The display on the scrying slate shifted, closing in on the central, white-clad figure in the middle of the stadium and getting what seemed to be at least a quarter-mile closer. Though the stage from the orientation had been removed, the Princess of Olympus cut an impressive sight. Even amidst the grandiose architecture of the Sieve.

“Wraith’s wrath, she’s beautiful.” Ra mused, seemingly to no-one in particular. “Look at her ass.”

“Look at her boobs,” Sia replied almost fervently- turning to Ra as though meeting a challenge.

“Look at her face,” Timi interrupted.

“Look at her feet,” muttered Genro. All at once each other person in the room turned to him, utter disgust plastered across their faces. Crow found himself agreeing with their impressions.

***

“NOW, HAILING FROM THE GREAT NATION OF PANGAEA IS OUR FIRST CONTESTANT. FROM TEAM POWERFUL WOMEN, THE EXCEPTIONALLY TALENTED DAUGHTER OF GILASEV MENZA HIMSELF, GEMINI MENZA!”

That was Gem’s cue. Swallowing her fear, she began to walk out from her position in the tunnel- just deep enough that none of the audience could have spied a look at her while she waited. The ground was hard, as were her shoes. Ordinarily she’d have expected her every step to be punctuated by a sharp clap of heel against stone, in fact they probably still were.

She couldn’t hear even the faintest trace over the sound of the stadium, however.

As she stepped out into the light, the harsh sun and earth-shaking cheers struck her all at once. It was almost disorienting. Almost.

In, hold, out. In, hold, out.

This was nothing new. Gem had stared down Immortals before, she had nothing to fear from a horde of ordinary people.

“NEXT UP, FROM TEAM FATE, THE MYSTERIOUS AND CALCULATING SILENT PHANTOM- TENZO!”

Another bout of noise erupted from around her, though Gem hardly noticed as she intently concentrated on the boy who had just joined her in the arena. He was tall, but lanky- a similar build to Unity. His body was covered in black, wrapped clothing which vaguely resembled the ceremonial wear in certain parts of Olympus. Any man who would willingly subject himself to donning such tedious clothing, Gem decided, was most likely not right in the head.

She cursed herself under her breath, pushing such distracting superficialities from her mind. After only a moment’s hesitation, she opened her third eye. Information, as Karma might say, was victory.

The moment Gem’s vision switched from the physical to the magical, the stadium was washed with colour. It was as though the collective sounds of the crowds had all been turned into light, reds, blues, greens, Gem could see some she recognised- and yet there were far more that were completely disconnected from what one might ever find in the real world. Nameless colours, for her eyes and hers alone.

With great reluctance, she turned her gaze away from the chaotically beautiful display and narrowed it firmly on Tenzo. She could see his magic, see it wrapping around his body- quivering as it waited for its master to give it purpose.

With equal parts satisfaction and relief, she noted that he had far less potency than would be necessary to warrant her worrying. At most, two thirds as much as Crow- less than half of Gem’s own level.

Her narrow victory against Hack Pong had taught her something very important, however. If her natural abilities were to mean anything, they’d need to be leveraged with a serviceable level of intelligence.

“THIRDLY, PLEASE GIVE A WELCOME TO THE DAUGHTER OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS LORD DUMARE BALOGUN, AJOKE!”

There had been many tunnels leading into the centre of the stadium, Gem had assumed that no more than two would be used after the second stage. She realised her stupidity as a girl roughly a year older than her with skin far darker than Karma’s, frizzy hair and an almost militaristically straight back practically marched out from a third one.

***

“I used to date her,” Ra remarked- apparently unphased by the presence of a third competitor. Crow looked from him to the other members of his team, realising that, while none of them seemed particularly indifferent, they were all taking it better than he’d expected. Of course they were, they’d have realised there were more than two contestants involved the moment the second one wasn’t their teammate.

“Wait, you used to date Ajoke Balogun?”

The question came from Sia, and Ra answered it- first with a nod.

“Yeah, though she dumped me because I “lacked ambition” and “kept flirting with other girls.””, he made an exaggerated quotation gesture with his fingers as he spoke. “I should’ve guessed she’d be going up first.”

“Sia,” Timi asked. “Isn’t her father the ruler of your nation? Pretty sure that makes her your princess, right?”

