Lower Levels - 3rd Floor

  Caelan stood smiling at the emerald directly in front of him, hands loose at his sides like this was a friendly spar instead of a fight to the death.

  Elyria eyed the confined space around them and said evenly, “Don’t make a mess. Remember where we are, Captain.”

  Caelan laughed. “Oh, I know. So—quick question. Who’s clearing theirs first?” He glanced past the emerald. “Milo, Lyra. Think you can beat me?”

  Across the room, Lyra and Milo stood shoulder to shoulder, facing their own emerald as it slowly began forming twin blades, the shape unmistakably similar to Caelan’s swords. Lyra shifted her footing, gently pulling Milo a step to the side just as the emerald took a single step forward.

  Then it lunged.

  Both emeralds moved at once.

  Caelan barely had time to mutter “crap” before steel met emerald. He caught the first strike with one sword, the second with the other, boots digging into the stone as both emeralds leaned into him at once.

  Elyria winced. “Oh. That was dirty.”

  Milo didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Lyra’s hand and bolted for the corridor, shouting over his shoulder, “That’s what you get for being an asshole today, Cap!”

  “I’M SORRY!” Lyra yelled back, half-panicked, half-laughing.

  “I WANT YOU BOTH TO KNOW I RESPECT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU RIGHT NOW!” Caelan shouted after them as they disappeared.

  Elyria watched them go. “She really wants that promotion, huh?”

  “Guessing Solara promised her something,” Caelan said, bracing as the emeralds pressed harder. “Well. Two can play at that game. Might as well warm up.”

  He let both swords drop.

  The emeralds surged closer—and Caelan grabbed the one on his left by the torso and swung it bodily into the other, smashing them together and driving one down into the floor.

  “Come on,” he growled, slamming it again. “Just do it already. Stupid emeralds.”

  Elyria folded her arms. “It didn’t work the first time you tried that. Why did you think it would work now?”

  Caelan hauled the emerald overhead and brought it down onto the other with a thunderous impact. The floor shook violently.

  “I thought,” he said through gritted teeth, “if I hit them harder—”

  “Did you forget something?” Elyria cut in.

  Caelan glanced down.

  “Oh.”

  Both emeralds hardened at once.

  The shockwave detonated outward, sending Caelan crashing into the wall. Dust rained down as he slid to the floor, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Why is there always a shockwave?” he muttered. “Goddamn crappy design.”

  Elyria walked over and dropped the bags he’d left behind directly onto his chest. “So. How did that work out for you, big guy? Also, you actually going to let them beat you to the boss room?”

  Caelan smiled up at her. “What do you think?”

  She offered him a hand. “Then you’d better move. Lyra’s probably already mapped the layout by now.”

  Caelan cracked his back as he stood, the torches ahead flaring to life as they stepped into the corridor.

  “Well,” he said casually, “I do have one trick up my sleeve.”

  Upper Levels - 3rd Floor

  Aurex was clinging to Takeshi as his life depended on it, which, to be fair, it did.

  Two emerald monsters hauled at the over-lengthened cape Aurex had insisted on adding to his armour, their hands sinking into the fabric as they dragged him inch by inch toward the stairwell.

  “PLEASE DON’T LET THEM ELIMINATE ME!” Aurex screamed, legs kicking uselessly. “THE WHOLE CITY DEPENDS ON ME!”

  “I’M NOT LETTING GO!” Takeshi shouted back, teeth clenched as he braced his boots against the stone. “YOU’RE ONE OF THE FEW SANE PEOPLE I GET TO TALK TO!”

  At the entrance to the room, Keira and Solara stood watching the chaos unfold.

  Keira tilted her head. “Do you want me to or…?”

  “No,” Solara snapped. “No. I brought him. I’ll deal with it.”

  She marched forward.

  Aurex spotted her and visibly relaxed. “I knew you’d come save me, Solara—no, no, no wait please!”

  Solara didn’t slow down. She drew her blade and sliced clean through the cape.

  The fabric gave way instantly.

  Aurex dropped straight onto Takeshi, flattening him as they both hit the ground in a tangled heap.

  Solara sheathed her blade. “Let me guess. Lumi?”

  Aurex rolled off Takeshi, groaning. “Says you, with your long jackets. Honestly, I thought you lot would’ve moved past those by now.”

  Keira stepped forward and kicked Aurex in the arm.

  “First off, bitch,” she said slowly, eyes cold, “my bestie made these jackets. Second, they’re cool as fuck. Unlike your little bitchy armour.”

  Aurex looked past her, desperate eyes locking onto Solara as she stood at the base of the stairs.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  Solara didn’t even look at him. “Good job, Master Sergeant. Keep it up.”

