“This is on me,” Lily said, paying for their meal before Nil could. The teenager had stuck around while the healers purged the venom from Nil’s system. Then they left the gate together, looking for the agreed-upon drink. “Seconds, too. No arguments, please.”

  “You won’t hear any protests from me,” Nil said. “You’ve clearly done amazingly well, but that loss was fucking bullshit. I don’t mean that as an offense to you. I—”

  “None taken. There is a reason I fucking hate the likes of Rattler Butch. If your Might or other resistances aren’t enough to overcome the poison, you’re fucked. I have no doubt you would’ve kicked my ass if not for him.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short.” Nil sighed. “You played me well with the golem antic.”

  Lily giggled. “You have no idea how long I’ve been keeping that a secret. I got it for my Bronze Ascension, and it's been under wraps for a couple of months. No one but the ludus higher-ups knew about it, and I had to train it in secret. There were a few matches that would’ve been so much easier if I could whip it out, but I held off. So, Adrian gave me a Silver Ascension Token for my hard work.”

  Nil leaned back in his chair and whistled. “Wow. I didn't think Wilson Luduses invests so heavily in its assets.”

  “They don't often,” Lily replied, glancing at the bar and the kitchen door behind it. Like most individuals with physically-focused abilities, her calorie demands were high. “Adrian believes I'm the second best available Bronze Realm defensive fighter they have for this Cleansing. The first failed his attempt to your friend Shieldmaster Shawn and he really wanted me to beat you. Since speed and mobility are your greatest assets and my biggest weaknesses, I took the movement ability.”

  “Good thinking. It almost looks like you're liquidating the ground and surfing on it.”

  Lily only smiled, not confirming or denying his hypothesis. “Your match with Pietro was a real nail-biter, by the way. I was almost sure you were going to die.”

  “I was too,” Nil replied. “It's the closest I've come to dying in the arena. The Death Gauntlet really isn't worth it.”

  “Well, whatever you're doing is working for you. There aren't a lot of people out there who qualified for Iron Gauntlet with or just before us and already have a soul weapon. You seem to have a match every week or two and seem to be significantly better every time you appear. I don't know if you've been keeping track but the chat rooms and channels you've been blowing up on them.”

  “Not a lot of people from the qualifiers are almost Silver Realm either, Lily. Don't sell yourself short. I just got lucky with a soul weapon.”

  “Don't give me that bullshit. You don't make any of it look lucky. Who the hell comes into the game almost at thirty and shoots to the top like you? I've seen what's out there. Silver might be the end of the line for me. You, on the other hand, are going to the top.”

  “You're eighteen, Lily.” Nil laughed. “A star and a force to be reckoned with. You got recruited by Wilson Luduses and seem to have Wildshape's personal attention. People who peak early don't do as well as you are.”

  Lily's face hardened. Her eyes broke away from Nil's, and she focused on the table between them. The server arrived just then with drinks and declared that their food wouldn't take long.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “They're going to kick me out of the arena fighter ludus if my performance in the Cleansing isn't good enough,” Lily whispered. “They made me sign a contract for the Silver Ascension Token. If my team doesn't make it to the top three positions, I'll owe the ludus a fair chunk of change and will need to join a security team under the Wilson Enterprises umbrella. I’ll be stuck there until my debt is paid off.”

  “How much is it?” Nil’s chest tightened.

  She's a kid. What the fuck is Adrian thinking?

  “I'd rather not say.” Lily hesitated, eyes darting around the eatery. She seemed worried about eavesdroppers. “I'm not the only one. A few others signed such contracts, including the guy Shieldmaster Shawn defeated. The owed amount is much higher if you fail to get a ticket. He has another attempt and won't be playing it fair.”

  “That sounds horrible.” Nil knew that he didn't have the power to make promises. Giving the young woman false hope was also a bad idea. However, she reminded him of Emily, was a friend, and had trained with him often while they were a part of Golden Aegis. “If you found an out and I got you a membership at the Forge, would you take it?”

  “You'd do that for me?” Lily looked up at Nil, wide-eyed.

  Nil nodded.

  “Thank you.” Lily smiled. “The contract is ironclad, and the Wilsons have an army of super lawyers, but I appreciate it. If I find a way, I'll take you up on the offer.” She sighed, sounding defeated after her recent victory. “It was a mistake, to be honest. I got swept up in the excitement and fame that came with being a Wilson Ludus arena fighter. Adrian has this disarming air about him. It's easy to get caught up in his ideas. Staying an ordinary arena fighter and avoiding the Cleansing business wouldn't have gotten me the Silver Ascension Token, but life would've been easier. The pressure is too much.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “That sounds rough. I’m sorry you got dragged into this. My sister is about the same age as you and has not long become a Summoned. I’m terrified she’ll do something stupid like us and join Apocalypse Arena. I’m afraid of telling her not to.”

  “Because that will make her want to even more.” Lily laughed. “How do I think I ended down this path? If everyone didn’t push so hard for me not to and just stick to being an ordinary Summoned, I probably wouldn’t be now.”

  “I have no choice but to sit around with my fingers crossed and hope for the best.”

  Lily sat back in her chair and stared at Nil seemingly forever. Their meal of smoked lamb ribs, flatbread, and salad arrived, and the pair got halfway through their meals before she spoke again.

  “I shouldn’t be talking about this, but there are two big opportunities to get tickets left that don’t involve a tournament,” Lily told him.

  The statement got Nil to stop eating and listen. He knew of only one and had preemptively signed up for it. It was a race similar to the Cleansing. Individual challengers raced through separate paths and fought Cursed One’s at the end of each of them. The next part of the path opened only after a certain number of challengers or Cursed Ones had fallen. Several paths converged, and fighters clashed. The following gates would open again after a number of participants went down. In Nil’s opinion, it wasn’t a fair event, and luck played a significant role in the victory. The other ticket events Nil had found were all tournaments with several stages. One couldn’t enroll in more than one at the same time, and it was too late to join them.

  “You know how almost impossible it is to find information regarding the Death Gauntlet?”

  Nil nodded.

  “That’s because Arthurtech has a contract with all the big governments. They have bots, algorithms, and entire teams dedicated to digging up intel, scrubbing it, and ensuring the source keeps shut. The same teams also do as much as they legally can with the pre-Cleansing events.”

  “What?” The word came out too loud, and Nil almost banged the table.

  “Most other parties who find out about the Cleansing do so by following the main Apocalypse Arena feeds, which are beyond Arthurtech’s tampering. It helps Wilson Luduses get to the sign-ups a few seconds earlier and grab a bunch of slots.”

  “That explains why almost half the people in these things are your colleagues.”

  “Well, there’s an event that I’m sure you won’t find out about until it's too late.”

  Nil received a contact request from Lily through the Schema Interface. It was the same system he used to send quest invitations. When he accepted it, she sent him an information packet regarding the event, its date, and the sign-up date.

  “Everyone at the Forge has been looking for information regarding this,” Nil stated, frowning. Even Layla struggled to get the relevant information and tasked multiple people with scouring the feeds for information regarding it. “Runner-ups of the tournaments get first dibs on this, right?”

  Lily nodded. “Priority should go to the people who got second in the tournament first and then third place before it opens up to everyone else. Wilson Luduses gets most of the positions because they’re always ready for the sign-ups.”

  It was a battle-royale-style event called the Hunt. It involved fighting Cursed Ones to collect tokens, and the first person to get ten won. Challengers were free to fight one another and steal other people’s tokens.

  “It's one of those crazy events,” Nil said, shoulders drooping. The luck involved in both of his remaining options frustrated him. “I hope I get my ticket from the Chase. The Hunt is always so chaotic, and it's almost always rogues or summoners that come out on top.”

  “I’m afraid the Chase won’t be any easier or better.” Lily’s smile almost appeared apologetic. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re an incredible fighter, but Wilson Luduses is sending four fighters, and you’re likely to struggle with all of them. Three have far more experience than you and will give you a run for your money. The fourth is as green as you and me but just stupidly powerful. Neither I nor the Bronze veterans of our ludus can deal with her. A bunch of Silver Realms also struggle. She’s been getting direct attention from Adrian.” Lily took a break to clean the meat off a rib before continuing. “Just watch yourself. Alright? Don’t get yourself killed trying to chase an impossible target.”

  “People called Pietro impossible. I put him in the ground.”

  “And almost died while at it,” Lily said. “I don’t know why you’re pursuing the Cleansing, but death isn’t worth it.”

  Nil and Lily ended up spending several hours at the back-room eatery. Neither seemed in a rush to return. Nil didn’t look forward to facing Watcher and the others after the loss. He didn’t expect them to reprimand him. They’d sympathize, and with it would come pity. Even though Lily had won, she was unwilling to get back to the pressure and grind.

  They talked about how life had treated them after Golden Aegis failed and their adventures. Nil didn’t tell her about the Forge’s secrets or his time on Ashe Fall. Instead, he said he was currently on a long-term quest with time dilation, and the summoner gave him the freedom to enter Apocalypse Arena on his days off. Lily appeared convinced and opened up about life in Wilson Luduses.

  The media sold the chain of luduses as the place to be for any Summoned who wanted to be somebody or rise to the hall of fame of Earth arena fighters. They had the best equipment, teachers, medical facilities, and deep pockets to help the best get even better. However, anyone who struggled to perform or keep up with the insane pace risked neglect, isolation, and ostracization. Many faced pressure to sign service contracts. It seemed Adrian lured in powerful individuals, took large cuts from them to use the ludus’s benefits and privileges, and kept them cash-poor. It was the perfect control tool.

  Then there was the anti-civilian and anti-government rhetoric.

  The organization seemed to believe that Summoned were supposed to rule, and the rest were lesser, and that the rule of the strong was what the planet needed to rise to the ranks of Control World swiftly. Apparently, many questioned and doubted Adrian and his supporters behind closed doors but kept their thoughts to themselves. It made no sense to Nil. From what he had read and learned during his time on Ashe Fall, even the most low-magic, technology-focused Control World had a Well of Power. A lot needed to change before his world could achieve the same.