The polite applause of the Kyorian nobles felt like the clicking of a closing cage. My carefully laid plans for a secret, controlled reunion had been incinerated on the altar of Imperial spectacle. Across the opulent ballroom, I met Anna's eyes. Her face was a perfect, stark-white mirror of the realization of my own. We were caught. Exposed.

The rest of the soiree was a waking nightmare. Well-wishers swarmed our two teams. A broad Minotaur-like creature clapped Lucas on the shoulder, congratulating him. Kyorian recruiters with predatory smiles tried to press data-slates into my hands. I deflected them all with the weary, overwhelmed grace of Jack, my mind a raging storm. This "random" pairing was anything but. Someone wanted to see what would happen when our two teams were forced to work together.

The small black disk in my pocket vibrated later that night. I retreated to the dead-zone of the kitchen alcove.

Anna's thoughts, a tense whisper over the comm, was the first thing to break the silence.

"Cooperative Objective-Based Scenario. Of course. They couldn't just let us have a clean duel."

"They're stress-testing us", I sent back. "Seeing how we react."

"Flattered", she deadpanned. "So what's your plan? We've got less than twelve hours to figure out how to fight alongside as a team while pretending we've never met."

"We keep it professional. Lucas will take the lead. Your man with the shield, Marcus, will follow his lead. Your skirmisher; they'll work with Silas and Mavia. You, Eliza and I... we're the wildcards. We support."

"You want us to sit back and support?"

"You're the artillery, Anna. Artillery supports the infantry. Don't get yourself killed showing off."

A beat of silence. Then, a quiet, reluctant sigh. "Fine. I'll play nice. But if your boy-scout leader doesn't secure the win, I'm holding you personally responsible."

"Oh we'll win, you just try to keep up", I shot back before cutting the connection.

The next morning, the air in the Colosseum was heavy, the stands packed to capacity. We were escorted not to the main arena floor, but to a massive, circular antechamber deep beneath it. There, waiting, were the other three teams chosen for this "exhibition." Team Verdant stood apart, Anna's expression a carefully constructed mask of neutral professionalism. And across the chamber were our opponents.

The Unbroken Horn. The trio of Minotaurs we'd seen before, their leader a behemoth with a single, wickedly sharp horn plated in black iron. The Silent Pounce. The quintet of Felir, their lean bodies coiled with tension.

This wasn't a trial. It was a calculated observation. My eyes darted around the antechamber, the seconds ticking away. I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second, just long enough to look like I was steadying my nerves. In that instant, I plunged.

[Glimpse of a Path] activated. The vision was a chaotic, bloody mess. Our two shield-bearers, Lucas and Marcus, held for a time but were eventually broken by the sheer, relentless force of the three Minotaurs. The Felir used their superior numbers and speed to flank and isolate our skirmishers, overwhelming them. A Guardian appeared and focused Anna down, forcing her to constantly evade. The vision ended with me and Eliza back-to-back, facing an impossible number of foes, a final, futile stand. Defeat wasn't a possibility. It was a certainty.

I opened my eyes, a bead of cold sweat tracing a path down my temple. My Glimpse cooldown was now active, but I had what I needed. An image. A path to failure. And therefore, a path to victory. I keyed a single, urgent burst of thought to the one person I could trust with this.

"Nyx. Glimpse shows we lose. Hard. Their Felir flank our support line while we're focused on the Minotaurs and a summoned Guardian. When the battle starts, and I give the signal, your priority is to intercept that flanking maneuver. You'll have to show them something... Epic. I'll handle the Guardian."

Her reply was instantaneous, without emotion. "Understood."

The announcer's voice boomed. "The trial is 'Beacon Control'! First alliance to one thousand points wins! The challengers are... Alliance One: Team Bastion and Team Verdant! Alliance Two: The Unbroken Horn and The Silent Pounce!"

The floor beneath us dissolved, and we were gently lowered into the arena itself. It was a masterpiece of battlefield design: a cluster of floating islands, remnants of an ancient, shattered cityscape, connected by crumbling stone bridges and flickering spans of hard light. A low, artificial fog swirled in the chasms between them.

The moment our boots touched stone, Lucas was in motion, pulling our two teams into a hasty, defensive circle. He met the gaze of Marcus, Anna's shield-bearer. "I'm Lucas. We coordinate, we win. Can you hold a chokepoint against the Minotaurs?"

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Marcus gave a single, curt nod, his voice a low rumble. "That's what I do."

"Good." Lucas turned. "Archer. I need you high. Find a perch. You're our eyes and our long-range fire." He was treating her like any other asset. It was perfect. She gave a sharp nod, already leaping to a higher ruin, her longbow gleaming.

"Contact!" Silas hissed. "Felir, three of them, east bridge!"

They came as a blur, leaping from debris with impossible agility. Marcus slammed himself in front of me to intercept one who broke through. "Healer stays up," he rumbled.

Then the thunder came. The three Minotaurs were charging across the western bridge. "Marcus, with me!" Lucas bellowed. The two shield-bearers met the charge head-on, their shields locking to form an unbroken wall. The impact shook the entire island. It was the exact same clash as I'd seen in my Glimpse.

