The crowd erupted in chaos at the performance of the students. Each parent, relative, and acquaintance cheering their beloved. Roars of cheers and waves of boos made the stadium feel alive.
Amidst the noise, Solace and Vivi were running breathless.
"Hah… hah…" Solace laughed weakly between breaths. "That was exhilarating."
She inhaled deeply, forcing her breathing to slow. "… Yeah, I never thought it could be this fun to steal something."
Solace, hearing this, looked at her in disbelief.
That look was basically saying, No one in their right mind could imagine that Vivi could ever utter a sentence like this.
Noticing the expression on his face, Vivi quickly composed herself.
"I- I mean, I do feel a little bad," she said, looking flustered
Solace just grinned. He knew what kind of person Vivi is; she is a kind soul. She wants to treat everyone kindly and respectfully. Even the ones that don't deserve kindness. The biggest example of this is her family situation. Her dad is a piece of shit who only cares about profit, and the only reason he treats Vivi well is that his father left a big property in her name. That's also why he doesn't care what happens to Lily.
On the other hand, Lily's mother is also a bad human being. Not only did she cheat on Lily's father, but she also refused to take custody of Lily even though the imperial court settled by giving custody of each child to one of the parents.
This led to the governor of Theron reluctantly bringing his own blood into his house. And Vivi knows this too. But she can't bring herself to go against her father; after all, Lily, Father, and her mother all are her own family, and she can't abandon any of them.
While Solace was lost in his thoughts, something strange happened.
The air pressure subtly changed. Then suddenly everything went dark.
The sensation was wrong. Not pain, not danger in the usual sense, but a distortion. Like standing too close to a massive structure and realizing your balance had subtly shifted without you moving an inch.
Vivi staggered.
She let out a sharp breath, fingers clawing at empty air. "S–Solace?"
Her voice sounded distant to her own ears.
Darkness swallowed her vision all at once.
Her knees buckled.
Solace caught her by reflex.
The same thing happened to him a heartbeat later.
The world blinked out.
No warning. No fade.
One moment the arena was chaos and color and motion; the next it was nothing. An abrupt, suffocating absence.
If not for the strange second sense he had been nurturing, Solace might have panicked.
But panic never came.
Instead, the outlines surged.
Existence pressed back.
The stadium reappeared to him not as a sight but as a structure.
He felt the boundary of the ground beneath his feet, the uneven depressions left by explosions and craters. He sensed Vivi's presence as a soft, trembling silhouette pressed against his chest. He felt the distant masses of other students as warped shapes, some sharp with hostility, others dull with exhaustion.
And then—
Pressure.
A spike of intent.
Something fast.
Something heavy.
Solace moved.
He twisted sideways, dragging Vivi with him. His heel scraped against stone as he pivoted, narrowly avoiding a crushing force that slammed into the ground where his head had been a moment before.
The impact thundered through the arena.
Stone fractured.
Students nearby cried out as the shockwave knocked them off their feet.
Solace slid backward, boots carving shallow trenches in the ground. He wrapped one arm tightly around Vivi's waist, the other flaring instinctively as chains began to manifest—but he stopped them halfway.
No.
Not yet.
He didn't know where the attack came from, but he knew one thing with certainty.
This wasn't random.
Vivi clutched his uniform, her fingers shaking. "I—I can't see… I can't see anything…"
"I know," Solace said calmly, keeping his voice low. "I've got you."
Her breathing was rapid and uneven. Fear seeped into her posture, making her feel smaller, lighter in his arms.
Another shift in pressure rippled across the arena.
Solace turned slightly, angling his body to shield Vivi.
There.
Above them.
No—around them.
Gravity bent.
Precisely.
Like a blade pressed gently against the neck.
A laugh echoed through the arena.
It wasn't loud, but it carried. Clear. Mocking. Sharp enough to cut through the noise of the crowd.
"Well," the voice drawled, dripping with amusement, "this is interesting."
The pressure eased just a fraction, enough to let the air move again.
Solace straightened slowly, his stance widening.
Vivi pressed closer to him.
"Stay still," he murmured. "Whatever happens next."
The voice continued, closer now.
"You two are lucky," it said. "Very lucky."
Solace angled his head toward the sound.
He could feel him now.
A presence like a collapsed star. Dense. Heavy. Wrapped in something cold and suffocating.
Darkness threaded through him—not the absence of light, but something that consumed it.
"Lucky the round ended when it did," the voice went on lazily. "I was just getting curious."
A ripple ran through the arena.
Then—
A bell rang.
Deep. Resonant.
Final.
The points froze.
Bracelets flared across the stadium. The oppressive pressure evaporated almost instantly, like a hand being lifted away.
Vivi gasped as her vision returned in a rush of color and movement. She blinked rapidly, tears welling as she tried to orient herself.
Solace's sight returned a heartbeat later.
He exhaled slowly, unclenching muscles he hadn't realized were locked tight.
Across from them stood a boy.
Tall. Lean. Sharp-featured.
Michael Hern.
He wore the academy uniform loosely, jacket unbuttoned, sleeves rolled back as if he'd just finished stretching rather than nearly crushing someone into the ground. His black hair was swept back carelessly, exposing eyes so dark they seemed to swallow the surrounding light.
A faint, lazy smile tugged at his lips.
Behind him stood another figure.
Kang.
Broad-should. Thick neck. Silent.
His presence alone was enough to make nearby students instinctively step back.
Michael tilted his head, studying Solace with open curiosity.
Solace didn't answer immediately.
He kept one arm protectively around Vivi, his other hand loose at his side.
Michael took a step closer.
Crunched beneath his boots, sound was amplified unnaturally by the residual gravity distortion.
"But next round?" he said. "I won't stop just because the bell rings."
Then he turned away.
"Kang."
The bodyguard followed without a word.
As they walked off, the surrounding space subtly warped, gravity bending outward like a wake in water.
Students parted instinctively, eyes wide, whispers spreading like wildfire.
"Did you feel that pressure…?"
"That was Michael Hern…"
"He didn't even fight seriously…"
Vivi's knees finally gave out.
Solace caught her before she could fall.
She laughed shakily, half hysterical. "I—I thought we were going to die."
Solace didn't disagree.
He watched Michael retreat, expression unreadable.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "So did I."
Above them, the stands roared.
Names began to scroll across massive floating screens, ranks updating, points recalculating.