He looked up to thank her but noticed she was already turning away."Try not to get hit in the face," she said. Then she disappeared into the shadows of the tunnel.Ryan stared after her. "No promises."A moment later it slid into place, and the mask fit was perfect. It was almost like a second skin. Taking a slow breath, Ryan began walking towards the other side. The darkness of the tunnel slowly gave way to sunlight, and the noise of the crowd grew louder until it became a thunderous storm.The moment he emerged from the tunnel, thousands of eyes landed on him. The arena stretched before him like a battlefield.Towering spectator stands surrounded the combat platform from every direction with flags waving in different directions.The voice of students screaming was assisted with heavy drums pounding rhythmically through the atmosphere.The commentator's amplified voice exploded through the speakers. "For our third match of the day!" He paused and then reciprocated the excitement. "

The impact sent his head jerking sideways, followed by the sound of a wild gasp escaping the crowd surrounding the arena. For a second the entire arena froze around, and Vincent staggered with widened eyes, his hand half-rising toward his face as though he could not quite believe what had just happened. Ryan had drawn first blood and not the tier-two favorite everyone had been shouting for. In one of the betting sections, a boy who had loudly defended Ryan before the match slapped both hands to his head. “What was that?" he shouted, voice cracking. “Did RW just hit him first?!”His friend, who had spent the last few minutes defending Vincent’s chances, looked equally shocked. “It’s too early. Vincent’s still got this. He just got careless.”The first boy stared at the arena with the hollow look of someone watching his money walk off a cliff. “I should have put my bet on RW.”Below them, Vincent touched his cheek, then looked at his fingers as if expecting to find an explanation ther

The commander leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees now. “You’re not offering a donation, Mr. Nikolai. You’re offering leverage disguised as support. If the academy accepts your funding, suddenly Iron Gate is no longer merely a school but becomes independent."“And terrifies them?” he asked, and the commander did not deny it.The noise from the arena swelled again as the next names were announced, but up on the platform, the air between the two men remained taut.Nikolai’s gaze drifted back toward the field, but his voice was laced with impatience. “It is not easy to raise the amount of capital required to build something self-sustaining in a country like this,” he said, and the commander went quiet. “Training facilities, weapons development, medical wings, private transport routes, expanded housing—none of that happens on optimism and tradition.”The commander’s jaw flexed, but no word seemed to escape his lips.Nikolai went on. “You call it leverage. Fine. Everything of valu

Then footsteps thundered down the corridor, making everyone narrow their gaze to the young academy student skidding into view. The lad nearly slipped on the stone as he rounded the corner, panting hard, one hand braced against the wall, with a folded slip clutched in the other. “There you are!” he gasped, his eyes locking onto Ryan first and then widening as he realized the whole Ex-Tier group was gathered. “I’ve been looking everywhere—” “What is it?” Odessa asked, and the boy swallowed before straightening up. “Ms. Odessa, my father told me to give the updated bracket announcement to him,” he said. “The next round pairings have been revised.” Ryan felt something in his gut tighten. The image of the man from the cafeteria entered his mind. He could see the resemblance stretching across the boy's face, but he didn't know how he figured out the masked fighter was him. “Revised?” Odessa repeated, watching the little boy's expression. “Matches don’t get revised when the tournament ha

Across the officials’ platform, whispers moved through the space, and despite all that noise, the atmosphere around the council platform felt tense. Several council members had shifted their attention away from the arena entirely.The commander stood before them with a stiff posture, and the expression etched across his face made it obvious he had just delivered a message none of them wanted to hear. Around him, the council members exchanged unreadable glances, waiting for someone to speak first.At the center of them sat Olisa, and unlike her usual relaxed self, her expression had hardened into a frown. “This is neither the place nor the time for this discussion,” she said coldly, narrowing her gaze at the commander.The man dipped his head in acknowledgment, but he did not retreat. “My apologies, Council Head, but the matter is urgent,” he replied. “The investor who has taken the academy’s history into account and was willing to compromise and preserve its legacy isn’t going to wait