Chapter 145| Arena 3 (II)

Chapter 145: Chapter 145| Arena 3 (II)

"Get up, Calloway," Nyx said.

Zane got up.

His chest still hummed where the shockwave had hit him. Not pain, just the dull echo of his own output coming back at twice the force. He rolled his shoulders and checked the notification sitting in the corner of his vision.

『 Quest: Touch Nyx Hale’s butt. Time remaining: 23:41:07 』

’Twenty-three hours,’ he thought. ’Against a girl who reads my shoulders.’

『 The system believes in the host. 』

’You believe in data.’

『 Same thing. 』

Nyx had already reset her stance. Low, feet shoulder-width, hands loose at her sides. Waiting.

"Ready?"

"Give me a second."

"No."

She came at him.

It was the first time she’d attacked instead of answering, and the difference showed immediately. She moved in a straight line with no wasted motion, and her palm shot toward his sternum faster than he’d have guessed from someone who’d spent the whole spar redirecting.

Zane stepped left. Overdrive at B-rank 10% hummed under his skin, the floor sharpening, her movement stretching into slow, readable frames.

Her palm brushed the sleeve of his suit and kept going.

’Close,’ he thought.

"You’re thinking too loud," Nyx said, already turning.

"I’m not thinking."

"You are. Your shoulders drop right before you commit." She slid back into range. "Quest running in your head?"

Zane blinked.

"What quest?"

"Whatever you’re staring at when you go quiet." She said it like she was reading a menu. "Don’t worry. I won’t ask."

『 System Note: She is observant. The system suggests the host not look at the corner of his vision during sparring. 』

’Now you tell me.’

_ _

They traded blows for another minute.

He went high, she turned it. He went low, she caught his wrist and rolled it clean over her hip. He landed on his feet and swung back, and she was already two steps away, breathing even.

At the three-minute mark Zane gave up on speed and tried reading.

Not her movements. Her force. Whatever she did with each redirect, a pull, a turn, a shove, it left a trace on his arm afterward, a faint pressure sitting where her fingers had been. Nobody could see it, but he could feel it.

’She doesn’t push me,’ he thought. ’She lets my own motion run and then bends it.’

He reached for the third slot.

Kinetic Force sat in his chest, silent and dark. Zero percent. No wiring behind the switch.

But now he knew what the switch felt like.

When Nyx redirected his next strike, he followed the pressure instead of resisting it. He let it travel up his arm, through the shoulder, down the spine, and at the bottom of the curve he found something.

A seam. A thin line where his motion and hers overlapped.

He pushed.

Nothing happened.

Then, for half a second, the air between his fist and her palm rippled like heat above asphalt.

Nyx’s eyes dropped to it.

It was tiny. Barely a flicker. Anybody watching from the gallery would have missed it.

She didn’t.

For a moment neither of them moved. Her gaze came back up, steady and unreadable.

"Interesting," she said quietly.

"Don’t start," Zane said.

"I didn’t say anything."

"You said interesting."

"It’s an observation." She stepped back, tilted her head the way she did when she was filing something under a heading only she could read. "Again."

『 System Note: Kinetic Force trigger located. Output remains at 0%. Meaningful output will begin scaling when familiarity with Nyx Hale reaches Acquaintance tier. 』

’So I can pull it now,’ Zane thought. ’Just not do anything with it.’

『 Correct. It is a first step. 』

_ _

Five minutes later his legs were starting to complain.

Nyx hadn’t broken a sweat.

"You’re slowing," she said.

"I’m pacing," Zane said.

"You’re slowing," Nyx repeated.

He didn’t answer. His eyes had slid to the corner of his vision again, where the quest timer kept counting. Twenty-three hours, thirty minutes, and nothing about how to complete it without sounding like a complete lunatic.

Then he saw the opening.

It wasn’t a plan. It was a mistake, one of hers. After a clean redirect she’d turned a half-step too far, weight shifting onto the back foot, and her whole frame was angled away from him.

Zane lunged.

He went low and grabbed for her waist as if he were trying to take her down.

Nyx twisted. Her heel caught his shin. They both lost balance. The world tilted, and for half a second there were too many limbs in too little space.

His right hand landed on something soft and firm.

He froze.

So did she.

Neither of them moved. The air in Arena 3 went still, and the only sounds were their breathing and a faint echo of the ventilation.

『 QUEST COMPLETE 』

『 Touch Nyx Hale’s butt — CLEARED 』

『 Reward: +15% Gacha meter 』

『 GACHA METER: 0% → 15% 』

Zane very slowly removed his hand.

"Calloway," Nyx said.

"It was a fluke," Zane said.

"Calloway."

"It was totally a fluke," Zane said. "You turned. I slipped. Physics."

Nyx looked at him. Not red, not flustered, not even surprised. She just stared with those flat, unblinking eyes, and the silence stretched until he was fairly sure he could feel his own pulse in his ears.

"You put your hands on a prodigy like me," she said at last, "and I’m going to take that as a fluke."

"Yes," Zane said, much too quickly. "Fluke. Completely."

"Good," Nyx said.

"Thank you," Zane said.

"Don’t thank me." She straightened up, brushed a loose strand of blue hair off her shoulder. "The next fluke will be treated differently."

"Understood," Zane said.

"I don’t think you do," Nyx said.

He opened his mouth. Closed it.

The corner of her mouth moved. Barely. A twitch that might have been disapproval or might have been something she’d never admit to.

’So much for touching her ass,’ he thought. ’But it felt different. My hand sank into something soft, like fleshy foam.’ He suppressed a groan. ’Damn me. I didn’t squeeze hard enough.’

『 Nyx Hale — Familiarity +3% 』

『 Current: 24% — Stranger tier 』

『 System Note: She was not offended. She was entertained. The system is filing that under promising. 』

’Entertained,’ Zane thought. ’I couldn’t even tell from the expression on her face.’

『 Girls tend to reveal their reactions gradually, over time. Give it time. 』

’I hope you won’t get me killed before my time,’ Zane thought.

『 The host makes remarkably funny statements. 』

’But it’s still a win-win,’ Zane thought. ’Who would’ve thought I’d end up in the same room as my first crush, let alone touching her ass.’

『 The system sees the host is grateful. 』

’Sheesh,’ Zane replied.

Nyx collected her bag from the edge of the floor and slung it over one shoulder. She stopped at the door and looked back.

"You found something today," she said. "Near the end."

Zane’s throat tightened.

"Did I?"

"I won’t push." She held his gaze for one more beat. "Same time next week. Don’t be late."

She left.

The door clicked shut behind her, and the arena fell quiet.

Zane stood in the middle of the floor and let out a long breath.

’Fluke,’ he thought. ’She gave me a fluke.’

『 System Note: The host has a very generous partner. 』

’She’s not my partner.’

『 The system is simply taking notes. 』

He picked up his bag.

Somewhere on the other side of the building, Maren and Nil were probably waking up from their hangover. Dex was probably still snoring. And he was standing alone in an empty arena with a Sigil he could finally pull and no idea what to do with it.

’One thing at a time,’ he thought, and headed for breakfast.