Shifting Allegiances

Chapter 22: Shifting Allegiances

The rules of the Maw were changing—but not in any official way.

It started with glances.

Whispers passed between fighters as they were escorted to their cells. A nod here. A hand gesture there. Silent communication forged in the fire of survival. Ryo had noticed it even before his last fight with Elya, but now it was unmistakable—an undercurrent of unrest swelling beneath the surface of the arena.

The system was beginning to rot from within.

He stood by the barred window of his cell, watching storm clouds brew in the artificial sky above the Maw. A clever illusion—one designed to instill dread, to simulate a world constantly on the edge of chaos. But for the first time, Ryo wasn't afraid.

Not of the sky.

Not of death.

But of what he might become if he ignored what was coming.

The cell door opened. Taro stepped inside—calm as always, eyes as sharp as razors.

"You made quite a statement," Taro said, folding his arms. "Refusing to kill Elya? That doesn't go unnoticed."

"I wasn't trying to be noticed," Ryo replied. "I was trying to be human."

Taro gave a half-smile. "That's dangerous in a place like this."

He sat down across from Ryo.

"You're not the only one who's tired of the blood. Some of us have been waiting for a reason to fight back—not just in the arena, but against the people behind it."

Ryo's eyes narrowed. "You're talking about rebellion?"

"I'm talking about survival on our terms."

Taro tossed a small device onto the floor—a crude transmitter cobbled together from scraps. "That's how we've been communicating. Short bursts. Encoded signals. The Maw monitors everything, but not everything all the time. Their arrogance is their weakness."

"Who's 'we'?" Ryo asked.

Taro leaned in, voice low.

"People like you. Fighters who still remember why they came here. Who haven't been hollowed out by the serum or the violence. Elya. Kael. Even a few former champions, believed to be loyal."

Ryo picked up the transmitter. It hummed faintly.

"We believe there's a way out," Taro continued. "But we need leverage. We need fighters strong enough to stand a chance—and a moment when the system is weakest. That moment is coming."

"How?"

Taro's voice turned cold.

"There's a special exhibition match scheduled soon. Public. Broadcasted to the outside world. A propaganda show. They'll bring in outsiders to observe. Investors. Politicians. The kind of people they don't want to see chaos."

"And that's when we move?"

Taro nodded. "A coordinated disruption. We make a statement no one can ignore. But if even one of us hesitates—"

"We die," Ryo finished.

The silence that followed was thick with implication. Ryo stared at the transmitter. Was this what Ren had tried to do? Was he part of this before everything went dark?

He didn't know.

But he had to find out.

The next few days passed in tense, coded conversations.

Ryo met with Kael in the training halls. They sparred, but their conversation was the real focus.

"I've seen the blueprints," Kael whispered between jabs. "There's a tunnel beneath the north wing. Old evacuation route. Sealed off, but not impenetrable."

"They'll expect that," Ryo said, ducking a punch. "We'll need a distraction—something big."

"I'm working on it," Kael replied, breathless. "Just stay alive."

In the mess hall, Ryo passed Elya, who handed him a folded note hidden inside a strip of cloth. It read:

Champion Zhen is in. But watch your back. Not all alliances are true.

Ryo burned the note in his palm, letting the ash fall into his soup. He glanced across the room to see Zhen—tall, imposing, scarred from countless matches. The man had once torn off another fighter's arm with his bare hands. Now he gave Ryo a small, almost imperceptible nod.

The rebellion was real.

But so was the danger.

That night, Taro returned, his face unusually grim.

"We have a problem," he said. "One of our own—Fae—was caught with a transmitter. She's dead."

Ryo's chest tightened. "Do they know about the rest of us?"

"Not yet. But they've doubled surveillance. We need to move sooner than expected. The exhibition match is in three days."

Ryo clenched his fists. "Then we use it."

Taro placed a hand on his shoulder. "I hope you're ready, Ryo. Because after this, there's no going back."

Three days later.

The arena had never looked so polished. Banners lined the walls. Drones hovered above, broadcasting the event live. The stands were filled—not with bloodthirsty fans, but with officials, investors, and dignitaries. People who believed they were watching a display of elite combat.

Ryo stood at the gate, his heart pounding.

Kael was already in position beneath the arena, preparing the explosive charges to breach the northern tunnel. Elya and Zhen would initiate the disruption mid-fight. Taro would handle the control room.

And Ryo?

He would be the spectacle.

The announcer's voice thundered through the arena.

"Introducing… Ryo Kazan! The Beast's Maw's rising star!"

The gates opened.

Ryo stepped into the fire.

His opponent was massive—one of the last serum-enhanced monsters. But Ryo barely saw him. His focus was on the signal. The moment the disruption would begin.

The match began in a blur of violence.

Ryo ducked, weaved, struck with precision. The serum within him burned, threatening to push him over the edge—but he held firm. He had to buy time.

Then—

A flash in the control tower.

Taro had made his move.

All at once, the lights flickered. A deafening alarm blared. The gates slammed open as explosions rocked the lower levels.

Chaos.

Screaming.

The rebellion had begun.

Elya charged into the ring, taking down the guards flooding the floor. Zhen joined her, roaring like a beast himself. Ryo spun, knocking his opponent unconscious with a bone-crunching kick, then sprinted toward the breach.

Kael waved from the smoke, bloodied but alive.

"This way!"

They ran.

Through shattered corridors.

Past dying guards and panicked workers.

Toward freedom.

But as they reached the old tunnel, a figure emerged from the shadows.

Tall.

Familiar.

Ren.

Clad in enforcer gear, eyes glowing faintly with serum rage.

He stood between them and the exit.

Ryo froze.

"Ren…"

His brother's expression was unreadable.

"Don't do this," Ryo whispered.

Behind him, Taro shouted, "We need to go—NOW!"

But Ryo couldn't move.

Not yet.

Not until he knew whether the brother he loved still lived behind those cold, dead eyes.