His Essentia tasted like guilt now. Like fear. Like watching himself lose for the first time and not knowing how to handle it.

I almost felt bad.

Almost.

Then Aurora’s voice cut through the chaos. "Get away from him!"

I looked up. She stood on the building edge, both hands raised, her palms glowing so bright it hurt to look at directly. Not just light. Power. Real power, the kind that could punch a hole through concrete.

"Aurora, don’t!" Nolan tried to stand. Failed. "You’ll hit me!"

"I have ninety-four percent accuracy," she said, her voice shaking. "I won’t miss."

Our eyes met across the distance.

Something passed between us. The memory of her mouth on mine. The way she’d tasted when I kissed her after the movie. The electrical buzz of her Essentia cycling through my body when I’d held her hand.

She fired.

The photon blast was massive. Bigger than anything I’d seen her use before. It screamed through the air like a comet, trailing light, aimed directly at my center mass.

I released Nolan and dove sideways. The blast hit where I’d been standing and exploded, concrete vaporizing, heat washing over me in a wave that singed the hair on my arms.

"Jesus fucking Christ," I gasped, rolling to my feet. "You trying to kill me?"

"Yes!"

She fired again. I opened a portal and the blast went through, redirecting upward into the sky where it dissipated harmlessly. I closed the gate and ran, putting a building between us.

My entire body screamed. Broken ribs. Twisted ankle. Burned skin. The healing worked overtime but I was running on fumes. Three different Essentia flavors sloshed around inside me—Noel’s, Cheon’s, and now Nolan’s—mixing into something that made my stomach churn.

A portal opened beside me. Mera stepped through, free from Usagi’s gum, her expression murderous.

"Having fun?" she asked sweetly.

"Loads." I coughed blood. "You?"

"Peachy. That pink menace stuck me to a wall for five minutes."

"Where’s Usagi now?"

"Hiding from your girlfriend’s light show." Mera grabbed my hand, her warmth flooding through the contact. "You look like shit."

"Feel like it too."

Her tail wrapped around my wrist. "Want me to get you out of here?"

I considered it. Team Two could forfeit. Take the loss. Get medical attention and regroup.

But that wasn’t the quest. The quest was total victory. Complete domination. Showing everyone watching from those agency boxes exactly what Rome D’Angelo could do when pushed.

"No," I said. "We finish this."

"Stupid boy." She kissed me fast and hard, her Essentia spiking into the drain, refilling what I’d burned. "Go win your match."

She opened another portal and vanished through it.

I stood alone in the fake street, surrounded by burning cars and broken concrete, listening to Aurora’s footsteps on the rooftop somewhere nearby.

My phone buzzed. A text from Cheon: Stop showboating and win already.

I smiled despite the pain. Then Nolan’s voice called out behind me.

"This ends now."

I turned. He’d recovered. Of course he had. Protagonists always did. That green glow still wrapped around him like armor made of willpower and other people’s expectations.

We stared at each other across twenty feet of devastated cityscape.

"One more round," I said.

"One more."

We charged.

His fist collided with my fire. The impact and the heat met in the space between us, creating a shockwave that shattered every remaining window in a three-building radius. I stretched my arm around his guard and landed a solid hit to his kidney. He grunted, absorbed it, and brought his elbow down on my collarbone.

Something cracked. Possibly me. Possibly the ground. Hard to tell at this point.

I opened a portal beneath his feet. He dropped through, emerged above me from another gate, and drove both fists down on my spine. I collapsed, eating concrete, the world going grey at the edges.

Healing kicked in. Slower now. I’d burned through too much already.

Get up, I told myself. Get up or Aurora watches you lose. Get up or Noel’s first thought about you is failure. Get up or Cheon realizes you’re not worth the trouble.

I got up.

Nolan looked shocked. "How are you still—"

I activated every ability at once.

Fire Fist on both hands. Gravity Jail on his center mass. Rubber Body compressing my legs like a coiled spring. A portal opening behind him.

Then I released everything simultaneously.

The elastic tension launched me forward like a bullet. I passed through the portal mid-flight and emerged behind Nolan while he was still turning toward my original position. My flaming fist, accelerated by the slingshot momentum and amplified by the portal’s momentum preservation, connected with the back of his skull.

The impact was biblical.

Nolan’s entire body flew forward, his glowing Essentia flickering as his concentration broke. He hit the ground and skidded twenty feet, leaving a trench in the concrete. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The green light died.

He didn’t get up.

Aurora screamed his name from somewhere overhead. I heard running footsteps. Multiple people converging on my position.

I fell to one knee, breathing hard, my vision swimming. The drain had closed but the damage remained. My entire body was a map of injuries fighting to heal themselves faster than I could acquire new ones.

The horn blared. Three short bursts.

Match over.

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Reeves’s voice over the speakers: "Winner by knockout, Team Two."

I looked up at the observation boxes. Dozens of faces stared down at me. Agency reps, scouts, whatever. They’d just watched me beat the undefeated golden boy using abilities that shouldn’t exist together in one person.

Good.

Let them watch. Let them wonder. Let them write their reports and try to figure out what the hell Rome D’Angelo actually was.

Usagi appeared beside me, her hands fluttering uncertainly. "Are you okay? Oh my god, you’re bleeding everywhere—"

"Where’s Noel?"

"She’s—her astral form came back. She’s conscious. Mera’s with her."

"Good." I tried to stand. Failed. "Help me up."

Usagi got under my shoulder and lifted. Together we limped toward where Noel’s body lay behind the barricade. Mera crouched beside her, tail wrapped protectively around Noel’s ankle.

Noel’s grey eyes found mine. "You won."

"We won."

"You almost died."

"Part of the fun." I collapsed beside her. "Good call on the water tower."

"Your portal trick was insane."

"Yeah?" I grinned. "Wait till you see what else I can do."

Her face flushed pink. She looked away quickly, but not before I saw the ghost of a smile.

Medical staff swarmed us. Someone wrapped my ribs. Someone else checked my vitals. Aurora pushed through the crowd, her face streaked with tears, heading straight for Nolan’s unconscious form twenty feet away.

She didn’t even glance at me.

I watched her drop to her knees beside him, her hands hovering over his chest like she wanted to touch but didn’t know if she should. The perfect heroine caring for the fallen hero. Exactly how the story was supposed to go.

Mera sat down on my other side. "You look like you got hit by a bus."

"Feel like it too."

"Was it worth it?"

I thought about it. Broken ribs. Cracked ankle. Possible concussion. But we’d won. I’d taken down the protagonist in front of everyone who mattered. Proven that Rome D’Angelo wasn’t just some rich kid coasting on his family name.

"Yeah," I said. "Totally worth it."

Cheon appeared, pushing through the medics with her usual unstoppable momentum. She took one look at me and her professional mask cracked.

"You absolute idiot," she said. Her voice broke on the last word. "You could have—he almost—"

"I’m fine."

"You’re bleeding from six different places!"

"Seven, actually." I pointed at my forehead. "Forgot this one."

She made a sound halfway between a sob and a laugh. Then she dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around my neck, careful of my injuries, holding me like I might disappear.

"Don’t do that again," she whispered against my ear.

"No promises."

"Rome."

"Okay. I’ll try."

Mera’s tail coiled around both of us. "Group hug. How touching."

"Shut up," Cheon said, but she was smiling.

Noel sat a few feet away, watching us with an expression I couldn’t read. Our eyes met. Something passed between us, sharp and electric, the memory of that kiss in the prep room still fresh.

Then she looked away, but slower this time. Like maybe she didn’t hate me quite as much as she wanted to.

Reeves’s voice cut through the moment. "D’Angelo. Stark. Honjō. Debriefing in thirty minutes. Get yourselves cleaned up."

I gave her a thumbs up. She raised an eyebrow at the blood covering me but didn’t comment.

The crowd in the observation boxes was already emptying. Agency reps heading to make calls, file reports, discuss the anomaly they’d just witnessed. The white-haired kid who fought like he had nothing to lose.

They had no idea how right they were.

My phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number: Impressive display. We should talk. - Titan

Another buzz. Different number: Angelo Corp legal wants to meet ASAP regarding your public ability usage. - Marcus Weyland

Another: Tomorrow after your match. Don’t forget. - Vivian

And finally, from Professor Reeves: Seven PM. My lab. Don’t be late.