"Yo, yo, yo! It's your boy Jonah Sala, Day One of PeaceTime!" Jonah held his phone high as he strutted out of his dormitory. Stickers of video game mascots plastered the case, and his suitcase lay half-open on the floor. Five people tuned into his live stream. "Let's—"
"Give me that."
Merlin's claw closed around the phone. He glanced at the screen, then crushed the device in one hand. "Noise complaints," he said flatly.
"Dude, I was going to be famous!" Jonah yelped, drawing his bow. "Don't scratch it with your claws!"
Merlin's grin showed too many teeth. "Lightning-fast arrows don't scare me, kid. Saints can cross the world in seconds." He laughed, and Jonah's bravado wilted.
Still, Jonah swaggered down the hall, muttering curses.
Others trickled out of their rooms. Roxanne's eyes widened. "Never thought the Cathedral was this big."
"It expands when it wants to," Famine said coolly. "Like my imagination."
"Can you imagine losing?" Richard asked.
"No," Famine said. "I don't lose. Ever."
"Alright…" Ilya laughed and leveled her pistol at the back of his skull. "Race?"
"I don't race children." Famine manifested a cane and leaned on it.
Gloxer snapped his glasses in half, veins pulsing at his temple, and stormed off.
"Let's go to the sports hall!" Mog bellowed. Excitement swelled and the survivors surged after him.
High above in the throne room, Thidos and Medea watched through crystal monitors.
"Enthusiasm gas keeps them lively," Medea giggled, tongue curling unnaturally. "They'd never act like this otherwise."
"You're not very moody for a God of Phantasms," Thidos said.
"Zeke was Wrath and he wasn't angry either," Medea replied. "Speaking of him—one of his kin is here." He pointed to a boy stomping across the gym feed.
"Oh? Then let's stop wasting time. Begin the second challenge," Thidos ordered.
The sports hall resembled a parody of a gymnasium: racks of equipment, climbing ropes, pools, even archery lanes. The air hummed with faint static.
The doors slammed shut. Thidos' voice bellowed from above. "Change of schedule! Today begins the second challenge."
Jeremiah dropped his lollipop, the candy shattering. "What?! The cooldown's only been half a day!"
"Exactly. Therefore this will be easy, and you'll still have time off afterward." His tone was jovial.
"Tell us the challenge, bastard," Zero snarled.
"Simple. One of you must die."
The silence was suffocating. Even breaths sounded too loud.
"You what?!" Gloxer exploded, aura blazing scarlet. He lifted from the ground, scar glowing like magma. The floor shook beneath him.
"Relax," Jonah said, loosing an arrow into Gloxer's foot. "Debilitate."
"You little—!" Gloxer howled, lunging— knocking Jonah unconscious.
"Obviously someone has to die," Famine said, unbothered. "Might as well be the screamer."
"But speed matters," Ilya muttered. She blurred behind Famine and fired point-blank.
The bullet rang out, but Lichness snapped through a ritual: "Ilasanaya Nyalasha!" Skeletons erupted from the floor and dogpiled her.
"Stop!" Dara shrieked, tugging on Saraline's arm. "They'll kill each other!"
"That's the point," Saraline whispered grimly.
Mog tugged the door open. A skeleton marched through and was erased instantly. "Trap," Lichness said with a shrug.
The brawl escalated: arrows cracked, blades flashed, Roxanne devoured a "dragon finger" and sprouted horns and fire-breath, scorching Lichness' summons. Chaos drowned the hall.
Then Dara collapsed.
Her small frame convulsed, shaking violently. Richard strode over, grin splitting his face. "Be a hero. Sacrifice yourself for the cause." He pressed a hand to her chest.
Nothing decayed.
Instead her skin split.
Orange light seared from the fissures as flesh tore and reformed. Her face warped, jaw cracking wide. Teeth lengthened into hooked daggers. A beak pushed through ruined lips. Her eyes slitted into hawk-like predators.
Her torso swelled, bones splintering as her spine erupted with spear-tip dorsal plates. Bright red veins lit beneath yellow-striped hide. Arms thickened like a gorilla's, fingers tearing into claws. Her back hunched, then straightened, and she rose taller, broader, hungrier.
Every step shook the floor. Every scream reverberated like a siren splitting glass.
The ceiling expanded unnaturally to contain her size. The air filled with the scent of iron and ozone. The hall bent to her monstrous body, adapting unwillingly.
She became all things at once — bird, beast, reptile, titan. A kaiju clothed in primal rage.
"Holy—Rallio?!" Richard blurted, staggering back. "You destroyed Flora's cities!"
Dara's monstrous eyes flicked across the hall. She howled again, loud enough to tear banners from the rafters.
"Bloodbath!" Richard roared, posing with glee. Gloxer, Mog, Ilya, and Roxanne rallied beside him, charging into the storm of claws and fire.