(FOCUS: REN PLUTO)
The walk to the Portal Chamber was a new kind of hell.
It wasn't a death march. It was a parade.
They were a new, fractured, broken thing. Ren was at the point, his shattered shoulder a dull, fiery, throb under his blazer. He'd lost the pry bar—Ravi had made him dump it, claiming it was "unauthorized" and would get them all flagged. Ren had just about broken his jaw, the "Alpha Struggle" a live, sparking, wire between them. But he'd done it. He was unarmed. He was furious.
Nyx was at his left flank. She was the other weapon, her face a mask of cold, bored, calculation. They were the iron triangle, the "hard" assets. Ravi, Sia, and Zara walked in their shadow.
And then... there was Jules.
He wasn't in the formation. He was just... following.
He was blank. A "perfect" student. His honey blonde hair was perfectly combed. His pure blue "sapphire" eyes were... empty. He was a zombie. A walking, breathing, husk of the kid who'd been a liability.
Ren hated it. He hated looking at him.
It was a walking reminder of their failure. A trophy of Dr. Gray's victory.
Every student they passed in the hallway just... stared. They saw the unit. They saw Ren (448), the bloody, stapled, Wolf. They saw Ravi (455), the new, cold, Handler.And they saw Jules.They saw the ghost.
The word was already out. Unit 734 had been Audited. And one of them had been wiped.
They weren't "Pigs" anymore. They were victims. They were a warning.
And it was so much worse.
"Eyes forward, Ren," Ravi muttered from behind him. His voice was a low, cold, command.
Ren didn't turn. He just kept walking.
He hated this. He hated the new Ravi. He hated the "team" bullshit. He hated that the bastard sounded like a leader.
The Portal Chamber was... different.
The rest of Vara Rose was old, dark, stone. Gilded, gothic, rot.
This... this was the future.
It was a massive, circular, room, cold and sterile as an operating theater. The walls were all black, reflective, glass. The only light came from the floor, a cold, blue, grid.
In the center of the room... the pods.
Two dozen of them. Sleek, white, machines. They looked like coffins.
And standing by the main console... him..
He was tall. Too thin. His gray uniform hung on him like a shroud. His skin was pale, almost translucent, like he'd never seen the sun. His eyes... his eyes were a bright, electric, cybernetic blue. They were wrong.
This was Aaron Luther. The "Digital Ghost." The instructor for the Portal.
"Unit 734," he said. His voice... it wasn't a voice. It was synthesized. A low, digital, hum. "You're late. Two minutes. That's a... data discrepancy."
"We were... detained," Ravi said, stepping up.
Luther's head snapped to him. A fast, unnatural, bird-like motion.
"By Dr. Gray," Luther "spoke." "I have the file. Mr. Albright. Mr. Dasa. Ms. Abara. A... messy... audit."He... he knew.
"Sit," Luther commanded. "The test is active."
They moved. Ren headed for a pod."Not you, 448," Luther's voice, stopping him cold.Ren turned.
Luther was looking at him. "You're... volatile. You're a brute. This... is a stealth op. A zero footprint data theft. You... are a liability... in my world."
The insult... it was a slap. Ren felt the rage spike.
"So..." Luther continued. "You'll be Group Alpha. You'll be... point. But... your team... they're shackled to you. Your failure... is their failure. You go loud... you all get a -10."
This... this was a setup.He was testing the new "Alpha Struggle." He was forcing Ren to obey Ravi.Ren just... stared at him.He saw Ravi... nod. A small, sharp, "take-the-hit" nod.
Ren turned. He stalked to his pod. He didn't say a word.He hated them. All of them.He laid back. The pod was cold. A click. A hiss.A cold, wet, gel... flooded his temples. A clamp... came down.
"Dive," Luther's voice.
Ren's world... dissolved.It wasn't a fade. It was a shatter. A high-pitched, digital scream...and then... nothing....and then... everything.He was... standing.
The air was... clean. Too clean. It smelled like ozone.He was in a... a city. A high-tech, white-and-blue, digital city. It was... beautiful. And sterile.
"Comms... check," Ravi's voice, a clean, digital, whisper in his ear.
