An elderly man stepped between them, hands clasped behind his back. The arena quieted immediately at his presence.“Mr. Hollow.” His voice carried easily across the space. “Have you chosen a representative?”“Don’t need one.”The words landed flat and simple.For a moment nobody spoke.Then the arena erupted.“Is he insane?”“Does he actually think he can beat Reign?”“He’s bluffing. He has to be.”In the elevated section, Chad leaned back in his seat with a slow, satisfied smile. The kind of smile that had already written the ending.Zia stood at the edge of the arena floor, arms folded, jaw tight. She had done the math repeatedly since last night and it never changed. Reign was mid-Sovereign, borderline peak — the youngest Captain in Azure history. Her own cultivation sat at beginner Sovereign, which meant that if this went wrong she couldn’t intervene even if she wanted to. And Kade was an unknown quantity whose only documented history was ruling a prison full of criminals.Crimina

Zia stood with her hand still raised from where she had half-moved to intervene. She lowered it slowly. Kade’s shirt was unwrinkled. His breathing was the same as when he’d walked in. He hadn’t broken a sweat.She had expected to be pulling him out of the infirmary by now.Chad had gone pale in his seat.Then Reign moved.Slowly at first. One hand pressing against the arena floor, pushing up, blood running freely from his nose and the corner of his mouth. He got to one knee. Then both feet. He straightened up with stubbornness. He was someone who has never been put on the ground before and cannot process the experience.His eyes found Kade across the arena.Something in them had changed. The calculated confidence was gone. What replaced it was rawer and more dangerous.“You bastard,” he said quietly.Then louder.“YOU’RE DEAD!”The temperature in the arena dropped.Reign dropped into a stance nobody had seen him use before. Both arms pulled back, Aether visibly condensing around his e

“Depends on the scenario,” Kade said. “For now, sovereign level is sufficient.”George studied him for a moment, he was being given a partial answer but decided to accept it. A faint smile crossed his face.“Don’t disappoint Master Zucker.” He inclined his head slightly and walked away.Zia waited until he was out of earshot then stepped closer. “That was remarkable, Young Master.” Her eyes moved briefly over him with professional assessment. “Are you hurt?”“No.” Kade was already moving toward the exit. “I’m leaving for the south today.”Zia fell into step beside him. “The south?”“The old man left me an assignment.” A brief pause. “An awkward one.”“What kind of assignment?”“I’m going to meet my fiancée.”Zia stopped walking.Kade didn’t.She caught up quickly. “Your… what?”“Apparently it’s already arranged.” He said it with a casual tone.She processed that for two seconds. “And your coronation? That’s tomorrow morning.”“I’ll be back.”“I can arrange a private jet. You’d arrive

“Well, I—”The sound reached them before the vehicles did.Engines rolled in. The neighborhood moved without a word spoken. Stalls folded shut. Doors pulled closed. Mothers gathered children against their sides and stepped back into doorways. The frail man in front of Kade went very still, the way prey goes still when it has learned that stillness is the only available option.Three Hilux trucks rolled onto Hollow Street and stopped in a loose formation. The engines cut. Doors swung open.Eight men climbed out. Thick builds, casual clothing. One of them dragged a wooden crate from the truck bed and dropped it onto the ground. Another kicked over a vegetable stall that hadn’t folded quickly enough, scattering produce across the dirt without looking at it.The leader came last.He was broad across the shoulders, a dead cigar pressed between his teeth. Bruce Vice. A man who had never once been challenged in a place he considered his territory. He surveyed the empty street with mild satis

Bruce watched Kade’s silence and read it as fear.Behind him, the neighborhood felt it differently. The Don’s name had weight in these streets, the kind of weight that had been pressed into people slowly, over years, until it sat in their bones permanently. Shen’s hand found his daughter’s shoulder without him realizing he’d moved it.Kade looked at Bruce for a moment longer.Then reached out, hooked him by the throat, and lifted him off the ground.Bruce’s swagger left him immediately. Both hands flew to Kade’s wrist, clawing, twisting, finding no give whatsoever. His feet kicked at empty air. Kade’s grip didn’t tighten dramatically or shift, it simply held, with the absolute indifference of something that could not be moved by anything Bruce was capable of producing.“You didn’t understand what I said.” Kade’s voice was quiet. Almost gentle. “So I’ll say it once more.”He let the choking do the work for a moment.“I don’t care who sent you. Leave this street.” His eyes didn’t change