From the observation room, Lily watched Caeden march out into the arena. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap. She was worried. Understandably so! Caeden just didn't get it. The families were brutal. The Academy offered a modicum of protection, but that would end when their stay here was over. A mere five years, four and a half at this point. Nothing at all in the lifespan of a shrouded.

She watched him in that giant golden form with its purple undertones. He looked so impressive. All she could see was the target he made. Caeden shone brilliantly, his power evident for all to see. Right now, it was a deterrent. Later, it was an annoyance to eliminate.

It ate at her, thinking of all the times Caeden and her friends intervened, keeping Ander away from her and setting up the Forged. Literally building an entire organization to act as a buffer just for her. She was grateful, truly grateful for everything. But they weren't ready for what their actions would cost them. She knew. She knew so well the price of defiance. She had the scars to prove it.

The marks on her back, the ones she didn't let them see. Proof of how little the families would care when theft crushed the only people she had come to care about in this world. For her, the damage was a reminder that the world needed change. Despite her father and brother's attempts to subjugate her, their 'lessons' only spurred her on. The isolation, the malnutrition all fuel for the fire of her spirit.

It was only now, when she had friends and a faction of her own, and actual power to match that she was afraid. It was ironic, on some level. All those attempts to break her, and all they had to do was give her a friend.

But that was fine. She could shoulder all the danger alone. She was strong now. Powerful in ways she would have never dreamed of before coming to the Academy. So Caeden's stubborn refusal ate at her. She just hoped he learned what he was in for with his foolhardy plan. It was so…not Caeden. Charging in like this. He was cautious to excess. Something that she appreciated but also frustrated her.

Now he was throwing caution to the wind. For her.

Lily frowned as Juliette's armor-clad form entered the arena. Caeden would have a hard time with her. Powerful, with high defenses. Shade could take the hits Caeden could dish out and hit back just as hard. Months ago, Caeden had known this and backed down from a dangerous opponent. Now he was throwing himself into the literal jaws of a bear. For her. Why? She didn't understand why her words had riled him up this much. Her friends were all weaker than her; they knew that. Both in actual power and prestige.

Lily didn't enjoy the position she had by birth, being a part of the Meteoris house, but she had to acknowledge the leeway it gave her when dealing with other families now and in the future. None of the others had the same protection. She should be fighting for them, not the other way around.

Elune's voice boomed, announcing the beginning of the fight. Immediately, the arena was taken over by the presence of a truly massive armored bear, roaring its rage for all to hear. Lily winced. Caeden was in for a rough fight.

But…

What was going on? What was with his spear? She had never seen it do that, Sharp shroud swirling violently at its tip. Reaching out through her aura, Lily tried to assess it. Was this some new mnemonic he hadn't told anyone about? This was hardly the time for untested abili-

Lily's mind reeled, her aura sense recoiling from the shrouded weapon. That shroud circling it was laden with so much murderous intent it made Lily sick the second she touched it. She felt like throwing up. What was that?!

Her question was answered in horrific clarity as Caeden wound up, throwing the spear with all the might his heavily enhanced body could muster. Lily watched in awed horror as his javelin treated master grade infused plate mail and enhanced bear flesh like wet paper in a hurricane. It didn't just hit Juliette; it annihilated every piece of her body and armor it touched, spaying chunks of gore and severing a leg as thick as Caeden's golden torso.

Lily's jaw dropped. Where had he been hiding that?

{}

Victor watched as the dickhead entered the arena. So, he was going first? Apparently, Victor's Kamehameha hadn't done as much damage as he had thought. Oh well, It would be interesting to see how well he did against some of Solar Radiance. Their faction leader was a total siscon from what Victor had heard, but he hit like a truck with all that lightning. Maybe he could do Victor a favor and fry the shit out of that golden asshat.

His nose still hurt.

Unfortunately, the first one up was that bear girl. Man, she packed a wallop, but she was also pretty hot. Fighting her had been fun. Too bad for her that most physical types did awful against him.

Victor rubbed his sore chin. Most.

He watched as the fight started and then ended, almost at the same time. He watched as the bear woman's leg flew across the arena from the explosive force that devastated her body. His jaw dropped. Only one thought ran through his head.

That motherfucker had been holding back!

{}

Caeden looked at the damage he dealt in abject horror. He could barely breathe. His mind jittered; images of other bodies split apart on his shroud and sword flashed before his eyes. Then the moment passed. He felt sick, but his aura told him she was still breathing, despite the lower portion of her torso that was just gone along with a lost leg. Blood splattered endlessly, her formshifted bear heart pumping great gouts of her lifeblood onto the arena floor.