"Check," Nyx's voice.
"Check," Sia.
"Check," Mina.
"Check," Zara.
Ren just... grunted.He looked down. He wasn't bloody. He wasn't stapled. His shoulder... it worked.It was fake. None of it was real.
"Okay," Ravi's voice. The leader. "Luther said 'zero footprint.' That means no kills. No alerts. We are ghosts. Understood? Sia. Give me a map. Mina. Find me a firewall. Nyx. Overwatch. Zara, Jules... stay the fuck back."
Ren saw the avatar of Jules. A perfect, honey-blonde, blue-eyed... doll. He was just... standing there. Blank."And Ren," Ravi's voice.
Ren waited.
"You're with me. You're my shadow. You... you don't breathe... unless I say so. Am I clear, 448?"
The challenge. It was right there.Ren could feel the tension, even in the digital world. He hated this. He hated being leashed.
"Clear," Ren growled.They moved.It was... flawless.Sia was... alive here. She wasn't a ghost. She was a god. Her avatar flickered, glitched, teleported. She was in the code. "Sub-dermal maintenance vent. 400 meters. Three guards. Two... digital. One... analog. Moving."
They were at a wall. A firewall. A huge, glowing, red... barrier.
"Mina," Ravi commanded.
"I'm... I'm in," Mina whispered. Her avatar... it was just... her. But her hands... they were a blur. Code... virtual code... was flying around her. "It's... it's... old. It's lazy code. He... he wants us to break this. It's... it's a trap."
"So don't," Ren snapped.
"I'm not," she hissed back. "I'm... I'm not breaking it. I'm... I'm using it. I'm... I'm piggybacking on its own... 'clean-up' protocol... Done. We're... we're 'trash code.' We're invisible."
The wall rippled. It didn't break. It just... let them in.
Ren was... impressed.
Ravi's plan... it was working.
They were in. The server room. A vast, white, endless space.
"The file," Ravi said. "It's... it's that one."
He pointed. A single, red, file.
"It's... it's too easy," Nyx's voice, from above. She was on a rafter. "It's a honeypot. It's a..."
Too late.
Jules... the zombie... he was walking.
He'd been ordered.
"Jules, NO!" Ravi screamed.
The blank, blue-eyed doll... he walked right up to the file. He touched it.
An alarm. A deafening, digital, shriek.
The room flashed red.
TRAP. TRAP. TRAP.
The walls dissolved.
They were... in a new room.
The... the Chair.
Dr. Gray's office.
And Jules... Jules was in the Chair.
A video... was playing.
They were watching it.
They were watching Gray wipe him.
"It doesn't hurt, does it?" Gray's voice, from the video. "It's... quiet."
"It's... it's quiet..." Jules's real voice, in their ears. The blank... he was... remembering.
No.
"Ravi..." Jules whispered. His avatar was... flickering. "Ravi... it... it hurts..."
Ravi just... froze.
He was watching it. He was back in the Chair.
"I... I..." Ravi was... stuttering. "I... I 'Love'... I... 'Resentment'... I... I can't..."
An alarm. Another one.
[PROXIMITY SENSOR TRIPPED: R. DASA]
Ravi... he'd panicked. He'd moved. He'd failed them.
"We're... we're flagged!" Mina shrieked.
Guards. Digital guards. Pouring into the room.
The plan was dead.
"Fuck this," Ren roared. "Fuck the plan."
He moved.
He wasn't bait. He wasn't a ghost.
He was a wolf.
"Ren, NO!" Ravi screamed.
Too late.
Ren slammed his fist into the first guard. The guard shattered. Not into blood. Into... light.
It's not real.
He laughed.
"Nyx!" he roared. "LOUD."
"On it," her voice. She dropped from the ceiling. A hurricane of digital blades.
"Sloppy," she grunted, as she disintegrated two guards. "But fast."
It wasn't a heist. It was a fistfight.
It was chaos.
Ren, Nyx, and... Zara... they were a whirlwind. Zara... she was vicious. She was enjoying this.
"Mina, GET THE FILE!" Ren yelled.
"Ravi's frozen! He... he's... he's down!" Mina shrieked.