Crow couldn’t see Sia’s face from where he was sitting, it was facing away from him and straight at the scrying slate. All the same he didn’t miss the sudden tension in his back as he answered.

“No. I’m from Orun, not Bârëi. We’re subservient to old Dumare, but not technically under his direct rule. Gives them a nice excuse not to pay any upkeep for us while draining away our resources.”

Timi shifted in her seat, suddenly seeming quite uncomfortable at the topic. Crow couldn’t help but share her feelings.

“Simona’s coming out,” Genro cut in. All eyes immediately turned back to the slate, and Crow found himself wondering what kind of individual was about to emerge.

***

“AND NOW PLEASE WELCOME THIS TASK’S FINAL CONTESTANT. REPRESENTING TEAM RA, THE FINAL ONE IN THIS SIEVE, AND COMING ALL THE WAY FROM NOCTURNAL, SIMONA!”

Gem hadn’t relaxed her third eye, yet at that moment she found herself wishing she had. The girl who emerged from the tunnel didn’t look like much at first. Short, thin, pale and with dark hair- the only distinctive features were the formal-seeming suit she wore and the vibrant crimson irises of her eyes. Those features alone, however, marked her out as a vampire.

Gem could barely bring herself to notice them next to her magic, though. The billowing aura around her body extended perhaps a few centimetres further out than her shoulders, virtually the same as the boy from team Fate.

Yet its quality was incomparable.

It was somehow malicious. As though the smoke-like energy were made from an uncountable large number of snakes, all writhing over one another and just waiting for someone to come within range. It made Gem’s skin crawl.

“NOW CONTESTANTS,” Karma cried out- her voice dragging Gem from the depths of her thoughts. “PLEASE CHECK YOUR GAUGERS, FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THE STADIUM YOU’LL FIND AN EXPLANATION OF THIS STAGE’S RULES ON THE PAMPHLETS WHICH WERE HANDED OUT AS YOU ENTERED.”

Doing as instructed, Gem saw the slate wrapped around her wrist had in fact shifted to display instructions.

First Task

Details: Each opponent successfully stabbed awards one team point, being stabbed five times causes disqualification.

Victory Condition: Have the most points by the end. One thousand credits, one team point.

Credit Condition: Be the last to be disqualified. One thousand credits.

Credit Condition: Win the match in under fifteen minutes. Three hundred credits.

Credit Condition: Avoid being stabbed once. One thousand credits.

Frowning at the numbers, Gem glanced back to Karma just in time to see her open her maw for another announcement.

“NOW YOU MAY NOTICE A FEW NEW DETAILS THAT WEREN’T THERE BEFORE, SO LET ME CLEAR THEM UP. FIRST AND FOREMOST ARE THE TEAM POINTS. THESE MAY SEEM SELF-EXPLANATORY, BUT IN CASE THEY AREN’T- THEY WILL DETERMINE THE RANKINGS OF THE TEAMS FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS. BEFORE NOW TOTAL CREDITS WAS USED TO DECIDE A TEAM’S POSITION, HOWEVER THAT IS NO LONGER THE CASE.”

She took a breath, then gestured to Gem as she continued speaking. It felt indescribably cold to see her oldest friend treat Gem with such formality.

“TEAM POWERFUL WOMEN, DUE TO PREVIOUSLY BEING FIRST PLACE, START WITH AN EXTRA TEAM POINT. EVERYONE ELSE HAS NONE. THIS ADVANTAGE ISN’T BIG THOUGH, SO IF THERE’S ANY TIME FOR THE OTHER TEAMS TO SHAKE THE LOWER HAND AND PUSH THEMSELVES TO THE LEAD, IT’S NOW!”

Gem didn’t miss the resentful glares she caught from the other contestants, even as far as they were.

“ALRIGHT,” Karma called out. “WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, CONTESTANTS- PREPARE YOURSELVES.”

Shifting on her feet, Gem suddenly felt a great heat under her collar. With her third eye she saw the faint trickles of magic begin to build in the air around her, and as she glanced over to her soon-to-be-enemies it became apparent that they were being targeted by more of the same.

Only a few seconds until they’d be transported.

As the world began to fade out around her, she heard the slightly muffled voice of Karma ring out once more.

“LET THE TASK BEGIN!”

