In the Arena.
No longer dust and open air, but iron walls and mirrored glass, all enclosing a narrow space soaked in tension. Spotlights carved harsh beams across the steel, and every footstep echoed like a warning. The air was heavy with something unspoken—like the room remembered every betrayal that had ever happened inside it.
Overhead, the announcement came like a whisper laced in venom:
"Third Veil—Partnered Combat. Paired with allies… or enemies. We test your trust. And how you destroy it."
Kael stood beside me. Calm. Unreadable. A storm locked behind skin. My partner.
Of course he was.
Across, I caught sight of Rei and Jace—thank the stars, together. Both looked tense, but ready. Rei gave me a curt nod. Jace flashed the barest grin. Their pairing made sense. They trusted each other.
Me?
I was stuck with the Council's favorite weapon.
"Eyes up, Nyra," Kael murmured at my side, his voice dangerously close. "They don't just want a fight. They want to watch what happens when the floor underneath you crumbles."
"How poetic," I snapped. "Did the Council teach you that too?"
His gaze slid to mine. "No. That one's all me."
The floor beneath us shifted, plates clicking and rising, creating platforms at uneven heights. Obstructed lines of sight. Strategic blind spots. Every advantage offered... then ripped away.
This wasn't a test of combat.
It was a test of instinct.
And betrayal.
A siren wailed. The Third Veil had begun.
Kael moved first, cutting down toward our left as two figures—mercenaries from the Hollow Syndicate—closed in from the shadows. His blade gleamed in the harsh light, swift and brutal. I followed, flanking the second attacker and landing a blow to their gut before sweeping their legs out from under them.
Kael's back hit mine.
Breath. Synchronized. Controlled.
Even now—he matched me. Knew my rhythm before I did.
I hated it.
I hated that it worked.
"You're scowling again," he said between strikes.
"Maybe because I'm trying not to stab my own partner."
"Then don't provoke me."
I turned on him as the platform shifted again. "You mean the things earlier? When you decided to casually tell me you changed the pairings?"
He lunged forward, parrying a blade before slamming the attacker into the rising wall. "You wouldn't have lasted two minutes against either of them."
"That's not your call—"
"No. It's not. But I made it anyway."
He twisted, caught my wrist, spun me around to face him. His blade hovered, angled right at my throat—not touching, but close enough that I could see my reflection in it.
The fury in my eyes.
The fear.
And something else.
Kael's voice dropped to a growl. "Do you really think it was luck? That you and I ended up together? That I let it happen?"
"I don't know."
Suddenly his blade dropped. Not in surrender—but in something far more dangerous.
Patforms shifting again, revealing new foes. The fight hadn't ended. It was only waiting to see if we turned on each other first.
I turned and fought beside him—matching his pace, covering his blind side, knowing he'd do the same—I wasn't sure what my answer was.
Not yet.
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BladeMetal grating. Platforms snapping into place, creating uneven ground, jutting corners, and sudden drops. A fog hissed out from vents overhead—thin, acrid, laced with something metallic. Visibility dropped to ten feet.
Perfect. The Veil wasn't about fairness.
It was about fragility.
How fast would we break each other?
Kael moved , silent and deadly, his blade an extension of his breath. I kept to his left. Instinct now, not trust. Maybe survival.
But across the mirrored platform, I spotted them—Rei and Jace.
Jace held his twin daggers low, eyes scanning, calculating. Rei's blade shimmered with electricity—modified, custom, as always.They were fluid, lethal.
One enemy leapt toward Rei, axe swinging wide. She ducked and rolled low, slashing across his thigh. Before he could scream, Jace was already behind him, both blades flashing—one in the spine, one at the throat.
Their target dropped like a puppet with cut strings.
Perfect sync.
Another fighter charged them—a massive brute from Sector Korrin. Rei shouted something. Jace feinted left while Rei jumped, landed on the brute's shoulders, and drove her blade straight down through his collarbone. Sparks flew.
Gods.
I barely had time to admire it before another opponent came at me, snarling, wielding twin serrated daggers. I blocked high, twisted my grip, kicked his leg from under him, but he caught my ankle on the way down and dragged me with him.
I landed hard.
Before I could blink, a blade pressed against my throat.
Kael.
His blade.
He'd spun me around, shielding me from the second attacker who'd crept from behind. The first one was already crumpling, blood pooling at his boots.
"You're not watching your blind side," Kael said tightly.
"I had it under control."
"Sure you did."
I shoved his hand off me. "Council's dog playing bodyguard now?"
His jaw ticked.
"What?"
He grabbed my wrist mid-swing and twisted, holding it behind my back. The flat of his blade tapped my neck. Fast.
"Would you prefer I let the Council see you bleed?" he said near my ear. "Because I could. I should."
I twisted out of his grip, panting.
"Reason?" I hissed. "Why the hell did you are helping us?"
Kael didn't answer. Not yet.
Across the arena, Rei and Jace were still fending off a second wave. Jace flipped backward, landing beside Rei just as she discharged her blade again, frying an attacker's arm. He covered her flank, two more down in seconds.
A team built on trust.
Kael and I? Still tangled in doubt and fire.
A new fighter lunged toward me, and I ducked too late—his blade grazed my arm.
Kael was on him in an instant, slicing across his chest and kicking his body over the edge of the platform.
Then he turned on me, furious. "Stop looking at them."
And then.
The floor shuddered.
I barely had time to look before the metal split down the middle. The chamber rotated, rotating our sections, dragging opponents and allies into disarray.
Kael slipped.
He landed on the platform across from me, separated by rising walls. My breath caught.
He reached the wall just as I did.
We stood on opposite sides of a metal gate, the smallest gap between us.
"Stay sharp," he said.
"You too, Council's dog," I murmured.
He smiled—this time small. Almost sad.
And then—
A countdown lit up above us.
8…
A hiss of gas released from the walls. My skin tingled. This part wasn't about fighting anymore. It was psychological. Isolate us. Make us question. Make us doubt.
Kael was gone when I blinked. The platform moved again, separating us fully.
"Great," I muttered.
Then—
A whisper in my ear. "Do you trust him?"
I spun. No one.
Another voice, this time Jace's. "He's lying to you. You know that, right?"
I clutched my blades tighter. This wasn't real.
Kael. Smirking. Blade raised.
I threw my knife at the projection, shattering it like glass.
My mind whirled. Breathing harsh, shallow. I remembered the words carved into the wall at the entrance of the Third Veil:
"Loyalty is not what binds you. It is what breaks you."
Then—another platform opened.
Kael.
The real one. Bloody, bruised, panting. But his eyes—his eyes were clear.
"You look like hell," I said as I stumbled toward him.
"You're worse," he replied.
We didn't ask what happened in the hallucination phase.
We didn't need to.
Because when the final siren blared, signaling the end of the Third Veil, we were still standing.
Only the three are in pairs.
Others all remain single.
Jace and Rei emerged from the opposite side, grim-faced and exhausted—but alive. Rei leaned on Jace, and his hand never left her shoulder.
Kael and I stood in silence.
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