The rumbling had finally stopped.
For the first time since the Battle Royale began, the cavern felt… still. A heavy, ominous stillness, like the air immediately after a storm but before the next wave of thunder. Jake lay unconscious on a flat slab of stone, curled slightly around the ridiculous holographic badge Bumble had given him. He mumbled something about juice and flopped one hand over his face before settling deeper into blissful, oblivious sleep.
Swift stood over him with quiet vigilance, frost trailing under his feet in a thin whisper. Shadeclaw sniffed Jake once—just once—to confirm he was still breathing, then returned his focus to the battlefield. Sedge Hat tried to poke Jake with a bead until Swift swatted his hand away. Tundra Lynx leaned against a boulder like a statue carved from glacier ice. Ember Claw looked bored. Jade looked entertained. Giga-Ronin looked like an iron monument waiting for its next earthquake.
Mira didn't look at Jake at all. She just glided through shadows toward the center of the newly stabilizing arena, every step devoid of sound, every movement so smooth it made other fighters uneasy.
The arena ground shifted beneath all of them. Mana seams glowed brighter, the stone slabs sinking and rising in a synchronized pattern as the transformation finished. Echoes of grinding gears and rumbling pillars faded into silence.
A chime rang through the cavern.
Two seals dissolved.
Jimmy inhaled sharply through the speaker system. "Ladies and gentlemen and assorted monstrous entities—THE BIG BOYS ARE BACK!"
Julian screamed, "NO! LOCK THEM UP AGAIN! THE ARENA IS NOT READY!"
Energy barriers that had previously held back two of the most powerful combatants flickered away like dust lit by sunbeams.
Wolf King cracked his neck.
Danny stretched his arms over his head.
Both looked around the battlefield as if returning from a brief vacation.
But before either could take a meaningful step, the atmosphere changed.
Something cold and regal swept across the cavern.
Raw, ancient, lunar power seeped through the stone.
And from the far end of the arena, moving with the unhurried grace of a monarch crossing her throne room, stepped the Wolf Queen.
The cavern reacted instantly.
Shadeclaw's fur stood on end.
Jade stopped laughing.
Sedge froze mid-bead-jiggle.
Ember Claw swore.
Tundra Lynx blinked—once.
Even Giga-Ronin slightly tilted his head.
Mira alone did not react.
She simply turned, eyes half-lidded, expression unreadable, as the Wolf Queen's scent and presence washed over her like a tidal wave.
The Wolf Queen stood tall, elegant, terrifying. Her silver-white hair draped down her back like streams of moonlight. Her gauntlets were carved with runes so old they hummed with forgotten names. Her eyes glowed a chilling, royal blue—cold enough to burn.
The queen did not look at Danny.
Did not look at Wolf King.
Did not look at Shadeclaw.
She looked only at Mira.
She did not raise her voice.
She didn't need to.
"You have killed many of my kind," she said calmly. "Come, ghost girl. Show me the darkness of your shadow."
The temperature dropped.
Mira lifted her chin a fraction.
A faint shimmer crossed her eyes.
She said nothing.
The Wolf Queen blurred.
One moment she stood ten feet away.
The next, her clawed gauntlet carved through the space Mira had stood in—missing by less than a hair.
Mira had glided backward, silent as dust falling on silk.
Then she moved.
Her counterstrike was a flicker—two pressure-point hits aimed at the Wolf Queen's ribs and neck. But the queen twisted gracefully, blocking both with a single fluid sweep of her gauntlet.
The air cracked.
Mira lunged again—an attack so quick and elegant only Swift and Shadeclaw could fully track. The Wolf Queen intercepted her mid-stride, caught her wrist, twisted her body into a perfect throw, and slammed her into a pillar.
Stone shattered.
Mira slid to her feet, unhurt, unfazed, and utterly unreadable.
Jade whispered, "Oh… she mad."
Shadeclaw rumbled low in his throat. "Royal blood hunts differently."
The Wolf Queen blurred again. Mira vanished behind a pillar. A slash cut through stone, carving a crescent-shaped crater. Mira flickered out, reappearing on the queen's blindside with a knife aimed at her throat.
The Wolf Queen snapped back, twisting with preternatural awareness, and deflected the blade with a gauntlet swipe that left a crescent of luminescent claw-marks hanging in the air.
Jimmy shrieked, "HOW IS THIS REAL?!?"
Julian gasped, "THE SHADOW GIRL IS GETTING HUNTED!!"
The Wolf Queen hissed through her teeth—not out of anger, but exhilaration.
"Good," she said softly. "Very good. I rarely enjoy a kill."
Before Mira could respond, a new shadow fell across the battlefield.
Wolf King.
He took his time approaching, savoring the atmosphere, reading the terrain. When he reached his Queen's side, his presence filled the cavern like a rising tide.
"She moves well," he said. "Allow me to test her too."
