Nimble dropped his Invisibility Cloak and scurried away from his spot on the catwalk. Operation Crusher was a total failure, and it showed on his pale face.

“They dodged it,” he said as he rejoined the group on the concrete platform.

“Awesome,” Sadie whispered. “Now we’ve got two pissed-off Blade Artists who know we’re here.”

“We could retreat,” Nico said. “Find another way down to the control room?”

Akari brought her flask to her lips and took another swig of space mana. “You guys go ahead and run. I’ll deal with the Blade Artists.”

“Shit.” Nico glanced from Akari to the others. “I told you guys she’d get scary when she finally reached—”

“Incoming!” Nimble shouted.

Two chains of blade mana sprang up like snakes from a pit. One wrapped around a metal pillar while the other broke the concrete with its blade. Half a second later, the chain links curled like spools of thread, and Tori Raizen flew up to meet them.

Akari’s team scrambled back, out of range from her swinging blades. To their credit, no one hesitated after that. They might be a far cry from trained soldiers, but they’d also spent half a semester in Raizen’s class. He’d taught them to move when battle struck—that half a second could mean the difference between life and death.

Akari, Nico, and Jax slid to Tori’s flanks, shooting contrasting volleys of orange and blue. Nimble struck her face with blasts of blinding light, while Sadie slammed a fist into the floor, splitting the stone like an earthquake.

But Tori was too quick for them. Her blades sliced through the air, cutting their mana into clouds of bright mist. Even when Sadie opened the ground beneath her feet, Tori used her chainwhips to catch herself in the metal rafters above.

Blades flew outward like shrapnel from a grenade. Akari saved herself with a quick shield, but several of her teammates had gotten tunnel vision. Sadie and Jax died in flashes of white light while Nico and Nimble dodged by a hair’s breadth.

Akari's heart pounded in her chest as she blocked and dodged several more blades. Talek. Only a few seconds had passed, and Tori had already taken out half her team.

Just then, Lyra Manastrike joined the fight on a platform of floating water. The girl looked like a plastic version of Relia, with dyed red hair, bright as a strawberry.

Kalden rode the liquid platform beside her, and they both leapt forward to join the fray.

Akari stayed on the sidelines, cycling her space mana, preparing her next move.

Tori swung a blade at Nico, but he kicked off the floor with a blast of flame, leaping from the platform onto the nearest catwalk. At the same time, Lyra gathered ice mana in her palms and closed in on Nimble.

Time slowed as Akari readied her portals. She followed the arc of Tori’s blade as the girl struck Nico again. This time, he stood on the catwalk with no room to dodge.

Akari shot one space Missile in front of Nico, forming the first half of a portal that faced away from her teammate. She shot the next Missile at Lyra, forming the second half between them.

The first portal swallowed Tori’s blade, and the tip emerged in Lyra’s windpipe. Tori froze as her own teammate faded in a puff of white mist. The Blade Artist recovered quickly, rounding on Akari and hurling a forged dagger toward her face.

Akari ducked behind a stack of crates, feeling the wind of the blade as it passed over her head. Then she pulled out her flask and took another good long swallow of space mana. Talek, she couldn’t wait to have an actual aspect and be done with these stupid potions.

The fight continued as Nico and Tori exchanged blows on the catwalk. Meanwhile, Nimble Cloaked himself with invisibility and scurried down the hall toward the roof access. Predictably, Kalden gave chase; he couldn’t risk letting a Light Artist circle back and surprise his team.

Akari sprang from her cover and rushed to help Nico. Fire Artists weren’t known for their defensive techniques. Honestly, it was a miracle he’d lasted this—

Tori lunged forward and drove a blade through Nico’s stomach.

Yeah … never mind.

Akari ran along a parallel catwalk, surveying the scene as she cycled more space mana. Tori’s catwalk was held together by hopes and wishes at this point. Not only had Sadie’s earthquake detached it from the concrete platform, but Tori’s blades had severed half the suspension cables.

The catwalk’s other end sat securely in the brick wall opposite the platform. Those screws would be half as thick as Akari’s forearm and enhanced with metal mana. Even a Blade Artist would struggle to cut them free.

