I was escorted back to my waiting area, with the quiet hum of the arena in the background. A small spread of food and drink had been set out for me and Tucker. I fixed his plate first because if I didn’t, he’d stare at me like I’d betrayed him. I made mine and walked over to take a seat while I ate.

  As I went to sit, Lawson simply… appeared beside the table, already reaching for a plate like he’d been there the whole time. I was more than used to the overseer’s antics at this point and continued to eat.

  I asked the question that was on my mind. “Is Chu going to be okay?”

  Lawson nodded. “He is stable, and his family is with him.”

  I clenched my fist in anger at what the fighters from Shenmu had done. “I am going to make those rockhead assholes pay.”

  Lawson just nodded, and we ate in companionable silence for a few minutes before Lawson started to speak again.

  “I’ve been watching how you deal with people who abuse power,” Lawson said.

  I set my food aside.

  “I respect it. You don’t hesitate, and you don’t bow to titles.”

  He paused, eyes locking into mine.

  “But in your dungeon world, you won’t always have the luxury of cutting the rot out.”

  I frowned.

  “Some of the people in charge will be incompetent. Some will be dangerous. And some you’ll have to work with anyway because killing them will make your Task even harder.”

  He let that sink in.

  “Think ahead,” he said quietly. “Every enemy you don’t make is one less enemy to fight in the future.”

  That statement made me grimace. I would much rather just fight them all, truthfully, and damn the difficulty.

  Lawson saw my face and sighed. “I know it will be a challenge to deal with those types, but always keep in mind the end goal, is all I am saying.”

  I shifted in my chair, uncomfortable with the conversation. Lawson noticed and gave a small, knowing smile.

  He held my gaze until I nodded, letting him know that I received his message loud and clear.

  Lawson stood, brushing off his hands. “Enough of that. You’ve got your most challenging opponent yet coming up.”

  He took a step, and then hesitated, almost as if he was debating something before speaking.

  “I know you’re not the type who needs extra motivation,” he said, voice lowering, “but whoever wins the tournament receives a golden laurel from the Guildmaster. It is this floor’s key.”

  I blinked. “Wait, seriously?”

  “Seriously, if you win, I can…”

  His words were cut off. His form flickered, like a candle guttering in a sudden draft.

  I shot to my feet. “Lawson?!”

  He raised a hand, steadying himself. “It’s alright; I am not injured. I suppose that’s the limit on the insight I’m allowed to give you.”

  “What the hell was that man?”I asked worried.

  He exhaled, “A warning.” Then he proceeded to walk over to Tucker. My big guy perked up immediately, tail thumping against the floor.

  Lawson scratched Tucker behind the ears. “You’re going to do great, big guy,” Lawson said, giving him a firm pat. “Show them what you’re about.”

  Tucker chuffed proudly.

  Lawson turned back to me, fist extended.

  I bumped it without hesitation.

  “Get it done,” he said.

  Then he vanished, leaving me alone with his words.

  The room felt strangely quiet now. It was an odd conversation, to be sure, and I wondered after all these months what had prompted him to bring it up. “You mind if I take a quick nap, Tucker?”

  “I am working on my playlist, so go ahead. I'll wake you up in an hour.” He replied.

  “Thanks, bud.”

  I had barely closed my eyes when Tucker woke me with a paw to the face. “Have you been washing your paws? It smells like Fritos and slobber. He shook me again with it. Making my head move from side to side. “I’m awake, I’m awake now get that thing out of my face.” I laughed.

  “That’s what she said.”

  “I should have never told you that line.” I replied as I stood up and began to stretch. I rolled my shoulders, loosening my neck, visualizing the upcoming fight in my mind.

  Tucker got up with me, warming his body up with me. I noticed that he was unusually focused as the time ticked down. His ears were forward, posture alert, tail still instead of wagging.

  “I’ve got my playlist locked in,” he said, voice steady in my head.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What kind of playlist?”

  He gave a rumbling huff that was suspiciously close to a laugh. “A kickass one.”

  I shook my head, amused with my buddies’ antics. I checked his harness one last time. The speakers were about to get their first real test run. His natural howl still did most of the heavy lifting, but the speakers would allow him to lace the music with a lesser version of it and enhance his howl when he wanted to.

