117. Tomb Kings (IV)

Zane checked out the treasures inside.

The first was a single feather—red at the center, radiating out to yellow at the edges. It flickered and smoldered just sitting there. Fire Laws poured out of it like heat waves.

𝔽𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝔸𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒, 𝔽𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩 (𝔸)

𝔽𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕖 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩𝕖𝕤. 𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕓𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕣𝕦𝕟𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕧𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕤. 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕖 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩𝕖𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕟 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖. ℍ𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕖𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕖: 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕣𝕦𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝔸𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒, 𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 𝕡𝕖𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕒 𝕍𝕚𝕟 𝔼𝕝𝕚𝕟, 𝕀𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕚𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕫𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.

Lots of proper nouns Zane didn't know there, but he got the gist. He was happy with this one. This would do.

The next was a handful of seeds floating around each other; arcs of lightning buzzed between them like they were tiny tesla coils. They were filled to the brim with Electricity Law.

𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕃𝕠𝕥𝕦𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕖𝕕 (𝔸)

𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕃𝕠𝕥𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕞 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝔾𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕄𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥 𝕋𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥, 𝕕𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞—𝕒 𝕠𝕟𝕔𝕖-𝕚𝕟-𝕒-𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕦𝕞 𝕔𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕓𝕦𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕥𝕪-𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝔸𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕥, 𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕃𝕠𝕥𝕦𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕖𝕡𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕃𝕒𝕨. 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕃𝕒𝕨.

That seemed good too.

Then there was the Wood Law treasure for Reina.

𝕋𝕖𝕟 ℝ𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔾𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕕 (𝔸)

ℂ𝕣𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕒 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕕-𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣-𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕘𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕕 𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕖, 𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕤 𝕒 𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕥𝕙, 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕝𝕖𝕕𝕘𝕖, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣, 𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕗𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕕. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝔾𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕕 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕔𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕣 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥, 𝔼𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕜 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕖𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕖.

He pocketed them, nodding. Always the same few Factions. He swore he'd seen these names three or four times already—and each seemed based on an Element.

It would probably be a few days yet before he could really make use of the treasures. He still hadn't recovered from his last breakthrough. But he was sure he could find things to do to fill the time. For one, he had a few spars to get through. With Avery and also that Eze guy. He knew he was at least a cut above folk like Mike Masters; he had to be among the best in the world. But where did he rank in there?

Really he was just eager to have a really great fight. He'd been eyeing the same six or seven names at the very top since months ago… now he was finally here.

There was also that Hell Array to try out. He'd give it a real go this time; he liked how you could actually go all out. When Zane fought, he was never much worried about death. But he still had to care about it. There he could disregard it entirely. He could go fully ballistic if he wanted. He smiled.

Yes. There was lots to do. This place had been set up to be some kind of theme park for World Rankers; he'd make good use of it.

Speaking of—

"Is there some way I can speed up my soul recovery?" He asked Elias.

"Sure there is! Every Dojo's got a soul sauna. Soak in there for a few days and you'll be fixed right up."

Zane nodded. "One more thing. I want to go back to Reina. Every night, if I can. How can I do this?"

"Ahh—for that you'll want a regional teleportation portal. Pretty easy to set up between high-ranked Beacons. For you, buddy, I'll do it at cost! That'll be twenty-five high-grade essence stones."

Zane stared at him.

"… Alright," said Elias, coughing. "So maybe that's a slight exaggeration. It's really only twenty."

Zane kept staring at him.

"Fine, fine! You caught me. Fifteen."

Eventually they settled on four. Elias was a little miffed by the end of it, which was a good way to confirm it was the actual price.

"You must make dozens of high-grade essence stones a day," said Zane.

"Well—hundreds," Elias corrected. "But do go on."

"And you're fighting this hard over a portal."

"It's not about the money," said Elias, grinning a 'who, me?' grin. "It's the thrill of the chase! Oh, don't you give me that judge-y look. Like you never hit things just to hit things."

"…"

It would take a day to set up. Elias said the concierge would let him know when it was done. The warlock gave a wink and vanished.

