Theodore POV

  Theodore stopped in his tracks, his whole body turning toward the massive pillar of light that had just erupted into the sky. He let out a low whistle, and honestly, he couldn't help but be impressed. That wasn't a normal Beast King death beacon. Not even close.

  "Change of plans," he said, already feeling the grin spreading across his face.

  "What's that?" Tobin asked, and Theodore could practically hear the exhaustion in his voice. Poor guy had been trying to keep up with Theodore's sudden tactical shifts all day, and it was clearly wearing on him. Not that Theodore particularly cared. This was fun.

  The mana signature was... well, it was something else. Theodore could feel it from here: pulsing like a heartbeat made of pure energy, two of the Beast King signatures he'd been tracking had just vanished completely, and in their place was this absolute monster of a presence.

  The mana signature was so dense it made his teeth ache, and he wasn't even that close to it yet.

  "That's a fused Beast King. Two of them merged their cores together." Theodore said casually.

  Bran's mouth fell open. "That's... that's not possible."

  "Apparently it is." Theodore was already running calculations in his head. The power output suggested something around mid to peak Rank 5, which was absolutely insane for a tournament event. The organizers must have set this up as a surprise element, something to shake things up and make the second event more interesting. Well, they'd definitely succeeded there.

  "So we're avoiding it, right?" Wren said hopefully. "We're going to go in the complete opposite direction and hunt normal beasts like sane people?"

  Theodore turned to look at him with that smile that made everyone nervous. "Why would we do that?"

  "Because we don't want to die?" Tobin suggested.

  Tessia had been quiet through the exchange, but Theodore caught her studying him again. She'd been doing that a lot lately, trying to figure him out like he was some kind of puzzle she needed to solve. It was actually kind of amusing, watching someone from Instance One—someone who'd probably seen every kind of genius and monster the world had to offer—look so completely stumped by him.

  "So what's the plan?" she asked finally, and Theodore appreciated that she'd skipped right past the arguing phase.

  Smart girl.

  "We're going to kill steal. Again."

  Their brains short-circuited as they processed what he'd just said. Tobin looked like he wanted to strangle him, Bran was doing that thing where his mouth opened and closed without any words coming out, and Wren had just given up and was staring at the sky like he was asking the gods why they'd cursed him with this team.

  "You want to steal a fused Beast King kill," Tobin said slowly, like maybe if he said it out loud Theodore would realize how insane it sounded.

  "From whoever's crazy enough to fight it in the first place," Wren added.

  "Which will probably be multiple top teams," Bran pointed out.

  "Exactly," Theodore said cheerfully. "It'll be perfect. They'll wear each other and the Beast King down, and we swoop in at the last second. Easy points."

  It wasn't going to be easy at all, and they all knew it, including Theodore.

  But Theodore had already started walking in the direction of that massive mana signature, and what else were they going to do? Let their point-carrier wander off alone?

  ***

  Theodore crouched behind a cluster of thick trees, watching the absolute chaos unfolding in the clearing ahead. They'd been here for maybe twenty minutes now, and honestly, it was better than any show he could've paid to watch.

  These people really knew how to fight.

  Of course, they'd had to deal with another team on the way here. Some group that had been trying to set up an ambush position, probably hoping to do exactly what Theodore was planning. Too bad they'd picked a spot directly in Theodore's path. He'd dropped two of them before they even knew what hit them—kinetic energy really was becoming his favorite tool. The other three had tried to scatter, but Tessia's ice spears and Tobin's wind blades had made quick work of them. Whole thing had taken maybe thirty seconds, and they'd gotten another six hundred points for their trouble.

  Now they were watching the real show.

  Four teams were fighting the Hydra in what had to be the most suspicious "alliance" he'd ever seen. Every single one of them was obviously planning to betray the others the second that thing died.

  The Hydra itself was magnificent though. Two heads moving independently. It was down to maybe thirty percent health given its mana signature, but that was far from its weakest, in fact it was stronger the more desperate it got, bleeding from dozens of wounds, but still fighting like something that refused to accept death.

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  The team leaders were all peak Rank 4 fighters, and Theodore had to admit they were good. Really good. They'd found a rhythm without even discussing it.

  Peter was exactly what Theodore had heard about. He was an absolute lunatic who treated combat like his personal entertainment system. The guy was laughing while dodging the Hydra's snake head, actually laughing, like nearly getting his head bitten off was the highlight of his day. His team had spread out across the entire clearing the moment they'd arrived, and Theodore understood why. Peter used chaos as a weapon. He needed room to maneuver, space for whatever insane tricks he was planning to pull the moment the Beast King showed weakness.

  Theodore had heard the stories about Peter breaking someone's limbs after they'd surrendered in an academy tournament. Looking at him now, bouncing around the battlefield with that manic grin, Theodore totally believed it.

  The guy fought like someone who'd burn down the world just to see the pretty colors.