Akari stretched out her arms and shot two space Missiles. The first one struck the center of the wall where the catwalk met the brick. The second hit the rafters where the remaining cables hung on for dear life.

Tori rounded on Akari, lashing out with her forged chain whips. At the same time, Akari formed and canceled her portals, forcing the catwalk’s screws out of the wall. No sooner had the mana left her hands than she took another swig from her flask. Whatever happened next, she’d definitely want more space mana.

Tori flailed her chainwhips as the ground fell out beneath her feet. This had the comical effect of severing more cables, making her fall even faster. She tried to grab the rafters again, but the ceiling curved upward, and she couldn’t reach them from the middle of the chamber.

Even as Tori fell, her eyes met Akari’s a second time. One whip lashed out like a scorpion’s tail, but Akari raised a shield and blocked the attack. Tori’s second whip wrapped around her ankle and pulled her along for the ride. Everything spun in a whirlwind of brick and steel as they fell.

Time slowed for the second time that day. Tori’s eyes widened, and she kept lashing out with her chainwhips, desperate to slow her fall. Akari cycled her space mana and shot a Missile on a lower concrete platform, but they soared right past it.

The bottom of the chamber approached at a frightening speed. If this were a Mana Arts movie, they both would have sunk into the water unharmed. And sure, maybe a fully Cloaked Apprentice could technically survive a one-hundred-foot fall in real life. But arenas like this didn’t waste time with unnecessary pain. The impact shattered Tori’s spine, and she immediately faded into a cloud of white mist. This included all her forged weapons like the whip she’d wrapped around Akari’s leg.

Akari stretched out her arm at the last second, forming another portal just over the water’s rippling surface. Her body fell straight through, emerging from the first portal she’d made on the concrete platform above.

Down became up, and the momentum of her fall carried her back toward the top of the chamber. Blood rushed from her legs into her face, and her body tumbled as if she’d just fallen from a handstand.

Finally, she reached the apex of her upward fall, grabbed the steel ceiling rafter, and swung back onto the concrete platform.

No sooner had she landed than Kalden strode out of the hallway with four blades of pure mana orbiting his body. Wisps of white mist came along for the ride, and a larger cloud wafted ominously behind him.

Poor Nimble never stood a chance.

Still breathing hard, Akari raised her flask to her mouth and gulped down more space mana.

Kalden glanced around the now-empty chamber. The sounds of battle still echoed from outside, but the plant itself lay quiet.

He took another step onto the platform, face expressionless. “Miss Zeller.”

Akari snorted at the formality. “Mr. Trengsen.”

They might be alone now, but Kalden’s fallen teammates would be watching from the sidelines. So would Akari’s teammates, but they cared less about all the political bullshit.

Kalden took another casual step forward, keeping his voice calm. “I seem to have misplaced my teammates. You wouldn’t happen to—”

Kalden cut off his own words as he hurled a blade toward her throat.

Akari raised a pure mana shield, letting herself fall backward over the platform. She twisted her body to face the ground, conjuring a second pair of portals that brought her back to the second level. From there, she dashed down the hall toward the control room.

A part of her itched to face Kalden in a proper fight. They’d dueled once in Raizen’s class, but that had been a bad day hacking-wise, and they hadn’t been on equal footing. Today would be different—a chance to truly test herself against him.

But no … this game had priorities, and one more kill wouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. She needed a starting prize in the qualifying rounds, and completing her objective was the best way to earn that.

The plant’s control room sat in an enclosed space, surrounded on three sides by reinforced glass. It reminded her of the control room back in the Martial prison on Arkala.

Boots struck the concrete behind her as Kalden landed on the second level. “Running so soon, Miss Zeller?”

“Shit,” Akari muttered. Was he actually chasing her? Didn’t he have his own stuff to do?

Then again, they might share the same destination.

Akari glanced back at the control room, hoping to find a small gap where she could sneak in some space mana. No such luck. She could probably break through the door, or get in through the air vents. But both approaches would take time, and she couldn’t do either with Kalden snapping at her heels. Re-routing the mana conduit would be even trickier.

She took a deep breath and cycled her mana. Guess we’re fighting after all.