"Several reasons. First, the timing fits their pattern. They strike when targets are concentrated, predictable, and distracted. Two hundred of the kingdom’s strongest young Evolvers gathered in a controlled space, all of them focused on a competition rather than potential threats, is exactly the opportunity they’ve exploited in the past."

Alaric took a slow breath.

"Second, there’s been almost no sound from them for the past month. They’ve been completely under the radar. As if they never existed in the first place."

Moon’s eyes narrowed, "The calm before the storm. Huh?", muttering under his breath,

"Yes."

Moon’s focus drifted for a moment, his mind running through everything he knew about the city’s defences.

"But how could they attack? The Awakener’s Association has placed massive security protocols on every entry and exit point. Every orbital is scanned. Every face is logged. They live outside the cities, in the wilderness. How could they possibly slip a coordinated strike force through that net?"

Alaric’s expression didn’t change.

"Just like they always have. They did it once. They aren’t going to struggle doing it again."

He paused.

"Besides. You should already know this by now." His eyes met Moon’s directly. "There’s a traitor working for them inside the Awakener’s Association."

Moon’s pupils shrank, "...So it really is true."

Of course, Moon had considered this possibility before. The level of coordination required for the dark organization’s previous attacks, the precision with which they had bypassed security, the way they always seemed to know which targets were most vulnerable. All of it pointed to insider information. The only question had been whether the leak was small or large, low-level or high-level.

Getting confirmation now, directly from the Light Sword Saint himself, was concerning and terrifying at the same time.

A spy successful enough to remain hidden this long meant one of two things. Either the spy was deeply embedded with a foundation so strong that uncovering them would require dismantling significant portions of the Association itself, or there were multiple spies working together, covering for each other and rotating responsibilities to prevent any single one from being caught.

Both possibilities meant the rot ran deep within the organisation that was meant to protect against these very people.

The fact that Alaric was telling him this now meant something else too. They didn’t know who the traitor was. If they did, the person would have been removed already, most likely quietly. Since making this public meant that the Association would lose all credibility with the public, and the backlash would be too strong, even for them.

The Light Sword Saint wouldn’t be standing outside Moon’s house at this time if the Association had identified and neutralized the threat.

Moon let out a slow breath.

"How sure are you that I’m a target?"

He already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear Alaric say it out loud.

Moon wasn’t stupid. Alaric was a Surpasser, a man whose time was more valuable than most people would earn in a lifetime, didn’t share critical intelligence for the sake of casual talk.

He wouldn’t have come at all if Moon weren’t specifically named in whatever reports the Association had pieced together.

The visit itself was the answer. The bone, the explanation of the cycle, the warning about the spy, all of it was building toward one purpose.

Which meant Moon’s name was at the top of someone’s list. Possibly multiple lists.#

"Very sure. Your S-Rank gate clear made you a face the public knows. Your performance today made you a face the dark organization knows. You walked out of that gate with something. We don’t know what. They don’t know what either, but their leaders aren’t stupid. They’ve been watching you, the same way the rest of the kingdom has been watching you. The same way I have."

He paused.

"And whatever they think you have, they want it. Badly enough to come after you in the middle of a tournament with hundreds of thousands of witnesses."

Moon’s hand drifted unconsciously to the edge of his jacket. The fabric brushed against his storage ring beneath his sleeve.

The ring that held the Floating Island Book, the Three-Tailed Illusion Fox core, the Golden Fish blood, the Super Lives, and every other significant artifact he had pulled from his time in the Sanctuaries.

He had been carrying treasures the kingdom didn’t even know existed.

Of course they were coming for him. Any one of these things would make the organisation place him at the top of their lists. Had he shared any of these things with the wrong people, he might’ve already been dead by now.

As strong as he was, as talented as he was. He couldn’t stop an Ascender, he was a mere Evolver.

"Then why come to me alone?" Moon asked. "Why not warn the entire bracket?"

Alaric’s expression hardened slightly.

"Because if they warn the bracket, the spy in the Association might catch wind that they’re onto them. And then they lose any chance of letting them slip up and reveal themselves." Alaric shook his head.

"They can’t tip their hand. They need to prepare quietly. Even within the Association itself, only a small handful of people know about this operation. Even among the top brass, the circle has been deliberately kept small to narrow down the list of suspects if there’s another leak."

His voice dropped.

"You’re the bait, Moon. And the only way this works is if you don’t know you’re the bait while still being ready for what’s coming."

He looked Moon directly in the eye.

"Except you do know now. So technically, this conversation never happened. Are we clear?"

"How do you know?"

"...Because I was bait too, until I revealed my research, and they decided that my worth was too high."

Moon’s lips curved into a small, humorless smile.

"Crystal clear."

A short chuckle escaped his mouth.

He couldn’t quite believe it. He had been positioned as bait. Used as a scapegoat to draw out enemies in a game he hadn’t even known he was playing.

Moon’s eyes flashed with a mysterious glint.

Once again, Moon was reminded of something he had been learning slowly over the past few months. He was nothing but a small fish in a vast pond. From where he swam, all he could see was the sky above him. He had no perspective on the larger waters, the deeper currents, the bigger creatures circling at depths he didn’t know existed yet.

Had Alaric not told him tonight, Moon’s life would have been in real danger. He would have walked into the second stage tomorrow with no awareness of the trap closing around him. He could have died, and the Association would have used his death as a lever to expose the spy.

He wasn’t angry at the Association for that. They had their own goals. Their own people to protect. Their own calculations to make. In their position, Moon would have done the same thing.

He was angry at his own weakness.

If he had been strong enough, no one would have dared to position him as bait. If he had been strong enough, his name wouldn’t have appeared on anyone’s list as expendable. If he had been strong enough, he would have been the one making these decisions, not the one being moved around like a piece on someone else’s board.

He needed to get stronger. Faster.

Moon looked at Alaric with new eyes. The man standing before him wasn’t just Selene’s protective older brother. He wasn’t just the Light Sword Saint.

For the first time, Moon understood that Alaric represented something he wanted to become.

"Alaric."

The Surpasser met his eyes.

"I have something to show you."