The reordering tournament went by quicker than expected. It was clear that the Saltabiiq had not truly earned their way to their respective floors, though there were a few exceptions. As a result, the standouts decimated their way through their opponents without much struggle.

However, the pace of the tournament slowed to a crawl when it was Warrick and Iosh's turn to face each other. Most of it was bragging. But even during the actual fight, the two seemed to cancel each other out with their Talents. After what seemed like forever, Iosh finally fell to Warrick.

Soon it became clear who the Equituum would be. Champion Oriander, Warrick, Grimlow, and Vir.

Oriander was no surprise. He was not their Champion for nothing. None could stand against him and his mighty fists. Just as he did not need a weapon, he did not once use his Talent. Only his signature boxing. No Ahngreel was upset, however. This was to be expected of their Champion. He was the exemplar of true Ahngreel strength.

"A gentleman has no need for weapons. It would be an insult to my opponents if I had to rely on external strength."

Warrick was the opposite of Oriander in terms of fighting style. With Iosh out of the way, no one could stand against his devastating Talent. However, no one was more surprised than Warrick himself.

"I'm disappointed in how weak the Saltabiiq are. All yer fangs are going in the bottom of my collection," he said with a laugh.

He squatted in front of his opponent, who was half-buried in the ground, opened his mouth, and used his thumb and index finger to squelchily rip out the dead man's fang. He stood and raised the bloody tooth in the air to the crowd's cheers.

The biggest surprises were Grimlow and Vir.

Even now, it wasn't clear why Grimlow had won. He never made a fist, only scratched his opponent's skin with a single finger. From there, the Ahngreel would begin attacking nothing or start tearing at their own skin. And for whatever reason, the Hidaar declared them defeated. He seemed to know something the rest of the Ahngreel did not as he stared intensely at Grimlow throughout his matches.

His opponents remained unaware of their surroundings as they were dragged out of the arena. All Grimlow would do was stand there and flash a wicked smile while the Ahngreel he still had tangled in his chains would make the occasional gurgling noise. Whatever Grimlow had done to those Ahngreel, it was clear that death was far preferable.

Vir was the greatest mystery of all. Not only did the armor hide their appearance completely, but it also masked a devastating power. How could someone not even ranked tear through so many Ahngreel with ease?

The Ahngreel had thought they had seen all Vir was capable of after humiliating Kaas.

But they were wrong, horribly wrong.

Every single piece of Vir's plated armor was a weapon that moved in unnatural ways. Not just outward but inward toward Vir's body. The segments danced around them, Vir moving with them as if they were one. Though Vir never removed more than three pieces at once. And never the helmet.

There was nothing any Ahngreel could do against Vir as the sharpened edges of the armor sliced their skin like flying swords.

It did not matter if the opponent was close range or long range. All fell before Vir.

Soon all but these four were defeated.

"Meet your new Equituum," said the Hidaar, who had come down from his auditorium to stand among the Four.

The small crowd of low-rankers, who had been attracted to the area by the sounds of battle, cheered.

"And now begins the ranking of the Four. Who among these fine Ahngreel will have the privilege of becoming your new Champion?"

"There's only one Champion!" said a voice from the audience, "Oriander! Show these divers why you're the real deal!"

The crowd cheered harder, with chants of "Oriander" filling the stadium.

Oriander responded by raising a fist. His expression was determined. The Ahngreels' returning shouts were as loud as an explosion.

"Settle down!" shouted the Hidaar over the noise. When the onlookers quieted, he turned to the Four. "Shall we get started, then?"

"You can count me out." Grimlow sat down with his legs folded and dragged the imprisoned Ahngreel to him by his chains so that her head rested on his lap. Her eyes remained blank as she stared up at him.

There were boos from the audience quickly dispelled as Grimlow glanced up at them. Then his eyes turned back to the Hidaar. "All I care about is becoming Equituum once more. What my rank is, does not matter to me."

The Hidaar did not look surprised by this. "Any objections from the rest?" Oriander shook his head with a wary look at Grimlow, Vir was silent, but Warrick puffed out his chest with another belly laugh.

"Wahahaha, I totally understand why you're scared, Grimly! I wouldn't want to fight me neither!"

"Yeees," croaked Grimlow as he began to stroke his toy's hair, "it would be rather beneath me."

Warrick blanched at that. "What was that?!"

"This is your chance to be in a higher rank than usual, oaf."

"You know what? I think I'mma take your fang after all."

Grimlow ignored him, focusing on stroking hair.

"Take me seriously, damn you!" Warrick lifted his foot to stomp onto the sitting Grimlow.

Grimlow's eyes remained on his lap as he lifted a hand to catch Warrick's foot by the toe of his boot. Warrick tried in vain to push through Grimlow's hold. Then he tried to pull away, but that, too, was in vain. The crowd was laughing.

"Let… go of me!" Warrick bent forward and reached toward Grimlow's hand to break his grip. That was when Grimlow struck. His other hand whipped forward, his fingers raking across the back of Warrick's hand, which spurted an unusual amount of blood. Warrick did not flinch, but he stopped moving.

"Very well," said Grimlow. His fingers went slack, which caused Warrick to lose his balance and fall flat on his back.

The crowd laughed even harder. Not that Warrick seemed to mind. In fact, he did not seem to acknowledge his surroundings at all as his eyes were glassy, and his face plastered with a goofy grin. He lay on the ground, muttering. "Haha… I got ya, diver… I'll have that fang now…."

