, looking across the floor at Xavier. His right hand rested against his jacket pocket. Not reaching in. Just resting there.

Arthur pushed one anchor out. Slow. Threading it across the stone and into the shadow at the edge of Elias’s boot.

The merge settled.

Good.

’Cael,’ Vexis said.

I know. Arthur watched Elias’s hand against the pocket. Fifty minutes. It’s enough.

Roz stepped from one shoulder to the other. "The plan with Cael. You’re sure about the timing?"

"He’ll be at the east gate. We arranged it before the format."

"And if he’s not."

"Then I find him anyway."

Roz’s ear moved once. He said nothing else.

Escorts appeared at the tunnel mouths. The Class F escort spotted them and started over.

"I need twenty minutes," Arthur said to Kreasial.

She looked at him. "For?"

"Something I set up before the format."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Hopefully not."

She studied his face. "Don’t bleed on anything. We just got you fixed."

"I’ll try."

Theodore glanced up from his notes. "Should I be concerned?"

"No."

Theodore considered that. Capped his pen. "I’ll save you a seat."

The escort reached them. Kreasial and Theodore fell in with the group heading toward the tunnel. Arthur moved with them, same pace, same direction. The coliseum noise faded as the stone closed around them.

Theodore glanced back once. Arthur waved him forward.

A hand grabbed his shoulder.

Arthur turned.

Xavier.

’NOW WHAT IS THIS GUY’S PROBLEM.’ Vexis dropped directly between them, arms wide.

Xavier let go. He glanced once at Kreasial and Theodore’s backs disappearing around the corner and waited until the footsteps were gone and the corridor had gone quiet.

"We need to talk," he said.

Outside the coliseum the passage was empty.

Everyone had moved toward the cafeteria. Voices gone. Footsteps gone. Just stone walls and the distant muffled crowd still sitting in their seats with nowhere to be for fifty minutes. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Xavier stopped. He turned and faced Arthur. His eyes moved once across Arthur’s face, then the torn collar, then the closed wound on his shoulder.

Not reading the scene.

Reading him.

"What do you want," Arthur said.

Xavier opened his mouth.

"Are you related—" He stopped. Corrected himself. "Do you know a person named Krishka?"

Arthur’s eyebrows went up.

Krishka.

Isn’t that the—

The thought didn’t finish.

The dagger came up fast. Blue glow on the blade. Already at his throat.

Arthur pulled back on instinct. His head snapped sideways. The tip caught his collar and dragged across the fabric, close enough that he heard the tear.

He stepped back.

’THIS BASTARD.’ Vexis appeared directly between them, both fists raised, completely useless.

Xavier’s posture was locked. Weight forward. Grip tight. He’d already decided before he moved. Arthur could see it, this wasn’t a warning. He’d committed to it.

His expression had changed.

The nothing was gone. What replaced it was flat and certain. Disgust sitting over something older underneath. Like looking at something he’d made up his mind about a long time ago and had only now found the moment to act on.

"I’ll make sure to make you suffer." His voice came out low. Tight. "You forces of evil."

Arthur stared at him.

What the hell is this guy on.