Ren looked. Ravi... his avatar was... glitching. He was out. He'd crashed.
The Handler was broken.
"Fuck him!" Ren roared. "Mina, the file! NOW!"
Mina grabbed it.
"Extraction!" Ren screamed. "Nyx, cover her! GO!"
They ran. They weren't spies. They were a goddamn riot.
They crashed out of the simulation.
...
...hiss.
The pod opened.
Ren shot up, gasping, ripping the gel-pads from his temples. He was... drenched in cold, real, sweat.
He looked over.
Ravi... Ravi was puking. He was hanging over the side of his pod, just... heaving.
Luther... he was just standing there. His face... it was unreadable.
A screen on the wall flashed.
[GRADE: 68%]
Ravi looked up, his face white, spit on his chin. "We... we failed... A... a -10..."
"Correct, Mr. Dasa," Luther's voice. Cold as the void. "You failed the 'zero footprint' op. You failed the team op. You... panicked."
He turned. His dead, cybernetic, eyes... landed on Ren.
"...And you, Mr. Pluto. You broke protocol. You used lethal force in a non-lethal simulation. You are a brute. Not a spy."
The screen flashed again.
[REN PLUTO: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
[RAVI DASA: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
[NYX: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
[ZARA XILLO: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
Ren felt the hit. Ten points. Gone.
But the screen kept going.
[MINA KIM: +10 (ACED EXAM - DATA EXTRACTION)]
[SIA ABARA: +10 (ACED EXAM - INFILTRATION)]
[JULES ALBRIGHT: 0 (DATA CORRUPTED)]
Luther... smiled. A thin, cold, digital smile.
He'd split them.
He'd broken the "muscle." He'd rewarded the "techs."
"A team," Luther said, his voice a hiss, "is only as strong as its most volatile parts. And your parts... are at war. Fix it."
He turned, his gray coat swirling. He just... walked away.
Ren was fuming. He'd just lost ten points. After his kill. He was... he was 438.
He looked at Ravi. Ravi looked broken.
He looked at Nyx. She was pissed.
He looked at Mina.
She was staring at her wristband. At her new, +10 score.
The "team" was a lie.
It was still... every man for himself.
The cold air of the Portal Chamber was a slap of sterile future against the gothic rot of Vara Rose. Ren walked point, his spine a stiff cable of fury. The shattered pain in his shoulder was a dull, fiery accusation under his blazer, a phantom throb for the pry bar Ravi had forced him to ditch. Unarmed and furious, the "Alpha Struggle" between them crackled like a live wire.
Nyx was his left flank, a weapon with a cold, bored calculation replacing her face. They were the iron triangle, the "hard assets." Ravi, Sia, and Zara walked in their strained shadow.
But the real weight was Jules. He wasn't in the formation; he was a blank space, a "perfect" student trailing behind. His honey-blonde hair was unnaturally neat. His sapphire eyes were empty, the eyes of a walking, breathing husk. Ren hated looking at him—a trophy of Dr. Gray's victory, a screaming reminder of their failure.
Every student in the hallway stared. They saw Unit 734: Ren (448), the bloody, stapled Wolf; Ravi (455), the new, cold Handler. And they saw the ghost. The word was already out. Audited. Wiped. They weren't "Pigs" anymore. They were victims. A warning. And it was so much worse.
"Eyes forward, Ren," Ravi muttered from behind him, a low, cold command. Ren didn't turn. He hated the new Ravi, hated the bastard who now sounded like a leader.
The Portal Chamber itself was a shock. Where the rest of Vara Rose was dark, gilded stone, this was the future. A massive, circular, sterile room, black reflective glass for walls, the only light a cold blue grid pulsing from the floor. In the center: two dozen sleek, white pods, looking like high-tech coffins.
And then, Aaron Luther. Not a brute like Rex, nor a vampire like Gray. A ghost. Tall, too thin, his gray uniform hanging on him like a shroud. His skin was translucent. His eyes were the only color: a bright, electric, cybernetic blue. They were wrong.
"Unit 734," he said. His voice was a synthesized hum. "You're late. Two minutes. That's a... data discrepancy."
"We were... detained," Ravi said, stepping up.
