The air around us smelled like burnt ozone and desperation. I stood at the center of our defensive circle, bat held ready as forty angry teenagers closed in from all directions.

"Look at all those pissed-off faces," I said to Natalia, keeping my voice cheerful. "You’d think I insulted their mothers."

"You basically did with that speech." She created a shield of purple energy that wrapped around our position like a dome, the barrier shimmering with a faint lavender hue. "The entire country heard you challenge them."

"I said make it worth my time. That’s practically a compliment." I shrugged, feeling the weight of forty hostile stares pressing against Natalia’s shield like a physical force.

Juan sighed from my left, his cards already shuffling through his fingers in that absent-minded way that meant his brain was calculating probabilities. "This is why people want to murder you."

"Because I have high standards?"

"Because you’re an insufferable asshole."

The first wave hit us like a tsunami, a wall of bodies and rage crashing against Natalia’s shield with enough force to make the platform shake beneath our feet. Bodies crashed against the barrier, Aspects flaring in a rainbow of deadly energy—crimson flames, emerald lightning, sapphire ice. The barrier held, but I could see the strain on her face, the way her jaw clenched, beads of sweat forming on her forehead and beginning to roll down her temple.

"Can’t hold this forever," she grunted, her voice tight with the effort of channeling that much power.

I surveyed our situation with the cold clarity of someone who’s survived worse odds. Eight of us against forty. Central platform with only one flag—bright red and fluttering in the wind like a bullseye painted on our backs. Nine minutes on the clock. The math was brutal, but math had never stopped me before.

"Alright, listen up," I said, voice dropping to a tactical whisper. "Natalia, drop the shield on my mark. Juan, Marco, create a perimeter. Skylar, stealth and pick off their support. Raphael, Hikari, you’re our battering rams. Isabelle, play defense. I’ll handle Julian and Reyna personally."

Isabelle raised an elegant eyebrow. "Fighting both guild captains simultaneously? Rather ambitious."

"That’s why the ladies love me."

Natalia elbowed me hard in the ribs. "Focus."

"Ready?" I grinned at my team of misfits. "Three... two... one... NOW!"

The shield dropped, and chaos erupted.

Raphael and Hikari charged outward like twin hurricanes of destruction. Raphael’s explosive punches sent three Vipers flying, while Hikari’s flail became a whirlwind of pain that carved a path through Strikers.

Marco and Malachi moved in perfect sync, Marco creating openings with his shockwaves while Malachi appeared from shadows to deliver precision strikes. They formed a moving wall around our position, keeping the bulk of the attackers at bay.

Juan stood back-to-back with Isabelle, his charged cards flying with deadly accuracy while her spear danced in elegant arcs of green energy. They were poetry in motion, covering our flanks with terrifying efficiency.

Skylar had already vanished, but the occasional cry of pain from the enemy ranks told me she was doing her job.

"Show-off," Natalia muttered.

"Says the girl who just announced our relationship to the entire country."

Her cheeks flushed pink. "Tactical advantage. Reyna was distracted."

"Sure," I winked at her. "Tactical."

Before she could respond, Julian burst through our defensive line, his golden armor gleaming like a second sun. The bastard was still aiming for me specifically.

"Time to end this charade," he snarled, purple energy crackling between his fingers.

I stepped forward, bat resting casually on my shoulder. "Your funeral, pretty boy."

He attacked with blinding speed, his fist crackling with quantum energy aimed straight at my face. I sidestepped at the last second, feeling the air distort as his Aspect warped reality around his strike.

"Too slow," I taunted.

He roared in frustration, launching a flurry of punches that would’ve liquified a normal person’s organs. I dodged most, blocked some with my bat, and let Kinetic Absorption handle the few that connected.

Every hit made me stronger. Every miss made him angrier.

"Stand still and fight, coward!"

"Why would I do that? This is much more fun."

I caught his next punch with my free hand, stopping it cold. His eyes widened in shock as I squeezed, forcing him to his knees.

"Listen carefully," I said quietly, making sure the nearby cameras couldn’t pick up my words. "You’re nothing special. Your fancy pedigree means jack shit to me. I’m going to take everything from you—your title, your reputation, your future."

