Tobin POV

  Tobin could feel the mana through the forest before they even saw the Beast King. Massive waves of it, rolling out like heat from a forge, making his skin prickle with that uncomfortable sensation that meant something way stronger than him was nearby.

  He didn't like that sensation in the slightest.

  When they arrived near, Tobin found that the Beast King was actually below them, and they were standing on a weird floating piece of ground. Tobin didn't know there would be floating platforms, and that they'd be on one.

  Oh well, at least there it was—exactly where Theodore said it would be: the Beast King.

  Except Theodore had forgotten to mention one tiny, insignificant detail.

  There was already a team fighting it.

  Of course Theodore knew and didn't say anything. Why would he? That would've been helpful, and apparently being helpful wasn't on Theodore's agenda today. Tobin wanted to strangle him, just a little, just enough to make him understand that information sharing was kind of important when you were supposed to be a team.

  The Beast King was huge.

  It was a bear, or what used to be a bear before someone decided bears needed to be taller and bigger than they already were and covered in crystalline armor that sparked with lightning.

  After all, regular bears weren't terrifying enough. The organizers had looked at a normal bear and thought, you know what this needs? The ability to shoot lightning and be the size of a small building.

  The team fighting it looked competent, at least. They moved like they'd done this before, dodging the Beast King's swipes easily, countering with coordinated attacks that actually seemed to be doing damage. The armor was cracked in several places, dark blood seeping through.

  They'd been at this for a while.

  Which meant Tobin's brilliant plan was already dead in the water.

  "Well, this is unexpected," he said.

  "They're doing pretty well," Bran said.

  "So what do we do?" Wren asked the question they were all thinking. "Wait for them to finish and then attack when they're exhausted?"

  "That's dishonorable," Tessia said immediately.

  "It's also smart," Wren countered.

  "We could help them," Bran suggested jokingly.

  "And split the points with another team? I imagine that would go well and they'd just agree to doing that. We could—" Tobin never got to finish, because Theodore smiled, and then he jumped.

  Right off the platform's end.

  "What the—" Tobin's voice cracked, rising in pitch.

  "THEODORE!" Bran shouted.

  The drop had to be fifty feet at least. For a Rank 2, that was suicide, unless he had some skills to cushion his landing. Theodore fell with a stupid grin on his face like he was having the time of his life.

  What was he thinking? What could he possibly be thinking? Did he have a death wish? Was this his plan all along—get them invested in protecting him and then throw himself at the first Beast King they found?

  Then it clicked.

  Oh.

  Oh, that absolute bastard.

  He was going to distract the other team.

  That was his plan. Jump down there, cause chaos, make himself such an obvious target that the other team would have to deal with him instead of the Beast King. And while they were distracted, while they were trying to figure out why some Rank 2 had just dropped from the sky like the world's dumbest meteor, Tobin and the others were supposed to attack the Beast King.

  Kill steal. He wanted them to kill steal.

  "Is he trying to get himself killed?" Wren said.

  "He's distracting them," Tobin said, already moving. Because what else could they do? Their point-carrier had just thrown himself into combat. They couldn't exactly leave him there. "We need to attack the Beast King while they're dealing with him."

  "That's—"

  "That's what he wants us to do. You think he jumped for fun? Look at them."

  "This is insane," Bran said.

  "This is our only shot," Tobin corrected. "The Beast King is already injured. We just need to land the killing blow. Tessia, can you hit it from here?" Tobin asked.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  She nodded, ice already forming around her hands. At least someone was ready to take advantage of Theodore's insanity.

  "Then we go. Now. Before they realize what's happening."

  They jumped, and Tobin cursed the entire way down.

  ***

  Seth POV

  Seth was laughing. They were about to kill a Beast King. An actual, honest-to-gods Beast King, and the points from that would set them up for the rest of this event. His team had worn it down, cracked through that armor, made it bleed, and now it was trapped in Dominic's [Barrier] while they caught their breath for the final push.

  This was perfect.

  This was exactly the kind of thing that always happened to Seth.

  He'd always been lucky. Always. When he was seven, he'd fallen off a cliff during training and landed in the only deep pool of water for miles around. When he was twelve, he'd accidentally discovered a hidden technique in his family's library that everyone else had overlooked for decades. At fifteen, the girl he'd been too nervous to talk to had approached him first at the academy gala. At seventeen, he'd picked the winning lottery number on a whim and funded his entire education with the proceeds.

  Hell, just last week he'd randomly decided to take a different route to the training grounds and found a spatial ring someone had dropped, still full of high-grade resources.

