Chapter 272: Twenty, for Now

Doyen took her time over Glitch the next morning. Jin stood beside the examination mat, resisting the urge to tell her that he had already checked the gait twice.

"One claw," she said when she finished. "And still nothing at full power out of that throat."

"Understood. How are the legs?"

"Ready for competition." She handed him the clearance. "The rest did him good. Keep logging the strain afterward."

Jin thanked her and took Glitch to warm up. He walked him through the angle from Cairn’s recordings, checking where each foot would sit if something heavy leaned across his shoulders. Glitch kept trying to turn the exercise into a shove.

"Save it," Jin told him, rubbing the broad ridge above his eye. "You’ll have somebody to push soon enough."

Arena 1 was fuller than it had been for Nadia. Jin spotted students leaning over the upper rail with their phones ready, and felt a small, embarrassing thrill before he made himself look back at the floor.

Osric Kane shook his hand before they took their marks.

"I’ve watched both matches," Kane said. "Congratulations on the climb."

"Thanks."

Kane glanced toward Glitch. "I’d rather it stopped here, though."

Jin smiled despite the tightness in his stomach. "I figured."

Cairn waited behind his tamer, head lowered between armored shoulders. At eight-Star and Silver (High), the bear had more development than Glitch, though slightly lower Quality. Watching it breathe, Jin was more interested in the reach of those forelimbs. The recordings hadn’t quite conveyed how much animal could fit between them.

The referee checked both sides, then called the start.

Cairn advanced immediately.

Glitch lowered his body and met him shoulder-first. The impact carried through the floor into Jin’s bond, heavy enough that his own knees tightened. Glitch held for a moment before the bear’s next step forced him backward.

"Across," Jin called. "Keep your shoulder to him."

Glitch moved sideways, trying to pass Cairn’s leading foot. The bear followed with shorter steps, shielding its chest while one forelimb reached around Glitch’s neck.

Jin called him clear before the paw settled. Glitch withdrew with a scrape across his muzzle, turned, and found Cairn already advancing again.

There was no clean line for Faultline Rush. Each retreat bought a little space, but the bear occupied it before Glitch could set himself for a useful burst. Kane was giving him nothing like Vesper’s committed landing.

"Don’t reach yet," Kane told Cairn. "Stay with him."

Jin heard it and understood. The first grip had tested his response. This time the bear came in behind both shoulders, keeping its forelimbs close until Glitch had to meet the armor again.

Glitch braced under Harden. The collision jarred him, but he stayed low and drove back hard enough to halt Cairn’s advance. For several breaths they strained against each other, claws dragging pale grooves through the composite.

Jin wanted to cheer him on. He kept watching the bear’s feet instead.

Cairn shifted its weight forward.

"Angle," Jin said.

Glitch turned slightly into the coming grip, bringing the slope of his right shoulder against Cairn’s left forelimb. The paw slid across plating instead of hooking beneath his chest. His right leg remained tucked close, available to move.

The other forelimb caught him.

Cairn hauled across the back of his neck, pulling his head and shoulders upward. Glitch’s front feet lost the floor, and Jin felt the sudden helplessness of that missing contact through the bond.

For an instant, he saw Anvil falling again. This time it was his beast being lifted, and the bear was bringing its other arm around.

"Hind feet back! Get down!"

Glitch spread his rear stance and drove backward against the pull. His claws bit into the stone, keeping his hips clear of the bear’s chest. Cairn dragged him a short distance, but couldn’t bring his body upright. Glitch’s left forefoot struck the floor and planted wide.

Jin could breathe again. Barely.

Cairn’s right forelimb still pressed across Glitch’s neck. Harden held under it, but the pressure was building. On the other side, the bear lifted its left shoulder to reach farther around the sloping armor.

The gap beneath that plate opened.

Glitch had his left foreleg planted and both hind feet beneath him. His right foreleg was free. Jin had checked that position on a warm-up mat less than an hour ago; seeing it under the bear’s weight was much less reassuring.

"Right claw. Under the plate."

Glitch shifted onto his supporting limbs and struck upward into the exposed seam.

Rending Dragon Claw tore through the softer hide beneath Cairn’s shoulder armor. The bear’s reaching limb jerked back, and the grip across Glitch’s neck broke as Cairn recoiled.

Glitch landed on all four feet. Blood ran down the inside of the bear’s shoulder, and it favored the wounded limb as it tried to square itself again.

Jin brought Glitch forward a step, ready to keep Cairn from setting another hold.

"I yield," Kane called at once.

"Stop," Jin said.

Glitch halted with his head low, breathing hard. Across from him, Kane repeated the command to Cairn and came onto the floor as the referee ended the match.

Jin waited clear of the medics while they examined the bear. He checked Glitch’s neck, then ran his hand down the foreleg that had delivered the claw. Glitch leaned against him, tired and pleased, with none of the sharp pain Jin had feared during the lift.

"You scared the shit out of me," he whispered.

Glitch nudged his wrist.

"Yes. You did well too."

Cairn remained standing through the first part of treatment. Kane kept a hand against its jaw until the medics persuaded it to lie down. Once they had dressed the wound, Jin approached.

"How bad?" he asked.

"They want another look once the bleeding’s settled," Kane said. "It’ll heal. I’m glad I stopped him when I did."

He rubbed the bear’s cheek, then looked up at Jin.

"You kept the leg free. I thought we had you when his front came up."

"So did I, for a second," Jin admitted.

Kane glanced at Glitch’s rear feet, then back at the grooves in the arena. "Good preparation. And he held it under pressure."

Jin thanked him. Coming from the person who had nearly folded Glitch against a bear’s chest, the praise meant more than the shouting from the tiers.

[Match result: Challenger victory.]

[Jin Astor — Third-Class Rank 20]

[Osric Kane — Third-Class Rank 23]

Jin read his new position twice before closing the notice.

That evening he sat on the yard wall with a ration bar and watched the light turn orange over the training blocks.

Glitch lay below him, working through a generous meal. The cut across his muzzle had begun closing under Lesser Regeneration, and the post-match checks had found no major injury. Jin had recorded the remaining strain and put an extra portion aside for later.

Flicker occupied the warm spot on Glitch’s foreleg. She adjusted her feet whenever he moved his head toward the bowl, then settled again without opening her eyes.

Jin took out his phone.

[Third-Class Rank 20 — Jin Astor]

[Regional League qualifier requirement: Top 20]

[Ranking cutoff: 6 days]

He was inside the line. He still had to stay there until the cutoff, but for tonight he wanted to look at the number and enjoy it.

He sent the result home. Elsa answered first, then his mother, then a longer message from Arthur, who had watched the match and wanted to know whether Glitch’s turn inside the grip had been planned.

Jin smiled and started explaining. Halfway through, he added that the lift had frightened him, but Glitch had been checked and was all right.

Arthur’s reply came while Jin was finally eating his ration bar.

Proud of you, son. Both of you. Feed him well.

Below the wall, Glitch licked his empty bowl and looked up hopefully.

Jin laughed, put away the phone, and reached for the portion he’d saved.