Luther's head snapped to him, a fast, unnatural, bird-like motion. "By Dr. Gray. I have the file. A... messy... audit." He knew. "Sit. The test is active."
Ren headed for a pod."Not you, 448," Luther's voice stopped him cold. The cybernetic eyes pinned him. "You're... volatile. You're a brute. This... is a stealth op. A zero-footprint data theft. You... are a liability... in my world."
The insult hit like a slap, rage spiking in Ren's chest."You'll be Group Alpha," Luther continued. "You'll be... point. But... your team... they're shackled to you. Your failure... is their failure. You go loud... you all get a -10."
A setup. A test to force Ren to obey Ravi. Ren stared. He saw Ravi give a small, sharp "take-the-hit" nod. Ren stalked to his assigned pod, saying nothing. He hated them all.
He laid back. Cold. A click. A hiss. A cold, wet gel flooded his temples, a clamp came down.
"Dive," Luther's voice.
Ren's world dissolved. Not a fade. A shatter. A high-pitched, digital scream... then nothing. Then everything.
He was standing. The air was too clean, smelling of ozone, in a sterile, white-and-blue, digital city. Beautiful. And fake.
"Comms... check," Ravi's voice, a clean, digital whisper in his ear. One by one, the checks came. Ren just grunted.
He looked down. No blood. No staples. His shoulder worked. Fake.
"Okay," Ravi's voice, the leader. "Luther said 'zero footprint.' No kills. No alerts. We are ghosts. Sia. Map. Mina. Firewall. Nyx. Overwatch. Zara, Jules... stay the fuck back."
Jules's avatar—a perfect, blank doll—stood inert.
"And Ren," Ravi said.
Ren waited.
"You're with me. You're my shadow. You... you don't breathe... unless I say so. Am I clear, 448?"
The challenge was naked, the "hate-kiss" tension there even in the digital world. "Clear," Ren growled.
They moved. And it was flawless.
Sia was a god here. Her avatar flickered, glitched, teleported. She was in the code. "Sub-dermal maintenance vent. 400 meters. Three guards. Two... digital. One... analog. Moving."
They reached a wall. The firewall. A huge, glowing, red barrier.
"Mina," Ravi commanded.
"I'm... I'm in," Mina whispered. Code flew around her avatar's hands. "It's... lazy code. He wants us to break this. It's a trap."
"So don't," Ren snapped.
"I'm not," she hissed. "I'm using its own 'clean-up' protocol... Done. We're 'trash code.' Invisible."
The wall didn't break. It rippled, and let them in. Ren was impressed. Ravi's plan was working.
They were in the server room, vast and white. "The file," Ravi said, pointing to a single, red icon. "It's that one."
"It's too easy," Nyx's voice came from the rafters. "It's a honeypot."
Too late.
Jules, the zombie, was walking. He'd been ordered.
"Jules, NO!" Ravi screamed.
The blank doll walked to the file and touched it.
An alarm. A deafening, digital shriek.
TRAP. TRAP. TRAP.
The room flashed red, then dissolved. They were in a new room: Dr. Gray's office.
And Jules was in the Chair.
A video was playing. They were watching Gray wipe him.
"It doesn't hurt, does it?" Gray's voice from the video. "It's... quiet."
"It's... it's quiet..." Jules's real voice whispered in their ears. The blank avatar was flickering, remembering. "Ravi... it... it hurts..."
Ravi froze. He was back in the Chair. "I... I... I 'Love'... I... 'Resentment'... I... I can't..." he stuttered.
Another alarm. [PROXIMITY SENSOR TRIPPED: R. DASA]
Ravi had panicked. He'd moved. He'd failed.
"We're flagged!" Mina shrieked.
Digital guards poured into the room. The plan was dead.
"Fuck this," Ren roared. "Fuck the plan."
He moved. He wasn't a ghost. He was a wolf.
"Ren, NO!" Ravi screamed.
Too late. Ren slammed his fist into the first guard. The guard shattered into light. It's not real. Ren laughed.
"Nyx!" he roared. "LOUD."
"On it," she dropped from the ceiling, a hurricane of digital blades. "Sloppy. But fast."
