The first stage ended with the arena erupting into noise.
The competitors, however, were given something the crowd wasn't.
A break.
The assessment complex opened into a series of large recovery halls where the squads could eat, rest, review their results and prepare for what came next. Medical personnel moved between the competitors while broadcast crews filled the dead time with analysis, interviews and replays of the more memorable moments from the assessments.
For the next hour, the Empire got to argue over the results.
Oliver's first-place finish became one of the biggest talking points.
So did the tie between Ethan and Nathaniel.
Squad Four didn't get much peace either.
Alucard had spent most of the break loudly complaining that a written assessment had somehow turned into "psychological warfare."
Ria disagreed.
"You failed the part where you were supposed to think."
"I thought."
"You broke the simulated wall."
"It was in my way."
George pinched the bridge of his nose.
Nathaniel sat nearby, quietly reviewing what they knew about the next stage.
Then the stadium lights came back on.
The recovery halls went silent as every screen activated simultaneously.
Ryker appeared on the broadcast.
"RESTED?"
The crowd roared.
Ryker grinned.
"FED?"
Another roar.
"HYDRATED?"
Even louder.
He leaned toward the camera.
"GOOD!"
The screens behind him suddenly changed.
The interior of the massive arena was shown from above.
The stadium floor was no longer flat.
Sections of the battlefield were separating and shifting into position.
Entire buildings rose from beneath the ground.
Artificial forests unfolded across enormous sections of terrain.
Rivers began cutting through the landscape.
Industrial platforms climbed into the air while towering structures locked themselves into place.
Then another section changed.
The ground itself took on a strange crystalline appearance as Ura saturated terrain spread across it.
Finally, the central portion of the arena opened into an enormous expanse with almost no cover.
The crowd went wild.
Ryker's voice thundered through the stadium.
"THE GRAND CIRCUIT!"
The screens displayed the ten squad insignias.
"ALL TEN SQUADS!"
A massive crystalline structure appeared at the center of each team's staging area.
"ONE SQUAD CORE!"
Varsia leaned toward her microphone.
"And this is where things get interesting."
Ryker laughed.
"Each squad has been assigned a core!"
The screens displayed a glowing structure surrounded by several smaller markers.
"Your job is simple!"
He paused.
"Well..."
His six eyes narrowed playfully.
"It's simple until everyone else starts trying to stop you."
The crowd laughed.
"Collect points scattered throughout the arena. Complete objectives. Secure territory. Defeat combat constructs. Recover resources. Rescue designated targets."
The screens showed each objective appearing throughout the battlefield.
"And yes!"
Ryker's voice rose.
"You can take points from another squad!"
The response from the audience was immediate.
Alucard grinned from the staging area.
"Now we're talking."
George looked toward him.
"Try not to destroy everything."
"No promises."
Ryker continued.
"Your squad doesn't need to eliminate another team to win!"
The screens showed two squads temporarily moving together before separating.
"Alliances are allowed!"
Another image appeared.
One squad taking points from another after an apparent betrayal.
"But remember..."
Ryker's grin returned.
"Nobody said those alliances have to last."
Varsia laughed.
"So basically, don't trust anyone."
"That's one interpretation."
Professor Wolfsbane adjusted his glasses.
"The important distinction is that combat is only one method of gaining points."
The screen highlighted several different paths through the arena.
A speedster crossed a checkpoint.
A heavily armored fighter defended a squad core.
Another competitor captured a territory marker.
A sensory-type fighter located a hidden objective.
A group carried a designated rescue target toward their base.
"Every kind of fighter has something they can contribute," Wolfsbane continued.
Nathaniel watched the arena carefully.
Urban Sector.
Wilderness.
Industrial Sector.
Ura Saturated Sector.
Open Combat Sector.
Five completely different environments.
The battlefield wasn't simply large.
It was designed to force adaptation.
His eyes narrowed when he noticed something else.
The arena was divided into sectors, but the boundaries weren't permanent.
Some sections were already beginning to shift.
The city was slowly connecting to the forest.
The industrial platforms were moving toward the open battlefield.
