SYSTEM ASCENSION

[System notice]

[Transportation complete]

ROWEN ACADEMY - MEDICAL WING

They hit the floor in a pile.

White tile, antiseptic smell, and a very confused nurse who screamed and dropped her clipboard.

”We survived!” Kael exclaimed. ”Someone remind me never to follow Elias ever again.”

Claude stared at them. Somehow, he recovered better with no scorching sun over his head.

”How did you both end up in the penalty zone anyway?”

”It was Elias’ fault of course,” Kael exclaimed. ”The system personally hates him.”

Elias was already sitting up. Void Reaper was gone. His wear was torn to shreds, he was covered in dried cyan gunk and his own blood, and he looked like he’d just finished leg day. He stood, swayed, and looked at the nurse. ”Bed. Three.”

Kael sat up. ”He means we need three beds.”

The nurse fainted.

They paused, stared at her and returned immediately to staring at their screen.

While this was going on, Elias glanced at Kael.

He was silent, eye glued to the screen before him. His earlier nagging demeanor was gone, replaced by a blank expression. He subconsciously bit his fingers.

”Another failed mission...”

He caught Elias staring and just faked a smile.

The nurse was still out cold on the tile. Nobody moved to help her.

Elias stood by the first bed. He looked at Kael, then at Claude. ”You two are a problem.”

Kael reeled back like he’d been slapped. ”Excuse me?! I was protecting Mr. Judge over there!”

”You screamed the whole time,” Elias said. ”Made it harder to hear.”

”I was providing tactical distraction!”

Elias’s gaze slid to Claude. ”And you.”

Claude had been leaning against the second bed, trying to look like a bystander at a crime scene. At Elias’s attention, he straightened his torn sleeve, brushed imaginary dust off his council badge, and shrugged.

Perfectly innocent.

”What?” Claude said. ”I was just walking by. Got caught in your penalty zone. Very tragic. Administrative error, really.”

The room went quiet.

”Walking by,” Kael muttered. ”And ended up in the penalty zone. Slayed a hundred.”

”Adrenaline,” Claude said. ”Very strong emotion. You’d be surprised what you can do.”

”You teleported into a nightmare penalty zone in a school uniform.”

Claude met his eyes.

”Like I said. Administrative error with Ringoff reserved portals. I’ll file a complaint later.”

Awkward moment...

”Just admit that you’re an upholder that messed up.”

”I’m not...”

”No one can just stroll into a penalty zone, see two people, and be like: great! You two are Upholders. No one is buying it Claude.”

He sighed. Rolled his good shoulder.

”Fine,” he said. ”Sector one.”

He tapped his council badge once.

The three of them didn’t talk afterwards. They settled for rest within the walls of Ringoff Academy.

Elias sat on the edge of the bed, head down, hands braced on his knees. Just breathing.

Kael was sprawled on the next bed over, one arm flung across his eyes.

Claude sat in the chair between them. His eyes were closed.

Silence.

For three whole hours, the only sound was the nurse’s soft snoring on the floor and the heart monitor no one wasn’t hooked up to.

Then the air behind Elias ripped.

A portal swirled into existence, black and edged in red energy

Kael’s eyes snapped open. ”What the—”

Claude was on his feet before the sound finished.

A voice came through the portal.

”Found you.”

It wasn’t the system, or monsters but a human.

Elias didn’t react. He was completely out of it.

Claude moved. ”Elias, down—”

A sword came through the portal and went straight into Elias’s chest. Dead center, right through the sternum.

Elias didn’t even make a noise. His eyes went wide in confusion.

The rest recoiled.

Kael hit the foot of the bed and froze, hand outstretched. ”The hell—”

The blade was still in Elias. The hand holding it hadn’t come through yet.

Elias looked down at the bone sword. At the blood that wasn’t red anymore.

He coughed and black blood hit the white tile.

His hands came up to his chest, like he could hold himself together, face twisting in pain.

He looked at Claude. Then at Kael.

His mouth moved but no sound came.

Then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed sideways off the bed. The bone sword stayed where it was. Sticking up out of his chest.

Kael’s eye widened.

”Elias!”

The portal pulsed and grew wider. The voice came again, obviously amused.

”One down.”

The portal tore wider, big enough for a person to fit through. A boot stepped through first, then the rest of him.

Seven feet tall, broad like a wall. Just black tactical gear and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. His hair was buzzed short. A scar ran from his temple to his jaw.

He looked down at Elias. At the bone sword sticking out of his chest. At the black blood pooling.

”This thing is definitely not human.” He pointed down. ”Even a human with health issues doesn’t have a blood as black as this.”

Then he looked up at Kael and Claude.

”He’s a halfling, right?”

”...what is he saying...” Kael stepped back.

He smirked.

”That aside, I didn’t think I’d find three Upholder children. It’s my lucky day!”

Kael scrambled back until he hit the wall. ”Stay back—”

Claude stepped forward, putting himself between the man and Kael.

[SYSTEM NOTICE]

[Hostile Disposal Detected]

Claude’s eye widened.

”You’re a disposal?”

”Yeah?” The man raised a brow.

”So why are you doing this?!”

The man laughed.

”Such a naive child.”

”Naive?”

The man stepped closer. Claude took a step back.

”If you kill an Upholder, you inherit its ability. That’s all I care about. Our job is to hunt all the upholders in the world.”

”...what?” The information sounded foreign to him.

The hostile Disposal smirked. ”It seems like that loser behind you already knows it.”

Claude glanced at Kael, who would fit into the wall if he could.

The man stretched his hand.

”Let’s have a last introduction shall we. Name’s Kun,” He rolled his neck. Bone popped. ”I took over the apartment. Locked it down. No one can come in to save you from me.”

Kun took a step further.

”Start reciting your last prayers.”