It was a fistfight. Chaos. Ren, Nyx, and Zara—vicious, enjoying the anarchy—were a whirlwind.
"Mina, GET THE FILE!" Ren yelled.
"Ravi's frozen! He... he's down!" Mina shrieked. Ravi's avatar was glitching, crashed. The Handler was broken.
"Fuck him!" Ren roared. "Mina, the file! NOW!"
Mina grabbed it.
"Extraction!" Ren screamed. "Nyx, cover her! GO!"
They ran. They were a goddamn riot. They crashed out of the simulation.
...
The pod opened with a hiss. Ren shot up, gasping, ripping the cold, real sweat-drenched gel-pads from his temples.
Ravi was heaving, puking over the side of his pod.
Luther just stood there, unreadable.
A screen on the wall flashed: [GRADE: 68%]
Ravi looked up, face white. "We... we failed... A... a -10..."
"Correct, Mr. Dasa," Luther's voice was cold as the void. "You failed the 'zero footprint' op. You failed the team op. You... panicked."
His dead, cybernetic eyes landed on Ren. "And you, Mr. Pluto. You broke protocol. You used lethal force in a non-lethal simulation. You are a brute. Not a spy."
The screen flashed again:
[REN PLUTO: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
[RAVI DASA: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
[NYX: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
[ZARA XILLO: -10 (ACADEMIC FAILURE)]
Ten points gone. Ren was 438.
But the screen kept going.
[MINA KIM: +10 (ACED EXAM - DATA EXTRACTION)]
[SIA ABARA: +10 (ACED EXAM - INFILTRATION)]
[JULES ALBRIGHT: 0 (DATA CORRUPTED)]
Luther smiled—a thin, cold, digital smile. He'd split them. He'd broken the "muscle," rewarded the "techs."
"A team," Luther hissed, "is only as strong as its most volatile parts. And your parts... are at war. Fix it." He turned and walked away.
Ren was fuming. He looked at Ravi, who was broken. He looked at Nyx, who was pissed. He looked at Mina. She was staring at her wristband, at her new, +10 score.
The "team" was a lie. It was still every man for himself.
The walk back from the Portal Chamber was a walk of shame.
Ren's shoulder was screaming, a phantom, sympathetic throb of pain from where Thorne had tried to rip his arm off. The VR sim was fake, but the memory was real. The failure was real. He was ten points poorer, a fresh, stinging -10 stamped on his record because their leader had choked and their zombie had walked right into a trap. He was Rank 438. He was going backwards.
The unit was a fractured, silent, mess.
Mina and Sia were walking five paces ahead. The winners. They'd done their job, and they'd gotten paid for it. Ten points each. They were the "techs." The "brains." They were the only two who hadn't failed. Ren watched the back of Mina's head, her straight black hair swinging. He watched her new rank, 490, glowing softly. She was climbing. And he was falling.
The journal's warning was a cold, slick, poison in his gut.
She wasn't just faking it. She was beating him.
Behind him, Ravi was a ghost. He wasn't talking. He wasn't leading. He'd puked his guts out into a sterile, white, trash receptacle, his whole body shuddering. He was broken. The "Handler" had been handled. The "Alpha" had been neutered by a video. Ren felt a hot, corrosive, contempt rise in his throat. This... this was the guy who'd told him "you report to me"? This failure?
Jules was just... there. A blank, blue-eyed doll, walking with perfect, even, soulless steps. He was a 490, but he was empty.
Nyx and Zara were flanking Ren. The losers. The "muscle." The ones who'd been punished for going "loud."
Nyx was a coiled spring of pure, lethal, rage. Her 485 was a goddamn insult.
Zara was... amused. She was actually humming.
"Well," Zara drawled, her voice a low, toxic, purr. "That was a disaster. So much for our fearless leader. He folded like a cheap suit."
Ren didn't say anything. He just hated her. He hated all of them.
They got back to Deathpigs. The second the door hissed shut, the fragile truce shattered.
"You," Nyx snarled. She was in Ravi's face. He was just... standing there. Dazed. "You froze. You choked. You cost me ten points."
