Akari admired her watch the next morning as she dressed.

44/44.

That was three points higher than yesterday morning, and she’d gained it all in the Contested Area. It would have taken her a week to do that over Midwinter break, even with all those hours of constant training.

Everyone said the ambient mana was richer beyond the wall, but Akari hadn’t realized the difference until now. Actual combat mattered, too. According to Relia, your soul could sense true danger, and it opened wider to give you a temporary boost.

Just six more points until Silver.

Her daydreaming ended a few minutes later when she and Kalden rode the elevator back to the ground level. After a quick breakfast at the Guild’s dining hall, they headed over to the bounty shop to cash in their tokens. Frostblade and the others would have already seen yesterday’s core records, so there was no sense in waiting.

With that done, Kalden led them over to the next shop, where he spent five silvernotes on a portable sound suppressor.

“I should have bought one of these before the trip,” he said as they walked back toward the hotel lobby. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Would have made things easier,” Akari agreed. He’d still been paranoid after his chat with Frostblade, and they’d resorted to code talk all night. That sounded cool in theory, but it got old fast.

Maybe now they could finally make a real plan.

They’d already checked out of their hotel room, so they stepped into the eastern stairwell instead. This place didn’t get much traffic judging by the rough concrete stairs and dim lighting.

Kalden sat the sound suppressor on the floor, pressing the top button to activate it. The hum of the hotel faded, replaced with the sound of their own breathing.

“We can’t go through with this meeting,” Kalden said. “Not with the Martials watching.”

Akari frowned. “I thought your talk with Frostblade went fine?”

“That’s what I thought. But interrogations aren’t graded. He could have decided I was guilty and kept it to himself.”

“The Martials can’t follow us outside the wall,” she said. “We’d notice if they tried.”

“No. We wouldn’t. A skilled shadow artist can move through the forest unseen. Someone could have followed us yesterday for all we know.”

Well, there was some nightmare fuel. Akari glanced around the stairwell, half-expecting someone to jump out and surprise them. She’d never heard of shadow artists outside of movies. Then again, advertising them to the public might defeat the point.

“That’s probably how they got a visual on her,” Kalden said. “It wouldn’t be the first time she underestimated them.”

“All the more reason to warn her.”

“Unless warning her does more harm than good. What if the Martials follow us to the meeting?”

Akari pointed at the floor. “You said they wanted to trap her on this side.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” he said. “Frostblade could’ve been bluffing last night—throwing mud at the ceiling to see what sticks.”

She groaned. “You seriously think that?”

“No,” he said after a short pause. “Relia’s a prime suspect at the very least. But I don’t think Frostblade would share his plan for no reason. He’s moving us like pawns on a crowns board.”

“You got a better idea?” Akari asked. “Let me guess, you want to take the money and run.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Given the circumstances, it’s probably the safest thing.”

“And what about Relia?”

“She can handle herself.”

“Not if the Martials use that toxic gas again. And don’t we owe her for helping us?”

“Technically,” he said, “we only agreed to one thing—the videos for the bounty money. She hasn’t given us the videos, so we owe her nothing.”

Talek. One minute, Kalden was all smiles, and then this ruthless Gold took over. Relia had done most of the work yesterday, and, well . . . she felt like they were friends. Friends didn’t betray each other like that.

“Look . . .” Kalden’s face softened. “You can keep the money. All of it.”

“You don’t get it,” Akari said. “Money means nothing in the long run.” Every stray dog fought to live until the next day, but hoarding food just made you a bigger target. Her experience in Tidegate had etched that lesson in stone.

“You’d rather get caught by the Martials?” he asked.

“We could go early,” she said. “What time is it now?”

Kalden checked the black and gold watch on his wrist. “Almost nine thirty.”

She nodded. “We can bury the money, then message her on the dark web tonight. She’ll send us the videos, and everyone wins.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Kalden actually seemed to consider that. “It’s still a huge risk. We have no idea what the Martials know, or how close they’re watching.”

Light flooded the stairwell as the door opened behind her. Akari’s heart leapt as she spun around, prepared to see another Martial in a dark suit.

Instead, a red-haired figure stepped forward, passing the barrier of their sound suppressor. “Morning,” Relia said, cheerful as ever.

“What are you doing here?” Kalden snapped. “We said we’d meet at ten thirty.”

She cocked her head to the side. “You guys didn’t hear?”

“Didn’t hear what?”

“They aren’t letting people out today—something about maintenance on the wall. I had to come to you instead.”

“Shit,” Akari muttered. “That was their plan all along.”

Relia frowned. “What’s up?”

Kalden pulled out the envelope of money and shoved it into her open hands. “You need to leave right now. The Martials know what you look like.”

“You talked to them?”

Kalden gave Relia the bones of last night’s events, explaining how Frostblade had shown up in their room and hinted at a plan to catch her. The words all poured out in a rush, but she didn’t blame him for hurrying. The Martials might show up at any second, and the three of them couldn’t look more suspicious if they tried.

Akari cleared her throat before Relia could leave. “You brought the videos, right?”

“Huh?” Relia blinked at her, then seemed to remember. “Oh yeah. They’re all here.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a black and white thumb drive. Akari pocketed the drive, and Relia turned back to Kalden. “I’ll have to fight the Martials anyway when I break out my master.”

“So that’s your plan,” Kalden said. “Take them on by yourself.”

“I could do it alone.” Relia paused for several seconds as if mustering her courage. “Or we could do it together.”