  I was curious to see it in action. I patted his side and then brought his head to mine. “Stay with me, stay behind me at all times, keep on rocking, and we’ll win this.”

  A soft chime echoed through the room, and the timer flashed across the wall screen, drawing both our eyes toward it.

  Fifteen minutes remaining.

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  I exhaled slowly, then stepped toward Tucker and wrapped my arms around his thick neck one last time. His fur was warm, grounding.

  He leaned down and gave my cheek a big, wet lick.

  “I’m not a cub anymore.”

  I snorted and hugged him tighter. “You’ll always be my cub, big man. Don’t you forget it.”

  He rumbled happily at that, and I gave him a few firm head pats before we made our way toward the arena doors.

  The doors soon opened, and what I saw brought me up short. The arena grounds had drastically changed from the last match. Gone were the stone slabs for the floor as well as the pillars jutting up into the air. Now, there was uneven rocky terrain reminiscent of mountain terrain. Tall trees were interspersed throughout the arena, with what appeared to be several large boulders in the center of the arena.

  This time, we weren’t the first ones in. The Shenmu fighters were already perched on the boulders, having claimed the high ground before we even stepped onto the field.

  As I walked toward the center, I spotted Shane lounging on a nearby boulder, his gladius propped casually against his leg. He gave us a lazy wave, and I couldn’t help but smile and nod back.

  He still wasn’t armored, which made me wonder what he was planning. Was he really going to fight me unarmored? If so, that was his choice; maybe he was thinking of putting on a show for the crowd or something. I couldn’t be sure of his motivations, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth and pushed that to the back of my mind for now.

  On the opposite end of the spectrum, the four Shenmu fighters were fully encased in stone armor, heavy, jagged plates reinforced with faintly glowing runic seams. They stood in formation, all eyes locked on me.

  One of them caught my attention immediately. His armor had a darker sheen than I remembered from just a few hours ago. The stone plates had even formed a full helm over his face, leaving only his eyes visible. I focused on him, and my Identify flickered before finally locking on.

  It had never flickered like that before. Something was definitely off about this guy. Altus’s voice boomed over the arena speakers, snapping my attention upward.

  “Folks, this is it. The semifinals grudge match between the System Champion, Riven, and his companion Tucker, versus the fighters of Shenmu. Riven has already stated that no quarter will be given… but let me reiterate: under tournament rules, if the opposing side surrenders, quarter must be given.”

  He paused for dramatic effect.

  “However, in this particular match, the members of Shenmu have informed Guildmaster Aaron that they will also be offering no quarter. Isn’t that correct, Guildmaster?”

  Aaron’s voice came through the mic, steady and unmistakable. “Yes.”

  “Thank you, as always, for the insight,” Altus replied, energy rising. “Now, let’s get started with what many are calling the match of the millennium! Guildmaster, if you would be so kind…”

  Aaron’s voice thundered across the arena.

  “BEGIN!”

  The Shenmu fighters didn’t rush down to meet me. Instead, they stayed perched on their boulder, arms moving in sharp, practiced motions as their auras rose.

  The stone beneath them tore apart like tissue paper. Floating up as their aura and hands moved in tandem, shaping the stone. I waited, curious to see what they would come up with.

  Soon the stone had turned into long thin spears. Each one floating on a coil of dark aura. The mages punched forward in unison, launching the barrage straight at me.

  I activated my buffs and summoned Ember. Searing Scars tore from my blade, intercepting the incoming spears. My attacks shredded through all of them except Belltor’s.

  When my Scar met his spear, the two collided mid?air with a thunderous crack, like a cannonball slamming into a fortress wall. Instead of being blown back like the others, his attack held its ground for a heartbeat before both detonated in a shockwave.

  That told me everything I needed to know. Whatever Belltor was, he wasn’t just some level seventy?five.

  I had a damn good idea of who I was really facing.

  I summoned my defensive spheres, positioning them around Tucker in case even one of those spears managed to slip past me.

  Dust was in the air. Shards cracked and exploded in the air and on the ground around me, kicking up dust.