Ravi just... stared at her. His tan skin was a sick, gray-green. "I... I... the Chair... I... I saw..."
"I don't care what you saw," Nyx snapped. "You're the leader. You're the one who's supposed to be stable. And you just... broke. You're weak."
"Nyx," Ren growled. "Back off."
Nyx spun on him. Her dark eyes were fire. "Don't you start, 438. You were just as bad. 'Loud is dumb.' You're a thug, not a spy. You're just... rage. You're a liability."
"I got us out," Ren shot back. "I saved Mina. She got the file. She got the points."
He didn't mean it as a compliment. It was an accusation.
He looked over at Mina. She was at her bunk. She flinched. She looked... guilty.
"I... I just did what Ravi... what he told me..." she whispered.
"See?" Ravi said, his voice a shred. "She... she... she listened. You... you didn't. This... this is your fault, Ren. You... you broke the plan. You always break the plan."
The blame. It was a disease. They were all infected. They were at war.
Ren just... laughed. A dry, cold, ugly sound.
"You're all pathetic," he said. "The 'team' is a joke. Fix it?" He sneered, quoting Luther. "You can't fix... this."
He pointed to his head. "I'm going to the one place that makes sense."
He turned. He stalked to the door. He was done.
"Where the hell are you going?" Ravi yelled. "The bell hasn't..."
"I'm going to class," Ren snarled, shoving the door open. "I'm going to the Kinetic Sprint. I'm going to go hit something until it breaks. It's the only goddamn truth on this island."
The Kinetic Arena was a church.
It was the opposite of Luther's sterile, white, fake world.
It was real.
It was a huge, cavernous, pit. The walls were rock. The floor was dirt. It smelled like rust, sweat, and blood.
And she was there.
Professor Scarlet Rex.
She wasn't a ghost like Luther. She wasn't a vampire like Gray.
She was a monster.
She was huge. A seven-foot-tall mountain of scarred muscle, her red hair braided into a tight, practical, weapon. She was wearing cargo pants and a tank top. She wasn't faculty. She was a god of war.
She was standing in the middle of the pit, a massive, titanium maul resting on her shoulder.
"Welcome," she roared. Her voice... it wasn't a voice. It was gravel. It shook the dust from the ceiling.
"Welcome... to the truth."
She slammed the maul into the dirt floor. A BOOM that shook Ren's teeth.
"Luther... he lies to you," she sneered. "He... he teaches you to be cowards. To... hide in the shadows. To... run. He... is a ghost. And ghosts... are weak."
She spat. "I... am Scarlet Rex. And I... I am not... a ghost. I... am real. This... is my house. And in my house... we do not... hide."
She smiled. It was the most brutal thing Ren had ever seen.
"In my house," she roared, "we bleed."
"Today... is simple," she barked, stalking the line of students. "CQC. Graded. You... will fight. You... will win. You win fast... you get points. You win clean... you get more points."
Her eyes... they were a pale, dead, gray. They landed... on Jules.
The zombie.
"You," she grunted. "The blank. 490. You're first."
Jules... just... walked. His blue eyes were empty.
His opponent... a Tier 3 "Striver." A short, stocky, kid with a mean face.
"Go," Rex commanded.
The Striver charged. He threw a punch.
Jules... just... stood there.
The punch connected. A smack of knuckle on cheekbone.
Jules's head snapped to the side.
He didn't fall. He didn't flinch. He didn't cry.
He just... turned his head back.
The Striver... stopped. He was confused.
"What... what the fuck?" the kid stammered.
"He's wiped," someone whispered from the stands.
"Hit him again," Rex commanded. Bored.
The kid hit him. Smack.
Jules... turned his head back.
Smack.
Smack.
Ren just... watched. He was horrified. This... this was worse than the crying. This was... obscene.
Ravi... Ravi was shaking. He was watching the monster he'd almost become.
"ENOUGH," Rex roared. She was disgusted.
[JULES ALBRIGHT: -2 (PUBLIC WEAKNESS/FAILURE TO ENGAGE)]
His rank dropped. 490 -> 488.
"Get the corpse... out of my pit," Rex snarled.
Jules... just... turned. He walked off.
"Next!"
Nyx.