Even the Ura-saturated zone was expanding.
So the terrain itself is going to change.
Nathaniel smiled.
That made things considerably more interesting.
George looked over.
"You see something?"
"The battlefield isn't static."
George followed his gaze.
"...You're right."
Ria stepped closer.
"Meaning the routes we plan now might not exist later."
"Exactly."
Oliver's shadow stirred beneath his feet.
"Good."
Nathaniel looked toward him.
Oliver smiled faintly.
"More shadows."
Alucard laughed.
"You're both weird."
Shirou simply nodded.
The screens suddenly changed again.
A massive countdown appeared.
10:00
Ryker's voice boomed across the stadium.
"THE SQUADS WILL HAVE TEN MINUTES TO REACH THEIR STARTING POSITIONS!"
The gates opened.
Squad Four stepped forward.
Nathaniel looked across the arena.
The other squads were moving as well.
Squad One.
Squad Two.
Squad Three.
Through Squad Ten.
Every competitor was heading toward their designated starting zone.
For the first time since the tournament began, there was no assessment chamber separating them.
They could see one another.
They could study one another.
And soon, they would be competing over the same battlefield.
Nathaniel's gaze briefly crossed Ethan's.
Then Rayln's.
Kagami.
Nicole.
Lyra.
One after another, he catalogued them.
George noticed.
"Still memorizing everyone?"
Nathaniel smiled.
"Always."
The countdown continued.
08:00
The stadium grew louder.
05:00
The competitors began taking their positions.
03:00
Ryker's six eyes swept across the arena.
"COMPETITORS!"
Every conversation stopped.
"YOUR CORES ARE IN PLACE!"
The squad cores began glowing.
"YOUR OBJECTIVES ARE ACTIVE!"
Markers illuminated across the battlefield.
"And your opponents..."
Ryker grinned.
"...are waiting."
The countdown reached its final minute.
Nathaniel lowered his stance.
Around him, Squad Four prepared themselves.
George looked toward his team.
"Remember."
Everyone turned toward him.
"We don't need to fight everyone."
Nathaniel nodded.
"Points first. Fights second."
Oliver disappeared halfway into his own shadow.
Ria checked her equipment.
Shirou steadied herself.
Alucard cracked his knuckles.
The final countdown appeared above the arena.
10
The crowd began counting with it.
9
Nathaniel's eyes scanned the battlefield.
8
Urban Sector.
7
Wilderness.
6
Industrial.
5
Ura-saturated terrain.
4
Open field.
3
Every squad was ready.
2
Nathaniel smiled.
1
Ryker's voice exploded through the stadium.
"BEGIN!"
The gates opened.
Ten squads surged into the Grand Circuit.
And just like that, the tournament stopped being a test.
It became a game of territory, information, teamwork and survival.
Squad Four moved.
The first objective was already waiting.
By the time Squad Four reached their assigned sector, the sun had already begun sinking toward the horizon.
The Grand Circuit had started late in the day.
That suited Oliver perfectly.
They had chosen the industrial sector.
Rows of warehouses, processing facilities, suspended walkways and abandoned machinery filled the area, with countless metal structures creating layers of cover throughout the battlefield.
Squad Four had claimed one of the larger warehouses surrounding a defensive objective.
From the outside, it looked like they were simply protecting their Squad Core.
That was exactly what they wanted everyone to think.
Nathaniel stood near the center of the warehouse, surveying the area.
For the moment, he hadn't activated any of his augments.
He wasn't using Kinetic Muscle.
He wasn't using Authority.
He hadn't begun his Energen specialization.
There was no reason to reveal anything yet.
George had already started working.
Metal debris throughout the warehouse began shifting toward him.
His magnetic influence pulled loose beams, pipes and scraps of machinery from the surrounding area, dragging them across the floor with grinding metallic shrieks.
Piece by piece, he arranged them into a massive lattice.
The metal extended across the ceiling, walls and floor.
A cage.
Not a perfect one, but dense enough that anyone attempting to approach the core would have to deal with it. especially if he began to use his use his electricity to shock em and also enhancing his sensory range.