  Takeshi groaned as he sat up. “Lieutenant, you can’t be serious about pushing ahead. If the third floor has emeralds… what in the hell is on the top floor?”

  Solara turned, walked over, grabbed Takeshi by the front of his shirt, and pulled him nose-to-nose.

  “Are you telling me,” she said quietly, “that after ten years of fighting those things, you still can’t handle them, Sergeant?”

  She let go.

  Takeshi straightened his jacket, brushing her hand away. “Excuse me, Lieutenant. I’ve handled more than my fair share, you know that. But every time you lot step in, you’ve got the gear. You’ve got the clearance. I don’t.”

  Keira smiled.

  She stepped onto the first stair.

  Both emeralds instantly snapped backward, the fog reshaping into long-barrelled sniper forms aimed directly at the staircase.

  Keira’s smile widened.

  “Lieutenant,” she said sweetly, “would you mind?”

  Solara sighed. “No. No. If the Sergeant’s scared of that, I suppose I’d better show him how it’s done.”

  She started up the stairs, blade loose at her side.

  “Watch closely, Sergeant,” she added over her shoulder. “I’ll be testing you next morning training.”

  Takeshi slumped, defeated. “Yes, Lieutenant.”

  Keira stepped aside, still smiling.

  Solara climbed.

  And Takeshi followed.

  Aurex sat up, clutching the shredded remains of his cape in both hands. “Pael’s never going to let me have that pool,” he muttered. “Can never have nice things with you lot around.”

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  Keira reached down and yanked the fabric from his grip. “Stop moaning. Lum-lum will fix this in no time.”

  Aurex stared up the stairs. “So… is she actually going to take on two emeralds alone?”

  “Well,” Keira said thoughtfully, “not exactly. Probably best if we watch.”

  Aurex immediately sat back down. “Nope. No way. I am not going near any of those things.”

  Keira grabbed the back of his armour and started hauling him up the stairs anyway.

  “You can’t risk the whole city like this!” Aurex shouted, fingers clawing uselessly at the stone as he bumped upward.

  “You don’t need to worry,” Keira replied calmly, dragging him another step. “Emeralds aren’t as dangerous once you understand them. They only target and mimic what they see as the highest threat in the moment. So stay out of the way.”

  They reached the top of the stairs.

  Takeshi sat there, arms folded, pouting.

  Keira dropped Aurex beside him and stepped forward as Solara advanced alone toward the two emeralds. Both monsters backed away slowly, fog weaving into identical swords in their hands.

  “Want a hand, Lieutenant?” Keira called.

  Solara smiled. “Hardly had time for a warm-up, Master Sergeant. No time like the—”

  She paused, eyes flicking sideways.

  “…wait. Where did that block of emerald bars come from?”

  The emeralds moved.

  Both lunged in unison, blades raised for a crushing overhead strike.

  Solara waved her hand.

  A massive, clear pane slammed into existence, freezing the emeralds mid-air like insects trapped in glass.

  Keira squinted at the surface. “Uh… Lieutenant. There’s writing on it. Like the notice board. Six out of six.”

  Solara’s jaw tightened. “Staff Sergeant.”

  The invisible wall detonated outward.

  Both emeralds were hurled back and smashed into the far stone as the pane vanished. Solara stood where she was, arms folded, looking down on them.

  The emeralds pushed themselves upright.

  Then one of them dropped to a knee.

  Aurex leaned forward, whispering, “What are they doing?”

  “When emeralds spawn, they’re incomplete,” Takeshi said, eyes unblinking. “They follow some kind of leveling system.”

  Keira nodded, sniper, twitching slightly as she watched. “Different paths to reach it—eliminations during the war. We usually end them before this stage. Their spawns aren’t like black or white tiers, those vanish with daylight. Emeralds persist.”

  The standing emerald placed its hand on the kneeling one.

  Spikes erupted through the kneeling emerald’s skull as fog tore free and flowed into the other. Hardened plates began forming layer by layer across its body. A solid emerald blade snapped into existence at the flick of its wrist, while the remaining fog coiled around its neck like a flowing scarf.

  Aurex swallowed. “So… what is that?”

  “We call these entities True Emerald class,” Keira said quietly. “We’ve only seen a handful.”

  Takeshi grimaced. “I don’t know why she waits for it to do this. We’d be done by now if she just eliminated them.”

  “Eyes forward, Sergeant,” Keira replied without looking at him. “I’m sure you don’t want to draw the Lieutenant’s attention.”

  Takeshi glanced up.

  Solara was staring directly at him.

