Orion sat in front of his screen, arms crossed, eyes scanning the match schedules. The preparatory phase before the second round. That wasn't just arbitrary—it had to an sothing.
But what were they testing exactly?
His eyes narrowed as he pulled up the match schedule.
Renji Carridan vs. Elle Vorst.
Orion's fingers stilled over the screen. That was worth watching.
Both had shattered expectations in the first phase. Two commoners who had outperford the noble heirs, high-ranking military families, and specialized academy elites.
Renji Carridan was a relentless, brutal close-range fighter who broke through his opponents with sheer physicality and overwhelming montum. He wasn't the biggest fighter, but his explosive power and sheer aggression made size irrelevant. He only needed one clean hit to end a fight.
Elle Vorst was an unpredictable agile fighter whose adaptability turned battles into elaborate gas of misdirection. She was built for speed, but it wasn't her physicality that made her dangerous. It was her mind.
Renji and Elle—two fighters who represented opposite ends of the combat spectrum. Raw power vs. precision. Aggression vs. control. But there was sothing deeper at play here.
And now only one of them would make it.
Orion tapped into the live feed.
The combat zone flickered into view, a high-resolution projection overlaying the digital interface.
A countdown flashed.
[10... 9... 8...]
Two figures appeared in separate parts of the arena.
Renji stood flexing his arms, his stance already aggressive. He was tall and muscular. He looked like a predator monts before the kill. His weapon of choice was gauntlets.
Elle stood opposite him. She was slim and wiry. Her expression was calm, almost detached, but Orion could see the slight shift in her footing.
[3... 2... 1... Begin.]
Renji exploded forward. No testing the waters. His footwork was eerily perfect, covering the distance in seconds.
Renji wasted no ti. He launched forward kicking off the ground with force that almost cracked it. His gauntlets flared as he closed the distance in seconds.
Elle moved at the last mont. A step to the side, a shift in weight, and Renji's strike barely grazed her as she slid away.
Orion's lips pressed into a thin line. She wasn't engaging him head-on. If she tried to match him in brute force, it would be over in monts. But Renji also had no clear openings that she could capitalize on.
Renji turned, eyes burning with intensity. "Running already?" His voice echoed through the arena.
Elle didn't reply.
Renji didn't hesitate. He locked onto Elle, and pursued.
Elle reapeated the sa movent as before, sliding over to the side and evading the attack.
Renji jumped straight after her.
A mistake.
The mont he landed two steps away, she charged with her dual daggers. He managed to react in ti, but the impact of her sudden charge was enough to send him crashing backward.
Elle didn't fight fair. She fought smart.
Renji pulled himself up, growling. His armor had absorbed most of the impact, but Elle wasn't aiming to damage—she was breaking his montum.
"She's leading him into her rhythm," Orion muttered to himself.
If Renji kept charging headfirst, she'd keep dictating the pace. Keep him moving in circles. Exhaust him before he could land a real hit.
Renji knew it too.
Elle paused mid-step.
Renji's heel ground as he pivoted mid-motion, his reflexes just as sharp. A brutal right hook ca from an unnatural angle, his arm snapping forward with terrifying force.
Elle twisted—barely slipping past. The strike grazed her shoulder, the air pressure alone making her coat whip back.
She had baited him. And yet—she didn't capitalize.
She hesitated.
Renji didn't give her ti to answer. He was already moving again.
This ti, Elle's timing was a fraction too late.
She sidestepped—but Renji was already airborne.
Mid-air, he twisted his body—a spinning elbow strike.
The real attack.
Elle's eyes flickered in recognition—but too late.
It connected.
He raised his fists again—and punched in wide arch while lunging towards her.
Elle was forced to react.
She vaulted backward, landing two steps away. The second she touched down—Renji was already there.
Elle's eyes widened in the split-second before impact.
She raised a her dual daggers to defend.
Renji's punch connected.
The force sent her flying through to the side of the arena.
Then—Elle staggered forward, coughing, blood trailing from the side of her lip.
Renji landed nearby, rolling his shoulders. "You done running?"
Elle wiped the blood from her mouth, exhaling. Her posture shifted.
Sothing changed.
Orion leaned in. This was it.
Elle wasn't running anymore.
Renji narrowed his eyes.
Then she vanished.
Renji pivoted fast—but she was already behind him.
A dagger against his throat.
For a full second, neither moved.
Then—
The match ended.
Orion exhaled, sinking back in his seat.
As the match continued, Orion rewound the last exchange, breaking down the movents in slow motion.
The dim glow of Orion's interface cast shadows across his quarters. He was still analyzing Renji's fight when his wrist-com flickered.
Elya Raines.
His brow furrowed as he accepted the call. She never contacted him unless it was urgent.
"Tell you have sothing," he said.
Elya's face appeared, her usual smirk absent. Instead, there was a sharp glint in her blue eyes—a rare look of genuine interest.
"Oh, I have sothing alright," she said, voice smooth but laced with intrigue. "You're going to want to sit down for this."
Orion leaned forward. "Go on."
Elya exhaled. "Leonidas Lunev. You asked to dig into his background."
Orion's fingers tapped against his desk. "And?"
She smirked. "And I'm better than whoever tried to cover it up."
A file flashed onto his screen. Orion opened it. A single na stood out among the docunts.
Celestine Valken.
His breath stilled.
"Leonidas' mother was a Valken," Elya confird. "Direct bloodline. Not a distant relative or so diluted branch family—a full-blooded Valken."
Orion's pulse quickened. That changed everything.
Orion's grip tightened around the edge of his desk. "How deep was this buried?"
Elya tilted her head. "That's the interesting part. Soone went to great lengths to hide his lineage. It wasn't just erased—it was locked behind military-grade encryption. The kind only high-level classified data that could endanger the confederacy if it was known was encrypted with."
Orion's mind raced. His father.
"Wait," he said, his voice low. "If his records were locked that deep, there's no way my father didn't know."
Elya humd. "That's what I thought too. So, I did so cross-referencing." Another file popped up.
Orion scanned it—then froze.
Leonidas' older brother.
Aleksei Lunev.
"The older sibling fought alongside your father against the Codex, Lev is his half brother by the way." Elya confird. "But Leonidas wasn't given access to the Pythia System."
Orion inhaled sharply. So his father knew.
The Lunev family wasn't just a random martial household. They had ties to the Valkens.
But—
"There was nothing in the files about Leonidas," Elya added. "Almost like he didn't exist until recently."
Orion's jaw clenched. That was deliberate. Soone had kept the younger Lunev hidden.
Elya watched him, waiting for his response.
Orion exhaled slowly. "Send everything you found."
A mont later, the files transferred to his system.
Elya grinned. "Alright. I have a lot of work to do."
The call ended.
Orion leaned back, his mind churning.
Orion had a feeling his presence in the tournant wasn't a coincidence.
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