***

The next morning, Zane met Avery and Evan upstairs for breakfast. The restaurants in their skyscraper spire of a hotel were for World Rankers only. Which meant they were a lot less crowded than the food courts and barbecues and food stalls and public restaurants scattered across the campus.

This restaurant was a fancy one. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows showed the rolling green hills of the bay; a wall of fog crept over the Golden Gate. The tables were covered in a creamy tablecloth, with so many little forks and knives Zane wondered if it was meant for a family of mice. They mostly served fruits and cheeses. In colors that never came on earth—pink cheese that melted in your mouth and blue grapes that tasted fresh as glacier water, but sweeter.

Avery greeted him with a wave. "Heyyo!"

Evan, meanwhile, gave him a big hug.

"You did it!" He beamed. He was all excited. "You saved northern and southern California once and for all!"

They all sat down and started eating. Evan clearly didn't know how to use the forks and knives, judging by how clumsily he handled them. But he did his best. Avery frowned at all the utensils, then used her longest, thinnest knife like a skewer and started going at the cheeses like she was spearfishing. Zane tried what Evan was doing for all of five seconds, gave up, grabbed a handful of cheese in one hand, and a handful of grape in the other, and just started stuffing them in his mouth.

Evan wanted to know every little thing about how the fight went down, so Zane told him; Evan gasped and ooh'd the whole time. Avery, meanwhile, fell off her chair laughing when he said how he ended up hitting Mike. He frowned at her. "What?"

"Sorry," gasped Avery. "It's just…you better never ever change, ya big lunk."

Eventually, they wound back to what Avery and Evan had been up to.

"I've been teaching him new stuff," said Avery. She grinned. "Here—watch this!"

She turned to Evan, who was still nibbling on a cheese wheel. "What do you do if someone gives you a piece of candy and tries to lure you into their van?"

Evan swallowed a bit of cheese. "I don't go in the van!" He said proudly.

"Correct! Why?"

"'Cause just because they're nice to me doesn't mean they're good people!"

"Exactly."

As a reward Avery gave him a piece of candy, which Evan accepted quite happily.

"I'm learning," Evan informed Zane.

"…What?"

"He got scammed out of a bunch of essence stones yesterday," said Avery cheerfully. "So I beat up the shopkeeper and got them back for him. Now I'm making him scam-proof and bribe-proof!"

Evan nodded, all excited. Then he blinked at Avery. "Wait…you said you asked for them back nicely."

"…Huh. I did say that, didn't I?" said Avery.

"Yup."

"Well, uh. Drat. It seems you've caught me in a lie. Anyway, back to the point at hand—Evan's bribe-proof now!"

Evan blinked. He seemed to be a little confused trying to figure out just what part of all that to focus on. He ended up latching onto the positive bit—he beamed. "I'm bribe-proof now!"

"Huh," said Zane.

Evan sat there basking happily for about three seconds. Then he blinked. "Um. Avery? I have a question."

"Shoot."

"How can you tell if they're really trying to trick you? What if they're just being nice?"

"That's a great question, young grasshopper," said Avery, nodding wisely. "You have to look at the person. Some people are just not nice people. So when they act nice, it's weird."

"Oh!" He chewed on that thought for a bit. And also on the cheese. Then—"…But how can you tell if they're nice people or not?"

Avery frowned. "Don't you ever look at someone and just get—y'know—bad vibes from them? A bad feeling?"

"…No?" said Evan, looking baffled.

"Hmm." Avery inspected him closely. "Hmmmm. Say. What do you think of Elias?"

"He seems like a really nice guy!" Evan beamed. Then he wilted a little at the look on Avery's face—"…I got it wrong again, didn't I?"

"Oh boy," sighed Avery. She put her hands on her hips. "We've got a lot of work to do."

"I think I'm just really gullible," Evan told Zane. He seemed rather sad about it.

"Not to worry, grasshopper!" said Avery. She gave him an encouraging pat. "By the time I'm through with you, you'll be a regular sleuth. It's like in those manga you like to read, right? So what if you're a bit of a silly goose right now? That just means you need your character arc."