She walked into the pit. Her dark skin was gleaming with sweat. She was ready.
Her opponent was a Tier 2 girl. Fast.
"Go," Rex grunted.
The girl lunged. A knife-hand strike.
Nyx moved.
It wasn't a fight. It was math.
It was boring.
Parry. Joint-lock. Knee-strike. Disarm.
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.
The girl was on the ground, choking, her arm at an angle it shouldn't be.
It took four seconds.
Rex... just... nodded. Once.
"Perfect, 485," she grunted. "And boring. You... have no fire. You're a... machine. 90 percent."
[NYX: +5 (ACADEMIC PASS)]
Nyx's rank climbed. 485 -> 490.
She walked out. She looked pissed. She'd wanted a +10.
"Next!" Rex roared. "Pluto. 438."
Ren moved.
He stalked into the pit. The dirt under his boots... it felt right. This... this he understood.
He looked at his opponent.
And his blood... just... froze.
It was him.
The kid from the tunnels. The one who'd run. The witness.
Tate.
The kid... he was white. He was trembling. He looked... he looked like he was going to puke.
Ren looked at Rex.
She was smiling. That brutal, vicious... smile.
She knew.
This wasn't a spar. This wasn't a test.
This was a goddamn execution.
"Go," Rex barked.
Tate... he screamed. A high-pitched, animal sound. He just... charged. He swung, a wild, sloppy, "please-don't-kill-me" haymaker.
Ren didn't move.
He let the kid hit him.
The punch connected. Right on his bad shoulder.
A white-hot, blinding, agony... exploded in his arm. Ren roared.
But he didn't go down.
He ate it.
He ate the pain.
He smiled. A bloody, stapled, wolf smile.
Tate... froze. His eyes... wide. He'd just hit a monster.
"My turn," Ren snarled.
He exploded.
This wasn't CQC. This wasn't Nyx's "boring" math.
This was a street fight.
He didn't block. He hit.
He broke the kid's nose. A crunch of cartilage.
He dislocated the kid's shoulder. A pop.
He swept the kid's leg.
Tate went down. He was gasping, blood everywhere.
"Tap!" Tate shrieked. He was tapping the dirt. "I tap! I tap!"
Ren stopped. He stood over him, his chest heaving, his bad shoulder on fire.
He looked at Rex.
She was just... watching. Her arms were crossed. She was... disappointed.
Ren... understood.
"You... you talked," Ren growled, his voice a low, animal sound.
"I... I... I didn't... please..." Tate sobbed.
"You talked," Ren said again.
He looked at Rex. He looked at the arena.
He was a marked man. He was a thug. He was a liability.
Fine.
Hate... and Protection.
He was the Wolf.
He stomped, hard, on Tate's other knee.
A snap. A scream. A high-pitched, god-awful sound that cut through the arena.
The entire place went silent.
Ren just... stood there. Breathing. Covered in blood.
He'd just... broken the rules. In front of everyone.
"REN!" Ravi was screaming from the sidelines. "REN, STOP!"
Rex... was beaming.
A glowing red panel flashed on the wall.
[REN PLUTO: -5 (PUBLIC DISRUPTION/INSUBORDINATION)]
Ren's heart stopped. He'd failed. He was... he was 433.
He'd just... he'd failed again.
Rex laughed. A deep, booming, joyful sound.
"You're a mess, 433," she roared. "You're... sloppy. You're a thug. You... have no... discipline. You're... a disaster."
The red light flashed again.
[...CORRECTION. OVERRIDE: S. REX.]
Ren held his breath.
[... +10 (ACED EXAM - LETHAL INTENT)]
His rank... it climbed.
433... 438... 443.
He'd won.
He was Rank 443.
Rex smiled at him. Her dead, gray, eyes... they were alive. "You're a mess, Pluto. But you're a real mess. You're my kind of mess. Get... out of my pit."
Ren stood up. He was covered in the kid's blood. His shoulder was gone.
He looked at his new rank. He looked at Ravi, who was horrified. He looked at Mina, who was terrified.
He'd just proved his way worked.
Pain worked. Violence worked.
The Wolf worked.
The team was more fractured than it had ever been.