Upon his return to New Meridia, Blake couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that hung over him. Though he had defeated the monsters set by the word orders for the day, he still had much work to do.

The threat of Clay Atlas loomed large over the city. And now that Blake knew Clay wanted him dead, the danger was even greater.

Blake’s Radiant Colossus and all of his other monsters had expired on the walk back to New Meridia, and he was approaching the city with no anima. If Clay and his soldiers decided to attack him again, Blake would be defenseless.

Would Clay take him into custody upon his return to the city, and send him down to the same dungeons that his parents and best friend were trapped in? Would he just kill him on the spot?

As Blake approached the gates of the city, he steeled himself for the inevitable confrontation with the ruthless tyrant's security forces.

However, as Blake cautiously approached the gates, the soldiers opened it for him without comment. Blake strode through like nothing was wrong.

At one point, one of the soldiers leaned in and said something to the soldier next to him, and they both gave Blake a look.

“You can share the joke with me,” Blake said.

One of the soldiers stood up straighter at this. “Um, no jokes here, I was just saying how much my son would love your autograph, but I don’t have the credits to commission you for one.”

That made Blake stop for a moment and really think.

These soldiers didn’t know a damn thing about what had happened outside the walls. To them, Blake was just another popular Challenger who fought in the arena.

Blake walked over to the soldier. “Have you got a pen and paper? I’ll sign that until I can work out a way to get you a signed picture without charging you.”

“I, uh, that would be amazing!” the soldier said. He scrambled to try and find a pen and paper and handed them over to Blake.

Blake signed it and patted the soldier on the shoulder. “Tell your son I said hello.”

“I will! Thank you!”

When Blake headed out of the gate checkpoint and back through the bustling streets of New Meridia, he expected that more soldiers with black wings would descend on him.

That ambush never came.

To his surprise, he found himself freely wandering about the city, unimpeded by Clay’s security force. The citizens of the metropolis went on with their daily routines, seemingly unaware of the danger that hung in the balance.

Blake's brow furrowed in confusion, and a wave of uncertainty washed over him.

Why was Clay Atlas allowing him to roam the city unchallenged? Blake had just killed three of his warriors and sent one back with his tail between his legs.

Was this some kind of trap, a calculated move to lull him into a false sense of security before striking?

Or had something changed in Clay's plans, some unforeseen event that had forced him to alter his course of action?

Despite the unsettling situation, Blake couldn't help but feel a spark of hope. Perhaps this unexpected reprieve offered the opportunity he needed to strike back against Clay Atlas and free his loved ones from the tyrant's grasp.

Blake decided to take advantage of his newfound freedom and gather intel, all the while remaining vigilant for any potential traps or betrayals.

Blake first entered a small store, its interior filled with various trinkets and oddities. He approached the counter and unveiled the glistening flame gem heart, which he had acquired after killing Erda.

The shopkeeper, an older man with keen eyes, examined the gem closely.

“A flame heart gem? Very rare. Much sought after by the elites of the city, so I’ll be able to sell it for a high price. The highest I could go, for the Monster Maestro, is 2,500 credits. Would that be agreeable?” the old man said, his voice quavering under the weight of years.

“That would be just fine,” Blake said.

A few moments later the credits were in Blake’s account.

As he exited the store and continued through the city, the sun cast its warm light on the bustling streets. A faint smell caught Blake's attention, and he realized it was coming from the sewer grates below.

Somebody hadn’t been cleaning out the sewers like they should have. He wrinkled his nose, but his mind began to race.

The waste in the city had to be processed somewhere, and he remembered hearing that the massive sewer system beneath New Meridia spread all throughout the city. It was designed to handle the city's waste and pump it outside the city limits. It was connected to the underground water treatment plant as well.

If there was a way out, there had to be a way in.

Blake's eyes widened as the idea struck him like a bolt of lightning.

If Samuel Jackson and his men could infiltrate the city through the sewerage plant, they could bypass Clay Atlas's security forces and launch a surprise attack. It was risky, but it easily worth it if it worked.

