Chapter 302: The Only Name on the Sheet

Chapter 302: The Only Name on the Sheet

Dray’s opponent brought out a coilback serpent named Wick. It lay low across the grit, its head moving only enough to follow Argent while the rest of its body shifted behind it.

Argent’s first approach was deliberately short. He struck and withdrew before the nearest coil could turn around his hind legs.

Dray changed sides on the second entry. This time the spinehound reached Wick’s shoulder and drove it back, forcing the serpent’s tamer to move away from the boundary.

Jin leaned forward, watching for the coil.

It came from behind the head instead of the trailing body. Argent twisted free, but Wick had gained the room its tamer wanted.

On the next approach, the serpent retreated further than before. Dray checked Argent’s pursuit and sent him across the withdrawal rather than straight after it.

Wick folded back through the space it had left open.

One coil caught Argent’s hindquarters. He nearly pulled clear before the second settled, and Dray yielded as it began to tighten.

The referee called for the result. Wick released it promptly, leaving Argent standing stiffly while his tamer crossed to him.

[Meridian 1 — Sablecourt 2]

Dray returned with a hand against Argent’s neck.

"I should have stopped him after the first coil," she said to Marris.

"You got him free twice," the coach replied. "That last retreat changed the angle. We’ll review it."

Dray nodded, but she kept watching her beast as the medic examined him.

Renn faced Imre Sable and a longarm gibbon named Gallows.

Sledge kept a close guard against the first quick strikes. When Gallows withdrew, he advanced behind it, trying to take away the space its reach required.

For a while, it worked. Renn drove the gibbon toward one side and forced it to change direction close enough for Sledge to catch an arm.

Imre called sharply. Gallows rolled with the grip, planted its free hand, and kicked off Sledge’s chest before the hold could close.

It landed beyond reach again.

Jin heard Renn’s next command and watched Sledge move to cut off the retreat. Gallows checked its step instead of continuing, struck across the ape’s guard, and escaped through the opening left by that movement.

From then on, Imre varied the exits. Sledge could still threaten a catch, but each failed attempt cost him a strike on the way out.

Renn changed to shorter advances. He was still trying to limit the gibbon’s space when Gallows feinted another withdrawal and came back across Sledge’s leading side.

The granite ape turned to catch it. His forefoot slipped beneath the sideways impact, and Gallows drove him down before he could recover his balance.

Renn saw the position and called surrender.

[Meridian 1 — Sablecourt 3]

[Sablecourt Academy advances to the semifinals.]

Jin looked at the four results on the screen.

Only his name had a win beside it. He looked away when Nessa lifted her head, suddenly uncomfortable about being caught reading it.

Corin had begun putting away the wraps he’d laid out for the fifth bout. He folded one, unfolded it, then pushed the lot into his bag.

"Need a hand?" Jin asked.

"No. Thanks." Corin found the zip and pulled it shut. "Go with Glitch."

Across the floor, Sablecourt were gathering around their fourth winner. Jin could hear them over the departing crowd. A few minutes ago he’d wanted Meridian to sound like that.

He collected Glitch’s care sheet and followed Renn toward the holding wing.

He found Renn standing beside a treatment bay while the staff cleaned Sledge’s cuts. The ape was alert and reaching for a feed container which someone had placed just outside his grasp.

"I had the arm," Renn said when Jin stopped beside him. "Felt him close on it."

Jin nodded. He’d stood up at that moment, sure Renn had found the hold.

Sledge reached for the feed again. Renn moved the container closer, then waited for the medic’s nod before opening it.

"Sorry," he said. "You don’t need the replay."

"It’s fine." Jin held out the care sheet before realizing it was his own. He lowered it. "I can stay."

"Yeah. Do." Renn shifted to make room. "Good win, by the way."

"Thanks."

They stood together while Sledge ate. Jin thought of two things to say about the gibbon’s retreat and kept both to himself.

Back at the hotel, Marris kept the debrief short. She marked the changed retreat that had caught Nessa, Wick’s wrapping angle, and the gibbon’s escape from Sledge’s grip.

"Watch the moment before the exchange," she told them. "You all found an opening at some point. We need to see why it stopped working."

Jin opened his recording with the others.

Marris brought up the revival notice.

[Meridian Academy — Revival Contest 1]

[Scheduled: Five days]

[Revival Final qualification requires victory]

"Two academy wins for the remaining semifinal place," she said. "We knew the route before today. Now we prepare for it. Recovery tomorrow, then supervised work according to your beasts’ clearance."

Nobody had to pack. Jin was relieved enough to feel embarrassed about it; they still needed two wins, and he’d already imagined the journey home.

Dray pulled a chair beside Nessa. They began disagreeing quietly about the strider’s retreat, which sounded better than the silence on the ride back.

Jin’s recording opened on his victory. He watched the tail strike once before moving back to the failed catch. Glitch rose too early. From here, with the result safely past, it looked obvious.

He marked the time for Marris and closed it.

He took care of Glitch before opening the Engine that evening.

The cuts were clean. Lesser Regeneration had begun closing the smallest ones, but Jin kept the fresh flank seams covered as instructed. He fed him, checked the water, and let Flicker fly between the stall rail and his arm while Glitch settled.

At nine, he sat down with his phone.

The kestrel fight kept returning to him. Glitch had abilities that reached beyond his claws: Acid Breath, Dread, the distance covered by Rush. None had offered reliable pressure against Sickle while keeping Glitch in a position he could defend.

Full-power breath still wasn’t cleared. Dread might disturb a dive without putting the bird within reach. Rush needed a line that a circling target rarely gave him.

I need another way to make them move.

He wanted another noisy dinner with these people after a win. He wanted his parents watching Meridian in a semifinal. And, yes, he wanted a larger share of the rewards. He’d checked the resource list often enough to remember several entries without opening it.

One more chance. Make something of it.

Jin opened the quarry map and moved beyond the familiar junction routes. A side passage past the Third Descent remained unexplored. He had marked its entrance during an earlier run and left it alone while the established circuit paid well.

Tonight he sent both avatars through.

The passage opened into a chamber of broken slab and scattered stone. A thick pillar stood near the far side, with enough space around it for something large to move.

That something was sitting with its back against the base.

It rose when Glitch entered: a grey-black ape with massive forearms and a plated ridge across its shoulders.

[Ballast Ape]

[Rank 1, 9-Star]

[Quality: Gold (Low)]

Jin stopped the avatars near the entrance.

That’s a lot of arm.

He sent Flicker higher and moved Glitch forward cautiously. The ape shifted its weight, lowered one fist, and drove it toward the floor.

Loose stones settled around Glitch. His next step shortened abruptly, his legs bending under a weight that hadn’t been there a moment before.

"Back."

He tried. The ape crossed the gap before he could leave the affected patch and struck him across the shoulder.

Glitch’s avatar hit the wall hard enough to scatter fragments. Flicker darted toward the ape’s face, but its returning forearm caught her before she cleared the reach.

[Avatars destroyed.]

[Respawn available.]

Jin sat still for a moment, thumb resting against the edge of the phone.

Real Glitch slept beside the chair. Jin glanced down at him, then back at the patch of floor where his avatar’s legs had buckled.

You didn’t even touch him.

He reopened the encounter. This time he watched the ape’s shoulders, though it was difficult not to look at the fists.