  I searched for Shane, certain this would be the moment he tried to flank me. Instead, I found him still off to the side.

  I couldn’t help it; I shrugged at him. What the hell?

  Shane lounged there as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He glanced at the others, shrugged back, and made a lazy, dismissive gesture.

  “I’m good right here for now,” he called out. “Finish your business with them. Then you and I can have a proper scrap.”

  I smiled at his words. I weirdly trusted the man to keep his word.

  This changed my strategy completely. If Shane was going to let me fight these four without interfering, Tucker and I could wreak havoc. I wasted no more time thinking.

  “Hit it Tucker, and follow me!” I shouted.

  “Hell yeah!” Tucker barked back.

  His speakers snapped open with a metallic whump, and a blast of pounding rock flooded the arena. TFK’s Move blasted out. It was the kind of song that made you want to sprint ahead of your body.

  Altus’s voice crackled over the arena system, half laughing. “I don’t know what that is… but I like it!”

  The music hit the arena like a physical force, the bassline vibrating through stone and bone alike. The three Shenmu mages staggered as the rhythm washed over them, their movements suddenly sluggish, their gestures less precise.

  The dark?armored mage, Belltor, remained behind them, hands weaving through a far more complex pattern as he gathered power for something massive. Much less affected than the other combatants.

  The front line stepped forward, stone plates grinding as they raised their arms and launched a volley of crude stone arrows.

  Tucker’s nerfing skill made them noticeably sloppier, slower, as the stone armor hampered them more.

  I batted them aside with casual sweeps of my blade, shards bursting harmlessly around me as I closed the distance. The three mages braced, trying to reform their Talents for another volley, but the rhythm kept hammering at their focus, throwing off their Talent.

  Behind them, I heard Belltor’s voice cut through the chaos.

  “Hold him! Just a little longer!”

  My eyes narrowed.

  “This is for Chu.”

  Tucker’s answering howl tore through the arena, raw, primal, and amplified by the speakers. The sound hit the three mages like a physical blow. Cracks spider?webbed across their stone armor, runes flickering and dimming as the structural integrity failed.

  Flash Step.

  I reappeared inside their formation, blade already in motion. Eclipse Strikes carved arcs of shimmering sapphire through the air, each impact exploding stone like brittle clay. Armor shattered around the mages as if offering no protection at all.

  One step. One strike. One collapse.

  Another step. Another slash. Another armor plate bursting apart.

  The third mage barely had time to raise his arms before my final Eclipse Strike tore through him. I stood in the middle of my carnage, the entire exchange taking less than a few seconds.

  The three dropped to their knees as their armor crumbled into dust. A heartbeat later, blood fountained from the thin, precise wounds across their torsos, three identical lines that blossomed into crimson as they collapsed in defeat.

  I didn’t look back.

  I didn’t need to. I’d felt every strike land; without healers, they’d bleed out soon enough.

  But Belltor looked. His eyes slid past me, tracking something behind.

  I leveled my sword at him. “So… should I call you Natan or Belltor?”

  The remaining mage snarled. Then the boulder beneath my feet shattered.

  I jumped into the air on instinct. The stone under me exploded outward in all directions as he roared, “Stone Creation.”

  Several blocks of stone compressed from the now broken boulder and formed into large projectiles, three times larger than the previously launched spears. Aura swirling thick around them

  And they weren’t aimed at me.

  I whipped my head around in panic, hoping to see Tucker in the air beside me. Instead, I spotted him dropping backward toward the ground, not rising with me. A curse burned in my throat.

  I forced my aura downward, shaping a platform beneath my feet to arrest my momentum. The instant I stabilized, I coiled myself to Flash Step straight into Nattan and end him before he could finish whatever he was preparing.

  But he beat me to it.

  “Javelin Strike!” Natan roared.

  The ground beneath him ruptured. Massive stone javelins, thick, jagged, and wrapped in swirling aura shot upward in a violent bloom. More than a dozen of them.

  Not at me. Around me.

  My eyes went wide, a cold spike of dread cutting through the heat of battle as I realized exactly where they were headed.

  Straight toward Tucker and I wasn’t going to make it.