Randall Jackson and David Millwater could enter the city through the normal means, through the gates and security, while Samuel and the rest of his men could enter through the city’s underbelly and be ready to sabotage the repairs.

Blake made his way down into the sewers and headed toward where the sewerage plant was located. As he approached the massive facility, he observed the numerous pipes and conduits, searching for any possible way to access the city's underbelly.

There were barely any soldiers down here in the sewers, which surprised Blake. This was a critical facility and prone to sabotage, but Blake basically had free access to walk around uninhibited and probe it for vulnerabilities.

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Eventually, Blake located an unguarded exit pipe. As he peered into the dark, damp passage, the sound of rushing water echoed through the tunnel.

With a deep breath covered by his shirt to protect himself from the smell, Blake followed along the exit pipe until he came to a large metal grate which separated the pipe from the outside world. David’s Flare Beam attack would cut through these steel bars like they were nothing.

This was it.

This was how Blake would get Samuel and his resistance into the city.

The rest of the day was spent in his lair, practicing his battle techniques, and strengthening his monsters as best as he could.

Blake went over to his Monster Synthesis Lab and placed his Boulder Crusher card that summoned his Minotaur Crusher and his newly acquired Carapace Armor card into the fusion slots.

He went over the four different attributes of each card, to see where the best two options were. The Crusher Minotaur had Brute, Hammer Wielder, Beastkin Form, and Savage. The other card would become a monster called a Crushtacean, and it had Thick Armor, Dauntless, Crustacean Form, and Relentless.

Blake wanted the fused to remain a massive minotaur with an enormous hammer, but he wanted it wearing a suit of armor. In a perfect world, Blake would have chosen Hammer Wielder, Beastkin Form, and Thick Armor. The last attribute was a bit of a toss-up, but he would have been happy with Brute, Savage, Dauntless, or Relentless.

Brute makes the monster stronger and tougher, but at a cost to its magical power, Savage turns claws sharper and adds armor spikes, Dauntless increases the thickness of the helmet and decreases negative mental effects, and Relentless slightly thins armor, but gives increased attack speed. Any of those would have been a great outcome, but Blake would need to upgrade his Monster Synthesis Lab to Level 3 to be able to do this.

Blake ran the sums in his head. He should be able to afford both the Level 3 Monster Synthesis Lab upgrade, as well as the Level 1 Monster Forge.

It would completely wipe out his credit balance once again, but that was okay. He needed every edge to take on Clay Atlas.

His monsters still needed strengthening, and preparations still had to be made for Samuel and his resistance to enter the city.

He bought both the upgrade and the new facility, and then forged his new monster. The card that appeared was called Warlord’s Brutality. Blake took it over to the arena and summoned the new monster.

It was called a Minotaur Warlord, and it was a magnificent sight to behold. It stood at an imposing height of eight feet tall, roughly the same as Minotaur Crusher. Its broad and muscular form was covered in a hulking set of armor.

The armor appeared to be made from the exoskeleton of a rock crab but shaped around the minotaur’s bulging muscles. It covered the minotaur from head to toe, with only his snarling face visible through the pattern of interlocking plates. The golden ring that hung from the minotaur’s nose gleamed with bright stark contrast to the gray of the armor.

The warlord’s arms were covered in gauntlets, each one holding one section of the massive hammer in a thick fist. The hammer was as tall as the minotaur and was made from a dense metal that seemed to absorb the light around it. The haft was adorned with intricate carvings and runes, and the head was shaped like a spiked mallet that could crack through solid rock.

The minotaur warlord's eyes glowed with an inner fire, and his breath came in deep, ragged pants. He looked like a force of nature, a being of pure power and destruction.

A thrill of excitement rushed through Blake.

He was very glad this monster was on his side. Blake inspected its stats to see what fourth trait had been inherited.

