Zen could barely catch his breath. Valeria's armor was pressing into his chest and her grip was really tight.
"System," Zen thought desperately. "Tell me you have a plan to get me out of this."
[Analyzing escape routes... Zero found. Welcome to the Golden Cage, Emperor.]
"Useless," Zen muttered quietly.
Suddenly the grey sky above them made a cracking sound. It was like glass breaking in a room. The ground beneath their feet shook violently making Valeria lose her balance a bit.
"A dimensional collapse?" Valeria growled, looking up at the breaking sky. "The anchor broke too fast. The ejection is starting."
"What does that mean?" Zen asked, playing the part of the ignorant F-Rank student.
"The Zone is kicking us out," Valeria said sharply, tightening her grip on him. "Stay close to me. The ejection can be really rough. The turbulence alone can tear a weak body apart. But I won't let it hurt you."
She moved to shield his body with her own, raising her sword to block the falling debris.
This was his chance.
As a piece of a rusted siege tower crashed near them, a thick cloud of dirt and dust kicked up into the air blinding them both. On instinct, Valeria turned her head to block the dust and her grip on him loosened for a moment.
Zen twisted hard. He slipped out of her arms ignoring the pain in his torn calf.
He didn't run. He couldn't. Instead he dropped to his hands and knees in the dirt crawling toward the sliced halves of the D-Rank golem. The blinding light of the Zone's collapse was already spreading, making the air really chaotic.
"Where is it?" Zen wheezed.
His fingers touched something smooth in the dirt. It was the D-Rank Heart-Stone. It was the size of his fist, pulsing with thick, dark, purple energy moving inside it.
Zen grabbed it and shoved it deep into his jacket pocket.
"Zen!" Valerias voice cut through the dust cloud sounding really panicked. "Where are you?! Don't hide from me!"
Zen didn't answer.
The white light of the collapsing Zone flashed, filling the courtyard. Zen felt a violent pulling sensation in his gut like he was being sucked through a narrow tube.
The next second, he hit solid concrete, rolling through a puddle of dirty acidic water.
He coughed, opening his eyes. He was back in the alleyway in District 7. The shimmering grey wall of the Fracture Zone was gone, replaced by a rusted chain-link fence. The ejection had thrown them to random points outside the barrier.
"She's going to start tearing the slums apart, looking for me," Zen said, forcing himself to his feet. Every muscle in his body hurt. "I have to move."
He limped through the maze of District 7, keeping his head down and his hood up. He took three different detours to make sure he wasn't being followed.
It took him over an hour to sneak onto the Ares Military Academy grounds. By the time he climbed the rusted cooling pipe back to his third-floor dorm room window, he was running on pure adrenaline.
He tumbled through the window and collapsed onto the cold metal floor.
"I'm alive " Zen breathed out, laughing weakly at the ceiling. "I actually survived."
[Host Status: Severe muscle tearing in right leg. Fractured ribs. Core stability critically low. I advise immediate rest and repair.]
"Yeah I'm working on it," Zen groaned.
He forced himself up and limped into the tiny bathroom attached to his dorm room. He turned on the shower. The water was cold and smelled faintly of iron. But he didn't care. He washed the dirt, blood and smell of the dungeon off his skin.
When he finally stepped out wrapped in a towel he felt somewhat human again. He walked over to his corner stash, grabbed a cup of "Mana-Ramen" and ate it cold. It tasted like cardboard, but his starving F-Rank body eagerly absorbed the calories.
"Better," Zen sighed, tossing the empty cup aside. "Now for the real problem."
He sat down on the edge of his lumpy bed and pulled the pulsing D-Rank Heart-Stone from his ruined jacket pocket.
"System, initiate absorption."
[Processing D-Rank Heart-Stone. Warning: Impure mana detected. Filtering…]
A rush of heavy energy flowed from the stone into Zen's palm. It traveled up his arm. Poured directly into the empty void in his chest. The sharp pain of his core dulled into a manageable ache.
[Absorption complete. Core stability increased to 4%. Mana leakage reduced to 0.2 Units per hour. You are now a stable Low F-Rank.]
"A stable loser. Great " Zen muttered. He tossed the full, empty rock onto the floor. "Alright let's talk business. The drone got smashed, but the stream ran for a while. Let's see if the viewers paid up."
He walked over to the rusty desk and booted up the holographic terminal.
"System, log into the Ghost Scrapper account. Show me the revenue."
