Ander surrendered. He couldn't do anything else with Caeden's incarnation around his neck, ready to take his head off. The crowd was going crazy, screaming and yelling their approval. The dramatic reversal had got them all up crying for blood. Caeden guessed he had made himself a bit of a favorite with the whole near-deaths and sweeping the second most powerful faction. Third now, most likely. After all, The forged had just become the only group to not lose a single round and the only group with a nascent shrouded. No one else had yet to gain an embodiment or incarnation.

Despite all that, Caeden wasn't in a position to enjoy his victory. Despite winning in the end, he was very close to dying. Physical Enhancement was near gone, and his shroud was the only thing holding Caeden together. The constant barrage of damage he had taken over these four matches had meant nothing ever finished healing properly. Instead, he just gained new wounds that ate up his reserves. His golden body was just holding off the damage instead of fixing it.

He couldn't move, to walk out of the arena. So Caeden stood, letting his Toolset return to him while Ander stormed off into his own tunnel, not even injured. Ander hadn't taken a hit the whole fight. His armor was cut up, but he hadn't been touched. A fact that brought up some mixed feelings for Caeden.

Part of him was desperately happy that he didn't have to resort to severe bodily harm to win a fight, while another part of him was still looking at that pit, thinking about how much Ander deserved to be hurt more than anyone else in his faction. Instead, he walked off scot-free while others took devastating hits in his stead.

Finally, one of the medical staff came over.

"Oh." The man was quite a bit shorter than Caeden's defense form, short in general, really. "You're quite messed up, aren't you?" He was staring Caeden up and down with both concern and admiration.

"I'm genuinely surprised you're standing. You took those hits much better than I thought. The rest of the medics and I thought you just weren't taking that much damage. Where did all these muscle and bone micro-fissures come from? It looks like that was exacerbated throughout the rest of the fights?" He ended that as a question, looking to Caeden for an answer.

Caeden grit his teeth before opening his mouth to respond. His jaw had been clenched shut for the last two fights so that he didn't scream from the pain of breathing. Now that he could feel the medic's healing shroud eliminating all the burns and breaks, he felt confident enough to talk. "In the first fight against Juliette, I used a mnemonic that enhanced my physical abilities beyond my body's limits."

"Well, that was rather dumb. I think you would have had an easier time if you'd taken your time with that one. You made all the other fights that much harder." The medic scolded.

Caeden shook his head. "No, Juliette was the biggest threat to me Solar Radiance had to offer. Doing what I did made the other fights harder, but the fact that I succeeded handicapped as I was is proof they weren't as much a threat. Juliette was strong and durable enough to deal with my normal attacks, and the melee fight I would have been forced into would have been heavily in her favor. She's just too strong as a physical brawler."

The medic shrugged before reaching up to pat Caeden on the shoulder. "If you say so. Maybe bow out next time, though. You were very close to death from all that. If you had even a little bit less of this shroud you're using for formshift, you'd be dead now."

Caeden released Physical Enhancement after doing his own check to confirm his health. The medic had set him back to normal, not a single injury left. All the matches were over for the day, after all. "You're right, but I had my reasons."

The medic shrugged, not saying a word. Apparently, he wasn't that concerned about Caeden's future health.

Before either of them could move, there was a sound like twisting metal resounding through the arena. The invisible barrier separating the stands from the fighting floor became visible as a wall of amber light before shattering into nothing. A man jumped down into the arena, holding a Revolution weapon.

"Shrouded of Central City!" His voice was amplified. He must have more ethertech on him; otherwise, he shouldn't have been able to take the fifty-foot fall into the arena from the stands without injury. "We are the Revolution, here to visit retribution upon all of you! If you look around, you will see several of my compatriots scattered throughout the stands. Each is wearing an infused explosive device capable of leveling this arena. Each individually is capable of that."

He looked through the stands, and Caeden followed along, unsure what to do. He could see several people standing with long coats on, opened to reveal strange contraptions wrapped around their torsos studded with ether crystals and glass vials filled with colorful gasses and liquids, assumedly even more ether. The man continued his speech.

"Every device is very sensitive, and interfering with them could cause an unfortunate accident. So why don't all of you just sit and stay still for now?" The man grinned manically, his eyes full of wild energy. He seemed elated, overwhelmingly happy at his current situation.

Everyone was still, and quiet.

"Good, good. I'm glad to see everyone here is intelligent enough to understand a threat. It's something of a shortcoming among shrouded in my experience. You people have a tendency to think I'm joking, which has largely proven…fatal." He chuckled.

