The giant swung first.
The chain screamed through the air, iron links thick as wrists, hooked blades attached at intervals like hungry teeth.
Sun barely had time to think that seems excessive before Brin tackled him sideways.
The chain smashed through the gallery wall where he had stood.
Marble burst.
Wood splintered.
A nobleman in the box beyond fainted so dramatically he deserved applause.
Sun rolled to his feet.
"Thank you."
Brin spat dust.
"You can repay me by becoming less decorative."
The giant hauled the chain back with one arm. Stone tore free with it.
Nyra crouched low, silver eyes narrowed to slits.
"Breaker."
"You know him?" Sun asked.
She bared fangs.
"He catches what runs."
"Terrible profession."
The horn-masked brute stepped fully into the ruined gallery. Every footfall made the floor complain.
He pointed one massive finger at Nyra.
"Return."
Then at Sun.
"Drop blade."
Then at the black plate.
"Mine."
Sun nodded thoughtfully.
"You speak like someone who has never been ignored."
He picked up the black plate with one hand and tucked it under his arm.
The giant's breathing deepened.
Brin grinned.
"Oh, now you've hurt his feelings."
Below them, guards were finally organizing into something resembling competence. The auction hall emptied in waves while spectators at safe distances shouted advice no one needed.
Lucan Teryn still stood in the neighboring box.
"Kill the peasant!"
Sun looked over.
"Still here?"
"I paid for seats!"
"Then enjoy the view."
The giant roared and hurled the chain again.
This time Sun used Wolf Step.
He vanished sideways in a blur.
The chain punched through Lucan's private divider instead.
Lucan screamed as silk curtains, chairs, and inherited confidence exploded around him.
Brin laughed so hard she nearly dropped her sword.
"Best attack yet!"
Varen still had not moved.
He stood beside the tea table—one of the only pieces of furniture left alive—watching like a scholar at a violent lecture.
Sun pointed while dodging debris.
"Any time now!"
"I am evaluating."
"We're being murdered!"
"Yes. Vigorously."
Samira adjusted a displaced ledger.
"If he dies, I'm charging burial fees."
"I hear all of you!" Sun shouted.
Breaker ripped the chain free from Lucan's ruined box and charged.
Up close he smelled of iron, sweat, and cages.
Sun drew the runed blade fully.
The weapon hummed with ugly delight.
They met in the center of the gallery.
Sun slashed for the giant's midsection.
Sparks erupted.
The blade cut through leather and skin—but only shallowly. Muscles beneath were dense as old wood.
Breaker answered with a backhand.
Sun blocked.
A mistake.
The impact launched him across the room into a pillar.
He slid down coughing.
"Strong," he wheezed.
Nyra darted in.
Fast as thrown light.
She ran up the giant's side, claws raking across his mask and exposed neck. Blood striped down.
Breaker grabbed for her.
She twisted midair and kicked off his shoulder, landing catlike beside Sun.
"You slow."
"I was flying."
"Poorly."
"Fair."
Brin charged next, sword low.
Breaker wrapped her blade in chain, yanked hard, and dragged her off balance.
She released the sword instantly and headbutted him square in the nose through the mask slit.
The giant staggered.
Brin picked up a fallen chair and smashed it over his head.
"Tools are tools!"
Sun loved her professionally.
Breaker roared and sent a shockwave of chain outward.
Brin, Nyra, and Sun all scattered.
The floor cracked deeper.
One more heavy impact and the entire gallery might collapse.
Samira finally looked irritated.
"That flooring was imported."
She flicked two knives in quick succession.
Both buried into Breaker's exposed knee joint.
The giant dropped to one leg.
Sun blinked.
"You've been armed this whole time?"
"I've been patient."
Varen sighed.
"Very well."
He stepped forward.
Breaker sensed danger too late.
Varen touched the hanging chain with two fingers.
Every link froze mid-swing.
Not physically.
As if time around the metal had forgotten motion.
Breaker stared.
"So do I," said Sun.
Varen flicked the chain lightly.
It snapped apart in twenty places.
The giant looked at the broken lengths in his hands with the sorrow of a man watching old friendships end.
Then Sun was already moving.
Wolf Step.
One blur.
Second blur.
Third.
He reached Breaker's kneeling side and drove the runed blade into the giant's shoulder where neck met collar.
The sword drank deep.
Black runes flared.
Breaker convulsed.
System text flashed before Sun's eyes.
[Weapon Hunger Sated: Minor]
[Absorbed Vital Essence]
[Body Tempering Progress Increased]
Sun had no time to process that.
Nyra leapt onto Breaker's back and raked both claws across the horned mask.
Cracks spread.
Brin recovered her sword and thrust upward through the giant's ribs.
Breaker made one final, furious sound—
Then toppled backward through the shattered gallery wall.
He crashed into the auction chamber below, destroying three premium seats and at least one investment.
Silence followed.
Then wild applause from remaining spectators.
Someone shouted, "Again!"
Dust drifted.
Sun leaned on his blade, breathing hard.
Nyra sat on a broken railing like a satisfied gargoyle.
Brin reclaimed a purse from an unconscious noble "for damages."
Samira was already calculating losses on parchment.
Varen poured himself fresh tea from a kettle no one remembered seeing.
Lucan crawled from curtains covered in plaster.
He pointed shakily at Sun.
"This isn't over!"
Sun looked at the demolished boxes, broken walls, unconscious cousins, dead giant, fleeing guests, and raining debris.
"It feels over for several people."
Lucan fled.
Again.
Nyra watched Sun quietly.
"You fought for coin-loss and trouble."
"I fought because they wanted to own people."
She tilted her head.
"Strange reason."
"Get used to me."
A tiny smile tugged one corner of her mouth before disappearing.
Samira snapped her ledger shut.
"Everyone move. Before city investigators arrive and ask expensive questions."
Brin nodded.
"Can we keep the giant's boots?"
"Only if they fit."
Sun picked up the black plate again.
It pulsed once beneath his hand.
Warm now.
Awake.
System text flashed.
[Seal Fragment Reactivated]
[Map Coordinates Unlocked]
[Destination: Unknown Cave Network Beneath Blackstone City]
Sun smiled slowly.
Of course the mysterious artifact led underground.
Because normal problems were apparently beneath him.
He looked at Varen.
"We're going below the city, aren't we?"
Varen sipped tea.
"Obviously."
Sun sighed.
"I miss simple trauma."
They left through a servant corridor while alarms rang throughout the Auction House.
And across the city, whispers had already begun.
The mountain boy.
The gate fighter.
The fountain brat.
The one who broke House Teryn.
The one who bled a giant in the Auction House.
Names were spreading.
Soon legends would follow.
To be continued...