Chapter 115| Done Being Warm

Chapter 115: Chapter 115| Done Being Warm

Nyx stepped back.

"Heavier than the previous one," she said. Just noting it.

"He adjusted," Zane said.

"I noticed." Her eyes stayed on Ryan. "He won’t fire the same shot twice."

"No," Zane said. "He won’t."

She looked at him.

"You know him."

"We’ve had context," he said carefully.

She filed it. Looked back at the floor.

The system surfaced.

『 Nyx Hale — Familiarity +1% 』

『 Current: 21% — Stranger tier 』

PHASE TWO — 1:22

Sera moved to the left flank.

Not at Maren this time. At Jinn Park — Team A — holding the boundary edge with Air Pressure at C-rank output. The weakest point in Team A’s defensive line by rank and Sera had been reading it since phase one started.

She activated Heat Emission and threw One precise shot.

Jinn felt it land.

The disorientation window hitting a C-rank operator with no speed advantage to run through it. His footing compromised immediately. Two seconds of thermal disruption at A-rank output against someone who had no counter for it was a clean result.

Trace Carter — Team B — activated Gravity Manipulation.

The gravitational pull in Jinn’s immediate area spiking sharply. Pulling him toward the boundary edge. His C-rank Air Pressure pushing back but losing the argument. C-rank against B-rank and A-rank in tandem wasn’t a fight with a good outcome.

Jinn flew back.

Past the boundary line.

Into the unmarked zone.

"Phase two — Team B. One point." Reyes called it without looking up from her tablet. "Score tied."

PHASE TWO — 0:42

Zane looked at the scoreboard.

1 — 1.

’They were playing with us,’ he thought. ’Three A-ranks on that side and they let it go to a tie.’ He looked at Ryan already reorganising Team B with the focused efficiency of someone who had decided the warm-up period was over. ’Sera took Maren out of the equation in two exchanges. Reid sealed the frost line. Trace and Sera combined to take Jinn in under ten seconds. And they still let us equalise.’

’Phase three,’ he thought. ’Last round. They come with everything and they end it fast.’

He looked at Nyx.

’And we need to move first,’ he thought. ’Because if we let them set the pace in the final round with three A-ranks warmed up and done playing. It’s over before it starts.’

Nyx looked at Team B regrouping across the floor.

"Then we move first," she said.

He looked at her, then glanced across the floor.

Sera was already looking at him.

Not at Maren. Not at Nyx. At him specifically. The thermal read having filed him as the variable she hadn’t fully mapped yet. The specific focused regard of someone who had accounted for everyone else on this floor and had one entry still pending.

He held her gaze.

Something in the eye contact that wasn’t about the drill.

Neither of them looked away.

Then Reyes called it.

"Phase three in sixty seconds. Both teams to starting positions."

The floor moved.

Zane looked at his hands.

The system surfaced.

『 Sera Dunne — Familiarity: 29% → 32% 』

『 Approaching Acquaintance tier threshold: 35% 』

『 System Note: Combat context engagement registers differently from cafeteria interaction. The eye contact the system noted. The system is filing it. 』

’File it,’ he thought.

He looked up at the gallery.

Nil was still there in her kitten crop top, dark shorts, leaning forward in her seat. She caught him looking and raised one hand in a small wave. The crop top responding to the movement with the specific physics it always produced when Nil Valkyrie was the one wearing it.

He smiled, waved back and looked back at the floor.

The system surfaced.

『 NIL VALKYRIE — Familiarity: 5% → 7% 』

『 Sustained proximity from gallery position — passive familiarity accumulation active 』

『 System Note: The host has not spoken to her directly. Proximity alone is registering. 』

’7%,’ he thought. ’Just from sitting in the same building.’

Nyx appeared on his shoulder.

"Ready?" she said.

He looked at Team B taking their positions. Ryan. Sera. Trace. Reid. Reeves. Marco. Six operators who had spent two phases warming up and were now done being warm.

’Phase three,’ he thought. ’Everyone’s already preparing for the final bout. No more feeling out. No more calibration. Just whatever each person has decided they’re bringing to the last five minutes.’

He looked at his hands.

Then at the floor.

Then at Nyx beside him.

"We move first," he said.

She nodded once.

_ _

PHASE THREE — 5:00

Reyes dropped her hand.

Team B came with everything.

Ryan — Team B — both hands up. Pressure Wave split dispersal — left and center simultaneously before Team A had settled into position.

Nyx caught the center beam. Redirected it sideways.

The left flank dispersal hit Cole Brennan — Team A — square in the chest. Titan Fist activated. He absorbed it. Barely.

Sera — Team B — didn’t wait.

Heat Emission. Full controlled A-rank output.

At Jinn Park — Team A.

One shot.

Jinn felt it land before he registered it coming. C-rank Air Pressure offered nothing against A-rank precision. The disorientation window hit him fully, two full seconds of thermal disruption at A-rank calibration against someone with no counter for it.

Trace Carter — Team B — activated Gravity Manipulation immediately.

The pull spiked sharply along Jinn’s position. C-rank against B-rank and A-rank in tandem was never going to end differently.

Jinn crossed Team A’s boundary line into the neutral zone, the gravity pulled him over.

"Team B scores." Reyes. "Score: Team A 1 — Team B 2."

’In just 29 seconds,’ Zane thought.

The system surfaced.

『 System Note: Team B has taken the lead in 29 seconds. The system notes they are still holding back. 』

’I noticed,’ he thought.

PHASE THREE — 4:10, the timer updated in real time.

Sera moved to Cole Brennan — Team A — next.

No warning. Heat Emission at the same controlled A-rank output. One shot.

Cole activated Titan Fist to absorb it.

Didn’t work.

The burst hit him mid-activation, the disorientation window landing before the mass concentration fully set. His footing compromised immediately.

Reeves Dash — Team B — activated Flashstep.

Into Team A’s zone. One push. Cole crossed the boundary line.

"Team B scores." Reyes. "Score: Team A 1 — Team B 3."

At this point you could clear feel the fatigue from team b side.

Maren planted her feet.

Full stop. No movement. No activation tell.

Then launched, full C-rank Overdrive from a dead standstill. Into the neutral zone before Sera had fully reset from the Cole engagement.

Sera turned.

Her eyes found Maren’s heat signature immediately. The thermal read updating in real time as Maren crossed the neutral zone at speed.

"Again," she said quietly. Almost to herself.

Their engagement was looking like something personal at this point.