George stepped back and examined his work.
"That should slow them down."
"It'll do more than that," Nathaniel replied.
He glanced toward the center of the warehouse.
The Squad Core was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, it had been buried beneath a heavy cone of rubble and industrial debris.
Shirou had created the cover.
Gravity had compacted the material into a dense mass around the concealed position, turning what looked like an ordinary pile of collapsed machinery into something considerably harder to move.
But even that wasn't the real defense.
Nathaniel crouched beside the debris.
"Ready?"
Shirou nodded.
Nathaniel placed one hand against the rubble.
Oliver's shadow spread across the floor.
The darkness reached beneath the debris and opened into a gateway.
Nathaniel carefully shifted the actual Squad Core through it.
The crystalline structure disappeared into Oliver's shadow.
Oliver closed the gateway.
The pile of rubble remained exactly where it was.
Empty.
Nathaniel smiled.
"Perfect."
Then came the deception.
He extended his hand.
Synthesis activated.
Uratsu began pouring from him.
A large amount.
The energy condensed and reshaped itself, forming a replica of the Squad Core.
It wasn't merely similar.
Visually and functionally, it was close enough to fool anyone who discovered it without knowing what they were looking for.
Nathaniel placed the decoy beneath the rubble.
From outside, there was no distinction.
George's metal cage protected it.
Shirou's gravity kept the debris compressed.
Ria had prepared the next layer.
She had taken up a vantage point overlooking the warehouse with several reflective, enhanced mirrors positioned around her.
Their angles created overlapping lines of reflected energy.
A second cage.
One that couldn't simply be broken by tearing through the walls.
Ria looked down from her position.
"Anything that comes through that route will be exposed."
Nathaniel nodded.
"Good."
Alucard stood near the warehouse entrance.
He had volunteered for the main guard position.
His heightened senses made him the obvious choice.
He could hear movement far beyond the warehouse walls.
Smell approaching competitors.
Detect changes in the environment before most fighters would even realize something was wrong.
He rolled his shoulders.
"If anyone comes here, I'll know."
George looked toward him.
"And if you know?"
Alucard grinned.
"I'll deal with them."
Nathaniel shook his head.
"Don't chase anyone."
Alucard frowned.
"Why?"
"Because the warehouse is the bait."
That shut him up.
Nathaniel looked around at the defensive setup.
Everything had a purpose.
The fake core drew attention.
The metal cage created an obstacle.
The rubble created the impression that the objective was heavily protected.
Ria's reflective array provided another defensive layer.
Shirou could manipulate the terrain around the objective.
Oliver controlled the warehouse's darkness.
And as the sun continued to fall, that last advantage would only become more significant.
Nathaniel looked toward Oliver.
"You'll be stronger as the evening progresses."
Oliver nodded.
"More darkness means more reach."
"And more usable shadows."
"Exactly."
Oliver's shadow stretched farther across the warehouse floor.
Already, the length had increased compared to when they'd first arrived.
Nathaniel smiled.
"Then this place gets better for us every minute."
George looked toward him.
"So what's your job?"
Nathaniel glanced toward the open industrial sector beyond the warehouse.
"Everything else."
George raised an eyebrow.
Nathaniel smiled.
"I'm collecting points."
He stepped toward the exit.
The actual Squad Core was hidden.
The decoy was protected.
The defensive positions were established.
Their strongest defensive assets were staying behind.
That left Nathaniel free to move.
He hadn't activated his augment yet.
He didn't need to.
Not yet.
The Grand Circuit was still young.
Other squads would be looking for easy points, exposed objectives and poorly defended cores.
Nathaniel intended to find them first.
As he stepped outside, the fading daylight stretched long shadows between the industrial structures.
Behind him, Oliver's smile grew.
The longer the event lasted, the larger his battlefield became.
Nathaniel looked back once.
"Keep the place standing."
Alucard laughed.
"No promises."
Nathaniel smirked and disappeared into the industrial sector.
The decoy waited beneath the rubble.
The real core was somewhere no opponent could see.
And Squad Four had just established its first stronghold.