She was hardy. Caeden did not doubt that if he had hit anyone else with that attack, any other student in the entire school, there wouldn't be enough of them left to fill a thimble. Despite all that, she was only mortally wounded instead of dead. Her guts hanging out of the hole he had opened in her body.

Medics were there in an instant, appearing from one of the several tunnels leading into the arena. One grabbed the massive hunk of leg that had shot through the air. Caeden could only assume they meant to reattach it.

She was alive.

He let out a choked breath. He knew he didn't have it in him to use that again. If he did, someone would surely die, and he just couldn't do it. Not knowing full well what it would do. Maybe it was a paper-thin distinction, but it was one thing to fight knowing you might kill your opponent. It was another thing to fight, knowing you would kill them. He could accept the possibility, not the certainty.

Maybe he was just a coward, hiding behind a thin veil to protect himself from the responsibility for his actions, but it was the only way he could come out of this not feeling like more of a monster than he already was. He could find a way to win without relying on the above-100 Forged Infinity transformations. He had to.

Maintaining his persona, hiding in it, Caeden watched stoically as the medical shrouded removed Juliette's massive bear body from the ring. She had passed out, and her shroud kept her formshifted to aid in the healing process, so they had to cart out her multi-ton form.

Relaxing internally just a little bit, Caeden took inventory of himself. It… wasn't great. Break was his ultimate finishing move with Physical Enhancement that focused every ounce of enhancement he could muster into amplifying a single attack. It wasn't just draining; it was damaging. For that one move, he was many times faster and stronger than what even his golden body could withstand. His whole body ached, and there were microscopic tears in his muscle tissue across his entire frame. Worse, even his bones had tiny cracks running through them.

Moving was obscenely painful. He needed time to recover. Physical Enhancement was under half capacity, and it wouldn't be improving at all. If he could just focus on using Sharp and not moving for a while-

"I'm going to destroy you for what you did to her!" A voice roared out of the tunnel opposite him. It looked like he wouldn't get that opportunity.

Marching out with a look on his face like a raging bull, nostrils flared and huffing, was a familiar face. Caeden had fought the man during the battle royale to get to Ander. The one who had some kind of rock-type shroud and had engaged him in a hand-to-hand brawl. This was not going to go well.

"Our next challenger, The Brick! Malik Zemljasan is ranked seventeenth; his shroud is Rust Rock with a splinter of Bursteriol."

In all previous matches, Malik had attacked from melee. Caeden assumed he would do the same thing here. He had pushed Caeden last time, with a broken arm and Caeden in top condition. Now, their injuries were reversed.

Rust Rock was a fire-resistant stone that occurred near large deposits of fire ether, likely around volcanoes and flame geysers. Its significant properties were the aforementioned fire resistance and a higher than average fracture toughness. It would take substantial, heavy impacts to damage him. Bursteriol was a liquid agent used in the treatment of raw ether crystals. It was incredibly caustic, but only to stone and metal. It had little effect on biological materials or living creatures unless ingested.

Caeden knew the first one from ethersmithing. Rust rock was a common material used in creating fire-resistant armor and equipment. The second he learned from a passing curiosity about how ether crystals were mined. He had read a book about it on one of their off days a couple of months ago.

"AAAAAND BEGIN!"

Roaring like a raging animal, Malik charged across the arena, his skin shifting to a reddish-brown and gaining a rough, rocky texture. Then, a layer of actual rock grew over his body, covering and surrounding him. His pace increased until he was moving as fast as a runaway train. Caeden had moments before they slammed together. He wasn't ready.

"Rose Garden. Lock. Release." Caeden rapidly called through his mnemonics, sending thorns raining down on the incoming Rockman. At the same time, he held his hand out, the small motion feeling like flames crawling over his bare nerves. He tugged on the immutable connection between himself and his shrouded weapon, the javelin embedded in the far wall of the arena pulling free and speeding across the distance to slap into his open palm. An impact that nearly made him scream as it jarred his nearly broken bones.

Malik held rocky hands in front of his face and charged through the storm of incoming thorns. He didn't make it unscathed. Chunks of rock were blasted off his torso and arms from the heavy impacts, but he was undaunted, not slowing a step.

"Defense form." Caeden made himself ready. Several clicks and Forged Infinity shifted to 005, then 051, dual gauntlets. He had debated using 002, the shield, but a purely passive defense would get him nowhere. If he wanted to win, he had to fight.