***

The slate went blank for a moment, and then an instant later- almost too fast for Crow to even register the lack of an image had ever occured- it shifted its display.

Gem was still at the centre, but she now stood alone. There was something in her right hand, but before he was able to get a decent look at it the girl began to turn.

She was surrounded on all sides by decrepit grey buildings which greatly reminded Crow of dying trees. Tall though they were, visible cracks snaked up their sides like veins, and many of them had partially or even mostly collapsed. None had either windows or the wooden shutters most would use in their place, and even something as basic as a door was a rare sight among them.

The streets were in a similar state of disrepair. Crow was fairly sure they had once been made of cobbles, but little remained now but an ocean of jagged, cracked stones haphazardly strewn about. There were holes, too. Some wide, some narrow- and all of varying depths. As though it had rained an acid strong enough to errode the stone on which it puddled.

The most chilling aspect, however, was undoubtedly the sky. Crow couldn’t see it directly, not from the scrying slate’s almost directly vertical view of Gem, but he knew there would be something simply wrong with it.

Ordinary skies did not rain blackened ash.

Suddenly worried for his friend, he set his sights solely on her. She was looking around with the rhythmic, jittery energy he recognised all too well as belonging to a person who was fighting the urge to panic with every ounce of their being. The Sieve’s battlegrounds were distressing naturally, seeing any kind of city completely devoid of people had an impossible-to-place sort of creepiness to it. This one, though?

It was the sort of location which made every nerve in one’s body scream at them that whatever was responsible for the lack of people was still around. And Gem didn’t hesitate even a moment before setting off into it.

Though it was difficult to tell from his viewing angle, the strides were long and fast, barely short of a jog yet still sensibly-paced and efficient. Perfect for covering distance without tiring oneself out. Crow realised she was probably on the move looking for the other contestants, he felt a smile sprout upon his face.

The view shifted on the scrying slate as whatever structure was being used to observe Gem began to sink back, giving a line of sight directly to the back of her clothing. With a start, Crow realised that he recognised the symbol engraved onto its back. A pyramid with a small circle just above it, animated by a few carefully drawn lines to illustrate luminescence.

The symbol of the Menza family.

***

Gem struggled to keep her breathing anywhere close to stable as she traversed the area. Her priority was to find the other contestants, and she knew that logically speaking there was little to no chance that she’d run into anything other than them- the Sieve had a tendency to let its contestants know exactly what they’d be dealing with ahead of time.

That didn’t stop her from jumping at every shadow.

The damned ash diminished her sight unbelievably, cutting her visibility and making it hard to make out details within even ten metres of her. How would Karma react to such a situation? Gem’s initial plan had been to conserve her magic reserves by travelling without it, then defeat everyone she encountered on sight. The inability to see more than a few dozen feet in any direction made that considerably less effective.

She forced herself to mentally pause, concentrating once more on steadying her breathing. Strangely, her fist tightened around the handle of her dagger. She hadn’t brought the weapon into the task, simply found it materialised within her grasp as she was teleported to her new surroundings- she imagined that it was the instrument with which the necessary stabbing was supposed to take place. Unfamiliar and inferior to her own magic though it was, she still found no small amount of comfort in holding a weapon of any kind.

She turned a corner, bringing her thoughts back to her current predicament. A fifteen minute time-limit was one of the secondary objectives, and she’d need to meet it if she wanted to obtain a number of bonus credits and increase her chances in the later tasks.

She’d already spent a considerable chunk of what she’d had, and though her purchase provided no small amount of security as she felt it cling to her body it was not so courage-inspiring as to make her any less eager to get as much more as she could.

A fifteen minute time limit, Gem realised, was very useful information. Such a time limit wouldn’t be given if it wasn’t possible for the task to be completed within its duration, though Gem couldn’t tell whether it would be possible with her moving while conserving magic as she was…

She resisted the urge to swear loudly.

***

Crow was on the edge of his seat as Ajoke Balogun closed in on the lanky form of the Tenzo kid. He’d thought that being removed from the battle would settle the nervous dread he always felt right before a clash, but all the same his stomach sank as he saw the unwitting boy walk into the ambush.