Nathaniel had reached the northern edge of the industrial sector.
The warehouse containing Squad Four's decoy objective was already several hundred meters behind him, hidden among the maze of processing buildings and rusted machinery.
He stopped.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
Then he flexed his arms.
His silver eyes sparked cyan.
A second pulse followed.
Orange.
The change began almost immediately.
His muscles spasmed beneath his combat uniform as stored tension rippled through his body. Orange light began leaking through the seams of the fabric, faint at first, then brighter as his frame visibly expanded.
Nathaniel's shoulders broadened.
His arms thickened.
His torso grew heavier.
For several seconds, he looked considerably larger than normal.
Then the excess bulk compressed.
The muscles slimmed back toward their usual proportions, but the power remained.
His silver hair suddenly pushed upward into sharp, disordered spikes.
Nathaniel looked down at his hands.
A grin slowly spread across his face.
Energen had taken effect.
More specifically, it had settled over Authority and Kinetic Muscle.
Everything else had been pushed aside.
Two abilities.
That was all he needed.
"Perfect."
He immediately dropped into a squat.
Then another.
Then another.
The movements became faster.
Far faster.
His legs blurred as he performed power squats at a ridiculous pace, each repetition forcing more physical output through Kinetic Muscle.
Then he planted both hands against the ground and kicked his legs upward.
A handstand.
His arms bent.
His body lowered.
Then he exploded upward.
One.
Two.
Three.
The repetitions accelerated.
His arms became little more than flashes against the concrete.
Nathaniel continued for nearly a full minute.
By the time he stopped, the air around him had changed.
Orange energy crackled across his limbs.
Small arcs of condensed power escaped from his forearms and calves before being drawn back into his body.
His fingers twitched.
His shoulders shook.
Not from exhaustion.
From excess.
He had deliberately overloaded himself.
The principle behind it was simple.
Kinetic Muscle did not merely make Nathaniel stronger.
Its enhanced state could convert excess physical output into stored kinetic energy with roughly eighty percent efficiency.
Nathaniel's natural physical ability, without Uratsu reinforcement, already placed him around the middle of B-rank.
With ordinary Uratsu application, he could push himself into the A2 range.
But Energen changed the equation.
Nathaniel had spent the last minute repeatedly generating maximum physical output, then allowing Kinetic Muscle to absorb the resulting force.
He had also been careful about how he trained.
Rather than slamming himself into the ground and destroying the surrounding terrain, he maintained a slight lift beneath his body using controlled force.
Every squat still generated tremendous impact.
Most of it simply didn't reach the floor.
It went into him instead.
The result was visible now.
Nathaniel's entire body was holding an enormous reserve.
Approximately forty-five times the full output of his natural baseline.
And that was only what he had accumulated so far.
His eyes narrowed.
"Forty-five."
He could absorb more.
A stronger impact would give him more.
A sufficiently powerful attack could potentially become fuel.
That was the dangerous part.
Kinetic Muscle rewarded force with more force.
There was still a vulnerability in the system. He wasn't invincible, and taking an attack strong enough to feed the ability still meant actually surviving that attack.
But Nathaniel wasn't planning to stand around and trade blows.
He rolled his shoulders.
"Good trade."
Orange light crawled over his arms.
His smile widened.
"I'm going to blitz them."
Nathaniel rose several centimeters off the ground.
The soles of his boots never quite touched the concrete.
Authority gathered beneath him.
He leaned forward.
For one fraction of a second, everything became still.
Then he vanished.
BOOM!
The industrial floor cracked beneath the point where he had been standing.
A streak of orange tore across the northern sector.
Nathaniel crossed the first hundred meters almost instantly, his body hovering just above the ground as Authority reduced his interaction with the terrain.
The wind screamed around him.
Metal pipes and brutalist towers blurred past.
A stack of abandoned containers shook violently as he passed.
Nathaniel's eyes tracked ahead.
There.
Movement.
Three competitors from sqaud 8.
They were moving between two processing buildings, carrying what looked like a captured resource marker.
Nathaniel's grin returned.
"Found some points."
He adjusted his trajectory.
