She rolled her eyes but looked pleased. Standing up, she brushed off her knees and moved on to check Raphael, who was still pretending he didn’t need help despite the blood dripping down his face and staining his collar.

Celeste took Emi’s place in front of me, her eyes critical as she assessed my condition. She tilted her head slightly, studying me like I was a particularly interesting puzzle. "What’s the next event?"

"No idea. They keep it secret until right before to prevent over-planning."

"Smart," she nodded, her posture still perfect, her voice measured. "It favors adaptability over rigid strategy."

"Which means it favors me," I said, stretching experimentally. My ribs protested, but it was manageable. The pain was just noise at this point.

"Your ego is showing again," Natalia muttered, her arms crossed.

"Always," I agreed, flashing her a quick grin that made her jaw tighten.

Braxton clapped his hands, the sound cutting through the various conversations. "Listen up, you overachieving disasters. I just got word about the next event."

The room quieted immediately. Even the background chatter from other guilds seemed to dim.

"Tag team duels," Braxton announced, his voice casual but his eyes sharp. "Two on two, single elimination bracket. Each guild enters three teams of two. That’s six fighters total." His eyes scanned the room, lingering on each of us in turn. "I need names. Now."

"Me," I said immediately, before anyone else could stake their claim.

Braxton looked at me like I’d just announced water was wet. "No shit, Nakano. You’re team one. Who’s your partner?"

I glanced around the room, considering. Natalia was the obvious choice—our synergy was unmatched, our coordination the result of hours spent in far more intimate settings. But strategic thinking suggested spreading our strongest fighters across different teams. If we lumped all our power into one duo, the other teams would be weak links. And the VHC would notice. They’d ask questions about why we worked so well together.

"Isabelle," I said finally.

A murmur ran through the room. Isabelle looked up from where she was adjusting her spear, her wine-red eyes unreadable. She didn’t seem surprised, just... observant.

"Interesting choice," Braxton said, his tone suggesting he was already doing the math in his head. "Okoye, you good with that?"

Isabelle nodded once, elegant and precise. "It will be... educational."

"Great, you can study his stupidity up close," Braxton said. "Team two?"

"I’ll go," Natalia stepped forward, her voice leaving no room for argument. "With Skylar."

Skylar looked up from her knives, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Oh, this will be fun."

"Team three?"

"Me and Marco," Raphael said, cracking his knuckles. "We’ll smash whatever they put in front of us."

Marco whooped, throwing an arm around Raphael’s shoulders despite the other boy’s irritated glare. "Hell yeah! Team Demolition!"

"More like Team Dumbass," Juan muttered from where he was still lying on the bench with his eyes closed, shuffling his cards with one hand.

"What was that, card boy?" Raphael growled.

"Nothing," Juan yawned. "Just calculating the probability of you two remembering the actual objective instead of just punching things. It’s low. Very low."

Before Raphael could launch himself at Juan, Braxton stepped between them. "Save it for the arena, children. We’re on in fifteen minutes. Team one goes first, so Nakano and Okoye, get your shit together."

The room began to buzz again as everyone prepared. Isabelle moved to my side, her spear balanced perfectly in one hand.

"We should discuss strategy," she said, her voice calm and measured.

"Hit them until they stop moving?"

She stared at me for a beat, her expression completely flat. "Remarkable. Your tactical genius continues to astound me."

"I try."

"No, you don’t. That’s what makes you so fascinating." She leaned her spear against the wall. "You operate on pure instinct, yet somehow achieve results that those with years of formal training cannot match."

I shrugged. "Maybe formal training isn’t all it’s cracked up to be."

"Perhaps." Her eyes studied me with that uncomfortable intensity that made me feel like she was cataloging every cell in my body. "Or perhaps you’re something else entirely."

Before I could respond, Natalia appeared at my side, her fingers finding mine with casual possessiveness.

""Be careful out there," she murmured against my shoulder, her breath warm on my skin. "Julian will be gunning for you after what happened at the gala. He won’t just want to beat you—he’ll want to humiliate you. Break you. Make you understand exactly where you belong in the pecking order."

I tilted her chin up so she could see the predatory gleam in my eyes. "Let him try. The harder he comes at me, the sweeter it’ll be when I crush him."

"I’m serious, Satori." Her grip on my hand tightened, almost painfully. "No unnecessary risks. No showing off just because the cameras are on you. Just... win and come back to me in one piece. That’s all I ask."

The genuine worry in her voice made something warm and dangerous unfurl in my chest. It was strange how quickly I’d gotten used to having someone actually give a damn whether I lived or died.

"Yes, Princess," I said, keeping my tone light even as I felt that warmth spread through me.