The attack he’d expected never came, however. As when the girl dropped down, it was not to rush her enemy and press the advantage of surprise. Instead she raised her hands in a universally-recognisable gesture of peace, and stared right at him. It took Crow several moments to realise that she was talking, the view from the scrying slate gave a poor image of her lips.

The boy responded with violence nonetheless, rushing the girl and slashing with the curved edge of his dagger- Crow didn’t see any blood, but a numerical display appeared in the top right corner of the scrying slate. By the time Tenzo stopped his attack, he’d apparently struck the girl three times.

Glancing at the members of team Ra around him, he saw all of them were equally as confused- even Ra himself. In the case of the Jyptian boy, however, it passed quickly.

“Oh,” he breathed gently. “Of course.”

***

Gem wasn’t sure how long she’d been walking, but she could feel herself start to panic. Every moment she went without encountering an enemy was a moment further from the thousand extra credits. Karma had once taught her that she could keep an approximate track of time by counting her own heart beats, but that was the sort of trick that only worked for someone clever. Gem wasn’t clever, she was powerful.

And in the absence of anyone to use that power on, she was nothing.

Quickly banishing such unproductive thoughts from her head, Gem refocused herself on the task at hand. She knew the Sieve wouldn’t have left an impossible goal in the time limit, and she found it hard to believe that all of the other contestants were going around without using their magic- certainly not with her as an opponent. That left a single possible explanation, they were hiding from her.

A smile began to sprout across her mouth at the realisation. She was Gemini Menza, of course they were hiding from her.

***

Karma had been fairly sure what was happening the moment Balogun stopped to speak with Tenzo rather than attack him, but all the same she’d decided to verify her conclusion. Upon observing the two of them go off together and make non-violent contact with Simona, she’d used her Eye of Analysis to read their lips- difficult as it was through the snow-like ash.

Her mouth dried as her worst fears were confirmed. Gem was in trouble.

***

Gem felt the familiar pressure in her mind as she opened her third eye, looking around and almost gasping at the utter monochrome state of the world. There was no more colour than the charred buildings and falling ash had already provided. Worse, in fact, there may well have been less.

She continued making her way through the stage regardless, keeping her eyes out for any sign of vibrance clashing with the sea of darkness. The particulated cinders piling on the floor crunched underfoot as she walked, and it occurred to her that there was a good chance her surroundings had been built the way they were- that the ash had only started falling on the ruined buildings the moment they were observed by Bermuda.

Her thought didn’t last long, however. There was a flash at the back of an alley, a sudden glimmer of red- or a colour vaguely close to it. Gone just as quickly as it had appeared. Almost quickly enough to make Gem dismiss it.

Karma’s words rang through her head, however.

There’s a reason we see faces where there aren’t any, all the primitive monkeys who didn’t see faces where there were ones died before they could reproduce. The first mistake is a much healthier one to act on.

For a few moments she was still, paralysed by indecision regarding how exactly she would go about investigating the movement. She soon came to a conclusion, however.

“COME OUT,” Gem called. “I KNOW YOU’RE THERE.”

A few seconds later, she saw the colour once more- burning away like a flame behind the ash, visible in spite of the obstruction and bearing the vague outline of a human form. As whoever produced the magical signature drew closer, she began to see more. A small frame, exceedingly voluminous hair, skin darker than Karma’s by over a dozen shades.

Ajoke Balogun stopped walking as she came to within twenty feet of Gem, meeting her eye without hesitation- given the power difference, she was clearly either very brave or very stupid.

“Hello, Gemini.” The girl said. She seemed surprisingly friendly, given the circumstances at least. Though Gem couldn’t quite help but notice that she held a dagger of her own in her right hand. Silently, she activated her physical enhancement magic as Balogun continued.

“I don’t believe we’ve ever met, it’s unfortunate that our first encounter is in a situation such as this.”

She spoke with an extraordinarily thick Bârëi accent, the kind a person would get only from spending much of their life cooped up in their country of birth.

“Yes, it is quite an unfortunate circumstance for anyone to meet me under.” Gem replied, keeping an eye on the other girl’s hands. After a moment of consideration, she dismissed her third eye- deciding that an unobstructed view of her body would be more useful than the ability to see the magic wrapped around it.

The effect was immediate and drastic. Though the ash suddenly became a far greater presence in her sights, the lack of harsh light obscuring the target of her gaze allowed Gem to make out the girl’s expression.