The three competitors didn't even have time to react.
Nathaniel appeared above them.
One of them looked upward a brunette named Adah.
"What the..."
Nathaniel dropped.
His fist stopped inches from the ground.
Authority caught the force.
Kinetic Muscle released a fraction of the stored energy.
The resulting pressure wave slammed outward.
The three competitors were thrown apart without Nathaniel ever actually striking them.
He landed lightly.
Orange sparks crawled across his forearms.
One competitor groaned from several meters away.
Another tried to stand.
Nathaniel was already there.
"Sorry."
He tapped the man's chest.
Authority increased the perceived weight around his body.
The competitor collapsed back onto the ground.
Nathaniel looked toward the third.
"You're probably going to want to stay down too."
The competitor stared at him.
Then slowly raised both hands.
Nathaniel nodded.
"Smart."
A notification appeared on Nathaniel's interface.
OBJECTIVE CONTESTED
His eyebrows lifted.
Someone else was already moving toward the same resource point.
Nathaniel turned his head.
His smile disappeared.
"Already?"
His senses picked up movement in the distance.
Multiple signatures.
Not three.
A squad.
Nathaniel looked toward the industrial skyline.
Orange energy continued leaking from his limbs.
His stored reserve was still enormous.
And now he had something worth testing it against.
He crouched slightly.
"Okay."
His silver eyes sharpened.
"Let's see who got here first."
Nathaniel spread his awareness across the industrial sector.
The world seemed to slow around him.
Metal structures, distant movement, vibrations through the ground and the faint signatures of Uratsu all became points of information within his perception.
He picked the first person he saw.
Nicole Santera.
Nathaniel's eyes narrowed.
There you are.
Nicole barely had time to turn.
A flash of brilliant orange entered her field of vision.
Then Nathaniel hit her.
The impact caught her across the upper body and launched her from the ground so violently that her arms buckled beneath the force.
Her body shot backward.
"WHAT?!"
She was already airborne before her brain caught up with what had happened.
Nathaniel didn't stop.
He had already identified the next target.
Rean.
The stone-crab augmented fighter had barely managed to raise his guard when Nathaniel crossed the distance between them.
The punch connected.
BOOM!
Rean disappeared.
His body tore through the air and crashed through a network of exposed piping.
Metal bent around him.
Concrete shattered.
He continued flying.
One hundred meters.
Then another fifty.
Then another.
By the time he finally lost most of his momentum, he had traveled nearly two hundred meters, bouncing across the industrial terrain like a skipping stone striking the surface of a lake.
His stone-like body slammed into the ground.
BOOM.
He bounced.
BOOM.
Again.
BOOM.
A final impact sent him rolling through a cloud of dust and broken concrete.
Nicole twisted herself in midair.
Her regeneration had already begun repairing the strain in her arms.
She looked toward where Rean had landed.
Then back toward Nathaniel.
He was standing exactly where Rean had been.
Orange energy crawled across his limbs.
His hair stood sharply upward, black strands illuminated by the glow radiating from his body.
Nicole's expression changed.
She recognized him.
"Squad Four..."
Nathaniel tilted his head.
"Yeah."
His eyes flicked toward Rean's distant landing point.
"Sorry about the throw."
Nicole landed hard enough to crack the concrete beneath her feet.
She immediately straightened.
Her muscles were already knitting themselves back together.
A grin slowly appeared across her face.
"You hit hard."
Nathaniel smiled.
"I know."
Nicole's eyes narrowed.
"Then let's see how hard you can keep hitting."
Nathaniel's grin widened.
Behind him, the orange glow intensified.
He lowered his stance.
"That's what I was hoping you'd say."
Several minutes later, the situation had changed considerably.
Nicole and Rean were back with Squad Anima.
Not by choice.
Nathaniel had personally delivered them.
Their resource cache had already been secured by Squad Four, the points notification appearing across the tournament network as their team claimed another objective.
Nathaniel stood a short distance away, staring at Nicole.
She was unconscious.
He winced.
"Yeah... she's going to hate me."
He had deliberately avoided doing anything excessive.
