Chapter 42 – Monsters and Schemers

【Reiji PoV】

The problem with coming back down to the world isn’t the smell or the noise.

It’s that everything feels like it’s made of paper. The cobblestone street cracked under my boot on the third step into Oakhaven. Just cracked. Spiderwebbed out like I’d dropped a boulder on it. I froze, staring at the damage. A woman pushing a cart swerved around me, eyes wide. She didn’t say anything. Nobody ever said anything. They just moved.

Leo walked beside me, hands tucked into his sleeves.

His presence was worse than the stares. He didn’t speak. Didn’t need to. The air around him was cold and still, like standing next to a frozen lake in winter. He’d been silent since we left the mountain. That silence said everything.

Losing is not an option.

I tried to breathe normally. My chest felt tight. The air down here was thin. Wrong. Like trying to fill my lungs with nothing. Up on the mountain, every breath was heavy. Rich. It pushed back when you inhaled. Down here, it just slipped through.

I reached for the inn door and the handle snapped off in my hand.

Metal. Actual metal. Just broke. Clean off. I stared at the twisted piece in my palm, feeling the weight of Leo’s gaze on the back of my neck.

“Fragile craftsmanship.”

Leo’s voice was flat. Dismissive. He pushed the broken door open with one finger and walked inside.

I followed, clutching the handle like evidence of a crime.

The innkeeper looked up from the counter. His face went pale. He dropped the rag he’d been using to wipe down glasses. It hit the floor with a wet slap.

“Honored guests. Please. Upstairs. The best room.”

He didn’t ask for names. Didn’t ask for payment. Just pointed at the stairs with a shaking hand.

I wanted to apologize. Explain that I didn’t mean to break his door. That I was just clumsy. That the mountain had messed with my sense of normal.

Leo walked past him without a word.

I set the broken handle on the counter gently. Too gently. The wood underneath cracked. The innkeeper flinched.

I gave up and followed Leo upstairs.

The room was small. Clean. A bed, a chair, a window overlooking the tournament grounds. Banners fluttered in the distance. Colorful. Bright. Cheerful. It looked like a festival. Like something people attended for fun.

I was here because I was terrified.

Leo stood at the window, hands still tucked into his sleeves.

“Elizabeth expects results.”

Three words. That’s all it took. My stomach dropped. My hands clenched into fists. The chair beside me groaned as the wood compressed under the ambient pressure I was putting out without meaning to.

Elizabeth. The Ashen Guard Commander. The woman who smiled like winter and spoke like a blade being drawn. I’d never disappointed her. Never failed a mission. Never gave her a reason to look at me with anything other than cold approval.

I didn’t want to know what happened if that changed.

“I understand.”

Leo turned his head slightly. Not enough to look at me. Just enough to acknowledge I’d spoken.

“Do you?”

The question hung in the air like smoke. Heavy. Suffocating.

I didn’t answer. What could I say? That I was scared? That I felt like an imposter holding power I didn’t earn? That every step I took down here felt wrong, like I was a weapon walking through a crowd of civilians?

Leo turned back to the window.

“You represent the Master’s will now. Act accordingly.”

The Master. The guy on the mountain who’d trained us. Who’d looked at me once, shrugged, and said I had potential. Who treated cosmic-level techniques like party tricks. Who terrified me more than any enemy I’d ever faced because he didn’t seem to care about anything.

And I was supposed to represent him.

I sat on the bed. It creaked. The frame bent slightly under my weight. I stood back up immediately. The last thing I needed was to break the furniture before the tournament even started.

Leo glanced at the damaged bed frame.

“Control yourself.”

Two more words. Flat. Disappointed.

I wanted to disappear. Crawl into a hole and never come out. But that wasn’t an option. I had a fight tomorrow. A tournament to win. A reputation to uphold that I never asked for.

I walked to the window and looked out at the arena.

Somewhere down there, my opponent was preparing. Strategizing. Maybe feeling confident. Maybe excited.

I just wanted to survive and go home.

Leo’s hand landed on my shoulder. Light. Barely there. But the weight behind it was crushing.

“You will win.”

It wasn’t encouragement. It was a command. An absolute fact. A law of reality I was expected to enforce.

I nodded. My throat was too tight to speak.

Leo removed his hand and left the room without another word. The door clicked shut behind him.

I stood at the window alone, staring at the tournament grounds. The banners snapped in the wind. The crowd was already gathering. Excited. Eager.

And I was a monster pretending to be human, holding a divine sword I didn’t deserve.

Tomorrow was going to be hell.

【Valerius PoV】

I spotted him immediately.