She pulled me down for a kiss that was anything but gentle—fierce and possessive, tasting like mint and the sharp bite of frost. When she finally broke away, her purple eyes were burning with an intensity that matched her Aspect.

"For luck," she whispered against my lips, though we both knew I didn’t believe in luck anymore. I believed in power, in preparation, and in taking what I wanted from a world that had tried its damnedest to keep me in my place.

Celeste cleared her throat with the delicate precision of someone who’d been trained since birth in proper etiquette. I turned to find her standing a few feet away, her expression carefully neutral in that way that only people with years of VHC grooming could manage. But there was something in her eyes—curiosity? Assessment? The kind of look a chess master gave when studying an opponent’s unexpected opening move.

"The preliminary bracket has been posted," she said, her voice as smooth and cool as winter wind. "You and Isabelle are facing the Cobalt Vipers in the first round. Kenjiro Kobayashi and Jin Park."

I let out a low whistle, already running through what little I knew about Kenjiro’s wind manipulation abilities. Starting with one of the academy’s tactical masterminds wasn’t exactly a gentle warm-up. "Starting with the tough ones, huh? Someone at NVA really wants to see what we’re made of."

"It becomes progressively worse, I’m afraid." There was something almost apologetic in Celeste’s tone, though her face remained that perfect mask of composure. "If you manage to advance past the Vipers, the bracket structure suggests you’ll likely face either Julian’s team from the Argent Sentinels or Reyna’s squad from the Scarlet Phantoms in the semifinals. Assuming, of course, that they win their respective matches."

"Perfect," I said, and I meant it. The grin that spread across my face was genuine, predatory, the kind of expression that had made more than one person take an instinctive step backward. "I was really hoping for a rematch. It’s been almost two whole weeks since I made Julian look like an idiot in front of Valoria’s elite. I’d hate for anyone to think that was just a fluke."

Celeste shook her head. "You’re either insanely confident or just insane. I haven’t decided which."

"Why choose? I’m an overachiever."

A small smile tugged at her lips. She stepped closer, her voice dropping so only I could hear. "Be careful. My sister is watching you very closely now."

"I know. That’s the point."

Her blue eyes searched mine. "What exactly are you trying to prove here, Satori?"

That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? What was I trying to prove? That a nobody from the worst part of town could stand toe-to-toe with the elite? That talent and determination could overcome privilege and pedigree? That the system that had written me off as worthless was fundamentally broken?

All of the above, probably.

But I just winked at her. "That I look good on camera, obviously."

She rolled her eyes, but there was fondness in the gesture. "Impossible," she muttered for the second time.

"That’s my brand."

A loud buzzer sounded, signaling five minutes until the next event. Braxton appeared at my elbow, shoving my bat into my hands.

"Time to go, Superstar. Try not to bleed all over my nice clean arena."

"I make no promises," I said, swinging the bat onto my shoulder.

Isabelle picked up her spear with graceful efficiency, her expression shifting into something colder and more focused. "Shall we?"

I nodded, turning to follow her toward the exit. Before I could take a step, I felt a tug on my sleeve. Emi stood there, her blue eyes serious.

"Remember what I said about your ribs," she warned. "They’re not fully healed."

"I’ll be fine, Emi."

"You always say that, and then you come back looking like you tried to hug a wood chipper."

I laughed, which immediately made my ribs protest. "I’ll be careful. Scout’s honor."

"You were never a scout," she said flatly.

"Details."

She sighed, then rose on her tiptoes to press a kiss to my cheek. "For healing," she whispered, her healing aura brushing against my skin like a caress.

I felt Natalia’s temperature drop another few degrees behind me.

"Thanks," I managed, suddenly very aware that I was accumulating good luck kisses at an alarming rate.

Akari appeared at my other side, chains jingling. "Don’t I get to wish you luck too?" she purred, her golden eyes gleaming with mischief.

"You weren’t even in the first event," Natalia said, ice literally forming on her fingertips.

"Which means my luck is fresh," Akari countered.

Before that potential disaster could escalate, Braxton grabbed my collar and practically dragged me toward the exit. "Save the harem anime bullshit for after we win," he growled. "Arena. Now."

I shot an apologetic glance back at the girls, who were now engaged in what appeared to be a silent standoff, then hurried after Isabelle. She waited for me at the tunnel entrance, her expression a perfect mask of regal composure.

"Your personal life is chaotic," she observed as I joined her.

"That’s one word for it."

"Fascinating is another." Her eyes flicked to mine. "Most men would kill to have such problems."

"Most men wouldn’t survive them," I countered.

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "True. Perhaps that’s what makes you worthy of them."