Evan gasped. Then his eyes started shining. All his sadness washed away; suddenly he was all excited again. "I'm getting a character arc!"

"That's right! And fear not! I'll be your wise old mentor. This will be awesome."

At this point Zane had long since lost the thread of what was going on.

***

After breakfast the two of them went off to the Light Law area again. Evan had just gotten his last Major Law, apparently. He was close to breaking through.

Zane, meanwhile, had planned to spend the rest of his morning recovering at that sauna Elias was talking about. Or sparring Eze if he saw the guy. Whichever came first.

He was just on his way to the Warrior Dojo when an explosion caught his eye.

An explosion rippling with the same Laws he'd seen on the Feather of Astoria. Laws of Elemental Fire. He stilled.

It came from a branching path; he went down it, and found a massive crowd—several hundreds strong—clamoring around what looked to be an arena-sized boxing ring. Pale blue wards bound it tight. When he inspected it a notification popped up.

𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖: 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕚𝕟𝕘 (𝔸)

𝔸 𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕤-𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕪𝕤-𝕠𝕟 𝕤𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖! 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 ℂ𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕤 𝕜𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕦𝕥. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕓𝕤𝕠𝕣𝕓𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕡𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝, 𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕘𝕠 𝕒𝕝𝕝-𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕠𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤'.

ℂ𝕦𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕚𝕠𝕟: ℂ𝕒𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤, 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 ℝ𝕒𝕟𝕜 #𝟠

Inside, a battle was going down. Or rather, winding up.

A spear thrust out—and Fire Law torched the scene. It fell in a dazzling inferno, sweeping waves of flame cascading one after another after another—one after another as Cain stabbed out, an endless, building eruption.

There was a cry, then a flash of bright-blue essence.

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣: ℕ𝕚𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕚 𝕄𝕠𝕠𝕣𝕖, 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 ℝ𝕒𝕟𝕜 #𝟠𝟝, 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕕𝕖𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕!

"Good fight, lad! Well done!" laughed the spear-wielder. He was a chunky squat guy with a curling mustache. He looked vaguely familiar—had they met?

The challenger gave a little pained nod and ducked out of the ring. The crowd poured on raucous applause. Cain soaked in it, smiling, bowing.

"Thank you!" he said. He had a pleasant, booming voice. "Thank you, everyone! It's my pleasure. I must say. Just a day ago, I had a rather shocking and unpleasant experience that almost sent me packing my bags and sailing back to England. Well—I'm glad I stayed! I've shown a higher class today, my friends, than I thought I was capable of!"

The crowd seemed to agree. They started chanting—"Has-tings! Has-tings!"

"The Lion of Manchester!"

"The uncrowned king!"

Cain was loving it; he took a little victory lap.

"Who's next!" He roared. He even beat his chest. "Who's next? It'll take a brave man, I'll say! Why, in the form I'm in now—I daresay I could beat any man in the world!"

Zane was just about to volunteer. He was grinning just watching; those were fighting words.

It turned out someone felt exactly the same way. Because those words had hardly left Cain's mouth when a stark feeling shot up on the other side of the crowd—a feeling so strong it cut through the swathe of feeling-noise, shone singular and bright over it all.

It was a feeling of burning pride, a feeling of intense competitiveness.

"Is that so?" said a deep, measured voice.

An aura flared. A vast, unfathomably heavy aura; standing in its presence felt like staring down a ravine with no bottom. It towered over even Cain's.

And it silenced the crowd in an instant.

A man strode in from the edge of the crowd. A man built thick and dense; his muscles were starkly defined, his features strong and regal. He looked like a Terminator.

𝔼𝕞𝕖𝕜𝕒 𝔼𝕫𝕖

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟙𝟜

𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕝𝕖: 𝕋𝕠𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙

The crowd parted, choking and gasping and shoving over themselves, like peasants before a king. He didn't acknowledge them. He only had eyes for the man in the ring. A man who'd suddenly gone quite pale.

Emeka leapt—and landed right in the center of the ring.

Then he leveled his eyes at Cain. And spoke.

"I'm next."