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"You're the kid with the dead thing, right?" The voice cut through the backstage noise before I saw the man. Rook Chainbreaker. Reigning champion. Three years undefeated. He stood between me and the Pit entrance, arms crossed, pact mark glowing blue-white on his forearm.
"Don't know what you're talking about." I kept my voice flat. The bond scar under my shirt burned cold. The hatchling was awake. Hungry.
"Sure you don't." Rook stepped closer. He was bigger up close. Broader. The kind of build you got from winning forty-seven matches in a row. "Garrick's new charity case. The one who won last week without showing a mark."
"I showed enough."
"You showed tricks." He tilted his head. "I've seen Voidbound tricks before. They don't last."
My blood went cold. "Say that again."
"You heard me." Rook's grin was all teeth. "Voidbound fighters don't make it past fight three. The bond eats them from the inside. You're what, seventeen? Eighteen? Give it two more matches. You'll be spitting black blood before the bell."
The crowd roar swelled beyond the canvas partition. Fight two was ending. I was up next. Against whoever Garrick had lined up. Except Garrick wasn't here. He'd sent a runner with the match slip twenty minutes ago and disappeared.
"You dodging me, or you got a point?" I asked.
Rook laughed. "Point is, I'm giving you an out. Take a fall tonight. Walk away. I'll make sure the Guild doesn't hear about your little passenger."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I tell them myself." He tapped his pact mark. "I've got Guild clearance. Licensed Pactmaker. All I have to do is file a report. Inspector Vance is already here, you know. Backstage, asking questions. Real interested in that weird energy signature from your last fight."
Mira. She'd followed me here. Of course she had. I'd used the bond to get past her last night. She'd felt it. Probably tracked the residue.
"Where is she?" I asked.
Rook shrugged. "Around. You want to find out? Go ahead. Step into that Pit. I'll make sure she's watching when you lose."
"Who says I'm losing?"
"Kid, you're already losing." He gestured at my chest. "Your heart rate's through the roof. You're sweating. And that thing inside you? It's pulling. I can see it from here. You go out there, you'll have maybe five minutes before you drop. Or you summon it. And then Vance puts a bullet in both of you before round one ends."
He wasn't wrong. The bond scar was ice-cold now. The hatchling wanted out. It always did before a fight. The hunger was getting worse. Every time I summoned it, it took more. Last match, I'd nearly passed out in the tunnel afterward.
"So what's your angle?" I asked. "You're not doing this out of kindness."
"Smart kid." Rook's grin widened. "My angle is, if you're stupid enough to keep fighting, you're going to die in my arena. That brings heat. Guild raids. Inspectors crawling through the Pits. Bad for business. Worse for me."
"You mean you don't want competition."
"Competition implies you're a threat." He leaned in. Close enough I could smell the pact-burn on him. Sulfur and ash. Different from my Void-cold. "You're a liability. And liabilities get cut."
Footsteps echoed behind me. Boots on concrete. Two sets. I turned. Guild officers. Not Mira. Younger. Greener. But armed. They stopped ten feet back, hands on holsters.
"We're looking for a fighter," the first one said. "Goes by Kael. You seen him?"
Rook looked at me. Waiting.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm Kael."
The officer's hand moved toward his gun. "You're coming with—"
"He's registered for a match," Rook interrupted. "You pull him now, you violate Pit charter. Inspector Vance signed off on letting fights finish. You want to override her?"
The officer hesitated. "She said if we found him—"
"She said watch him. Not arrest him." Rook's voice went hard. "You want to explain to her why you shut down a licensed arena? Be my guest. I'll wait."
The two officers looked at each other. Then back at me.
"We'll be watching," the first one said. "You run, we shoot."
They moved to the tunnel entrance. Blocking it. The only other exit was the back door. Where Mira was. Probably.
Rook waited until they were out of earshot. Then leaned in again. "Last chance, kid. Take the fall. Or I make sure Vance gets her evidence."
"You already called them here," I said. "That's why the officers showed up."
"Smart and stupid." Rook straightened. "Yeah, I called them. Because if you won't take the fall, I need them here to clean up the body."
The bell rang. Once. Twice. Three times. My match.
"You've got thirty seconds to decide," Rook said. "Fight and die, or walk and live."
I looked at the tunnel. The officers were still there. Behind me, the back door. Mira, probably. In front of me, Rook. And beyond him, the Pit. The crowd. The only place I'd ever won anything.
The bond scar pulsed. The hatchling was furious now. It wanted blood. It wanted out. It wanted—
I walked past Rook. Toward the tunnel.
"Wrong choice," he said.
"Probably." I stopped at the tunnel mouth. The officers moved aside. Barely. "But it's mine."
The roar hit me first. The crowd. Hundreds of voices. The Pit was packed tonight. More than last week. Word had spread. The kid with the invisible pact. The one who'd won without showing a mark.
I stepped into the light.