Caeden understood it then. The man, the revolutionary, felt powerful, holding the lives of hundreds of shrouded in his hand, having them obey him. From his own statement, this was not the first time this man had pulled off something similar. He reveled in it, this expression of his power. You're the problem with the Revolution. Caeden decided. You and people like you. As far as he was concerned, it was true.

The Revolution was an expression of the overwhelming difference between shrouded and unshrouded on every level. Most unshrouded were relegated to backwater communities that barely had toilets, like the place Caeden had called home for three years. Meanwhile, most shrouded lived in the lap of luxury, with buildings like the Seats that could provide any conceivable need on-demand, never wanting for anything. That didn't even touch on the dangers of monsters, against which unshrouded had no defense.

Their hatred was understandable and justified. It was the actions they took to fix it that made their organization so unconscionable. Killing indiscriminately gained them nothing and made their desires ever harder to achieve. It was all because of people like this. People who didn't see the unshrouded's misery and want to fix the problem, but saw a justified outlet for their base desires. They wanted an excuse to harm others any way they could imagine and only needed a sliver of an excuse.

Caeden hated them, truly hated them from the core of his soul. This was the kind of man that had killed his parents, innocent and loving unshrouded people. This was the kind of man who had considered Unc 'collateral damage' and set a bomb outside his workplace. Caeden had nothing but sympathy for unshrouded, people he had lived around and watched suffer his whole life. But he hated people like this.

There was nothing he could do, even being only a hundred feet away from the posturing asshat. His Toolset was still out and ready to go, but the second Caeden took action could cost hundreds of people their lives. There were young children in that crowd. There were also quite a few unshrouded in attendance; he had no doubt.

More collateral damage for a bloody Revolution.

He needn't have worried. The event ended as fast as it started. Every revolutionary in the stands was wrapped in a bubble of inky black shot through with streaks of burning green. There was a series of muffled explosions, and the bubbles disappeared, showing what remained of those people. Very little, as far as Caeden could tell. They were vaporized along with their own suicide vests.

The speaker was in a bubble of his own. Standing next to it was the Headmaster of Central Academy, Damon Vestigious. Short, bald, and paler than anyone Caeden had ever seen, the man still had the most commanding presence. It was like the grim reaper was resting his scythe on your neck, commanding your attention and respect.

"Apologies for the interruption to your afternoon, ladies and gentleman. The Central Authority was aware of this criminal element in our city and was merely waiting for them to reveal themselves. This situation is well in hand. I hope you all have a lovely rest of your day." His voice was smooth and firm, carrying a subtle note to it. Leave it alone; it's not your problem. The underlying message was loud and clear. Then he vanished much the same way he appeared, along with the bubble holding the revolution ringleader.

"Well, that was exciting. Not often the Ghost of Authority makes an appearance. How fun." The medic sounded amused.

"You're taking this pretty lightly, don't you think? That wasn't an idle threat." Caeden asked, a slight note of disapproval in his voice.

"Oh, you're young, so you wouldn't know, being a continental and all." The medic laughed. "This is hardly the first time the Revolution or some similar group has tried something like that. Central City is such an obvious target, right? The Academy especially. They never seem to think about the fact that the strongest and smartest in the entire CA come here to teach. Trying something on school grounds is pure suicide. Don't worry about it." He waved off Caeden's concern.

"Hmm." Caeden hummed noncommittally. Something about the situation felt off, but he couldn't put his finger on it at the moment. Instead, he left the arena and headed for the observation room, where his friends were no doubt waiting for him.

Along the way, he figured out how to undo his incarnation. It involved pulling his shroud back into himself. He had no better explanation for it, as it was entirely instinctual. He just willed Sharp back into his body. It came about when he finally felt his shroud's absence. It was unnerving to notice that something that had been with him since birth was suddenly outside him. Toolset listened to every mental command he gave, following his directions in all things. That didn't make it any less weird.

It was like his subconscious had leapt out of his body and suddenly turned into a loyal and very lovable dog. Nice, but incredibly disorienting.

Entering the observation room led to a cacophony of noise.

"Hell, yeah, bro! You kicked his ass!"

"How did you do that?! Since when have you had an incarnation! Tell me!"

"G-good J-job Caeden. That was v-very impressive."

