Chapter 203 Amendment

Misha walked beside Astrid, occasionally adjusting the unfamiliar clothing issued by the organizers. Without her usual equipment, she felt considerably lighter, although not in a particularly reassuring way. Her weapons, and Hearthkeeper’s Cloak had been taken into official custody, leaving her dressed in the same practical combat uniform as the other contenders. At least the material was comfortable enough to move in, and the reinforced boots appeared sturdy.

At the far end of the tunnel, by the Arena floor waited for them once more.

The Arena looked different from when they had entered for the opening ceremony. The ceremonial decorations had been moved aside, leaving most of the field clear, while recovery teams occupied designated stations beside the exits. Healers and officials checked their equipment beneath the watchful eyes of supervisors, occasionally consulting the floating projections from their wrist watch.

At the far end of the field stood a man dressed in a dark blue robe embroidered with silver geometric patterns. He appeared to be in his forties, with neatly tied brown hair and an expression of intense concentration as he examined a circular formation engraved into the stone beneath his feet. Several assistants stood nearby, carrying mana crystals and adjusting the small metallic devices positioned around the formation.

Misha glanced toward him, and Astrid followed her gaze before she spoke, "He’s a spatial-type Awakener. The organizers usually hire someone with portal-related ability to handle deployment, since transporting this many contenders individually would take too long."

"What a convenient ability," Misha remarked, watching as the man raised one hand over the formation. "Imagine never having to deal with traffic again."

Astrid smiled in amusement. "I imagine the mana consumption would make ordinary transportation considerably cheaper."

"Don’t ruin my fantasy."

The man’s fingers moved through the air, leaving thin blue lines suspended in their wake. As the mana formation beneath him began to glow, the lines gathered into a circular shape, and the empty space within it rippled like water disturbed by a falling stone.

Misha watched with interest. Unlike the portals generated by the Tower, this one was clearly being maintained through an Awakener’s ability. She could see the mana circulating around its edges, feeding the unstable opening as the man continued shaping it.

The difference was subtle but recognizable.

Misha thought of hiring the man for Carl’s training after the tournament since they both have related abilities.

Several officials stood nearby waiting for him to finish stabilizing the passage. Once the entrance was ready, the contenders would presumably be sent through in groups according to their registered assignments.

Misha turned toward the stands, searching the reserved section where she had spotted the others earlier. Elyes sat near the railings with his elbows resting against his knees, looking thoroughly unimpressed by the spectacle unfolding below. Sebastian occupied the seat beside him, his posture as immaculate as ever despite the noise surrounding them.

And there, between the two, was Carl.

The boy had apparently finished the drink he had been holding. He was leaning forward now, watching the contenders gather with an expression that suggested he was trying to determine exactly what the officials were doing.

Misha raised her hand, and this time when Carl saw it, he responded almost immediately. His fingers lifted in a small wave before he seemed to remember that he was supposed to be upset with her. He quickly lowered his hand, turned toward the spatial Awakener and adopted the deeply serious expression of someone who had absolutely not been caught waving at anybody.

She couldn’t help but smile beneath her mask. ’Yeah, yeah. I saw that, you little brat.’

Astrid followed her gaze and noticed Carl’s sudden fascination with the portal formation. A knowing smile appeared on her face, but she said nothing, apparently deciding that Misha deserved to enjoy the small victory without commentary.

Everything appeared to be proceeding normally according to plan.

The spatial Awakener raised both hands, and the circular opening before him widened. Blue light spilled across the engraved formation, drawing a ripple of applause from spectators who apparently found even ordinary transportation skill worth celebrating.

An official approached the formation and signaled toward the control booth. The announcer’s voice carried through the Arena, requesting that the first group of contenders prepare for deployment.

Then every projection above the field went dark.

The enormous crown hovering over the central platform vanished first, followed by the registration columns, the countdown, and the smaller displays positioned along the Arena walls. Even the illuminated symbols beneath the recovery stations flickered before going out.

For one strange moment, the Arena was left with nothing but the murmuring of thousands of spectators. Then, a sharp chime rang through the stadium.

Ding!

Misha’s head snapped up. She knew that sound.

A blue System appeared directly before her eyes, larger than any of the local event notices and edged with a narrow line of violet light. Identical windows appeared before the contenders, each one suspended at eye level regardless of where its recipient was looking.