I leaned closer, dropping my voice even lower.

"And when I’m done, I’m going to make sure everyone knows you lost to trash from Graystone Park."

His face contorted with pure hatred. "I’ll kill you for this."

"Get in line."

I released him with a shove that sent him sprawling, then turned my attention back to the battle.

The timer showed seven minutes remaining.

Natalia was locked in combat with a Sentinel telekinetic, their powers colliding in a spectacular display of purple and blue energy. Sweat plastered her hair to her forehead, but her eyes burned with intensity as she pushed back against her opponent.

Skylar had reappeared on the edge of the platform, her knives dripping red as she danced between three Vipers who couldn’t land a single hit on her.

Raphael was bleeding from a cut above his eye but laughing maniacally as he traded earth-shattering blows with Leo from the Phantoms.

We were holding our ground, but barely. For every attacker we knocked down, two more took their place.

That’s when Reyna made her move.

She appeared from nowhere, flanked by six marionettes, each crackling with enough electricity to power a small city. Her red hair whipped around her face like flames, her emerald eyes locked on me with predatory focus.

"Round two," she said, and unleashed hell.

The marionettes attacked in perfect coordination, coming at me from six different angles simultaneously. I activated Lightning Rod, absorbing the first wave of electrical attacks, but Reyna had learned from our previous fight.

The marionettes stopped using direct electrical attacks and switched to pure physical strikes, their electrified fists aiming for my vital points with surgical precision.

I blocked, dodged, and countered, but they were too many and too fast. One slipped past my guard and landed a solid hit to my solar plexus that knocked the wind from my lungs.

Another caught me across the jaw—a sharp, sudden impact that sent me staggering backward, my vision blurring at the edges.

Reyna watched from her position, her smile stretching wider across her face. "Not so cocky now, are you?"

I spat blood onto the stone platform, the copper taste filling my mouth. "Still prettier than you."

Her smile vanished in an instant, replaced by something colder, sharper, more lethal. "Get him."

All six marionettes converged on me at once, their movements synchronized like a well-oiled machine of destruction.

I activated Steel Body without hesitation, feeling my skin harden to mythical density as I became temporarily invulnerable. Their fists hammered against my body in a relentless barrage, but for ten glorious seconds, I was untouchable. I used that precious time to destroy three of them with brutal, deliberate swings of my bat. Each marionette exploded into harmless sparks upon impact, their forms dissipating into the air like dying fireflies.

When Steel Body wore off and my skin returned to normal, I was down to three opponents plus Reyna herself. Manageable odds, all things considered.

Except Julian had recovered from his earlier humiliation and was coming at me from behind, his face twisted with rage.

"Satori, six o’clock!" Natalia’s voice cut through the chaos. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

I ducked just as Julian’s fist passed through the space where my head had been a split-second earlier. Unfortunately, this defensive maneuver left me completely open to Reyna’s follow-up attack—a vicious kick that caught me square in the ribs with bone-jarring force.

Pain exploded through my side like a grenade going off. I was pretty sure something cracked—possibly more than one thing.

But Kinetic Absorption immediately transformed the agony into raw power, my Strength attribute jumping by fifteen points in an instant. The pain didn’t vanish, but it became fuel instead of a hindrance.

"Thanks for the boost," I grinned through the copper taste of blood in my mouth.

Reyna’s emerald eyes narrowed with confusion and suspicion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Instead of wasting breath on an explanation, I showed her. I moved faster than I had any right to, my boosted stats propelling me forward as I closed the distance between us in a heartbeat. My bat connected with her stomach in a solid, satisfying impact that doubled her over and forced the air from her lungs.

"That’s for the ribs," I said cheerfully, watching her gasp for breath.

Julian attacked from behind in a predictable fury, and I spun to meet him head-on. I caught his outstretched arm mid-swing and used his own considerable momentum against him, redirecting his charge and throwing him bodily into one of Reyna’s remaining marionettes. They collided in a spectacular shower of purple and blue sparks, the electrical construct exploding from the impact.

"And that’s for being annoying," I added with a savage grin.