Klein had been the perfect Ascender.
He had directed the crowds with warmth. He had overseen the tournament with a guiding hand.
He had told the competitors to remain on their pillars in a subtle, encouraging tone that carried no suspicion whatsoever. When the attacks came and the pillars turned out to be fortresses, the competitors had thanked their stars for staying put.
Every element of the operation had been coordinated perfectly. As if the Association had a response to everything the dark organisation were going to throw at them.
And yet, Ace had a counter for everything.
The corpses rising into flight. The scattered detonation trajectories. Every unexpected variable that emerged during the assault had been met with a response calibrated so smoothly that it looked improvised only to casuals. Ace had been prepared for adaptation because the dark organization had built its entire operation around Klein's inside position.
There had been one flaw.
