Chapter 5

  Kelix scrutinized the area where it should have fell or floated.

  That was wrong. Monsters left cores. Unless you killed something incomplete. Unless you killed a summon. Unless you killed a fragment that belonged to something else.

  His gaze snapped to the crocoraptor. It was still trading blows with Celeste, and it should have been winning through sheer rank and speed. An E-Rank crocoraptor should not have been shoved around like this. Yet Celeste matched it blow for blow, and every time her sword landed, the beast recoiled. Not just from pain. From force.

  The crocoraptor's green aura flickered once, a brief stutter, like a light catching on a bad connection. Its head jerked a fraction toward the debris field, away from Celeste, away from the construct, away from the mage's pressure. As if something else had tugged its attention.

  As if it had been reminded of a script.

  Kelix's pulse climbed into his throat. He looked for the gap again. That corner of reality his mind wanted to ignore. He forced his eyes to stay there until they burned.

  For a moment, he saw nothing.

  Then he felt it.

  A presence, not a body. A pressure behind the pressure. Something that sat just outside the fight and still had its hand on it.

  The crocoraptor snapped at Celeste again, but the motion was half a beat off. Its jaw opened too wide. Its head tilted at the wrong angle. Like it had been made to attack, not decided to.

  Celeste took advantage instantly. Her sword slammed into its jaw with a strike that sounded like splitting wood. The crocoraptor's head whipped sideways, and its feet skidded. It staggered hard enough that its claws gouged the pavement.

  Celeste did not chase recklessly. She stepped with control, blade poised for the next exchange, expression still bright but eyes no longer playful. Competent. Focused. Dangerous.

  Kelix's brain caught up with the obvious. Celeste was here with them; she was part of this, and she could identify him if she looked closely enough.

  Kelix did not like that either.

  It amazed him when she shot forward and performed a twist, her sword cleaving through the crocoraptor's arms and chest. The beast blinked, unbothered by the brutal swing, as it burst into green fragments, and a green core smashed into the ground like a bowling ball.

  Kelix's mind whirled as he processed the sudden appearance of the core, glimmering ominously amid the remnants of the crocoraptor. So there it was: physical proof of his earlier deductions. Not just a mindless beast, but a puppet on strings.

  "Celeste!" the suited man barked as he reoriented himself, his focus shifting sharply from the monster to the other party members. "Stay sharp! This isn't over!"

  The ground quaked slightly as the residual aura from the defeated creature dissipated into the air, revealing the haunting emptiness the battle had left in its wake. But even as he glanced toward Celeste, Kelix felt a pang of desperation rising within him. If she could see him, recognize him, there was no telling how that would play out. He stepped back.

  In his peripheral vision, he noticed the construct beginning to back up, its metallic limbs retracting from the front lines, likely recalibrating for another engagement.

  The mage was frantically scanning the surroundings for new threats, staff gripped tight.

  Taking his attention away from the group, another presence stirred in the shadows behind Kelix, and he turned half-heartedly, expecting trouble. Instead, it was Aria, her posture relaxed, but with an intensity in her gaze that demanded attention.

  "You shouldn't be here," she said softly, yet her voice cut into his ears like a knife.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "And yet, here I am," Kelix replied tersely, trying to assess the situation as the air crackled around them. He could feel the remnants of the creepy, pale monster's aura still clinging to him, trying to pull him into whatever madness had created those monstrous fragments.

  Before he could ponder further, a guttural growl slithered through the silence, snapping him back to reality. From the shadows of the debris field emerged another creature, this one even larger than the first. It was draped in frost and mist.

  Unlike the others, Kelix relaxed as the creature approached.

  "Another?" Celeste's voice was taut with disbelief as she shifted her stance, sword at the ready, though her confidence was visibly shaken.

  The mist and fog blurred until it stood at Kelix's side. Finn's voice rumbled as the mist shifted into his visible Fenrir form, amusement interwoven with something sharper. "Your friend hits hard."

  "She is not my friend," Kelix said.

  Finn's breath misted. "You recognized her."

  Kelix pressed his lips together in annoyance. He had not meant to. He had not wanted to. It had happened anyway, like the core text, like the blue heat, like things that slipped into his sight without permission.

  Celeste's head turned slightly, as if she had heard something. Her eyes flicked toward Kelix's side of the clearing for a fraction of a second.

