"I'm listening."
"There's a Gate opening in three days. B-Rank. Standard blue. The kind of thing a good team can clear without too much trouble." He pulled a datapad off the rack and tossed it to me. I caught it out of the air. "The Onyx Hounds have been offered the contract. First official guild operation. Real stakes. Real money. Real danger."
I scrolled through the briefing. Gate parameters. Monster composition. The usual.
"And?"
"And I want you leading it. Not me. You." He turned back to face me. "The VHC's watching. The other guilds are watching. Everyone wants to see whether the Onyx Hounds are a fluke or the real thing. Whether the Stray Dog is a media stunt or an actual Hunter." His eyes glinted. "I think you're the real thing. Now I need you to prove it. In the field. With your team's lives on the line."
The datapad felt heavier in my hand than it should have.
This was it. The next move. The next piece on the board.
