Damon set his cup down, pushed back from the table, and stood.

"Three weeks is enough," he said.

Hector gave a single nod, the kind that carried no warmth but carried respect.

Damon turned and walked back through the balcony entrance, past the inner hall, and out through the heavy doors of Hector’s residence without looking back.

The mountain path stretched downward in front of him, winding between ancient stone steps and tall pines.

He walked it alone.

The air up here was thinner, cleaner, carrying the faint bite of altitude that never fully left the upper peaks.

Below, the sect spread out in layers, training grounds and outer disciple quarters and inner courts stacked against the mountainside like a city that had grown upward instead of outward.

Damon kept his hands loose at his sides and his pace steady.

’Three weeks. And Kai Reventon is thirty years old.’ he thought

He already knew the man’s name. Already knew the grudge.

The thirteen disciples sent to kill him outside Crimson Moon City had not been subtle about who gave the order.

Now the tournament age limit had been pushed to exactly thirty.

Damon did not believe in coincidences that convenient.

He descended the path and disappeared into the lower courts.

****

Behind him, the balcony stayed quiet for a moment after his footsteps faded.

Mei did not move from her position near the inner doorway.

Sect Leader Hector remained at the table, both hands still wrapped around his cup, staring at the space where Damon had been sitting.

Then Hector spoke.

"The rule change bothers me."

"It should," Mei said.

She moved forward and took the seat Damon had just vacated, crossing one leg over the other with the easy comfort of someone who had sat at powerful men’s tables for a very long time.

Her deep purple hair fell over one shoulder as she reached forward and poured herself tea without being invited to.

"The organizing council does not change tournament parameters without pressure from somewhere," Hector said.

"Raising the representative count is one thing. Raising the age limit to thirty is specific."

"Very specific," Mei agreed.

Sect Leader Hector set his cup down.

"The Reventon family."

It was not a question.

Mei tilted her head slightly, her red lips curving.

"Kai Reventon turns thirty-one in four months," she said.

"This is his last window. If the age limit had stayed at twenty-five, he would never have qualified for this tournament or any tournament after it."

Hector’s jaw tightened.

"The Reventons have enough influence with the council to push through a format change?"

"The Reventons have enough gold to push through whatever they want," Mei said simply.

"Influence is just gold with better clothes."

Sect Leader Hector stood and moved to the railing, looking out over the sect below.

The wind moved through the pines and the distant sound of sparring carried up faintly from the training grounds.

"Kai has been in closed-door cultivation for weeks," Hector said.

"He close to broke through to Heaven Spirit Realm before he went in. If he has been pushing hard since then, he could be at the Heaven Spirit Realm by now."

"Possibly higher," Mei said.

"The Reventon family has no shortage of pills."

Sect Leader Hector turned slightly.

"But why go through the tournament? If he wants Damon dead, he has already tried the direct approach twice and failed. Why use the sect stage?"

Mei looked at him over the rim of her cup.

"Because of Selene," she said.

Sect Leader Hector went still.

Mei set her cup down and laced her fingers together on the table.

"Kai Reventon is betrothed to Selene Frostborn. That arrangement has been in place for years, and Selene has never accepted it willingly, but she has also never broken it publicly."

She paused.

"Then Damon arrives. Within weeks he is living in Selene’s mansion as her direct disciple. Training with her daily. Sleeping under her roof."

Sect Leader Hector’s expression shifted.

"Kai found out."

"Of course he found out," Mei said, her voice carrying the mild contempt of someone explaining something obvious.

"He has had a spy watching the mansion since Damon moved in. I spotted the man in the pine trees myself."

Sect Leader Hector exhaled slowly.

"So this is not just about the tournament. This is personal."

"Kai does not want Damon quietly removed anymore," Mei said.

"He wants to crush him in front of the entire sect. In front of Selene. He wants to stand over Damon on that arena stage and make it clear to everyone watching that there is no version of this story where Damon wins."

She picked up her cup again.

"The tournament gives him a legal stage to do it. No assassination attempts that can be traced back. No political fallout. Just a clean, public humiliation."

Hector was quiet for a moment.

Then something shifted in his expression.

"The elder who proposed the sect tournament," he said slowly. "Elder Crane. He suggested it at the council meeting two days after the format change was announced."

He turned fully to face Mei.

"Elder Crane has been close to the Reventon family for fifteen years."

Mei looked at him.

Then she let out a short, quiet sound through her nose, the kind that was not quite a laugh but carried every ounce of contempt a laugh would have.

"So Kai could not get the sect to hand him Damon directly, so he planted the idea of a tournament through a friendly elder, changed the age limit through family money, and is now going to walk into that arena pretending it was all fair."

She set her cup down with a soft click.

"Pathetic," she said.

The word landed flat and final, the way Mei said things when she had already decided the matter was beneath further analysis.

Sect Leader Hector looked back out over the sect.

"He underestimates the boy," he said quietly.

Mei’s purple eyes moved toward the mountain path where Damon had descended minutes ago, already long gone.

"They all do," she said.