  And now? Now his randomly assembled team had stumbled onto a Beast King within the first hour. The thing was practically gift-wrapped for them.

  Seth had never questioned his luck. It was just part of who he was. Some people were tall, some people were strong, and Seth was lucky, simple as that.

  Which was why he wasn't even surprised when someone fell from the sky.

  Well, okay, he was a little surprised. People didn't usually fall from the sky. But in the grand scheme of Seth's life, it ranked nowhere close to the weirdest things that had happened to him.

  The blonde man landed with grace, and when Seth got a good look at his face, he smile internally.

  Theodore Lockheart.

  Oh, this was too good.

  "Hey. What are you doing?" Seth called out, approaching Theodore. His team was taking a breather while Dominic maintained the barrier, so why not have some fun?

  Theodore turned to him with this weird little smile, the kind that made Seth think the guy might be a bit touched in the head. "Nothing much. I'm here to kill steal the Beast King from under your noses."

  The smile froze on Seth's face.

  There was silence for about three seconds, and then everyone burst out laughing. His whole team, even Dominic who rarely showed emotion, was cracking up. The idea of this Rank 2 stealing their kill? After all the work they'd put in?

  It was laughable.

  "You?" Seth managed between laughs, putting every ounce of contempt he could muster into that single word. "You're going to kill steal from us?"

  "Probably hit his head on the way down," his teammate snorted.

  "Should we call medical? I think the prince might be concussed."

  Theodore just kept smiling that weird smile.

  Then Seth noticed movement above them. More people dropping from the ridge, though with significantly less style than Theodore's entrance. The smile started sliding off Seth's face because these people looked competent. Had this been a distraction? The one in front was already yelling at Theodore to come back, which was interesting. Was Theodore their point carrier?

  Oh, that was hilarious.

  These poor bastards got stuck with Theodore Lockheart as their point carrier?

  Seth couldn't help but laugh internally at their misfortune. Imagine training for months, preparing for this tournament, only to have your chances torpedoed by having to protect dead weight.

  But then he saw her.

  Tessia.

  Instance One.

  His heart practically stopped beating.

  What was she doing with these people? Why would someone of her caliber be on a team with Theodore Lockheart—

  The teams were random, he remembered with a scowl.

  Theodore was already moving, not even waiting for his team to arrive. The crazy bastard was actually charging at them, or rather, through them, using some kind of invisible force that Seth couldn't quite identify to push them away, much to his surprise.

  Wind magic?

  No, it couldn't be. He'd tried to resist, but he hadn't been able to, so it had to be some kind of artifact. It didn't matter. Theodore was heading straight for the Beast King.

  Seth snorted. Like that was going to work. Dominic's [Barrier] was legendary at their academy. Seth himself couldn't break through them, and he was Rank 4. What was some Rank 2 going to do?

  Politely ask it to open?

  The thought wasn't even fully formed when he heard it.

  Crack.

  Like someone had taken the world's most expensive piece of glass and thrown it against concrete. The barrier shattered into pieces that dissolved into mana particles before they hit the ground.

  Dominic screamed, backlash from having his [Barrier] destroyed so violently. Blood ran from his nose as he dropped to one knee.

  Seth's brain just stopped.

  How?

  How was that possible?

  How did a Rank 2 nobody just break through a barrier that most Rank 4s couldn't scratch?

  But he didn't have time to process because Tessia made a move. Ice erupted everywhere, and suddenly two of his teammates were frozen solid, encased in ice coffins before they could even react. Two of his four teammates, gone just like that, the third one immobile for the moment because of backlash.

  Ludicrous. This couldn't be happening. Seth was lucky. He was always lucky. This kind of thing didn't happen to lucky people.

  But it was happening. Theodore was already at the Beast King, and the Beast King was roaring in pain. Fresh wounds opening where old ones had just started to heal. His team's hard work, their effort, their imminent victory, being stolen right in front of them.

  How could he resolve this? They'd done everything right. Found the Beast King, worn it down, trapped it. They'd done all the hard work and now these people were about to reap the benefits like they'd just walked into a buffet someone else had paid for.

  Seth had been lucky all his life. Every single moment had gone his way. Failed a test? The teacher lost the papers. Picked a fight with someone stronger? They slipped on a banana peel. Entered a tournament? His bracket was full of weaklings.

  But this? This was cosmic levels of unlucky for someone like him.

  "STOP HIM!" Seth yelled at Rosa, his only remaining mobile teammate. Thank the gods it was her—she was their speed specialist, the one person who might actually catch Theodore before he dealt the killing blow.

  Any second now, his luck would kick in and save them.