  Kelix held still. He did not know if she could see him. To his surprise, Finn was concealing their presence beneath a cloak of frost. "You owe me," Finn said.

  Kelix remained silent. Despite the party members not noticing him, there was one exception.

  Aria's red threads lifted a hair, as if reacting to the smallest tremor.

  The crocoraptor's core jerked again, aura flickering, a dark swirl within its center twisted, and Kelix felt that unseen pressure tighten, like a hand closing.

  Kelix understood the shape of the problem with sudden, unpleasant clarity. The crocoraptor was not the only thing being watched. Paranoia churned gruesomely in his chest. The party was being positioned, and he had stepped onto the board. Perhaps it was time to reveal himself to the others.

  He raised a hand, palm out, and gave Finn a look that brooked no argument.

  "Stay," he ordered.

  Finn's ears flicked back in clear displeasure, but the Fenrir obeyed, settling behind the rubble like a coiled storm cloud.

  As Kelix stepped forward, Finn's eyes never left Kelix, nor the strangers beyond. Kelix felt the leash slacken and just enough to know Finn was allowing this, not agreeing with it. That was good enough.

  Kelix stepped out from the mist and walked toward the group at an easy pace, hands visible, posture loose. No weapons drawn. No sudden movements. He even practiced a casual expression in his head, something that said friendly instead of potential threat in a restricted zone.

  It did not help.

  "Contact," the boy with the staff snapped instantly. The floating book whipped shut midair, snapping into position at his side.

  Celeste dropped into a ready stance in one smooth motion, blade half-raised. The businessman swore under his breath and stepped back, his construct shifting forward protectively with a low mechanical hum. Even the woman finally looked up from her phone, blinking as she registered Kelix's presence.

  Kelix stopped and sighed. "Wow. I didn't even get to say hi."

  The businessman squinted his eyes. "Restricted area," he said sharply. "State your affiliation."

  "Easy," Kelix replied. "I'm not here to crash your party. Just passing through."

  "That's what everyone says," the man shot back, eyeing Kelix from head to toe. His gaze lingered, calculating. Solo operative. No visible monster. That made him either reckless or very expensive. "We're on an Association contract. This zone is spoken for."

  Kelix resisted the urge to roll his eyes. There it was. Less concern about safety and more about profit margins.

  Before he could respond, the girl with the sword tilted her head. Her ready stance softened, if only by a fraction.

  "Wait," she said slowly. "I know you."

  Kelix blinked. He looked at Celeste properly this time, taking in her blonde hair styled in a wavy bob and the bright green eyes squinting at him in concentration.

  Oh no.

  Her face lit up. "Yeah! Kelix, right? You sit like three rows behind me in combat theory!"

  He groaned inwardly. Outwardly, he nodded. "That's me."

  Celeste lowered her sword completely, grinning. "Boo-yeah! I knew it. You always look like you'd rather be anywhere else."

  "That's because I usually would be," Kelix said dryly.

  The businessman snapped his head toward her. "You know him?"

  "He goes to my school," she said, waving it off. "He's legit. Kinda quiet. Stays to himself. Not the murderhobo type."

  "That remains to be seen," the man grumbled. "One more person means a smaller cut."

  Kelix winced. And there it was, spelled out nice and clear.

  Celeste frowned. "Oh my gosh, not everything is about the pay!"

  "It absolutely is," the businessman shot back. "That is literally why we're here."

  Kelix shook his head as the two launched into a familiar-sounding argument, voices rising, neither willing to yield an inch. He glanced back toward the mist where Finn was hidden and resisted the urge to call it all off.

  Yep. This was going to be a headache.

  The businessman's gaze slid past Kelix, sharp and suspicious.

  "You came alone?" he asked, his eyes flicking briefly toward the shadows behind the rubble. "Where's your Soulbound partner?"

  Kelix's lips tightened. He had hoped to avoid this part. "Right there," he said, nodding back over his shoulder. "Staying put so no one panics."

  "That's not how this works," the businessman snapped. "You don't walk into an active zone without deploying your partner. Especially not if you expect to be taken seriously."

  Kelix frowned. The irritation came easily now, crawling up his spine. He exhaled through his nose and turned slightly, angling his head toward the rubble.

  "Finn," he called. "Come on out."