Monster: Minotaur Warlord

Level: 11

Evolution Stage: Card Fusion – Boulder Crusher (Crusher Minotaur) / Warlord’s Brutality (Minotaur Warlord)

Affinity: Earth

Strength: 242

Toughness: 250

Agility: 150

Magic Power: 150

Personality: Defiant, Brutal

Traits:

* Beastkin Form

* Hammer Wielder

* Thick Armor

* Brute

Past Evolutions: Not applicable

Future Evolutions: Not applicable

Blake blinked in shock at the Strength total on the Minotaur Warlord, and he brought out his Radiant Colossus card to check to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Nope, he wasn’t.

Radiant Colossus was Level 13, with a Strength score of 215, and this new fusion’s Strength was a whopping 242. It wasn’t a round number, which was a little strange, but it was likely because of the Brute trait, which increased its strength score by 5%.

The Minotaur Warlord still only took 2 anima to summon, which was a pleasant surprise. He planned on trying it out in the arena that night when he took on his next opponent, the Rank 3 Challenger Natalie Jenkins, who he didn’t know much about.

Blake wasn’t too worried, given how powerful his monsters were.

He decided to use his remaining Lair Energy to strengthen his other single anima summon monsters, as they would fill in the gaps between his big summons. Blake only had one of the rock crab cards still in his possession, as it was all he had room for. He infused his Stone Slasher Golem with the anima from the single defensive Shell Armor card he managed to bring back to the city.

This revealed something important. Even though his Stone Slasher Golem didn’t level up through this process, it gained a total of 9 extra points to its Toughness stat.

That was another significant difference between absorbing the anima of a card while out in the Wilds versus doing it through the Monster Forge. Breaking a card down out in the Wilds didn’t give any bonus stats in the process, and the amount of experience was far less.

The more he prepared, the more Blake felt like the impending duel that night with Natalie Jenkins was a bit of a waste of time.

It had its perks, of course. When he defeated her, he would inevitably be approached for more autographs and signings, which meant more credits in his account. But all of that just was part of Clay Atlas’s plan to keep him busy and distracted, to stop him from getting on the front foot and actually being able to mount a decent offense.

Clay's original bargain was that he would free Blake’s parents if he won three duels in the arena for him, but Blake wasn't born yesterday. He fully expected that Clay Atlas would renege on his deal now that he had attempted to kill Blake outright.

That left Blake in a difficult position.

If he went to Clay after his win tonight with the expectation that his parents would be freed, he could just be playing straight into a trap.

On the flip side, if Blake didn't go to Clay after his third victory, then Clay would immediately know that something was up, and that Blake was onto him.

In a situation where there were no right choices, Blake could only follow his heart. Perhaps it was time to keep things close to his chest, to wait a few days, grow stronger, cement the plan with Samuel Jackson and his resistance, and wait for the time to be right.

Blake took part in the duel that night, but it was barely a fight.

The Minotaur Warlord was the very first card he drew from his battle deck, and Natalie didn’t stand a chance. Her first card was an environment card that summoned stone columns all over the arena, and the minotaur simply smashed through all of these with his hammer.

She forfeited the match before taking a single hit as the minotaur barreled toward her.

Blake spent the rest of the night watching the other duels, signing autographs and making credits hand over fist. He'd received a Level 6 Flame Sword card as a result of the forfeit, and Blake thought that it would be a good idea to think about fusing it with his Stone Slasher Golem. It would be pretty cool to have an earth element monster with massive flaming swords.

Although, there was value in having a small monster that could climb large monsters like the Slasher Golem had done to the massive rock crab breeder back in the water treatment plant too.

Maybe he could fuse it with his Berserker Wolf instead, and have the wolf wield a flaming sword instead of an ax. That could be good as well.

All night, Blake watched the Atlas security force to see whether any of them would make a move to take him into custody or launch another attack at him, but it never came.

Blake had a feeling that what had happened out in the Wilds today was something that Clay Atlas hoped he would have been able to pull off without any unnecessary attention.

Perhaps it was impossible for the City Lord to make an attempt on Blake's life when he was in the city now that he was a bit of a celebrity. Everybody knew his face, and he was one of the city’s favorite Challengers.

Maybe Clay Atlas had made a monster of his own when he told Blake to duel in the arena.

If it came down to it, would the people of New Meridia follow him over Clay Atlas?

Only time would tell.