"Stop playing with your food, Freya."

  "I am not playing," Freya ducked under a tail that possessed enough force to actually hurt her somewhat if she were to get hit by it.

  The Rank 5 Wyvern roared. It was a massive thing, and quite intimidating. It was annoying, honestly, as much as it was durable. And it was currently trying very hard to eat them.

  "It has a high thermal tolerance." His previous lance had only scorched the outer plating even though he'd intended for it to harm it far more. "Aim for the wings. Ground it."

  "I am a little busy trying not to die, Theodore!"

  "Excuses."

  He raised a hand. [Mind Division] was currently dormant—he didn't need a headache right now—but [Parallel Processing] was working nicely, or at least the functionality of it. He didn't need extra minds, a single mind splintered into multiple threads was good enough. At least he was more familiar with it.

  Calculating everything, Theodore grinned when he saw the distracted beast snarled at the fire barrage and opened its mouth loading up an ice blast that'd be quite annoying to deal with for Freya.

  Nice!

  A compressed bolt of superheated thermal energy formed at his fingertip.

  Fighting, they'd found the inside of the mouth wasn't as armored as the outside, so they'd been trying to get it to open fire, which it knew was its weak moment but it'd fallen into their trap anyway.

  "Move," he said and Freya dropped flat, the Wyvern lunging after her.

  The bolt flew.

  It bypassed the teeth and drilled directly into the brain stem. There was a wet, muffled pop, and the Wyvern's eyes rolled back.

  Its momentum carried it forward a few steps and then it crashed into the earth, sliding through the dirt until its snout stopped inches from Freya.

  Silence returned to the forest.

  Freya dust herself off, looking at the giant lizard with a snort, then at Theodore.

  "You waited," she accused.

  "I was waiting for a clean shot. Efficiency is key."

  "You were enjoying the show."

  "That too."

  They stared at the corpse and sure enough it didn't disappear.

  "Well," Freya kicked the snout. "Rank 5. That's good eating. Do we have any spices left?"

  "I think we have salt."

  "Good enough."

  This was the routine now. They hunted, they chilled, and then they returned home again. It was a simple cycle, really.

  The tournament was still ongoing, of course. It hadn't stopped. The world hadn't stopped turning just because Theodore and Freya decided to take a vacation in a forest linked to a bedroom. But the tournament's last event, the third event, was dragging its feet.

  It came nearer, sure. The matches started happening. But the structure of the event was fundamentally different from the chaos of the first two. The first event was a free-for-all. The second was a team scramble. Those go by fast because people get eliminated in droves. But the third event was slow burn.

  It was the prestige event.

  Multiple one-on-one battles happening on different virtual arenas, actually broadcasted to the masses. It took time to get through the brackets, especially considering how long it typically took the organizers to hype up the crowds. And because it was not their turn yet, Theodore and Freya had time.

  Way too much time.

  So they spent it here. In this forest that Seraphina kindly linked to the room. They hunted. They tried to find new stuff. Higher Rank stuff.. They typically just ate whatever they killed if it was edible.

  Right now, the hunting part was over for the day so they dragged the useful parts of the Wyvern to their makeshift camp. It was mostly just a clearing he had cleared by accidentally razing everything to the ground the other day, but it worked.

  Eating the chicken-like wyvern meat, Theodore's mind wandered back to the anomaly of this place.

  "It bothers me," he said, staring into the fire.

  "The meat? It's a little chewy, but—"

  "No. The ecosystem. We have killed a lot of things. Most of them turned to ash and vanished. Only a few of them typically stay."

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  Freya chewed thoughtfully. "So?"

  "So, I don't know."

  She scoffed.

  Theodore watched her. She was relaxed. She had been hunting with a fervor, yes, but there was a distinct lack of tension regarding the outside world. She had a kingdom to reclaim and a king to overthrow. So he broached the subject. It had been nagging him recently.

  "What have you been doing?"

  She looked up, blinking. "Eating?"

  "No. Generally. What are your plans? What do you plan on doing about the… situation back home?"

  She paused. "Oh. That."

  "Yes. That. I am curious."

  "I haven't been doing nothing, Theodore. I've been doing the most important thing. I've been waiting."

  "Waiting is passive."

  "Not when the trap is already set." She looked at him, the firelight reflecting in her eyes. "I already talked to your father."

  "When?"

  "Before the second event. I needed security and backing. I couldn't just walk back into my kingdom and shout 'I'm back, bitches' without an army or at least the threat of one."