  Her eyes sparkled.

  “…I’ll be quiet.”

  Solara took a slow, steady breath as she stopped a few feet from the True Emerald class entity.

  It advanced toward her with deliberate purpose, each step heavy and measured.

  Keira sat back on the stairs between Aurex and Takeshi, voice low. “You’d both better keep your heads down. She’s smiling again.”

  “Dear god,” Takeshi muttered. “That’s the last thing we need.”

  “I don’t get it,” Aurex whispered.

  The emerald stepped directly into Solara’s space and drew its sword back. In a single smooth motion, it thrust straight toward her face—

  —and struck nothing but air.

  The room flooded with pressure from above, a crushing weight that forced the emerald down as it slammed into the stone floor. Solara was already moving, her blade driving forward, grinding against hardened emerald armour as she leaned her full weight into it.

  The True Emerald snarled and caught her sword with its bare hand, emerald fog hissing as it resisted. Its scarf began to lift, portions of it dissolving into the air as the creature adapted.

  Its arm twisted unnaturally, emerald extending and reshaping, the sword lengthening as it whipped toward Solara—

  —but the strike deflected at the last instant, skimming off one of her clear panes.

  Another thrust came. Then another.

  Each attack warped and redirected just before it could reach her, Solara holding her ground as the emerald’s arm continued to extend and strike from impossible angles, every blow turned aside at the final heartbeat.

  Then the remaining emerald fog surged.

  The scarf slipped beneath the True Emerald, and with a thunderous crash, the emerald hurled itself upward into the ceiling above Solara. Stone cracked as it struck, giving it just enough room to wrench itself free.

  It dropped, landed hard, and launched itself across the room in a blur.

  The emerald spun mid-motion.

  Two additional arms unfolded from its chest.

  Its sword arm snapped back to standard length as the scarf began to reform, fog coiling once more around its neck. The creature set one foot back, shifting its stance, using one of its new arms to steady its grip on the blade.

  Its hollow eyes locked onto Solara.

  As the True Emerald dissolved one of its extra arms, the fog folding in on itself as it forged a compact sidearm in its left hand, the emerald plates shifting to accommodate the change, Keira said quietly, “Best watch closely. It’s about to end.”

  Takeshi instinctively balled up, dropping his head and covering it with his hands as Aurex stared wide-eyed. “You’ve been fighting these things?”

  Solara didn’t look away. “Sideline. I’ll be doing questions and answers afterward. Be quiet and watch.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Aurex muttered immediately.

  The emerald lifted the pistol, fog hardening as it aimed directly for Solara. She planted her right foot back, mirroring its stance almost perfectly. For a heartbeat, the only sounds were the slow creak of Solara’s boots against stone and the faint hiss of shifting emerald fog.

  Then sparks exploded across the room.

  The shockwave blasted outward, knocking Aurex clean off his feet as he screamed, “WILL YOU PLEASE JUST STOP!”

  Takeshi groaned, still curled in on himself. “I still don’t know what’s worse… him not caring about being irresponsible, or her being confidently irresponsible.”

  As the dust began to settle, Solara hadn’t moved an inch.

  The emerald was behind her.

  It split cleanly down the middle.

  “Brace yourselves,” Solara said calmly.

  The emerald’s body detonated into a violent shockwave that rattled the entire floor. Keira and Takeshi barely reacted, while Aurex tumbled backward down the stairs they’d been sitting beside, yelling all the way.

  Emerald bars flooded outward, clattering and skidding across the stone.

  Solara turned and walked through it as if it were nothing.

  “So,” she said evenly, “what did we all learn?”

  Takeshi lifted his head just enough to answer, “That you think you’re still the sane one.”

  Aurex crawled back up the stairs, grit in his teeth, fury finally breaking through his fear. He staggered to his feet and grabbed Solara’s jacket.

  “I know you two run around fast and reckless,” he snapped, voice shaking, “but you can’t keep dragging me into this. What happens if I get eliminated? The entire backbone of your operation is under my management. What happens when almost eight thousand people are eliminated because you endangered me? And why have you been keeping those monsters a secret—this one-way relationship is getting too far—ow, ow, OW—”

  Solara didn’t respond.

  She wrapped her hand around the wrist joint of Aurex’s emerald armour and twisted.

  He dropped to one knee instantly, breath ripped from his lungs as she leaned down and whispered, cold and quiet, “One-way relationship? How dare you? When we found you, all I saw was a puppet with a raven-shaped hole in it. Stop crying for a moment. At least we stand for what we’re building together. Unlike you.”

  She released him.

  Aurex stayed silent.