  Victoria was the complete opposite, and somehow that made her scarier. The ice queen never reacted to anything. The Hydra's lion head had breathed fire directly at her, and she'd just stood there behind her shield like it was a light drizzle.

  Her ice spears multiplied mid-flight in ways that shouldn't be physically possible, turning one projectile into dozens, and she directed them with tiny finger movements like she was conducting an orchestra.

  Theodore knew she had an assassin somewhere in those shadows too. He couldn't see them, but he could feel the subtle shifts in mana that suggested someone very good at hiding was waiting for the perfect moment.

  Everyone expected her to go for the killing blow at the last second, and honestly, Theodore wouldn't bet against it. She fought like someone who preferred one-strike kills, quick and clean and silent.

  Eddie was the powerhouse. Lightning affinity, raw magical force that had already blown apart huge sections of the forest around the clearing. But here's what Theodore found interesting—Eddie was holding back.

  Theodore could feel it in the way his mana moved. He had at least two fighters in his team who hadn't even powered up yet, just standing there watching like they were waiting for something.

  Smart. Let everyone else exhaust themselves, then come in fresh when it matters. Theodore could respect that kind of tactical thinking.

  And then there was Sven, who Theodore had immediately categorized as the most dangerous one there. Not because he was the strongest—though that golden armor of his had tanked hits that should've turned him into paste—but because he was the most straightforward. His team stayed in tight formation, moving as a unit, and every action had a purpose. No wasted movement, certainly no showing off, just brutal efficiency.

  Theodore had heard Sven had soloed three Rank 4 fighters simultaneously and won. Watching him now, Theodore believed it. The guy moved like someone who'd calculated every possible angle of attack and had a counter ready for each one.

  The Hydra itself was... well, it was something else. Two heads that moved independently, one leonine and majestic, the other serpentine and quick. It roared from both mouths, creating this weird harmony that made Theodore's ears ring even from this distance. Its body was massive, covered in scales that shimmered between gold and black, and every movement sent tremors through the ground.

  The coordination between the four teams was actually impressive, even if none of them trusted each other for a second. They'd fallen into a rhythm without discussing it—Peter and his chaos keeping the snake head distracted and off-balance, Victoria pinning down the lion head with continuous ice bombardment, Eddie blasting apart any defensive scales the creature tried to regenerate, and Sven's team tanking the occasional strike that got through their offense.

  Bodies were already dissolving into light particles left and right. The team leaders didn't even blink when their members got eliminated. Made sense, really. This was a tournament; nobody was actually dying. Might as well use your teammates as disposable assets if it meant getting those points.

  One of Peter's guys had literally thrown himself at the snake head to create an opening, dissolving into particles mid-air as the fangs closed on him. Peter had used that split second to land a devastating blow on the creature's neck, some kind of compressed explosion that made the Hydra scream from both mouths.

  Victoria had lost her healer about ten minutes ago when the lion head had caught him with a swipe of its massive paw. She hadn't even looked back, just adjusted her formation and kept attacking. Cold. Theodore liked it.

  Eddie's casualties were lighter, probably because he'd kept his best fighters in reserve. Smart, but it also meant he wasn't contributing as much damage as the others. Theodore wondered if the other team leaders had noticed. Probably. These weren't idiots; they were some of the best fighters in the tournament.

  Sven had lost two members of his tank line when the Hydra had done this spinning move that Theodore was pretty sure violated several laws of physics. The fact that Sven himself was still standing after taking that hit directly was honestly impressive. That golden armor had flared so bright Theodore had needed to squint.

  "This is insane," Tobin whispered from beside him. "They're actually doing it. They're actually bringing that thing down."

  He was right. The Hydra's health was definitely dropping. Theodore could feel it in the way its mana signature was fluctuating, getting more desperate and wild. Both heads were moving more frantically, less coordinated.

  Blood—or whatever counted as blood for a magical fusion creature—was pooling on the ground beneath it.

  "Ten percent left, maybe less," Theodore murmured, his eyes tracking every movement in the clearing.

  "You're really going to try to steal this," Tessia said. It wasn't a question.

  "Of course I am."

  "They'll kill you."

  "They'll try."

  Theodore could feel Tessia's eyes on him, probably trying to figure out if he was bluffing or actually insane enough to jump into that mess. The answer was both, really. He was absolutely going to jump in there, and yes, it was completely insane. But that's what made it fun.

  The Hydra was almost done for. The team leaders had started moving differently too, positioning themselves for the final strike. They all knew what was coming. The second that thing died, their little alliance would shatter like glass.

  Movement in the trees on the opposite side of the clearing caught his eye. Fast, coordinated, multiple signatures moving as one unit. Theodore's eyes widened slightly, then he chuckled quietly.

  Another team had just burst from the forest, five fresh fighters charging straight at the dying Hydra with obvious intent. They were trying to steal the kill. Someone else had the exact same idea as Theodore, and they'd beaten him to the punch.