Caeden looked at Erik, Cat, and Jared, who all looked to have been waiting for him at the door. A quick look around revealed Lily sitting on the bench overlooking the arena. Erik and Cat continued to bombard him with praise and questions, respectively. Having said his piece, Jared wandered to the back of the room.

"Thanks, Erik. It wasn't easy. Cat, I have no idea; it literally just happened in the middle of the fight. I have no more answers than I did before." He cut them off. Erik, beaming widely, threw an arm around him and gave him a noogie while Cat watched on, pouting. She was probably the most interested in all of them to reach embodiment and incarnation, hoping for insights into her shroud.

"Great! You're all good, yeah? I saw one of the medic guys patch you up before that nutter showed up. Don't know what he was thinking, walking into an arena surrounded by shrouded with just some bombs. That was never going to end well." Erik continued hanging off Caeden like a coat until a solid elbow to the gut threw him off.

Caeden rolled his eyes at his roommate's antics. "Yeah, I'm good. I promise. It was a bit touch and go there, but I managed."

"I'll say!" Erik still held his goofy grin, completely undeterred by Caeden's gut shot. "You did a number on the first to! Since when could you do that crap with FI? That was brutal!"

Caeden winced. "Let's have that conversation later." he looked meaningfully to Lily, who still hadn't come over.

"Ahh. Whatever. Cat, let's go. Jared, you too. We need to find us some ladies to celebrate with! I bet they'll love the champions." Erik pumped his fist into the air while Cat cheered. Jared just looked confused and slightly frightened as the duo dragged him out of the room. Caeden wished him luck. No doubt he was in for an… interesting time.

Putting the wild antics of his two friends out of his mind, Caeden focused on his more somber-looking best friend. He sat beside her, not speaking a word, just sitting quietly. He was going to let her start.

After several long, heavy seconds of continued silence, Lily sighed. "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?"

"Damn right I am," Caeden said with some heat. Lily's assertion that he wasn't strong enough to stand with her…hurt. More than he expected. He was feeling a bit vindictive.

"I suppose I deserve that." She nodded. Lily turned, finally looking at him. "You were right; I was wrong. You surprised me—a lot. I expected you to lose in the second match. Actually, I wouldn't have been surprised if Juliette took you out. I was obviously wrong. You're stronger than I gave you credit for, and I let my fear run away with me."

"...Good," Caeden grumbled after letting her stew for a moment. "That was a really shitty thing to say. It's even worse that you thought you were right. You might be strong, Lil, but that doesn't mean we aren't. Plus, it's not up to you whether we get to stand with you. That's our risk to take." He pinned her with a hard stare, daring her to disagree.

"You're right." Lily offered no defense, immediately agreeing. "I let my emotions get in the way of logically assessing the situation and started doing to you the same thing my brother did to me. Disregarding your strength just because I'm stronger was wrong, and I knew it was wrong. I was just…"

"Afraid." Caeden finished, seeing it in her eyes. "I know. I'm afraid of a lot of things too. I get it. Just… talk to me, ok? You're not alone anymore, and you don't have to be."

Lily nodded, looking away from him. "...Ok." Then she shook her head. "How are you doing? All that must have been hard."

Caeden took a deep breath. Then he let it out. He didn't want to talk about what happened in the arena. At all. He wanted to forget his little breakdown and the near-miss with Ander. But after everything he just said, shutting her out would make him a massive hypocrite. "Not great. That was…not great." he wasn't sure what else to say. "Can we talk about it more later? I think I need some time to process. A lot happened."

"Mmm." Lily nodded. "So that whole thing with the Revolution was weird, right?" She changed the topic, giving him a pass he was grateful for.

"Yeah! I noticed that too. Something was odd about it, but I can't put my finger on why." He agreed, glad he wasn't the only one it bothered.

That sat in silence for a moment, both focused on the almost-bombing. Lily snapped her fingers, looking at him with wide eyes. At the same moment, it hit Caeden.

"I got it!"

"I got it!"

They laughed. "Go ahead," Caeden smirked.

"The two revolutionaries in the IP rooms! They specifically talked about doing something like this, just blowing stuff up. The older one said it was stupid, or something similar."

"Exactly!" Caeden nodded. "They were definitely working on something else that had nothing to do with what just happened. There's more going on here."

"Definitely. This was either a different group or a diversion." Lily agreed animatedly.

"That's a scary thought. What do you want to do?"

"You're really asking?" Lily looked pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah, you were right. Inaction helps no one. So, what's the plan?" Caeden asked.

Lily beamed at him, eyes sparkling.