Free Web NovelChapter 38: 38. The Calm
Nathan woke to sunlight, a warm gold of mid-morning streaming through the apartment’s single window. His leg didn’t hurt again as he flexed it experimentally, the skin was smooth where the gash had been, the muscle beneath whole and strong. The Elixir of Renewal had done its work completely.
Lucy was still asleep beside him, her star-shaped nightlight flickering faintly on the bedside table. Both bunnies were curled on the pillow near her head: Mirko a ball of green fluff and Kuro a black shadow with white markings. He watched them breathe for a moment. The rise and fall of small bodies. The twitch of Mirko’s ears, dreaming of something that was probably combat or food or both.
’master... Is ....awake,’ Mirko muttered grudgingly through the link with her eyes still closed, battling to wake up.
"Barely."
’Today.... is the day.’
"That’s right."
’You slept for... eight hours. I am... proud. I may compose a song... again.’
"Please... don’t."
’Too late... Money right🎶... tonight I got your money right🎶 aye aye aye🎶’
Nathan sat up slowly, careful not to disturb Lucy. The apartment was warm, quiet, ordinary. It felt wrong, somehow. A day this significant should arrive with thunder and portents. Instead, there was just sunlight and the distant sound of city traffic and the faint smell of the bread.
He made breakfast then he moved quietly around the tiny kitchen, letting Lucy sleep, letting the simple rhythm of cooking settle his nerves.
Lucy emerged from the bed like a creature surfacing from deep water, her hair a tangled nest, her eyes squinting against the light. She blinked at the pan in Nathan’s hand.
"Mhmm, something smells good."
Nathan set the plate in front of her. "The duel is today."
Lucy was quiet for a moment. Then she picked up her fork. "You’re going to win... Right?"
"I’m going to try."
"You said that last time and then You Topped your leaderboard"
"Then maybe I’ll win this time too."
Lucy chewed thoughtfully. Mirko, sensing the presence of food, hopped onto the table and made a precise, unapologetic theft of a piece of egg. Kuro followed a moment later, quieter, more deliberate, taking a small portion without making a sound or breaking eye contact with Lucy.
"Okay," Lucy said finally, pointing her fork at Nathan. "But if you lose, I’m still on your side. And Mirko and Kuro are still on your side. So you can’t really lose. Because as long as you have three little cuties like us on your side, you’re practically always winning. That’s just simple math."
Nathan felt something tighten behind his ribs as warmth flooded his chest. "Thanks, Luce."
The appreciation of having family, something he never got to experience in his last life.
"You’re welcome. Now eat your vegetables. You cut them, you eat them."
---
The TCA lobby was busier than Nathan had ever seen it.
Spectators had begun gathering hours before the duel was scheduled to begin: guild scouts in crisp uniforms, academy students clutching comm devices, reporters with floating camera drones hovering at their shoulders. The Veiled Colosseum duel was a public event, streamed across the TCA network, and the crowd had assembled to watch the Bunny King face the Stone Family’s hired mercenary.
Nathan’s party waited near the registration desk. Garrett was adjusting his armor straps for the fifth time nervously, his Mad-Sheep Red sprawled at his feet like a crimson wool rug. Dillon was polishing his katana with mechanical precision. His Cloud Serpent coiled around his shoulders, occasionally zapping loose dust motes with tiny sparks.
Elise stood slightly apart, her Frost nowhere in sigh, she hadn’t summoned it out yet.
"No speech?" Dillon asked as Nathan approached.
"Did you want one?"
"I was hoping for something dramatic. ’my soldiers, rage! My soldiers, scream!.’ you know? Maybe some tears. I even prepared a response." freeweɓnovel.cøm
"I can leave if you’re going to cry."
"That’s not what I—" Dillon sighed. "You’re terrible at pre-battle morale, cross."
"We’re about to enter a High Class Tower. The first one any of us have ever climbed." Nathan’s voice cut through the lobby noise. "This isn’t the Tower of Beginnings. This isn’t any of the Towers we’ve been grinding. The Veiled Colosseum is on a completely different level. Monsters will be stronger. The veil will mess with our heads. And on Floor 10, only two of us face the boss."
He let that settle.
"But we’ve trained for this. We’ve bled for this. Every simulation, every drill, every night climb, it’s all been leading here. Derek bought a Level 51 mercenary because he fears he couldn’t beat us on his own. Remember that. He’s already admitted we’re better."
Garrett straightened his shoulders. Dillon stopped polishing his katana. Elise turned her gaze from the crowd to Nathan.
"The strategy is set," Nathan continued. "I and Elise as the two combatants on Floor 10. Dillon and Garrett in support." His eyes swept the group. "Everyone knows their role. Execute it, and we win. That’s the speech. Let’s go."
"That was almost stirring," Dillon said quietly.
Elise stepped forward. "The Colosseum gates are opening. It’s time."
---
The Veiled Colosseum rose at the city’s eastern edge.
