Sid POV

  Sid stared at Pallavi, mouth agape, as she clobbered the chest of her would-be assailant. He realized this was the second time he had underestimated something that night.

  The black crystal skill was not some run-of-the-mill sensory deprivation tool, but something capable of blocking even system access.

  And Pallavi was not the quiet, unsure presence he had pegged her as. With her new, uncommon skills, she was the strongest person on their team, and maybe even in the entire camp unless George had leveled his skill.

  Her movements were steady despite the blood spatter darkening the surrounding ground.

  Now Sid stood in the chilly night air and faced the unenviable task of cleaning up this mess. It grated on him because none of this would have happened if he had been more careful with his own abilities.

  No one on his team had a skill suited for disposing of a body. The goblin mass grave lay on the other side of camp, but dragging a corpse there would draw every eye that was still awake.

  And there was a witness in front of him, someone who could paint a target on their backs. Half the camp already disliked them, and the Kurushingal family would call for blood. George would take their side, and Bunty remained another threat altogether. Sid needed to do something fast.

  Joe finally reacted. His shell-shocked stare shifted to sudden confusion when he looked down and saw a dagger in his own chest. Sid pulled it free with a practiced motion and shoved him with his other hand. Joe stumbled forward before turning back to Sid.

  “Why?”

  “You tried to kill me and my entire team, kid. What did you expect was going to happen?” Sid lifted an eyebrow, his tone flat. He did not raise his voice or sneer. He just stated it.

  Joe kept backing up as Sid approached. With his hands pressed against his chest, his breath came out in sharp bursts. Sid closed the distance and punched him in the face, aiming for the nose. Joe hit the ground hard, groaning. Sid never enjoyed this part. A quick, clean end was always better, but the situation demanded something else.

  He needed the scene to look like a fight between the friends. That was the only story that would keep attention off their team. Leaving both skill crystals next to the bodies would help that narrative, as monsters never left crystals behind.

  If they staged the death as a monster attack, it could easily circle back to them. It would be hard to fake monster attack injuries, as the football fan’s chest was already caved in, and the greed for skill crystals would serve as the motive for their team.

  Sid crouched, grabbed Joe by the wrists, and dragged him toward Pallavi. Joe’s boots scraped across the dirt, and he tried weakly to push himself upright, but Sid kept pulling.

  “You will not hit me again. You will not hit me again.” Pallavi repeated the words in her native tongue, her voice low and rhythmic.

  “Pallavi… Pallavi… stop. He cannot hurt you anymore.” Sid kept his voice firm but low, staying out of reach in case she turned on him. He watched her closely, ready to move if her attention shifted.

  She looked up at him with tears streaking down her cheeks, going still as if the world had paused around her. “Big brother?”

  Sid froze. The question hit harder than he expected. Even through the haze clouding her gaze, he could see how vulnerable she was. He did not trust himself to speak, so he just nodded.

  Pallavi was upon him in a second. She wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him like she needed the contact to breathe. Her forehead pressed against his chest as she cried. “After you left, Dad got me married within a year. They made me drop out of college, forced me to stay with my abusive husband. He used to beat me every day…” Her voice cracked between each confession.

  “It’s okay. It’ll get better now.” Sid lifted his free hand and patted her back, his tone steady despite the chilly breeze brushing past them.

  He remembered little about her from before, only that she had been kind to him when he barely held himself together. She had left with Varun soon after. Later, during his military training, Varun had told him she had died in a dungeon. Varun’s entire demeanor had shifted then. He became reserved, calculating, determined to protect those under him. People wanted to follow him. He was a rising star of their generation. Until he burned out.

  Pallavi’s death had carved into Varun more deeply than anything else. Sid remembered that clearly.

  Now, as she held him, trembling, Sid kept silent. He let her stay as long as she needed while he kept one eye on Joe to make sure the kid was not moving.

  Minutes slid by. Her sobs faded into soft breaths. She stepped back, blinking as her expression shifted. “You’re not my brother.”

  Her gaze shifted to the dead football fan. She pressed a palm to her temple. “What have I done?” Her breath quickened, too sharp and frantic for the surrounding quiet.

  “You did nothing wrong. For what they planned for you, he got off easy.” Sid stepped forward, dragging Joe’s body along.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “They drugged and tried to kill us. So we killed them in return. That is all.” Sid let go of Joe’s arm when he felt Joe’s body go limp and his eyes gain a spaced-out look.

  Pallavi did not answer. Her jaw stayed locked, her shoulders tense as she watched him.

  “Relax. They cannot do anything without evidence. Nobody is going to arrest us. If worse comes to worst, we leave the camp.” Sid crouched to pick up Joe’s dropped crystal.

  “Okay.” Pallavi nodded, though tension still coiled in her jaw and shoulders.

  “Are you still high, or is it manageable?” Sid asked, shifting back into his usual tone when dealing with the team.

  “There is still some buzz, but I am in control.” Her voice did not match the certainty of her words. She folded her hands, holding her elbows, as if she were leaning on herself for support.

  Sid crossed the distance to where the football fan lay and picked up the man’s crystal, glancing at Pallavi once again to gauge how stable she truly was.

  Mist Blend and Keen Eyes. He could not miss the irony. He had killed seven goblins earlier, none of which dropped a skill he could absorb. Now he had two crystals in hand that he could absorb, but should not if he wanted to stage the crime as a drug-induced accident.

  He slipped the crystals into his pocket. “Help me make it seem like they killed each other.”

  Sid knew the Kurushingal family, and George would never buy the idea that the two kids had turned on each other. Their suspicion would land on Sid’s team before anything else. All he could do was sow doubt in the rest of the camp. With no forensic methods available, the truth would dissolve into competing stories.

  Pallavi raised her eyebrows, leaning her head back. She nodded after a few seconds and wiped her hands clean.

  Sid walked her through the steps. They positioned the football fan so his hand wrapped around the knife. Sid guided her to bruise Joe’s knuckles against the trunk. Pallavi hesitated each time her fingers brushed Joe’s skin, her expression tightening. The longer they worked, the farther she stepped from Sid, as if watching him handle the bodies so calmly unsettled her in ways she did not want to say aloud.

  “That should do for now,” Sid said, dusting off his hands. He gestured for her to follow as he headed back toward the camp. “The kids weren’t acting alone. At least two others helped them. Bunty and someone else. Could be Naga, could be George, or even Sunny.”

  “Bunty?” Pallavi’s voice cracked with disbelief.

  Sid exhaled sharply. “Yeah. He and the guy in the football jersey were planning to…” He stopped searching for the softer words that wouldn’t come. “Assault you. The other one stayed back to kill us.”

  Pallavi slowed until her steps barely carried her forward. Her gaze drifted ahead, not focused on anything.

  “Hey, keep walking. We need to reach Rohan and Varun before Bunty finds them,” Sid said, turning his head while moving forward. He knew she needed time to deal with what had happened, but they didn’t have that luxury. He needed her support for his plan to work.

  She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and hurried after him. “Do you think people will believe they killed each other?”

  “Some won’t. But we only need enough of the camp to doubt it.” Sid scanned the surroundings for anyone headed toward the crime scene.

  “We plant the drugged mushrooms and the skill crystals. Then, we make sure Naga is among the first to check the scene. He needs to confirm the mushrooms match the ones that hit you. And since those kids were known for getting high before… it becomes believable.” Sid’s throat was parched by the time he finished laying out his plan. “We will leave on our scouting mission tomorrow while they are dealing with the news.”

  They reached the camp and found Varun lying face down, while Rohan hugged a tree like he might drift away without the contact.

  “Check the area for anything that isn’t ours,” Sid said. “Anything they dropped.”

  He went to his backpack, pulled out the rope from the day before, and tied one end to Varun’s ankle and the other around Rohan’s, keeping them linked.

  Once Sid finished tying the ropes, he approached Pallavi. She stood a short distance away, holding a piece of burning firewood that cast a shifting circle of orange light across the ground.

  “Drop the crystals next to their bodies. Put Keen Eyes near the guy wearing the polo shirt. And drop this bag of mushrooms close to them.” Sid handed her the cloth bundle containing the untouched mushrooms and the crystals.

  The night air carried the faint smell of smoke and damp soil. Sid stayed near the fire, knowing the boys’ accomplices would come looking. If a confrontation happened, he needed his weapons and firelight.

  Two shapes appeared between the trees. Luckily, Pallavi had returned before their enemies reached them, and she slipped closer to him as soon as she noticed the shift in his body language.

  Sid raised his dagger and lowered his staff, his stance balanced. Pallavi straightened beside him, gripping her spear with both hands.

  Bunty and George stepped into the clearing. Their eyes widened the moment they saw Sid and Pallavi waiting for them instead of lying helpless on the ground.

  “What are you doing here?” Sid asked, not giving them room to breathe.

  George recovered first. “We’re looking for the two kids. They were supposed to be on guard duty. Bunty saw them head this way.”

  Sid did not blink. “We didn’t see them. They’re probably passed out somewhere. No point in making the rest of the camp unsafe. You two should get back to your watch. Right, Bunty?”

  Sid kept his gaze on them, especially on George. If this turned into a fight, the gun changed everything. Even with Pallavi, the odds were bad. If he could veil the gun, hide it from everyone’s perception, George would be helpless. The temptation stung his thoughts.

  Bunty nodded weakly at the mention of his name. He was sweating hard despite the cold. Sid realized too late that Bunty did not understand the language, and his attempt to unsettle him had been pointless. However, Pallavi did that with a single hard stare; Bunty melted under her furious gaze.

  George shifted, his left hand slipping behind his back. “What happened to your face?”

  Sid stepped forward to block Pallavi from view. “We were testing how to punch through a Mana Shield. Trying to see if we could end the enemy in one shot. She punched straight through my shield.” He forced a laugh after his lie to keep the act steady.

  George leaned to the side to peek at Pallavi. “What skill lets you do that?”

  Sid did not let him finish his visual sweep. “Shouldn’t you go back to your guard duty? We can talk skills later.” His voice held a promise that the conversation would not stay peaceful if pushed.

  George lowered his left hand, now holding a gun pointed at the ground. “I’ll hold you to your word,” he said before turning around and walking back to the main camp.

  Writathon Complete!!!

  Thank you everyone for following my story so far.

  With the holiday season coming, I don't think I can keep up the 5 days a week schedule. So for the rest of the month, I will be following a 4 days a week schedule (Mon - Thu).

  Will resume the 5 days a week schedule starting Jan 2026.