The battle devolved into controlled chaos. Anna, from her perch, began to lay down suppressing fire. Eliza deployed sonic traps. The first part of the Glimpse played out perfectly, a grimly familiar script. We held them, but barely. Silas and Lena slipped away and activated the nearest beacon. A piercing siren wailed. The ground cracked open. A Nexus Guardian of black obsidian and raw energy erupted, its single red eye glowing. The golem moved with blinding speed, its obsidian fists shattering the rock where Silas had been. Its red eye locked onto Anna. A beam of concentrated, crimson energy lanced towards her.

My heart stopped, even though I knew this was coming. I sent the signal to Nyx.

Anna reacted instantly, dropping and rolling. But the Guardian was relentless.

"We can't hold them all!" Lucas roared through gritted teeth.

It was time to tear up the script. "Eliza, now!" I shouted, dropping the gentle healer act. She tossed a silver orb that detonated in a wave of anti-gravity.

"Close your eyes!" I commanded our teams via comms.

My Ember-Core Gauntlets blazed to life, not with a safe orange, but a piercing, royal violet. A blade of pure, solidified violet flame formed in my hand. I used a [Shadow-Weave Stride], appearing directly in front of the staggered Guardian. My hidden blade, infused with a flicker of the void colored flame, simply unmade its obsidian arm. Before the creature could react, I drove the blade through its glowing red eye. It collapsed into a pile of lifeless rubble.

A stunned silence fell over our part of the battlefield.

"Eren…" Lucas started, his eyes wide.

"Later," I snapped.

At the exact same moment, on the far side of the island, the Glimpse was supposed to continue with a flanking attack. Two more Felir, their swiftest fighters, were using the chaos of the Guardian fight as cover, streaking along a hidden path towards Eliza. They were meant to neutralize our support, the killing blow that began our collapse. But this time, they ran into a wall of liquid night.

Mavia moved. She wasn't locked in a duel. She was waiting. Her form dissolved into an [Umbral Slipstream], a flowing river of pure shadow that crossed the fifty feet between her and the flankers in an instant. She rematerialized in front of them, her two blades a cross of dark steel. The Felir, caught completely by surprise, tried to halt their momentum but it was too late. There was a flurry of impossibly fast movements, a sharp cry from one of the attackers, and Mavia stood alone, her blades dripping, the two elite flankers lying motionless on the ground. She hadn't just intercepted them. She had instantly eliminated them.

Their leader, the fastest of the Felir, saw his flankers fall. He saw the Guardian defeated. His face twisted in a snarl of fury. He abandoned the frontal assault and made a new target: the archer. He became a streak of gray fur, using the remaining chaos as cover, and scaled the ruins behind Anna for a killing blow.

I saw him. Silas saw him. We were too far away.

"Anna, behind you!" I screamed over the comm.

She started to turn, her eyes widening as the Felir launched himself into the air, a descending arc of death, claws extended. There was no time to draw, no time to aim a power shot. He was on her. In a move of pure, reckless instinct, she dropped her bow, letting it clatter to the stone. The Felir, seeing her disarmed, committed to the killing blow, a triumphant snarl on his face.

But Anna's hand wasn't empty. It flashed to a side-quiver I hadn't even noticed, one holding short, thick, armor-piercing bodkin arrows. In a single, fluid motion born of a thousand desperate fights, she spun, pulled out a smaller, hidden shortbow, drew, and fired from a distance of less than five feet.

The shot wasn't powerful. But it was perfect. The thick arrowhead punched through a small gap in the Felir's light armor, just under his jaw. His triumphant snarl turned into a bright light as he was teleported out of the arena, saved by an item from a Kyorian sponsor. Anna stood there, chest heaving, a look of pure, adrenaline-fueled fury on her face.

That was the true turning point. Their leader was down, their flankers were gone, their Guardian was dust. We pressed the advantage, claiming the beacons. This would secure our win by less than fifty points. A razor-thin victory born from desperation, foresight, and revealed secrets.

We were teleported back to the antechamber, bruised and exhausted. The Unbroken Horn and the Silent Pounce glared at us, not with anger, but with a new, grudging respect.

Then, a side door opened and a Kyorian Prefect walked towards us. She held a black, formal-looking datapad.

"A commendable performance," she said, her voice crisp, a practiced smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes. "Truly, a display of the indomitable spirit the Empire seeks to cultivate."

She stopped in front of Lucas and Anna. "Governor Vorr's First Adjutant was most impressed by your synergistic potential. You have all earned a reprieve from the final dueling brackets. In three days' time, following the singles championship, you are formally invited to a private dinner celebration at the Governor's Spire to commemorate your victory."

Lucas and Anna exchanged a wary glance. "An honor," Lucas said, his voice a perfectly neutral baritone.

The Prefect's smile widened a fraction. "She will be most pleased to meet you all in person. First Adjutant Vayne is… very interested in unique assets."

My blood ran cold. This wasn't a reward. It was a summons. We had just passed their test by revealing a little too much of our true power. And now we were being invited to walk directly into the lion's den.

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