Chapter 82: Chapter 82: The Cost of Floor 10

The Hale Estate basement was quiet after Team Zero returned from Floor 10.

Elliot’s body lay on the floor while Finn stood with the phone pressed against his ear. The TRB agent on the line spoke with professional efficiency.

"Challenger name for death report?"

"Elliot Graves."

"A response team will arrive within the hour for body transport. We’ll handle family notification."

Finn’s chest tightened while he stared at Elliot’s body and thought about what that call would do to his parents.

The agent paused before continuing. "The team doesn’t need to report floor details unless you choose to. TRB won’t push for debrief information."

Finn understood what that meant because TRB wanted Team Zero’s cooperation more than they wanted to demand answers from the team that just cleared Hell-difficulty Floor 10.

"Understood."

The call ended.

Finn lowered the phone slowly while staring at Elliot’s body as his hand shook and his jaw tightened. He had pushed them to enter Floor 10 because momentum mattered.

He dropped to one knee beside Elliot’s body.

In the TRB casualty office located in the Dublin headquarters building, a senior casualty officer received Elliot Graves’s details through the internal system.

The officer had handled Challenger deaths many times before since the Tower appeared while the process stayed formal because TRB needed accurate records, but the officer’s mood still felt heavy when preparing to make this kind of call.

The officer pulled up Elliot’s registered emergency contact information and dialed the number while waiting through several rings before someone answered.

"Hello?"

The voice sounded normal at first because the parent did not know what kind of call this was yet.

The officer took a breath before speaking. "This is Senior Officer Brennan from the Tower Resource Bureau. Am I speaking with the parent or guardian of Elliot Graves?"

The tone changed immediately on the other end. "Yes. I’m his father. What happened? Is he hurt?"

"Sir, I need you to sit down before I continue."

There was silence for a moment before the father spoke again while his voice shook. "What happened to my son?"

The officer delivered the information as clearly and directly as required by procedure. "I’m calling to inform you that Elliot Graves died during a Tower floor attempt today. His body has been recovered and will be transported to TRB facilities for documentation before being released to your family."

"No."

The father’s voice came out as a whisper at first before he continued. "No. I should have stopped him. I should have told him not to climb anymore. I should have..."

Then he started crying.

After a long moment, the officer continued. "TRB will contact you within two hours with full details regarding body release, funeral arrangements support, and survivor benefits. A casualty liaison will be assigned to your family."

The father could not respond with words while the call stayed connected for ten more seconds before the line went dead.

The officer sat still for a moment after the call ended before moving to the next procedural step while knowing this was not the first time making this call and it would not be the last.

About an hour later at Hale Estate, the small girl woke near James.

Her dark angel wings were visible at first while she stretched slightly before looking weak and confused and sleepy after using all her power against the snake, but the first thing she did was search for James with her eyes.

When she found him, she moved closer and pressed against his side.

"Daddy..."

Her voice was quiet and soft.

James looked at her while his mind still felt scattered from everything that happened. He understood that the egg belonged to him because it was his Tower reward from an earlier floor, but what he did not understand was why the egg hatched into a little girl with dark wings or why she saw him as her father.

Finn watched from across the room while exhaustion sat heavy on his face. "James, you need to take her home." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

James looked at Finn while hesitating. "What about..."

"TRB will handle Elliot’s body. I’ll stay to deal with the official process."

Finn’s voice carried tired acceptance instead of questions or demands for explanations about the mythic child. "She’s attached to you and you look like you’re about to collapse. Go home."

James understood that Finn was giving him permission to leave because staying here would not change anything.

Before James stood up, he looked at the girl. "Can you hide your wings?"

She blinked at him without understanding.

"The real world is dangerous. People might try to take you if they see them. Can you make them disappear?"

The girl stared at him for a moment before her wings started folding inward while black feathers compressed against her back and the wing structure shimmered and faded from view as if they had never been there.

James did not know how she did it, but he was relieved.