Nicole's regeneration made conventional knockouts unreliable, so Nathaniel had simply restrained her long enough to land a precise strike to the back of her neck. The blow had been enough to shut her down without causing any lasting damage.
With her recovery speed, she'd probably be awake within five minutes.
Which meant she'd also be furious within five minutes.
Nathaniel looked toward Rean.
The stone-crab augmented fighter was already recovering from his earlier launch, his body slowly pulling itself back together after being sent nearly two hundred meters through the industrial zone.
Nathaniel sighed.
"I probably could've handled that one better."
A notification appeared.
SQUAD FOUR HAS SECURED RESOURCE CACHE
Nathaniel glanced at it.
"At least we got the points."
He looked back toward Nicole.
"And I didn't take their Core."
That was his consolation.
He had beaten two members of Squad Anima, taken their resource cache and left their Squad Core untouched.
There was no reason to cripple another squad this early.
The stadium, however, had a very different opinion.
Ryker's voice exploded across the broadcast.
"DID YOU SEE THAT?!"
The massive screens replayed Nathaniel's opening attack.
Nicole being launched.
Rean disappearing through the industrial structures.
The crowd erupted.
"NATHANIEL ALDERMAN JUST RAN STRAIGHT THROUGH SQUAD ANIMA!"
Varsia laughed.
"That was not subtle."
Professor Wolfsbane watched the replay carefully.
"No. But look at the difference in force."
The footage slowed.
Nathaniel's first strike against Nicole was shown from another angle.
Then the attack against Rean.
Wolfsbane pointed toward the screen.
"He isn't using the same level of force against every opponent."
Varsia leaned closer.
"You're right."
"Nicole possesses extraordinary regenerative capability. He struck hard enough to incapacitate her, but the actual application was controlled."
The footage changed.
Rean's launch played again.
"And against Rean?"
Wolfsbane adjusted his glasses.
"Different calculation."
Rean's stone-crab augmentation gave him considerably greater resistance to blunt trauma. Nathaniel recognized that and applied substantially more force to move him rather than attempting to incapacitate him through a single precise strike.
Ryker's six eyes widened.
"SO HE'S ADJUSTING HIS FORCE BASED ON THEIR AUGMENTS!"
"Precisely," Wolfsbane replied.
Varsia smiled.
"He knows how much force they can safely take."
The crowd reacted as another replay showed Nathaniel stopping himself before delivering a potentially unnecessary follow-up attack.
Wolfsbane nodded.
"That's selective force."
Ryker slammed a hand against his desk.
"AND THAT'S THE KIND OF CONTROL THE ASSESSMENT WAS LOOKING FOR!"
Back in the industrial sector, Nathaniel had no idea how much attention the exchange had attracted.
He simply looked toward the direction Squad Anima had retreated.
"Hopefully she doesn't come looking for me immediately."
A pause.
He sighed.
"She definitely is."
His interface chimed again.
Another resource objective had appeared several sectors away.
Nathaniel's eyes shifted toward the new marker.
The orange energy around his body intensified.
He crouched slightly.
"Well..."
A grin returned to his face.
"...might as well keep collecting points."
He disappeared into another streak of orange.
Nathaniel had another idea.
If he wanted points, he could keep hunting isolated competitors.
If he wanted chaos, there were better targets.
His eyes shifted toward the northern forest.
Squad One.
The strongest squad in the circuit.
Nathaniel's grin widened.
"Let's make this interesting."
He accelerated.
The orange light around his body flared violently as Authority reduced his resistance against the terrain and Kinetic Muscle converted his acceleration into even greater stored output.
The industrial sector vanished behind him.
Concrete became dirt.
Dirt became forest.
Trees blurred into walls of green as Nathaniel rocketed through the northern sector.
He was a projectile.
A siege weapon with a pulse.
Ahead, his awareness picked up multiple signatures.
Squad One's territory.
Then he saw it.
A reinforced energy barrier stretched between massive trees, its surface composed of overlapping hexagonal plates of condensed energy.
Nathaniel's eyes lit up.
"Oh, you guys have a wall."