So, with hands wrapped in purple and gold, he waited for Malik to reach him. The man came in swinging.

What followed was a brutal melee brawl back and forth. Caeden couldn't exercise most of his strength due to the internal injuries, and for all Mailk's defenses, he didn't hit that hard. Both of them just kept slugging each other, Caeden sometimes managing to deflect blows with his gauntlets, but taking hits just as often.

Caeden could feel himself slowly losing. His bones ached with every hit, and his muscles burned with every swing. The only reason he was still standing was the enhanced regeneration of defense form. He could feel small cracks across his skeleton deepen and widen with every hit. His own blows were slowly destroying his arms. He wasn't going to make it like this. He tried further bombardment from his thorns, but Mailk completely ignored it.

He couldn't just sit here and watch himself slowly lose. There was too much riding on this. Maybe his friendship with Lily could survive his loss and her lack of faith. Maybe. But Caeden wasn't willing to risk one of his first real friendships, the person he identified with the most, on a maybe.

So he grit his teeth, steadied his mind, and clenched a fist. There was a click, and the dial rolled. 511. Even as he did it, Caeden winced, and felt some small, important part of him cry out. Not even a minute after he promised not to use it. But there was no other option, not one he was willing to take. Lily was more important than his sense of self.

Intricate scrollwork of purple and red lines crawled over his gauntlets, intertwining and diverging, before looping back around on themselves. Forgoing all defense, Caeden slammed both fists into Malik's chest, even as the man landed a heavy right hook on his face.

There was a pause; Caeden's head whipped to the side under Malik's blow. His vision went fuzzy. Then the red and purple lines rushed out the knuckles of his gauntlet, and there was a loud, ugly cracking sound. Deep rents formed in Malik's body, spreading from his two fists, shattering the stone and going deeper, shattering Malik.

The man looked stunned before coughing once, twice. A gout of blood followed the second cough out of his mouth. It spattered across the floor, some of it landing on Caeden's feet, dying his golden skin red. Collapsing to the ground, Malik lay there, unmoving. Caeden could see the cracks that had formed in his body; he could see the organs underneath. The man's heart was barely beating, and he wasn't breathing.

Caeden stood, unmoving, the cracking sound, like rocks breaking or bones shattering, ringing in his ears. Before another thought passed through his head, the medical staff were there, carting out another of his victims. Another limp body, barely clinging to life. This one had somehow come even closer than Juliette, if that was possible.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Before Caeden could even begin to answer that question, he realized someone else was in the ring with him. In fact, the other person was hurling attacks his way. He had been so out of it that he hadn't even heard the beginning of the next match announcement, not that he needed the info.

It was Vincent Burnholt, sixteenth place holder of the Molten shroud. Even as Caeden looked, he was hurling bolts of red hot steel across the arena.

Without thinking, Caeden sent thorns to intercept, and a dozen streaked toward the other man in response. It was… strange. Everything felt muted. Caeden couldn't follow his own movements, as if watching someone else act. He felt nothing as the searing hot metal cascaded over his body. He felt nothing as his attacks slammed into a hastily erected barrier of molten slag.

Everything snapped back into place when his thorns pierced through that barrier and sheared into Vincent's body. None hit him center mass, but one did graze his head at over a hundred miles an hour. It ripped the hair and skin off his scalp but didn't damage the skull. A few hit one of his arms, going through the limb entirely and leaving circular holes behind. The rest missed.

How had that happened? Caeden would have expected his attacks to shatter on the barrier, not treat it like a minor inconvenience. Inspecting his remaining thorns, he found them all supercharged with Sharp, containing over double the power he expected. Caeden had no idea why.

Regardless, Vincent was out. Finally, one of his opponents walked out of the arena under their own power. Caeden's heart lightened ever so slightly. Maybe this wouldn't have to end with any more near deaths.

The next one up was the weakest of the five from Solar Radiance, only ranked twenty-third. She looked terrified. Caeden thought that was fair. He had mortally wounded two of her fellow faction members in a single attack each and seriously injured the third. He must look like some kind of psychopath to her. The look of overwhelming fear on her face settled into Caeden's mind and refused to leave. He had told himself he would give up his morals to show his strength to Lily. That face was the consequence of his resolve. He wasn't sure what to do with that.

Luckily, before Caeden had to hurt the poor girl, an armored hand landed on her shoulder. Ander stepped forward, Clad in deep blue scale mail from head to toe, helmet included. His razorwind held in one hand.

"Enough." He looked angry.