The arena floor was sand over concrete. Twenty feet across. Chain-link fence ringing it. Crowd pressed against the fence on all sides. Bets were already flying. I caught fragments as I walked to my corner.
"—new kid—" "—lasted six minutes last time—" "—heard he's got something illegal—"
Across the Pit, my opponent stepped out. Older. Thirty, maybe. Pact mark on his neck. Serpent-class. He was already summoning. Black scales rippled up his arm. Eyes went yellow.
I didn't summon. Not yet. The hatchling was pulling, but I held it back. If I let it out now, I'd burn through my HP before the match started.
The announcer's voice boomed over the crowd. "Kael Thorne, one win, zero losses. Facing Marcus Veld, sixteen wins, four losses. Standard rules. First blood or surrender. Match ends on my call."
The bell rang.
Marcus rushed me. Fast. The serpent pact gave him speed. He closed the distance in three seconds, claws extended, going for my throat.
I summoned.
The bond scar tore open. Not the skin. Deeper. The place where I ended and the hatchling began. It surged out. Not fully. Just enough. Shadow-claws manifested over my hands. Void-cold. I caught Marcus's strike. The claws met. His serpent-fire against my Void-ice.
The crowd went silent.
Then erupted.
Marcus's eyes widened. "What the hell—"
I shoved him back. The Void-claws cut through his scales like they weren't there. He stumbled. Blood welled up on his arm. First blood. Match over.
Except the bell didn't ring.
I looked up. The announcer was staring. Not at the match. At the back tunnel.
Mira stood there. Gun drawn. Pointed at me.
"Nobody move," she said.
The crowd noise died. Fast. You didn't argue with a Guild inspector. Not with a gun out.
Marcus backed away from me. Smart. The Void-claws were still manifested. Still draining me. I could feel my HP dropping. One percent every few seconds. The hatchling wanted more. It always wanted more.
Mira walked into the arena. Slow. Gun steady. Her eyes locked on mine.
"Kael Thorne," she said. "You're under arrest for illegal pact formation. Void-class entity. Guild code 7-14. Sentence is execution on confirmation."
"I didn't—" I started.
"I can see it," she cut me off. "The mark. The energy signature. I've been hunting Voidbound for three years. I know what it looks like."
She was ten feet away now. Close enough to shoot. Far enough I couldn't reach her before she pulled the trigger.
"You've got two choices," Mira said. "Dismiss your pact entity and come quietly. Or I put you down here."
The hatchling surged. It didn't like threats. It wanted her dead. I could feel its hunger. Its rage. One command and it would tear her apart.
Except she was faster. And she knew it.
"I'm counting to three," Mira said.
"Wait." Rook's voice. He'd followed me into the arena. He stood at the tunnel mouth, arms crossed. "You said standard rules. Match ends on your call. So call it."
Mira didn't look at him. "This isn't a match anymore."
"Guild charter says otherwise." Rook stepped onto the sand. "You signed off on letting fights finish. You want to break charter in front of three hundred witnesses? Be my guest. But don't act like this is legal."
Mira's jaw tightened. "He's Voidbound."
"Prove it," Rook said. "You see a creature? I see shadow-class manifestation. Could be dozens of pacts. You want to arrest every fighter with a dark-element bond?"
"This is different."
"Then prove it." Rook walked closer. To me. Not to Mira. "Show her your mark, kid. If it's really Void-class, she'll know. If it's not, she backs off."
He was giving me an out. Or setting me up. I couldn't tell which.
"She already knows," I said.
"Then show everyone else." Rook turned to the crowd. "You all want to see? The kid with the invisible pact? Let's see what he's hiding."
The crowd roared approval. Bloodthirsty. They didn't care about laws. They wanted a show.
Mira's gun didn't waver. "Don't."
Rook looked at her. Then at me. Then he smiled.
And tore open his own shirt.
The pact mark on his chest wasn't blue-white anymore. It was black. Void-black. Spreading like cracks in ice. The same pattern as mine. The same cold.
"You want to arrest him for being Voidbound?" Rook asked. "Then you better arrest me too."
The crowd went silent again.
Mira's gun shifted. Toward Rook. Then back to me. Her hand was shaking now. Just barely.
"That's not possible," she said. "You're licensed. I checked your file. You're cleared."
"Files lie," Rook said. "Turns out the Guild's been lying for three hundred years. About what Voidlings really are. About why they were wiped out. And about who's still bonded to them."
He looked at me. "You're not the first, kid. And you won't be the last."
The bell rang. Thirty seconds to next match.
Mira's gun was still up. But her eyes were on Rook's mark now. On the Void-black spreading across his chest.
"How long?" she asked.
Rook grinned. "Three years. Same as you've been hunting."
The back door creaked. Mira's backup. Coming in.
Rook looked at me. "You want to run, now's your chance."
The bell rang again. Fifteen seconds.
Mira's finger was on the trigger.
And Rook's Void-mark was still glowing. Still spreading. Still proving I wasn't alone.