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

Crown Trial registrations have been recognized.

Cross-Tower Convergence is now authorized.

Local Event Parameters have been superseded. 」

For several seconds, the Arena seemed unable to understand what was happening.

Misha read the notice again. Cross-Tower.

Her thoughts went immediately to King, to his explanations about the Root, and to the countless questions she had been forced to put aside because understanding the Tower’s greater structure was difficult enough without an emergency unfolding every few days.

’Well, fuck. Apparently, we’re doing this now.’

"Misha?" Astrid’s voice came from beside her, low enough that nobody else would hear. She turned toward the same window, her earlier composure replaced by wary concentration.

"I see it," Misha replied, keeping her eyes on the announcement.

The spatial Awakener had stopped moving. The blue opening he had created trembled violently, it carefully maintained edges bending inward despite his attempts to stabilize them. He spread his fingers, feeding more mana into the formation, but the light continued thinning until the circular passage collapsed into a handful of fading sparks.

The man staggered backward, and one of his assistants hurried forward to support him, while another examined the formation with an increasingly frightened expression.

Misha’s attention had shifted toward the empty space above the Arena floor. Something was wrong there since the air had begun to darken.

At first, it resembled a narrow shadow suspended vertically between the contender formation and the central platform. Then the shadow widened, revealing an impossible depth that made Misha’s eyes ache whenever she attempted to focus on it.

A portal appeared, a real one. Space itself seemed to have been cut apart as the opening rose higher than the Arena’s ceremonial platform, its dark interior bordered by pale symbols that rotated slowly without producing the slightest sound. Sand lifted from the ground beneath it, hanging in the air for several seconds before falling back without disturbing the surface.

Several contenders took an involuntary step backward.

Unlike the portal the spatial Awakener had attempted to create, this one did not flicker or struggle to remain open. It simply existed as though the Tower had decided that the space belonged to it now.

Ding!

「 〔INTER-TOWER EVENT〕

«The Ten-Day Claim»

Confirmed Participants: 1,540

Origin Towers: [UNDISCLOSED]

Registration Status: FINALIZED

—

All recognized Crown Tokens will be incorporated into the event’s claim system. 」

Misha stopped reading at the participant count.

The remaining participants were somewhere else, in other Towers, perhaps gathered beneath entirely different skies. She was pretty sure that they probably weren’t holding the same event, so the System could have done something else to recruit those participants.

Misha looked toward the dark portal again. ’What in the hell is happening?’

「 〔INTER-TOWER QUEST〕

«The Ten-Day Claim»

Duration: 10 Days

Objective: Accumulate Trial Tokens

—

Final ranking will be determined by the number of valid Tokens held at the event’s conclusion.

Trial Tokens are not required for survival extraction.

Lethal combat is permitted.

—

[PARTICIPANT DEATH IS PERMANENT] 」

Misha felt the air leave her lungs.Her eyes returned to one particular line at the end. The words remained unchanged. The Tower had simply authorized the participants to kill one another.

Beside her, Astrid made a small, disbelieving sound.

"No." Her voice was barely audible, and she touched her own band as though pressing the metal might somehow restore the protection that had just disappeared. "That’s not what we agreed to."

Then the Arena erupted. The protests came from every direction. Some contenders even demanded that the officials cancel their registrations immediately, while others pushed toward the exits, apparently hoping that leaving the field before deployment would remove them from the event.

The spectators were no quieter. People rose from their seats, pointing toward the strange portal while attendants rushed along the walkways in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain order. Misha heard frightened shouting from the lower galleries, followed by the sharp sound of something breaking near one of the entrances.

On the central platform, Noob Slayer 69 stood.

He moved with a speed that contrasted sharply with his old appearance, stepping away from the ceremonial seat without waiting for an attendant to retrieve his cane. The elderly man’s expression had changed completely, and when he raised his hand, the amplified voice rang through the Arena held none of the warmth of his opening speech.

"Cancel all registrations!"

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

Local Authority Override Denied.

Participant registration has been incorporated into the convergence roster.

Withdrawal is unavailable until the event conclusion.

Field placement will commence in 00:01:00 」

Then, without giving anyone another chance to protest, the countdown began.

「 00:00:59 」