[Accessing GE Network via masked IP...]
[Stream Data: Peak Viewers: 241. Total run time: 14 minutes.]
[Calculating donations and ad revenue...]
Zen tapped his fingers on the desk. "Come on. Give me some good news."
[Total Revenue: 18,500 Mana-Credits.]
Zen's eyes widened. "Eighteen thousand? Just for a few minutes of broadcasting? That's way more than this body has ever made in a single stream."
[Answering Query: The algorithm favored your stream due to the sudden appearance of a high-tier fighter in a low-tier zone. Viewer tips spiked significantly during the 'Emperors Stride' evasion.]
"So they liked the show," Zen smirked. "Perfect. System, wire 10,000 Mana-Credits directly to Kaelen Thorne's public ledger account. Label it as 'Back Interest Payment for Zen'."
[Transferring funds…]
[Transfer complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 8,500 Mana-Credits.]
"That should buy me a few days before Kaelen tries to kick my door in again," Zen said, leaning back in his chair. "I can use the rest of this money to buy a cheap mana blade and a replacement drone tomorrow."
Suddenly, the rusted terminal beeped loudly. An incoming audio call notification flashed on the screen.
The caller ID read: Jax.
Since Zen had thrown his earpiece away in the dungeon he had to tap the 'Accept' button on the desk console.
"Jax. I'm back," Zen said, leaning toward the terminal's microphone.
"Zen! Oh my god you're alive!" Jax's voice blared through the desk's cheap speakers. "Where have you been? Your comms-link went completely dead an hour ago!"
"I dropped it in an alley," Zen lied smoothly. "I had to take a detour back. Is Kaelen still tearing up the hallway?"
"No! That's the crazy part!" Jax sounded completely bewildered. "He was in the hallway shaking down a first-year student for credits. Then his public ledger terminal beeped. He looked at it, got totally quiet and just walked away! Someone paid your interest, Zen! You're clear for the week!"
"Weird," Zen said, keeping his tone flat. "Maybe the bank made an error."
"Banks don't make errors in our favor," Jax argued. "Anyway forget Kaelen! Were you anywhere near the Iron Scrap Yard before you lost your comms? Did you see the GE stream?"
"I heard a loud bang from the Zone," Zen said. "Didn't see much. I kept my head down."
"Dude, the anonymous stream cut out right when the boss blew up!" Jax rambled excitedly. "The forums are going crazy! Everyone is trying to figure out who the streamer is and who that woman was! Some people think it was a Vanguard elite training a rookie!"
"I doubt it," Zen said, fighting a smirk. "Look, Jax, I'm beat. I took a bad fall trying to get away from Kaelen earlier. I'm going to sleep."
"Oh, right. Get some rest, man. We have Combat Theory class tomorrow morning. Don't be late!"
"I won't. Later."
Zen cut the feed. He looked down at his hands. Today had been a complete disaster but he had survived. He had a tiny bit of mana, a small pile of credits and a plan.
"I'm coming for all of it," Zen whispered to the empty room. "Every of my fragment."
—
Meanwhile, in District 7…
The alleyway outside the collapsed Fracture Zone was really quiet. The Vanguard's military police hadn't arrived yet which meant the area was completely deserted.
Except, for one person.
Valeria stood in the middle of an alley. Her black cloak was all torn up. Her heavy armor was covered in grey dust. She was not holding her broadsword. Instead, she was holding a piece of fabric that was all torn in her gauntleted hand.
It was a piece of cheap, dark grey canvas. It got caught on a part of her armor when Zen ran away.
Valeria lifted her left wrist up. She had a highly advanced military bracer over her gauntlet. She tapped a glowing blue rune on its surface, projecting a holographic scanning interface into the air.
"Scan," Valeria said in a cold and shaking voice.
A red light went over the piece of fabric. The military interface beeped after a second.
[Fabric Match Confirmed.]
[Material: Low-grade synthetic canvas.]
[Origin: Ares Military Academy.]
[Issue type: Scrap Dorm Uniform.]
Valeria looked at the words in the air.
Her breathing hitched. Then, a slow, terrifying smile spread across her face. The manic light in her red eyes burned brighter than the neon signs above the city.
"A student from my academy," she whispered to the empty alley.
She pressed the piece of fabric to her cheek, and inhaled deeply. Her smile widened into something even more dangerous.
"Found you," Valeria said softly. "Let's see if you are really my Emperor... Or if I am just going crazy."