  Solara straightened. “When did you hit it?”

  “…What?” Aurex croaked.

  “Mach speed, idiot,” Keira added flatly, without looking at him.

  Aurex laughed nervously, looking around. “No, no, no—”

  His eyes met Solara’s.

  “…Three months ago,” he admitted.

  “With or without the armour?” Solara asked.

  “…With.”

  She pointed back toward Keira and Takeshi. “Go sit over there. You might actually learn something that helps your people someday.”

  Aurex shuffled over, shoulders slumped.

  Keira glanced sideways at him. “Bet you feel real tough right now, huh?”

  “Shut up, Keira,” Aurex muttered as he sat.

  Solara walked over and stopped in front of them, hands on her hips.

  “Alright,” she said evenly. “Since I took my precious lead over the Captain away, we might as well make sure you all learned something today. Let’s start with you, Sergeant.”

  Takeshi sat there stiffly. “Don’t waste time letting the enemy power up?”

  Solara shook her head and turned toward Aurex. “You.”

  “I only came back up because their door is gone,” Aurex said quickly.

  Solara paused, glanced down the stairs, then shrugged. “Huh. Oh well. Master Sergeant, could you please enlighten these two on what just happened?”

  Keira leaned back against the stone. “Simple enough. Once the emerald began firing the sidearm, just over Mach three by my estimate, you deflected each round mid-approach. At that point, the emerald shifted its concentration into physical engagement.”

  She glanced at Solara. “Emeralds are simple. Hyper-focused. They attack from logical angles. You waited until it was fully committed, then used Absolute—”

  Solara cleared her throat sharply.

  Keira sighed. “—your power—to knock the True Emerald off its predicted path. You created your own opening by tripping and nudging it with small, controlled fields. Exact force. No waste.”

  Solara stood over her in silence.

  Keira looked up. “What? Did I miss something, Lieutenant?”

  “We’ve talked about it,” Solara said flatly. “We are not calling it that.”

  “We had a vote,” Keira replied.

  “I was in the bathroom,” Solara snapped. “That doesn’t count.”

  Keira smirked. “So I was right.”

  “It doesn’t matter for you to know,” Solara said. “You’re top five. But for these two—Sergeant, what’s your daily exemption for training?”

  Takeshi hesitated. “One hour early release due to rank. One hour due to workshop duties.”

  Solara smiled. “Revoked. Your quota just went from ten percent to twenty.”

  She turned to Aurex. “And you. When I gave you that training plan—six years and four months ago—do you know how I know you haven’t been following it?”

  Aurex scoffed weakly. “No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

  “Because if you had,” Solara said coldly, “the gap between you and that thing wouldn’t be this large. Stop asking why we drag you into these situations and start working toward being more than a voice in a chair. Get yourself in gear so you can stand up and tell me where the stars don’t shine.”

  Keira stood and stretched, cracking her neck. “Can we go yet? I swear if Aidan gets to that dragon before us, I’ll kill him.”

  Solara rolled her eyes. “Knowing Staff, she’s probably hanging off the side of the building with your brother in one arm.”

  Keira lit up. “WAIT—YOU KNOW KING KONG?”

  “If this is another one of your Earth things,” Solara said, shouldering her bag, “then no, Master Sergeant.”

  Aurex cleared his throat. “So… what do we do if another one of those appears?”

  Takeshi slapped a hand over Aurex’s mouth. “As the Lieutenant demonstrated, we eliminate them before that happens. Isn’t that right, Lieutenant?”

  “You’re not sweet-talking your way out of extra training,” Solara said. “But nice try. And Aurex—deal. You hold this floor with the Sergeant. I’ll give you twenty-five percent of the dungeon’s total income. I’ll even tell the delightful Mr. Pael we couldn’t have beaten the boss without you.”

  Aurex hesitated. “One condition. You stop buying up businesses in the city. At this point, you and Caelan own most of it.”

  Solara considered it for a moment. “Deal. Now stop moaning and get ready for the next one. Wait—where has—”

  Keira’s laughter echoed from deep within the winding corridors.

  “MASTER SERGEANT!” Solara shouted, already sprinting after her. “YOU BETTER NOT TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF AGAIN—GET BACK HERE!”

  Aurex and Takeshi remained where they were.

  “You ever think about jumping ship?” Aurex muttered.

  Takeshi sighed. “They’re hard work. So am I. That’s why we haven’t fallen apart.”

  Aurex nodded slowly. “True. But they’re crazy.”

  “Crazy to the max,” Takeshi agreed.

  Solara’s shouting echoed again from somewhere far below, followed by Keira’s laughter bouncing through the stone halls.