It was resigned, and unsettlingly confident.

The crunching of the ash from behind was what tipped Gem off to the oncoming attack. The noise had been barely audible for her own footsteps, and yet whoever approached her did so with heavy enough strides that the sound reached Gem’s awareness before their attack reached her back. She threw herself to one side, glancing at the place she’d been standing and seeing the vampire- Simona- turn back to face her, blade in hand.

Gem almost stumbled, but righted herself just in time. She stared at Simona, then shifted her gaze to Ajoke- realising with sinking horror that the girl had come to stand next to the vampire. Both women had settled their gazes directly on Gem, not so much as glancing at one another.

“Two on one?” Gem found the words to ask. “Hardly sporting.”

She saw Balogun’s lips move, yet whatever sound came out was muted as something slammed into Gem’s back from behind- throwing her to the ground and bringing a painful sting to her flesh.

Does one of them have an ability they can unleash from somewhere other than their body? She frantically wondered, then banished the thought- having no time for anything but action. Rolling on the carpet of ash, Gem hurriedly brought herself to her feet just as Ajoke came charging in- knife drawn.

She felt magic bubble beneath her skin, and she thrust her palm out- releasing a get of pale blue light aimed directly for her assailant. The girl flattened herself against the ground just in time to avoid the attack, however the vampire leapt over it- falling towards Gem with the unnatural speed that gravity pulled all magic users towards the ground with.

Raising her dagger in preparation to meet the attack head-on, Gem realised just in time what was happening- throwing herself aside once more and landing heavily on the road. She rolled, coming to her feet quicker than before and a half-dozen metres from where she’d just been.

Far enough that her line of sight now incorporated both the two girls who had attacked her from the front, and the one responsible for striking her in the back.

“It’s actually three against one,” the vampire practically purred- and Gem realised that her face was twisted into a grin best likened to a cat playing with its prey. A chill went down her spine at the maddened glee present on the girl’s face.

Gem felt heat rise to her collar, then her scalp- her hands began to shake with the excessive, adrenaline-fuelled energy her body poured into every cell, and she could hear her own heart throbbing inside her.

Ash had made its way into her mouth and eyes during one or both of her rolls, and she could feel the moisture begin to build in the corners- urging her to rub them free of the debris. She resisted the urge, knowing that to take her sight from any one of her enemies was to lose. Gemini Menza did not lose.

Slowly, she began moving to one side. Her back was to the mouth of an alley, Gem would very much prefer to place it at a wall. Every step she took, however, was responded to by her enemies- all of them stalking after her, agonisingly slowly yet agonisingly consistently.

Her breathing began to slow, and Gem concentrated on slowing it more.

In, hold, out. In, hold, out.

Just as she came to place herself directly between her enemies and one of the ruined building’s walls, Gem felt the icy calm that Karma had promised would come to her in the right circumstances. With her right hand still tightly clutching the handle of her dagger, she reached up to her sternum and grasped the thread holding the cloak over her shoulders.

She imagined much of the Menza family would be enraged to see the fabric bearing their crest drop to the ash-ridden ground at her feet, but in the moment all Gem cared to consider was that there was no longer something on her back dragging against the air as she moved.

The widened eyes of her enemies, however, was a complete surprise. And yet it was one Gem knew better than to waste.

She charged towards Tenzo, the ranged fighter among them, as fast as her legs could carry her.

***

Crow had been surprised when the Tenzo kid came up behind Gem. He’d been more surprised when the boy’s shadow had leapt up from the ground at his feet, sharpened into blades and raked across her back. The biggest surprise, however, had come from the lack of blood his attack had drawn.

When the girl’s cloak fell, however, it had all made sense. The item she’d bought from the credit shop with him was a full-body black suit, clinging to her in a way which demonstrated aerodynamics having taken full priority. The back was scuffed slightly, scratched the way leather might be- though Crow could not for the life of him imagine Tenzo would have failed to slice through any less than a foot of leather, unless the boy was much weaker than he thought.

The entirety of team Ra watched just as silently as he did, their chatter having died out the moment it became apparent that Gem would be dealing with a three-on-one. As the girl’s charge brought her on top of Tenzo, Crow found himself grinning.

He couldn’t blame them, no-one liked being on the losing team.