Iris stepped up to the main podium. She pulled a handful of heavy silver badges from a wooden box.
"You survived the rupture zone," Iris barked over the stadium speakers. "You drew viewers. You hit the metrics. You are Jaegers now."
She tossed a badge to Iharu. He caught it, pinning the metal directly to his custom crimson chest plate. Hiro accepted his with trembling fingers, letting out a massive exhale of relief.
Iris stopped in front of Caleb. She dropped the heavy silver badge into his taped palm.
He looked up at the digital screen.
[CALEB MERCER]
[COMBAT VALUE: RANK C APPROVED]
[RANK C: JAEGER]
[TIER-TWO GEAR CLEARANCE: APPROVED]
[SPONSOR BOARD ACCESS: OPEN]
He ranked up. The base pay doubled. But the military grid could not map his vitals. He was a walking anomaly carrying a restricted file.
The arena speakers emitted a sharp, overriding tone.
The massive leaderboard glitched. The casualty lists and promotion stats vanished.