Nathan had seen Towers before: the squat cylinder of the Tower of Shallow Depths, the volcanic descent of Emberfall, the overgrown ruin of Verdant Rot. All of them Low to Mid Class, designed for Climbers still finding their footing. The Colosseum was different.
It was High Class. The designation alone meant its floors were more complex, its monsters more lethal, its mechanics more unforgiving. Where the Tower of Beginnings tested fundamentals and Mid Class Towers demanded efficiency, a High Class Tower demanded mastery. Coordination wasn’t just rewarded here, it was required. The margin for error was razor-thin.
The structure itself reflected that. Obsidian and silver, its exterior gleaming like a blade in the morning sun. The entrance was a massive archway carved with scenes of past duels. Climbers locked in combat, summons clashing, the victors standing over the fallen. Spectator stands had been erected around the base, already filling with hundreds of viewers. Camera drones hovered overhead, their lenses glinting.
Nathan’s interface flickered as they approached.
[Ding! Tower Identified: The Veiled Colosseum.]
[Class: High.]
[Floors: 10.]
[Special Mechanics: Veil (visibility reduction, psychological disorientation). Duel Mode (4v4 party format). Floor 10 Boss Restriction (2 combatants per party).]
His first High Class Tower. Their first, as a party. The jump from low to Mid to High was steeper than any rank increase they’d faced before. Monsters would scale differently. The veil would test their coordination in ways training couldn’t fully simulate. And on Floor 10, the Tower would strip away their numerical advantage and force two of them to face a Level 51 Berserker alone.
Nathan filed the thoughts away. Fear was inefficient. Kuro had taught him that.
Derek’s party was already at the gates.
Derek Stone stood at the front, his B-Rank Salamander coiled at his feet, its red scales shimmering with residual heat. Tyler and Reid flanked him: the Warrior and the Mage, their expressions trying for arrogance and landing somewhere closer to nerves. They’d never climbed anything like this either.
And behind them, massive and silent, was Marcus Kade.
The Level 51 Berserker was everything Nathan had expected. Broad as a doorway, his shoulders straining the fabric of his combat tunic. Arms thick with scarred muscle, crossed over a chest like a barrel. A greatsword rested on his back — a brutal slab of dark iron that most Climbers couldn’t have lifted, let alone swung. His face was weathered, unreadable, the face of a man who’d stopped keeping count of his kills years ago.
His eyes swept over Nathan’s party. Garrett, Dillon, Elise. The two bunnies on Nathan’s shoulders. Nothing. No contempt. No interest. Just the flat, professional assessment of a man who’d been paid to break things and intended to do so efficiently.
Derek, by contrast, was practically vibrating with a smug satisfaction.
"Bunny King," he called, his voice carrying across the courtyard. "You actually showed. I had money on you running."
"You should stop betting. It seems to cost your family a lot."
Derek’s smirk tightened. His gaze flicked over Nathan’s party and landed on Elise. "Winterhart. Didn’t expect to see you slumming it with the F-Grade. Your family must be thrilled."
Elise didn’t look at him. "Stone. Didn’t expect you to hire someone to fight your battles for you. Oh wait... I did."
Dillon snorted. Garrett covered his mouth with his hand. Even Red made a sound that might have been a bleat of laughter and approval.
Derek’s jaw clenched. "We’ll see who’s laughing at the end."
"Yes," Nathan said. "We will."
The Colosseum gates began to open.
Light spilled from within, cold and silver, unlike the warm gold of other Tower portals. It pooled on the ground like liquid mercury, casting long shadows behind the two parties. The veil. Nathan could already feel it pressing against the edges of his perception, a faint disorientation that hadn’t even fully manifested yet.
He turned to his party. Garrett, nervous but steady, his hand resting on Red’s crimson wool. Dillon, grinning despite the tension, his katana already loose in its sheath. Elise, calm as winter, her Frost Golem now summoned, radiating cold at her back.
And on his shoulders, two bunnies. One green, one black. A Knight and a future Assassin.
"Everyone ready?"
"Ready," Garrett said.
"Born ready," Dillon added. "Literally. My mother claims my first word was ’katana.’"
"That’s... not true," Elise said.
"It’s metaphorically true. Which is the best kind of true."
Elise exhaled slowly. Frost curled at her fingertips. Then, unexpectedly, the corner of her mouth twitched. Not quite a smile. But close enough.
Nathan faced the gate. The silver light washed over him, cold and strange.
’Master,’ Mirko said through the link. ’Whatever happens in there... it has been an honor. Fighting beside you. Since the beginning.’
’We will win,’ Kuro added, her voice quiet and certain. ’But the sentiment is noted. And shared.’
Nathan didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. They could feel what he felt through the link, the steady pulse of his resolve, the weight of two weeks of sacrifice, the quiet confidence that came not from arrogance but from preparation.
Then He stepped forward and the silver light swallowed him whole.