James hesitated before leaving Hale Estate because Elliot’s body was still on the floor a few meters away.

It felt wrong to walk away when one of his teammates lay dead, but there was nothing he could do now because TRB would handle the transport while Finn stayed to manage the official process and the funeral would happen later.

James left through the basement exit with the girl close to him while holding his hand.

His face was bruised from where the snake had hit him while his eyes were swollen from crying earlier and his body still ached from the fight even though his HP had stabilized slightly after the floor cleared.

The memories kept flashing through his mind while he walked: Elliot’s tail strike, the HP dropping to zero, the ogre being crushed, the snake’s mouth descending toward him, the egg forcing itself out of his inventory, and the girl shouting at the snake to leave her dad alone.

None of it felt real or like victory.

The girl stayed quiet beside him while they traveled home.

James entered his house quietly with the girl following close behind him.

His mother was in the kitchen when she heard the door open before coming out immediately and freezing when she saw blood dried on his shirt.

"James, what happened?"

James tried to answer, but his voice broke.

He moved toward her and hugged her tightly.

"One of my teammates died—" His voice cracked while tears ran down his face. "Elliot died and I— hic— I couldn’t— hic—"

He couldn’t finish the sentence before breaking down completely.

His mother held him while her own hands shook before deciding not to lecture him or say she warned him and instead just held him while he cried.

After several minutes, James calmed down enough to breathe without his chest hitching.

His mother pulled back slightly. "Are you hurt?"

"The Tower healed me when the floor cleared."

Then his mother noticed the girl standing a few steps away.

Her expression changed. "James, who is this?"

James looked at the girl, then at his mother, then back at the girl. "I... it’s complicated."

His mother waited.

"I got an egg as a Tower reward a while back. I didn’t know what it was, so I just kept it in my inventory. During Floor 10, when the snake was about to kill me, the egg forced itself out and hatched. She came out of it."

His mother stared at him.

"She has wings. Dark angel wings. But I asked her to hide them before we left."

His mother looked at the girl again while the girl hid behind James.

James spoke gently. "My mother is safe."

The girl came out slowly.

His mother bent down carefully. "Are you hungry?"

The girl nodded.

James’s mother took the girl to the kitchen and prepared something simple while the girl watched everything carefully.

James leaned against the doorway while watching his mother move around the kitchen with practiced ease as the girl stayed close to him at first before slowly relaxing when his mother offered her food with gentle hands.

The girl ate quietly while sitting at the table before barely speaking and only nodding or shaking her head when James’s mother asked simple questions.

His mother noticed how the girl kept looking at James every few seconds as if checking that he was still there.

After the girl finished eating, James’s mother turned to him. "Go take a bath and clean yourself up. You look like you’re about to collapse."

"I should stay with her."

"I’ll take care of her. You need to clean the blood off yourself before you fall asleep standing."

James wanted to argue, but he saw the look in his mother’s eyes and understood she was handling this the only way she could.

He nodded and left the kitchen while his body moved on autopilot.

James entered the bathroom and turned on the shower.

The moment he was alone, the memories hit him: Elliot’s tail strike, the way his body hit the wall, the HP dropping to zero, and the party member deceased notification.

James pressed one hand against the wall while water ran over him as his chest felt tight and his throat burned and his eyes stung.

He remembered the ogre dying to save him before remembering Finn screaming his name when the snake nearly killed him and then remembering the egg hatching and the girl killing the snake.

He came back alive while Elliot did not.

James’s hand slipped down the wall as his legs gave out slightly before he caught himself and stayed bent forward under the water.

The grief hit harder when he was alone without the team watching or his mother holding him because it was just him and the memories of watching Elliot die.

He thought about Elliot’s parents receiving that call before thinking about what they felt when TRB said their son was dead.

James cried under the water while his shoulders shook.

No vow or speech because there was only grief and exhaustion.

He stayed there for a long time before finally turning off the shower.

He lowered his head one last time and understood that Floor 10 did not end when the System said it was cleared.