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I had to give it to this Potential… he had a mean right hook. He caught my jaw, sending blood splattering from my mouth as my face snapped sideways. Of all the Potentials, they had to put me with a guy from the Crimson Steppes.

There were no limits to Celeste’s depravity.

Under her airy-fairy bullshit, she was really a demon in disguise, putting us all through hell.

And look, it’s not that I didn’t love a good fight, but this shit was getting old.

I didn’t want to kill one of my own, but I’d damn well do what I had to.

The problem was that he was just as stubborn as me.

And just as strong. A credit to our home.

His ability was utilising and, apparently turning into, sand.

And as luck would have it, we were fighting by the lake in the mini Tritosa area.

So, the guy had melted into the sand, then popped up again to surprise me with another sucker punch.

All well and good, except my boulder form was impenetrable, even with his added strength.

We’d gone on doing the same stupid dance for a while until I called it and offered new rules: a good old fistfight until the last man standing. He’d agreed, like the good sport we Crimsonians were.

So here we were, fighting in our human forms with nothing but our natural physical strength.

Just how I liked it. Besides, it’s not like there was anything to use to my advantage here.

Sand, water, a few measly shells and pebbles.

What was I meant to do? Slap him with a fucking fish?

I had a feeling Zane would take great offence to that, but thinking about him and the idea he betrayed us made my blood boil.

I ducked the Potential’s jab to my head, then offered an uppercut of my own. He made an ‘oof’ noise, but quickly recovered, dancing a little on his feet to keep me on my game. The guy was good. At this rate, we’d be here all damn night and then some.

Maybe a little venting would be good for me, but man, I wasn’t feeling it tonight.

I’d failed. The weapon was out of reach, along with the crown.

Everything I’d done up until now was wasted.

If I got out of here, what the hell would I tell my parents?

This had been our one shot at restoring some hope to my city.

Without any aid, we’d soon be swallowed up by the sands.

My people couldn’t continue the way they were, fighting to survive another day in the desert.

Fuck! Just thinking about it got my blood heated.

The guy decided to get clever and do a little jab-jab-elbow, but I’d done every routine possible with Flynn growing up and knew exactly how to handle it.

Boxing was my jam, and this kid didn’t have shit on me.

I ducked, swerved back, and then stepped quickly to the side so I was behind him.

A quick downward blow to the back of his legs had him on the ground and in a headlock in seconds.

And because I was pissed off, I decided to add some martial arts into the mix.

He tapped feebly on my arms, his clammy palms sliding off my sweaty skin.

His legs flailed, so I hooked them with my own and leaned back, stretching his own body tightly until he had no freedom of motion.

His strength was quickly failing as I squeezed my arm around his throat.

Not long now and he’d be knocked out. Maybe I could leave it at that.

Maybe I could let that fucking drone hovering nearby get a good look at his limp body and everyone would think he’s dead.

Why should I kill yet another great champion from the Steppes?

I was ready to let my little daydream play out when the sound of stomping boots caught my attention.

My eyes darted about as I looked for the cause, finally spotting a squad of around eight rapidly approaching on foot.

At first, I’d thought they were guards coming to take this guy’s body away, but the guns in their hands suggested something was off.

As they got closer, I realised they were dressed in darker uniforms, and then it dawned on me that these were trained soldiers approaching instead.

Fuck. What now?

I let go of my victim and then jumped to my feet. “Get up,” I commanded the dude. “Something’s wrong.”

He glared at me as he coughed and wheezed for air, but a jerk of my chin at the approaching squad and he smartened up real quick. He got up and stood beside me, immediately ready to face whatever came next.

“What seems to be the problem, soldiers?” I asked as the squad came to a stop, lining up nicely in a row.

They remained silent, and I shared a look with the guy I had been fighting.

Neither of us liked where this was going.

The hairs on my arms and neck raised as a collected quiet seemed to fill the air.

Even the nightlife had stopped buzzing and chirping as if they were hiding from a threat.

And this display of armed fighters? Definitely a threat.

Then, slowly and all at once, they began to raise their guns.

Fuck. “Powers,” I told the guy beside me, turning my form into rock just in time as they fired.

His body transformed into a waterfall of sand that cascaded to the ground.

Blue light from the pulse guns flared, lighting up the night, and the energy from those weapons bounced into my rocky skin one after the other.

The force of the guns was enough to make me stagger, but my adaptive form remained intact, thankfully unharmed from blows that would have torn apart human flesh.

The unprompted attack reeked of someone rigging the tournament in favour of a chosen ruler.

Well, that wasn’t about to fly with me. I roared, turning to a boulder, and charged into the group with as much force as I could muster.

The soldiers went flying, with a couple getting caught under my rock.

Their bodies turned into a mess of skin and bone, looking like a damn meat grinder had swallowed them up.

Blood slicked the sand around me, which only darkened as the sand guy materialised every so often, using the soldiers’ own blades or handguns against them.

He was fast as lightning, the way he could be whole one instant and sand the next.

The soldiers didn’t know what to do as we worked in tandem.

The thrill of a real fight fired through my veins, and I held nothing back at the fuckers who’d interrupted us.

As the fight went on, I couldn’t help but question who was behind it.

Was this attack because of the vault? Had Celeste ordered unmarked guards to take me down?

Was it a plot to prevent someone from the Crimson Steppes from getting the crown?

Maybe this was the plan all along: no survivors, no witnesses, no controversy.

My heart leapt as I thought of what the others could be going through right now, but then I heard it…

Screams ruptured the night, followed by bright blue flares in the distance.

It was in those flashes of light that revealed soldiers and Potentials fighting all around.

So it wasn’t just us under fire after all.

An alarm rang out, suggesting this hadn’t been part of Celeste’s plan.

The House of Ascension was under attack.

This wasn’t just a punishment or a kill order by the Overseer.

Whoever had sent these soldiers wasn’t fucking around—not if they were attacking one of the most prestigious establishments in Terrulia.

My stomach sank. Ace had said Zane met with Victrus and we all knew the kind of power Victrus had even without the crown under his control.

These must be his men, which meant he was here, and he wasn’t playing nice.

I needed to find the others. Unleashing another roar, I turned back into a man—doubled down on my rock armour—and used my sheer strength to pummel anything within range.

The eight soldiers who had attacked were either dead or injured and attempting to retreat.

I turned, ready to shout in victory but stopped in my tracks.

Sand guy materialised before another soldier, who looked more seasoned than the rest. He tracked the guy’s movements, studying his fighting style and calculating where he would appear next.

Once the sand guy reappeared the soldier fired on him point blank.

One minute he was healthy and whole and the next, blood and guts exploded from his torso.

It was as much a lucky shot as it was calculated.

The sand guy’s body hadn’t even completely solidified before dying.

Alright, now it was personal.

I teleported, grabbing the gun from the soldier’s hands and turning it back on him with a quick bang.

His body blew apart, sending limbs and organs out like a fountain, and I offered no mercy as I grinned at the others attempting to retreat, knowing I’d taken on a new meaning of ‘Big Red’.

I might have let them go once but… nah. I fired, gunning them down before they could crawl back to their master.

When it was done, I threw the gun down in disgust and then transformed back into boulder form. The others were in trouble, and it had become more than clear that we were stronger together. Time was my closest ally until I found them.

I did my best to ignore the chaos around me, along with the monstrosity of blood and charred remains littering the grounds.

I rolled, using my senses to guide me and ran down any soldier who so happened to be even remotely in my path.

I may or may not have adjusted course more than once to roll their way.