And just like that, the pieces clicked. These last twenty-four hours were one giant sales pitch designed to recruit them.

“I can take a dozen Martials in a fight,” Relia said, “but it takes more than one person to stage a prison break. Moreno started hacking their files before he died. He downloaded the prison’s schematics and guard schedules, and that was just the start.”

Akari perked up at that. Another hacker? She’d known Relia’s partner was tech-savvy, but no one told her he was that good.

“You could pick up where he left off,” Relia continued quickly. “I still have his computer and all his files.” She held up the envelope of goldnotes. “We can take this and buy whatever else we need.”

Kalden crossed his arms. “Remind us again what happened to the rest of your crew.”

That took the wind from Relia’s sails. She slumped her shoulders and lowered her voice. “They weren’t even combat artists. We never meant for them to fight.”

“And you couldn’t heal them?” he pressed.

Relia shook her head, gazing down at her boots.

Kalden let out a long breath. “I get why you’re set on saving your master, but we barely know you. You’re asking us to drop everything—our entire lives. You’re asking us to fight the most dangerous organization in the Archipelago.”

“I know what I’m asking,” she said. “But if you help my master, he’ll set you up for life on the outside.” She turned to meet Akari’s eyes. “He can get you into the world’s top university. You’d be treated fairly there, and you’ll be stronger than any mana artist you’ve ever heard of.”

Her gaze shifted back to Kalden. “And once we leave the island, we can help you find your lost brother.”

“None of that matters if the Martials kill us first,” Kalden said.

“I can keep you safe.”

He raised his eyebrows, letting the obvious question go unspoken.

“I would handle all the fighting,” she said. “I promise. It wouldn’t be like before.”

“I’m sure you mean well,” he said, “but you can’t guarantee that.”

Relia bit her lip and looked away. “Guess that’s a no?”

Kalden hesitated, shooting Akari a look. “I’ll understand if you want to go, but I have to draw the line somewhere. This is it for me.”

“So?” Relia turned to face Akari next. “You’ve been quiet this whole time.”

Despite the thoughts swirling through her head, Akari didn’t answer right away. She wanted to help Relia. These past few days had been everything she’d wanted out of life. She could have stayed in White Vale forever, and Relia had promised her far more than just hunting.

But of course, this world was just a dream, and that dream had ended the moment Frostblade showed up in their hotel room. One look from him, and she felt more like a child than a mana artist.

“Kalden has a point,” she said. “This is way out of our league.”

“You said you wanted to get stronger,” Relia said. “This is what it looks like. You have to take risks if you want to advance.”

“How much mana does your master have?” Akari asked.

Relia blinked at the sudden change of topic. “I don’t know—fifty thousand points, at least. That’s the minimum to reach Grandmaster.”

So he wasn’t just stronger than Relia. He was more than twenty times stronger. And the Martials had been ready for that. Not only had they captured him in Keylas, but they’d held him captive for several months.

“The Martials only had one trick,” Relia said. “I broke through once I realized that. I can do the same with their prison.”

“One trick that you know of,” Kalden corrected. “And that proves how resourceful they are. Why don’t you go for help instead?”

She shook her head. “I’m not leaving without him.”

“Is that what he’d want?” Kalden asked. “For you to die trying to rescue him? I don’t know the guy, but most teachers would rather see their students survive.”

“Maybe I am being reckless,” she admitted. “But someone has to be. This whole place is a prison, and everyone’s too scared to leave.”

When Kalden didn’t reply, Relia turned back to Akari. “I’ve seen the way Bronze are treated here. You’ve gotten this far because you’re willing to break the rules. But you’ll never make it to Silver if you don’t think beyond these walls.”

Akari’s heart raced as she imagined getting on a boat and leaving this island behind. But her mouth didn’t move to accept Relia’s offer. Fighting the Martials wouldn’t be like fighting wild mana beasts. They’d have to be on guard every second of every day. And Akari’s life was nothing to her enemies. One stray Missile, and her story ended forever. She’d seen it happen before.

“Sorry,” she said. “I hope you find your master.”

Relia sighed as she turned to leave. Her footsteps faded as she passed the sound suppressor’s boundaries, then she opened the door and passed back into the lobby.

Akari and Kalden climbed the stairs before taking the elevator back down. From there, they walked across the parking lot in silence. Even now, Akari couldn’t say whether or not she’d made the right choice.

You’ve made it this far, she thought as she squeezed the thumb drive in her pocket. She and Kalden could keep training together. They could learn mana arts the right way, without fighting impossible odds. It wouldn’t be easy, but she’d take that over a suicide mission.

They were halfway to the train station when a pair of black and gold helicopters flew down from the morning sky, close enough to ruffle her hair.

Kalden lowered his sunglasses as they sank to the ground. “Martials,” he said in a low voice.

Akari followed his gaze to where they hovered over a grass clearing outside the Hunters’ Guild. Half a dozen dark vans closed around the same spot. Most of the civilians cleared away, but a few braver ones gathered around to watch. Akari fell in with them, and she felt Kalden keep pace beside her.

Amid the chaos, a red-haired figure stood her ground.

The vans formed a circle around Relia, trapping her inside. Their metal doors slid open, and dozens of Martials spilled out. Dark armor covered their bodies from head to heel, and they carried blades, assault rifles, and Missile rods.

One of the Martials stepped into the circle. Akari couldn’t see his face, but she recognized his voice from last night.

“Dawnfire.” His words echoed through the clearing, sending shivers down her spine. “We need to talk.”