  "And he agreed?"

  "He's a smart man. He sees the value in having a friendly monarch next door who owes him a massive favor. We came to an understanding. He provides the political pressure and the resources; I do everything else."

  So that was it. She had already secured the biggest gun in the room. His father backing her claim meant that the current king of her homeland was essentially walking dead; he just didn't know it yet.

  "So," she said, "I just need to chill. Let the tournament finish. I need to perform well, obviously. I need to set myself in the minds of the people I want help from. If I look weak, that won't do."

  "A marketing campaign," Theodore summarized.

  "Exactly. I win some matches, I look terrifying, I go home, I lead a coup, I overthrow the king. Simple."

  Theodore considered this. It was a solid plan. It relied heavily on timing and perception, but those were things Freya was good at. However, coups were messy. They involved way too many variables. And variables had a nasty habit of exploding.

  "Want my help with that?" he asked.

  Freya froze for a second.

  "Really? You would do that?"

  Theodore shrugged. "I mean, sure. I will do it. Why not? You're my friend. Plus, I haven't overthrown a government before. It sounds like a good time."

  "Aww. That's actually really sweet."

  "I try."

  She smiled, shaking her head. "It's quite alright, though. I can do it on my own. Actually, I have to do it on my own."

  "Pride?"

  "Legitimacy," she corrected. "If you come in and glass the capital city with your magic, I'm not the Queen. I'm just the girl standing next to the weapon. The people need to see me holding the knife. I appreciate the gesture, truly. But this is my mess."

  "Fair enough. The offer stands if you botch it, though."

  "If I botch it, I'll be dead, so you can avenge me."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  "Good." She slapped her knees and stood up, the somber moment passing as quickly as it had arrived. "Now, enough depressing talk about treason. Wanna come watch me beat up some poor bastard matched up with me?"

  Theodore blinked.

  "Oh. Is it your match?"

  "Yeah. It'll take a bit to get to the final battles, but I have to show up."

  "I mean, sure," Theodore said, kicking dirt over the fire to smother it. "I can come watch. It beats sitting here staring at ash piles."

  ***

  Freya's hand connected with the guy's cheek.

  Backhanding him shouldn't have worked but it had enough mana behind it to send the poor bastard flying. He skipped once across the pavement and slammed into the far wall.

  …And that was it. The match was over.

  Winner: Freya.

  He should've expected that, to be honest. These were early matches. The crowd loved it, of course. They ate up the arrogance. She stood there in the center of the arena, not even breathing hard.

  A few minutes later she walked into the VIP room. She didn't look like she'd been in a fight. She flopped down on the seat beside him and grabbed a snack.

  "That took longer than I wanted," she complained.

  "You played with him for five minutes. You could have ended it in ten seconds."

  "I had to let him show off. Narrative structure, Theo. If I crush him instantly, nobody knows he was trying. I let him try his best, fail, and then I crush him. It highlights the gap."

  "Poor guy," Theodore said. "You didn't have to go that hard on him."

  "His parents should have taught him to keep his guard up. Besides, I'm building a brand."

  Theodore didn't leave. His match was scheduled for later that day, so there was no point going back to the dorms just to come back here. He might as well stay and look at some matches . Freya stayed too, mostly because he was there.

  The third event was slow.

  They watched a match between two defensive tanks. It was agonizing. Forty minutes of two heavy armor users bashing shields together. Neither could hurt the other. They just stood there until one of them ran out of stamina and fell over.

  Then there was an Ice Mage versus a Beast Tamer.

  That was funnier, honestly.

  The Mage kept building walls, forgetting that birds can fly. The falcon just flew over the wall and pecked him in the forehead until he surrendered.

  The guy was pretty dumb.

  "How'd he even get this far…"

  Freya chomped on snacks. "Probably hid somewhere and hit weak people-slash-beasts until he had enough points. Bird was cute though."

  "Tactical asset."

  "You are boring to watch sports with."

  Theodore rolled his eyes.

  They watched a fire user boil a water user. The fire user wasted about thirty percent of his energy heating the air instead of the target, but it worked. And then there was a spearman. He was dismantling a barrier mage with strikes so precise Theodore wondered why he hadn't heard of this guy before. No wasted movement. He poked holes in the defense rather than trying to smash it down.

  "He's good." He was really good. "He's in my bracket."

  "Is he?" Freya looked at the screen. "Nice nice. I am jealous."

  "That's the spirit."

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