Apocalypse: becoming the hidden Ruler

Two currents of Force flared at her right. On the parallel cliff, two figures sprinted—one leading, one trailing. The one in front, tall and handsome in a pale blue robe, caught sight of her. He froze for only a heartbeat before his lips curved in a faint smile.

"Yara," he called, his voice carrying easily even as he kept running full tilt. "We meet again."

His eyes locked on her as if the path itself didn't matter—gaze warm, almost tender.

"Quincy…" Yara's chest tightened, though her pace never faltered. She didn't look back at him, but the tension under her calm expression gave her away. Quincy—the leader of the Hollow Fortress team. And once, her lover.

She hadn't expected him here. And even less expected what she saw next: a second runner, no more than three hundred meters behind Quincy and gaining fast.

Rex.

She knew his name. She'd researched Hollow Fortress thoroughly before the match. Second only to Quincy, and the second-fastest Awakener in their ranks. But she hadn't imagined he could close the distance so quickly.

"I need to move faster," Yara muttered, frustration edging her tone. At her current speed, she might not stay ahead for long.

The paths on the two cliffs weren't far apart—barely over a thousand meters. And ahead, she could already see where they merged into a single trail climbing toward the summit. If Hollow Fortress timed it right, Quincy and Rex could corner her, two against one. One could hold her down while the other seized the flag.

That thought ignited her urgency. Force surged through her body, her clothes snapping in the wind as her speed spiked.

On the other path, Quincy's eyes lit with open admiration. "Just as I thought… still the woman I once loved. Rex!" His voice boomed back to his teammate.

Rex nodded once, then after another burst of speed, slowed to a halt. Yara didn't have time to guess why. Because Quincy had ignited his Force as well—closing the gap, running parallel with her. Together they reached the junction, stepping onto the merging platform at the same instant.

"Snap!"

Quincy started to speak, but Yara had no interest in words. She struck first—a lightning-fast sweep of her leg that forced him back two steps.

Quincy only laughed. "You've grown. You're not the girl who used to cry and demand answers anymore." His smile was calm, almost indulgent.

Yara's eyes turned ice-cold. "I don't want to hear your bullshit."

Memories she'd buried for years clawed up in her chest—pain, betrayal, anger. She funneled all of it into her fists, unleashing a storm of strikes. Quincy matched her blow for blow. His Awakening, like hers, made him a close-quarters fighter. And both sat in the Intelligence Bureau's top rankings—fourth and fifth.

It was a clash of equals. Sparks flew with every hit, each strike heavier than the last.

But their styles differed. Yara pressed hard, aggressive, relentless. Quincy stayed calm, parrying, deflecting, waiting.

"You're distracted," Quincy said smoothly, as if lecturing her mid-fight. "Worried about your teammate, aren't you? That's why you'll lose. That's why I chose Hollow Fortress." His grin widened, irritatingly confident.

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"Back then, your talent outshone mine. But look at us now. We're equals. That's because I made the smarter choice—better resources, better support." He swatted aside a strike, his tone steady, almost teacher-like. "You, though—you're splitting your focus. Worrying.. Doesn't it feel like chains around your wrists?"

His words were calm, steady, meant to sink into her bones.

And damn it, some of them were true. She was worried. Rex hadn't vanished; sooner or later, he'd arrive. And if he joined in…

Yara clenched her jaw. "You're still just full of words."

She forced herself to breathe deep, shoving down the nerves, stripping them away until only steel remained. When her eyes snapped back to Quincy, they were clear, focused.

This time, it was Quincy's turn to hesitate.

They'd only crossed paths three times since arriving at the War College. In his mind, Yara was still the stubborn, hot-tempered girl he'd once held. Strong, yes, but reckless. Easy to provoke.

But this woman before him—cold, unflinching, cutting through his words—was someone else. Someone harder.

"Yara," he said at last, his voice lower now, the playfulness ebbing away. "You really have changed." His eyes narrowed, more serious than before. "But I thought… if you had changed, you'd finally understand me."

A violent tremor suddenly ripped through the distance, shaking the ground like an earthquake. Both Yara and Quincy froze mid-fight, eyes snapping toward the sound.

It was coming from the path behind her. Yara's heart sank. Seven or eight hundred meters away, the trail had collapsed, split apart as if some giant axe had cleaved the cliff in two.

On the far side, standing unsteadily, Rex wiped the sweat from his brow, his face pale. "Damn… that Awakening skill burns me out. But it's done."

Yara stared at the ruined path, stunned. Axel, Umar, the others—there was no way they could cross now. Even a gap of two hundred meters might as well have been infinite. None of them could fly, and falling meant instant elimination.

So that was why Rex had lagged behind. He hadn't been hesitating—he'd been charging up something this devastating the whole time.

Quincy's sigh was soft, but it cut through Yara like a blade. "That's the difference between your team and mine. The gap between teammates isn't so easy to make up. Unless you can take me down instantly, it's five on one."

He wasn't wrong. If Rex had just rushed forward, it would have been a two-on-one slugfest. But this match wasn't about brute-force fighting—it was about the flag. The Hollow Fortress team wasn't playing to crush; they were playing to secure. Rex's earth-shattering Awakening sealed Yara's reinforcements off completely. Now all Quincy had to do was stall her until the others arrived. Victory would be guaranteed.

"Yara, there's no point in pushing this fight," Quincy said, lowering his stance, though he didn't move aside. He wasn't retreating, just conserving strength. He knew Yara had plenty of Force left, and if he went all out here, he'd end up too battered to continue in the finals.

Yara's voice was flat, but her eyes burned with disappointment. "You really don't understand what matters to me."

The words shook her more than she wanted to admit, but they didn't smother her fire. If anything, the disappointment only hardened her resolve.

Quincy's smile finally slipped. A rare frown tugged at his face, and he exhaled slowly. "Still the same stubborn girl. If that's the case—"

His words cut off. A chill of pure instinct swept his spine, every hair standing on end.

A thunderous boom cracked the air. Not behind Yara this time—behind *him*.

"No!" Rex's roar came too late. His body flared into a burst of white light, forcibly ejected from the arena.

The place he'd stood moments ago was nothing but smoke, rubble, and three gaping craters blasted clean through the stone.

Quincy's pupils narrowed. For once, the ever-calm smile vanished. "What the hell…?"

At the far edge of the broken path stood a young man, arm still extended. Three dark cannon barrels retracted into his skin with a hiss, their glow fading slowly.

"You?!" Quincy's voice cracked with disbelief.

"Axel?!" Yara's eyes widened.

"How the fuck is he this fast?!" Quincy couldn't believe it.

Everyone knew one of the Bloodstone Warfare brats carried the terrifying wide-area Awakening known as Original Instruments. Their plan had been simple: never bunch up, never let him hit more than one of them at once. And in their first matches, Axel had shown nothing but that single attack. He wasn't even top fifty on the Bureau's rankings. The Hollow Fortress team had written him off as a one-trick pony.

They'd assumed he'd show up late, maybe take a few potshots. But instead, Axel had arrived fourth—just in time to flip their entire plan on its head. With a single volley, he'd erased Rex from the board and mirrored their tactic, cutting their reinforcements off.