Chapter 81: New team

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: New team

The door to Elena’s office closed behind them, and Felix stretched his arms overhead. "That was a lot to take in." Seraphina walked beside him, thoughtful, Liora trailing a few steps back.

They’d barely made it halfway down the corridor before Felix stopped short. "Oh! Liora, almost forgot." He pulled a thin, sealed document from his belt pouch. "Here."

She stared at it. "What is that?"

"Your contract. You’ve cleared the rehabilitation requirements for the initial period, and after the breakthrough, the Association revised your rank assessment."

She took it carefully with both hands, eyes moving between the seal and his face. "Is this—"

"Pretty much the same structure as Seraphina’s." Seraphina glanced over, and Liora straightened on reflex. "The original was drafted under your B-rank status. You’re A-rank now, so compensation got revised to match."

Her fingers trembled slightly. "A-rank?"

"Officially paid at A-rank, yeah."

For someone who’d spent years as a prisoner, the idea still felt faintly unreal. She opened the document and scanned down the page, breath catching halfway through.

"Two days?"

"Two days off after a month of raid duty," Felix said, smiling.

She stared at the line again. Two whole days. No cell, no supervision, no clock running down. She could leave. She could play games. She could—

Her head snapped up. "I can buy new games?"

"Obviously."

"You’re getting paid now."

"And—" She hesitated, cheeks going pink. "Can I play with you?"

He blinked. "Sure."

"Even on my days off?"

"Yep."

Her eyes practically lit up. "No time limit?"

"No time limit."

She looked back down at the contract, silent for a second, then hugged it to her chest. "Thank you, Felix."

"You’re welcome," he said, smiling.

Behind him, though, Seraphina’s expression had shifted, something most people would have missed entirely.

Her smile stayed perfectly in place. Her eyes had gone noticeably darker. Two entire days.

She knew exactly what that meant: Felix and Liora, alone, for two straight days, playing games, eating together, talking, none of the usual guards or schedules or missions keeping anyone’s attention split.

Her knuckles whitened as her hands clenched into fists. She had no objection to Liora earning her freedom, of course not, that would be unreasonable. She genuinely wanted the girl to get stronger. But giving that little pink creature two solitary days to sink her claws even deeper into Felix?

​*Not a chance in hell.*

---

The moment they stepped outside, Felix spotted Aria and the rest of the team waiting: Aria at the front, Darius beside her, Kael leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, Lena next to him, Ryan and Mira and Orion rounding out the group.

"What’s everyone doing here?" Felix asked, raising a hand.

"Waiting for you," Aria said, walking over.

"Something happen?"

"Yeah. The B-rank members left the team."

He blinked. "All of them?"

"Requested reassignment."

He looked around: no anger anywhere on anyone’s face, just quiet understanding. "Why?"

"Couldn’t keep up," Darius said. "We run too many high-rank missions. Even on the lower gates, the pace outstrips what a B-rank actually needs to develop properly."

"They weren’t weak," Aria added. "They just weren’t getting enough real fights to grow from."

"And they can’t level up if we’re clearing everything before they get a swing in," Ryan said.

Kael shrugged. "Basically we were a terrible team to be a B-rank on."

Lena retort him. "Don’t say it like that."

"It’s true, though."

Aria sighed. "We talked it through together. They’ve been moved to teams running at the right pace for where they actually are."

"Probably better for them," Felix said.

"It is." Aria glanced at Seraphina, then Liora.

"Which brings us to the second thing."

"Both of them are permanent on the team now."

Liora froze. "Permanent?"

"Yes."

Seraphina’s mouth curved into something satisfied. Liora looked between Felix and Aria, back and forth. "R-really?"

"Really," Felix said, smiling. "Congratulations."

Her whole face brightened.

"So," Aria said, "current roster: four S-ranks. Me, Darius, Felix, Seraphina." She kept going.

"Six A-ranks: Kael, Ryan, Lena, Mira, Orion, and Liora."

"Ten," Felix said, counting it off.

Kael whistled. "We got smaller."

"Stronger, though," Darius said. "Much stronger."

He wasn’t wrong. Four S-ranks on one roster was already rare, most S-rank teams were lucky to field two, and some SS-rank teams didn’t even manage four. Six additional A-ranks on top of that bordered on absurd.

And having an S-rank healer with Ultra III proficiency fighting alongside all of it was the kind of advantage SS-rank teams would have envied outright.

Felix seemed entirely unbothered by any of that. "So we’re ten now, officially."

"Works for me," he added.

"Think it’ll be fun," Mira said, smiling. Orion nodded quietly. Ryan grinned.

"As long as someone else handles the paperwork," Kael said, stretching.

"You never change," Lena said, sighing.

Aria turned to Liora. "Welcome to the team."

She froze, every pair of eyes suddenly on her.

"Welcome," Darius said, with a calm nod.

"Glad to have you," Ryan said.

"You’ll get used to us," Mira added, stepping closer.

"Just don’t let the psycho side of you eat me," Kael said, pointing.

"Stop calling her that!" Lena smacked him.

"Ow!"

Liora’s face went bright red. "T-thank you..."

"You don’t have to be nervous," Mira said.

"I-I’m not," Liora said, stepping back, straight into Felix, hands grabbing his sleeve on reflex before she’d even registered doing it.

He glanced down. She realized what she’d done and turned an even deeper shade of red. "S-sorry."

"It’s fine."

She stayed exactly where she was, only her hair and half her face visible from behind him. Aria bit back a laugh. Darius looked away with a small smile. Ryan grinned openly.

"She’s hiding behind Felix again," Kael whispered to Lena.

"Leave her alone."

"Liora?" Aria said.

"Y-yes?"

"You can come out, you know."

A pause. "...I’m okay here."

Felix laughed. "Give her a minute." Liora tightened her grip on his sleeve. "Thank you," she murmured.

---

Author’s Note: Going Premium!

Starting from Chapter 70, upcoming Chapters will be locked behind coins/Fast Passes, and Privilege is now live if you want to read advance Chapters ahead of time.

You can still read for free using daily app Fast Passes, but any coin unlocks or privilege subscriptions directly support me and keep the daily Chapters rolling.

To celebrate, I’m dropping a 3-Chapter mass release today.

Enjoy the read!