Mira's weight shifted fractionally. She did not straighten. Did not tense. She only adjusted her stance in the smallest way, acknowledging the new threat without fear.
On the sidelines, Ember Claw yelled, "That's a TWO ON ONE! SOMEONE STOP THAT!"
Swift said nothing—eyes sharp, ready.
Shadeclaw growled but did not intervene.
Jade muttered, "Ah, mate, she's gonna get diced."
Tundra Lynx just exhaled frost.
Giga-Ronin watched with interest.
The Wolf Queen moved first.
Mira countered.
Wolf King closed in.
And suddenly the silent assassin was forced into defense—trapped between two predators who hunted with generational synergy. Every time she evaded the Queen's slash, the King was already cutting off her escape. Every time she tried to slip behind one, the other was already attacking.
She was faster than both individually…
but not faster than both together.
The crowd felt it.
The fighters felt it.
Even the arena seemed to tremble beneath the escalating footwork.
And then Danny stepped forward.
Not fast.
Not aggressive.
Not with allegiance.
He walked like a man who'd been inconvenienced.
"Hey," he said with a sigh. "You two are about to crack the arena again."
Wolf King smirked. "She is a worthy prey."
Danny lifted a finger, unimpressed. "This is a tournament. Not your private hunt."
Wolf Queen raised her chin. "Do not interfere, human."
Danny looked offended. "Human?"
Wolf King chuckled low. "You are strong, Danny. But you are not royal blood."
Danny sucked his teeth. "Royal blood? Please. I don't even need blood to beat you."
Mira flicked her eyes toward Danny once—not in appreciation, not in relief, not in alliance. Just a tactical acknowledgment of a new factor entering the field.
Danny's presence did not help her.
It simply complicated the battlefield.
The Wolf Queen lunged at Mira again.
Danny caught Wolf King's fist with one hand.
Wolf King snarled and pressed down.
Danny didn't budge.
At all.
The Wolf Queen's claw slashed toward Mira's throat—
Mira vanished into a blur.
She reappeared behind Wolf Queen, fingers aimed for her spine—
Wolf King twisted, kicking off Danny to intercept the strike.
Danny flicked a finger and parried Wolf King's kick casually.
Wolf Queen forced Mira back with a lunar chi burst.
Mira absorbed the brunt of it with a sharp exhale and landed on one knee.
Every fighter on the sidelines winced.
Shadeclaw murmured, "She cannot fight both."
Swift nodded slowly. "But she will not stop."
Jade whispered, "She ain't got surrender in 'er."
Ember Claw muttered, "She might die."
She might have.
Except Mira never stopped moving.
Her feet became whispers. Her breath disappeared. Her presence slipped into a ghostly state. She glided between the royals with impossible precision—dodging claws, countering fangs, using momentum like she was made from reflections and nightmares.
Wolf Queen sliced open Mira's cheek.
Mira stabbed a needle into Wolf Queen's thigh.
Wolf King's kick shattered a pillar Mira had just left behind.
Danny blocked Wolf King again, irritated.
Wolf Queen released a moonburst that cracked stone.
Mira backflipped through the shockwave, twisting like a ribbon in wind.
Every impact triggered secondary eliminations across the arena.
A shockwave blasted Sedge Hat off his feet, sending three fighters tumbling into teleport beams. Ember Claw and Tundra Lynx retreated as debris rained down. Giga-Ronin planted his feet, tanking the shock without flinching. Jade lost his footing, cursed, then punched someone out of sheer frustration.
Jimmy shrieked, "THE SCOREBOARD IS GOING CRAZY!!"
The eliminations ticked:
55 → 52 → 51 → 50
The cavern trembled with each disappearance.
Swift shielded Jake with frost barriers.
Jake sleep-mumbled, "Stop… fighting… I'm snack…"
Bumble rolled out of a crevice, eyes blinking erratically.
"CAREFUL—SLEEPING BRONZE UNIT DETECTED."
He gently patted Jake's forehead.
Mira didn't notice.
The royals didn't care.
Danny was losing patience.
All four fighters—Danny, Wolf King, Wolf Queen, and Mira—stood in a rough semi-circle now.
The royals glowed with lunar fury.
Danny radiated bored destruction.
Mira pulsed with silent killing intent.
None trusted the others.
None would back down.
A deep grinding sound shook the cavern.
The arena's final transformation engaged.
Platforms spiraled inward.
Stone gears locked into place.
The battlefield tightened into the Top 50 Spiral.
Wind swept across the cavern as spotlights turned inward, illuminating the center stage where the fiercest monsters now stood.
Mira stood.
Wolf King stood.
Wolf Queen stood.
Danny stood.
A four-way storm waiting to happen.
Far behind them… Jake snored.
Bumble hummed, "REST MODE: S U C C E S S."
The platform clicked.
The Top 50 ring locked.
And the chapter ended, hovering in that fragile, terrifying moment before everything exploded again.