"Well, it seems we have the First Equituum," said the Hidaar, waving his hand toward the fallen Warrick. "And, if no one has any further objections, our Second Equituum." He waved the other hand toward Grimlow, whose attention was on his lap again.

The Hidaar smirked at him, "It's time to let him go, Grimlow. Now."

Grimlow did not appear to acknowledge the Hidaar's words. But Warrick sat bolt upright, his eyes wild as he took in his surroundings. After a moment, his eyes settled on Grimlow. Then he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

"Wahaha! Ya tricked me good, Grimly! That's me defeated, then! But I'll get ya next time. For sure." He stood, brushing the dirt off his clothes, and examined his vest of fangs for any broken teeth.

As he did so, the Hidaar stepped forward, "With that settled, the final battle will be for the ranking of Champion Equituum between Oriander and Vir!"

With that, the Hidaar and the other Equituum left the arena—the Hidaar dragging Grimlow out by a chain.

Oriander and Vir turned to face each other. He raised a fist.

"It is customary in boxing to touch hands to begin a match. I would appreciate good sportsmanship."

Vir looked at the proffered hand for a moment before nodding.

"I will respect your custom, Champion." Vir raised a fist of their own and placed it against his.

The Hidaar's voice rang through the now silent stadium. "Now fight!" The crowd seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation.

***

Kaas stroked his goatee in thoughtful contemplation. After hearing Ludd's story so far, he was glad that the boy had stayed to watch the tournament.

"Then what happened?" said one of the twins as both excitedly leaned forward.

They were back in the cave. The five of them sat around Ludd, who squatted in his usual way at the center.

He shrugged his scrawny shoulders, "Yeah, so… I'm not sure."

"…?"

"You're not sure?" echoed Kaas, staring daggers at Ludd, who seemed to shrivel at his gaze.

"All I know is that the Champion was doing well one moment dodging the airborne armor and pummeling Vir when he saw an opening. And the next, all the armor flew at him like it was possessed. He tried to dodge, but he couldn't escape. They just seemed to follow him wherever he went. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before! Eventually, the Champion lost too much blood and fell dead to the ground. And that was it."

The room fell silent. There was a heavy atmosphere in the cave at the moment.

"If it's any consolation," said Ludd, "Vir had to remove most of the armor to get him. You should have seen the champion weaving around all that. It was the stuff of legends."

"When you say most of the armor—?" said Tykus.

"All but the helmet. Vir was adamant about keeping that on for some reason."

"Hmm… I wonder." Kaas stroked his goatee again. What was she hiding beneath the mask? Was she someone of note?

But he was brought out of his thoughts by Ludd, who continued his story.

"So, yeah, I stuck around for a little bit after that. Nothing much happened except the Hidaar told the remaining Equituum to meet him at the Hidaar's Palace after the Rising."

Curious. Why would the Hidaar ask them that? The Equituum usually remained at the level below that to guard the top. What reason would he have to ask them to meet him there and not at the Equituum Level? His eyes found Alén, who was looking at him with such intensity.

"I know… It must be awful hearing the Champion's defeat."

But Alén shook her head, so the hair bunched around her ears flopped back and forth.

"No? What's the matter then?"

Alén answered him by pointing a finger up at the ceiling.

"We've been over this; I can't let you go up until we're ready to take on the Hidaar. Though if this new Equituum is as powerful as Ludd makes them out to be, we might have to delay—"

Alén shook her head more violently. She scrunched up her face and puffed her cheeks as she pointed at everyone in the cave, including herself, and then back up.

And Kaas understood. He had thought that going to the tournament was a once-in-an-eternity opportunity, but he had been wrong. It was the tournament itself that opened the way.

"Everyone," his voice was breathless, "We need to go. Now. Pack anything you value. We're not coming back here."

There were noises of surprise and protest from the team.

"Don't argue with me! We've wasted enough time. Ludd, I need you to cover everyone."

Ludd leaped up in shock as the rest of the team scrambled about, picking up their few meager possessions and stuffing them into sacks. "Why? What are you planning?"

"Not now. If we don't hurry, we'll miss our chance to circumvent the Equituum, the Saltabiiq, everyone!"

Ludd looked confused before his face brightened into understanding. He grinned toothily. "Yes, sir! Right away!" He scrambled to an empty pot and pumped both fists over the opening. Blood began to ooze from the pores of his palms, slowly filling the pot.

"Faster!" Kaas ordered. Ludd obeyed with a nod, pumping his hands more rapidly. He leaned over the pot and spit blood that he began to collect in his mouth.

"Good! Keep it up!"

"What's going on—?" "—Why are we leaving so suddenly?"

Kaas ignored the twins as he turned to Alén, who held up the belt holding his dual blades. But he didn't care about that right now. "You are brilliant, Alén!" He placed a hand on her head. Alén looked pleased with herself.

"…!"

"You're right! The time is nigh to claim our dream!"

This was their moment. With the Hidaar, the Equituum, and all the Saltabiiq at the Rising, their way was clear to the Hidaar's Palace, where they could ambush him. And they would do it without exposing their Talents the way climbing the ranks would.

"Ludd! Is there enough to cover everyone yet?"

Ludd gave one last wretch before nodding. He looked a little pale, but Kaas's determination was reflected in his eyes.

Kaas smiled, "Good boy." He fastened his belt onto his waist. "Everyone, cover yourselves. And let's go. The Hidaar falls tonight." There were shouts of ascent as everyone dipped their hands into the blood pot and began slathering their bodies with it.

Ready or not, it was time for Kaas and his soldiers to prove themselves to all who rejected them.