His grin became almost manic.
"Nice."
He lowered his body.
He didn't slow down.
If anything, he accelerated.
The orange glow pouring from his seams became brighter as Kinetic Muscle dumped more stored power into his movement.
The barrier grew larger in his vision.
Nathaniel laughed.
"Let's see how good it is."
BOOOOOOM!
He hit the barrier like a siege projectile.
The entire hexagonal structure buckled inward.
For one incredible instant, it looked as though the barrier might actually hold.
Then the center collapsed.
CRACK!
A fracture raced across the entire defensive field.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
The reinforced shield shattered into thousands of glowing hexagonal fragments, scattering through the forest like motes of light.
The shockwave tore leaves from nearby trees and sent loose dirt spiraling through the air.
At the center of the defensive position, Steve Castiel staggered violently.
The barrier had transmitted a portion of the impact back through its defensive network.
His body shuddered from the whiplash.
His legs gave out.
He dropped to his knees.
His eyes were wide.
"What..."
Nathaniel landed several meters inside the territory.
He slowly straightened.
Orange energy crackled across his arms.
His hair remained spiked from the transformation.
He looked at Steve.
Then at the shattered barrier.
Then back at Steve.
His grin widened.
"...that was awesome."
Steve could only stare.
Nathaniel actually laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to make the expression on his face slightly unsettling.
"Sorry about the wall."
A second voice came from behind him.
"HEY!"
Nathaniel turned.
Kara Peak.
And beside her was Rayln Azeroth, already raising her arms as the turquoise cores mounted along her equipment began glowing.
Nathaniel's smile didn't disappear.
Instead, it grew.
"Oh."
Rayln's eyes narrowed.
"You."
Nathaniel tilted his head.
"Me."
Kara moved first.
Rayln followed.
Nathaniel's awareness expanded.
Two attack vectors.
Different movement patterns.
Different ranges.
He could fight them.
He could probably take them.
But then his attention shifted.
Another presence had entered the area.
Nathaniel's eyes flicked toward the trees.
White hair.
Royal blue.
Calm posture.
Ethan Azeroth.
For the first time since Nathaniel had crashed through the barrier, Ethan looked genuinely stunned.
His eyes moved from Nathaniel...
to the ruined defensive wall...
then to Steve kneeling in the wreckage.
Nathaniel caught the look.
His grin became downright mischievous.
"Oh, come on."
He laughed under his breath.
"Look at your face."
Ethan's expression hardened.
Nathaniel glanced at Steve.
Then back at Ethan.
"Did you really think that thing was going to stop me?"
Rayln attacked.
Nathaniel slipped sideways.
Her telekinetic force swept through the space where he had been standing.
Kara came in immediately after.
Nathaniel ducked beneath her attack and accelerated.
Orange flashed between them.
He didn't attack either one.
He simply passed through.
Rayln spun around.
"He's leaving!"
Nathaniel looked back over his shoulder.
"Yep!"
He waved.
"Have fun!"
Ethan stepped forward.
Rayln immediately redirected her attention toward him.
Kara followed.
Nathaniel could feel the shift behind him.
Squad Two had come for Squad One's Core.
And now Ethan was finally entering the fight.
Nathaniel's grin returned.
Perfect.
He had wanted chaos.
He had gotten it.
He pushed harder.
The forest exploded behind him as he rocketed away from Squad One's territory.
His awareness stretched across the tournament grounds.
Then a broadcast notification caught his attention.
SQUAD NINE ELIMINATED.
Nathaniel's eyebrows rose.
Another notification followed.
YUZUKI AND JAMES SHIFT CREDITED WITH ELIMINATION.
He slowed for barely a second.
Two names.
Two fighters capable of wiping out an entire squad.
Nathaniel's expression became interested.
"Yuzuki..."
His eyes narrowed.
"James Shift."
The manic grin returned.
"You're next."
He changed direction.
Orange light erupted behind him.
Nathaniel shot through the forest once again, leaving the conflict between Squads One and Two behind.
He had already kicked down one defensive wall.
Now he wanted to see what the people who eliminated an entire squad could do.