Reiji stood near the eastern gate, tall and broad-shouldered, radiating that insufferable protagonist energy. The crowd parted around him without realizing why. Instinct. Survival. The same way animals avoided apex predators.

Jin leaned against the wall beside me, arms crossed, watching.

“That’s him?”

“That’s him.”

Clara adjusted her glasses, squinting across the distance.

“He doesn’t look that dangerous.”

Mei snorted.

“Neither does a landslide until it buries you.”

I studied Reiji carefully. His posture was stiff. Uncomfortable. His eyes kept darting to the cobblestones like he was afraid of stepping wrong. He moved like someone who didn’t trust their own body.

But the mana.

Oh, the mana was insane. It rolled off him in waves. Dense. Pure. Overwhelming. The kind of power you built by sitting in a mana-rich environment for months. Years, maybe. He was a walking reservoir.

And I was a glass cannon running on fumes.

Jin pushed off the wall and walked closer, staying in the crowd. I followed. Clara and Mei flanked us, keeping their distance. We looked like normal spectators. Curious tourists.

Jin stopped about thirty feet away, close enough to sense the details.

“Well?”

Jin tilted his head, expression unreadable.

“Raw power? He’s got more than you’ll ever have. Ten times more. Maybe twenty.”

My stomach sank. I’d expected that. Hoped I was wrong. But hearing it confirmed was different.

“Can you beat him?”

Jin smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile.

“Easily.”

Relief flooded through me. Then Jin kept talking.

“He’s strong, but he’s unskilled. No technique. No finesse. He’s a hammer. I’m a scalpel.”

Clara leaned in, voice low.

“So we’re safe?”

Jin’s smile faded.

“I can beat him. But his instructor could beat me.”

Silence. Mei stopped chewing her nail.

“What?”

Jin gestured vaguely toward the inn where Reiji had disappeared.

“The one who walked with him. Leo. That’s his name, I think.”

I remembered. The shorter figure. Calm. Unassuming. Barely noticeable.

“Why?”

“Because I’m running on tainted mana. Stolen power. Corrupted energy from the Underworld.”

Jin’s voice dropped even lower. Bitter. Resentful.

“Leo is full of mountain mana. Pure. Dense. The kind that comes from training under someone who doesn’t know limits exist.”

He turned to face me fully.

“I’m stronger than Leo in technique. But he could outlast me. Overpower me. Drown me in raw, clean energy until my stolen scraps run dry.”

The implications settled over me like a weighted blanket. I wasn’t just fighting Reiji. I was fighting the shadow of the mountain. The legacy of a teacher who turned ordinary disciples into walking disasters.

And I was the weakest person in this equation.

Mei touched my arm, voice uncertain.

“So what do we do?”

I watched Reiji disappear into the inn. Watched the crowd slowly relax as the oppressive presence faded.

What did I do? Simple. The same thing I’d always done.

I cheated.

“We don’t fight fair.”

Jin raised an eyebrow.

“Explain.”

I pulled them into a side alley, away from listening ears.

“Reiji is power. Pure, overwhelming, unstoppable power. But he’s uncomfortable. Scared, even. Did you see how he moved?”

Clara nodded slowly.

“Like he was afraid of breaking something.”

“Exactly. He doesn’t trust himself. That’s weakness.”

Mei frowned.

“How do we exploit that?”

“Psychology. Terrain. Timing. We make him second-guess every move. We make the arena work against him. We turn his power into a liability.”

Jin’s smile returned. This time it was genuine. Approving.

“You’re thinking like a survivor.”

“I’m thinking like someone who wants to live.”

I looked back toward the inn. Somewhere in there, Reiji was probably staring at the ceiling, wishing he was anywhere else.

Good. Fear was honest. Fear made mistakes.

And I was betting everything on those mistakes.

Clara pulled out a notebook, flipping to a blank page.

“So what’s the plan?”

I started talking. Fast. Detailed. Every dirty trick I’d learned in three years of barely surviving. Jin added refinements. Mei pointed out flaws. Clara took notes.

By the time the sun set, we had a strategy. It wasn’t honorable. It wasn’t fair. It probably wasn’t even legal.

But it was mine.

Tomorrow, Reiji would walk into that arena expecting a fight. A test of strength. A clash of titans.

He’d get a nightmare instead.

I was the weakest person here. No question. But I was also the smartest. The most desperate. The one with absolutely nothing to lose and everything to prove.

Let him have his protagonist energy. His divine training. His mountain-forged power.

I had something better. I had spite. Cunning. The refusal to die quietly.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting.