The Hive: Post-Battle

  The silence in the webbed chamber was heavy. The only sound was the wet shick-shick of Amari’s skinning knife.

  He wasn't harvesting for the Academy. He was cleaning the crime scene.

  Amari stood over the Matriarch’s corpse. He had already carved out the choicest cuts of high-density muscle—meat that would fuel his Stage 2 physique for weeks—and packed them into the lead-lined bottom of his bag next to the Star-Moss.

  Now, he was butchering the head.

  He used a heavy pry-bar to smash the edges of the wound where his fist had penetrated the skull. He roughed up the smooth puncture, making it look jagged.

  Make it look like an explosion, Amari thought. Not an impact.

  "Miller," Amari said without looking up.

  Miller jumped. The Water Mage was sitting against the wall, staring at his shaking hands.

  "Y-yes?"

  "Come here," Amari ordered. "Bring your staff."

  Miller stumbled over, his boots slipping in the green ichor. He looked at the massive spider, then at Amari. He looked terrified.

  "Hit the wound," Amari said, pointing to the shattered skull.

  "What?"

  "Cast an Ice Impact right here," Amari said calmly. "Then shatter the ice. We need frost burns on the carapace. It needs to look like magic killed it."

  Miller swallowed hard. "But... but you killed it. You punched it."

  Amari stopped working. He turned slowly, wiping his bloody knife on his pant leg.

  "No, I didn't," Amari said. His voice was level, reasonable, and terrifying. "Because if I killed it, then the Prince did nothing. And if the Prince did nothing, then Jace died for no reason."

  Amari looked at Sara, the Healer, who was weeping silently over Jace’s body.

  "If you want Jace’s death to mean something," Amari continued, looking back at Miller, "then he died holding the line so the Prince could land the killing blow. He died a hero. Not a sacrifice."

  Miller looked at Jace’s broken body. He looked at the Prince, shivering against the far wall. Then he looked at the Porter, calm, bloody, and standing tall over the monster.

  Miller understood who had actually fought the beast.

  He looked back at Amari and nodded slowly.

  Miller raised his staff.

  "Ice Impact," Miller whispered.

  A chunk of ice slammed into the spider's head, masking the fist-hole with frost and jagged shards.

  "Good," Amari said. "Sara. Burn the edges with a cauterizing spell. Make it look like a Solar Lance hit the ice."

  Sara wiped her eyes. She didn't argue. She crawled over and did as she was told.

  Amari stepped back. He looked at Niko.

  The Assassin was leaning against a pillar, arms crossed, watching the fabrication with a look of dark amusement.

  "You are good at this," Niko murmured in the low tongue of the Old Way. "You've done this before."

  "I have," Amari replied.

  Amari walked over to Jace.

  The Tank looked peaceful now. Amari had closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. His broken shield lay beside him.

  Amari knelt. He unclasped Jace’s cloak—a heavy velvet cape with the Academy crest.

  He wrapped Jace’s body in it.

  "Grab his legs," Amari told Niko. "I'll take the shoulders."

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  "The Prince should carry him," Niko said, glaring at Caelum. "It is protocol."

  "The Prince can't even carry himself right now," Amari said. "Lift."

  They hoisted the body.

  "Squad 4," Amari announced. "Move out."

  The Ascent

  The elevator ride up took ten minutes. It felt like ten years.

  The confined space smelled of sweat, blood, and burnt metal. Jace’s body lay on the floor in the center, wrapped in the cloak.

  No one looked at it.

  Caelum stood in the corner, staring at his reflection in the polished steel doors. He ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it back. He adjusted his platinum pauldrons.

  He was rebuilding his mask.

  "The report," Caelum said suddenly. His voice was stronger now. Less shrill. "We need to coordinate the timeline."

  Amari didn't look at him. He was leaning against the back wall, his heavy pack resting by his feet.

  "Jace engaged the Matriarch," Caelum recited, testing the words. "The anti-magic field was stronger than anticipated. Miller and Sara were neutralized. Jace held the aggro for three minutes. He took a critical hit."

  Caelum paused. He glanced at Jace’s body, then quickly looked away.

  "In that window," Caelum continued, "I overcharged the Solar Lance. I broke through the Matriarch's resistance. The backlash... caused structural instability. Jace was caught in the collapse."

  Amari listened. It was a good lie. It absolved Caelum of the freeze. It turned negligence into a "backlash" accident.

  "And the Porter?" Caelum asked, his eyes flicking to Amari in the reflection.

  "The Porter carried the supplies," Amari said flatly. "And retrieved the body."

  Caelum nodded. He seemed to stand taller. The narrative was taking root. The guilt was being paved over with glory.

  "It is a tragedy," Caelum sighed, practicing his solemn face. "But victory requires sacrifice."

  Niko made a sound—a low growl in his throat.

  Amari put a hand on Niko’s shoulder. Restrain, the grip said.

  Ding.

  The elevator slowed. The air pressure equalized.

  "Helmets on," Amari said to the squad. "Look devastated. But victorious."

  The doors opened.

  The Platform

  The bright lights of the Academy launch bay hit them.

  A medical team was already waiting, alerted by the system’s casualty notification.

  "Squad 4 is back!" a logistics officer shouted. "Medic! We have a Code Black!"

  The medics rushed forward.

  Amari and Niko stepped aside, letting them take Jace’s body.

  Sara collapsed into the arms of a nurse, sobbing loudly. Miller sat down on a crate, staring at nothing.

  Dean Vance was there.

  The Dean stood on the observation deck, looking down at the team. His face was unreadable. He looked at the body. He looked at Caelum.

  Then, his eyes found Amari.

  Amari held the gaze. He didn't salute. He didn't bow. He just stood there, covered in dungeon filth, his face a mask of stone.

  Caelum stepped forward. He removed his helmet dramatically. He looked exhausted, noble, and heartbroken.

  "Dean Vance," Caelum called out, his voice projecting for the crowd of students watching. "The Matriarch is dead. The Nest is cleared."

  A murmur went through the room. An S-Rank clear?

  "But the cost..." Caelum gestured to Jace’s body. "Jace fought with the courage of a King. He died so that we could strike the final blow."

  The medics wheeled Jace away.

  Caelum walked toward the Dean, his lackeys trailing him. The students parted for him, whispering in awe of the "tragic victory."

  Amari and Niko were left alone by the elevator.

  Amari picked up his pack.

  "Go," Amari whispered to Niko. "Don't be seen with me."

  "The Dean knows," Niko warned, watching Vance.

  "The Dean suspects," Amari corrected. "But he has no proof. Caelum just gave him a lie that protects the school's reputation. Vance will accept the lie because it's convenient."

  Niko nodded. He stepped back into the shadows of a support pillar and vanished.

  Amari adjusted his straps. He felt the weight of the Star-Moss in the false bottom.

  He began the long walk back to the F-Class dorms.

  He didn't care about the credit. He didn't care about the Dean.

  He had the cure.

  The Dean's Office: 30 Minutes Later

  Dean Vance sat behind his desk. The room was dark, lit only by the holographic display of the mission log.

  [MISSION STATUS: SUCCESS]

  [TARGET: ELIMINATED]

  [CASUALTIES: 1 (JACE - TANK)]

  [MVP: PRINCE CAELUM]

  Vance tapped the desk.

  He pulled up a secondary file. The biometric data from the Porter’s suit.

  [SUBJECT: AMARI]

  [HEART RATE: 55 BPM (CONSISTENT)]

  [MANA USAGE: 0]

  [POSITIONING: COMBAT PROXIMITY]

  "Fifty-five beats per minute," Vance whispered.

  During a boss fight where a student died. During a fight where the Prince’s heart rate spiked to 180.

  Amari’s heart rate hadn't even elevated to a light jog.

  Vance closed the file.

  "He wasn't panicking," Vance murmured. "He wasn't afraid."

  Vance leaned back in his chair, staring at the data.

  "He was in control."

  He pressed a button on his comms unit.

  "Connect me to the Disciplinary Committee," Vance ordered. "We have an incident to review. It appears... safety protocols were violated by support staff."

  Vance smiled.

  "Let's see if the Glitch can survive a trial."