Chapter 92: Return of ASURA!
Moving into Villa Seven took most of the afternoon.
Renna had claimed the largest bedroom on the top floor within seconds of walking through the door. Emric took the quiet room next to the library because it had the best lighting for reading. Henry’s squad occupied the entire ground floor, organizing guard rotations that nobody had asked for.
Holden didn’t care about rooms. He was sitting on the villa’s front balcony, watching the Prime Zone’s streets, when the carriage arrived.
It was incredibly flashy, covered in gold plating and royal markings. A pair of armored black horses led the way.
The carriage rolled to a stop at the corner of the main street. Royal guards in polished armor stood at attention along the street.
A servant stepped out, dressed in clean white livery. He carried a sealed envelope stamped with crimson wax.
He walked straight to Villa Seven’s gate.
"Lyra Sterling?" the servant asked, his nose slightly elevated.
Lyra stepped out of the villa’s front door. She had changed out of her gear into the academy uniform.
"For you, ma’am" He said.
The servant handed her the envelope with a slight bow and returned to the carriage without another word. The gold carriage rolled off, leaving the sealed decree behind.
Lyra stood still for a moment. Then she broke the wax and read it.
Holden watched her face. He knew the answer before she said anything. The color in her cheeks drained slightly. Her fingers tightened on the paper.
"The royal engagement banquet," she said quietly. "End of the month. Lord Oscar’s family has formalized the arrangement through the Crown."
Renna appeared in the doorway behind her. "Wait, what? I thought that was canceled after Holden, you know." She made a vague smashing gesture with her fist.
"Apparently not," Lyra said.
Holden stood up from the balcony railing and walked over. He didn’t say anything to the others. He just took Lyra gently by the arm and led her inside, through the foyer, and into a side room away from everyone.
The door closed behind them.
Lyra’s composure cracked the instant they were alone. Her shoulders dropped. She stared at the decree in her hands like it was a death sentence.
"I thought it was over," she whispered. "When you paralyzed him at the banquet, I thought my family would be too ashamed to push it further."
"Nobles don’t feel shame," Holden said.
"He’ll kill me, Holden. If I’m forced to marry him, the first thing he’ll do is make me pay for what you did."
Holden stepped close and pulled her into a hug. She went still for a moment, then melted into him, her face pressing against his shoulder. Her hands clutched the back of his jacket.
"Hey," he said softly. "Look at me."
She lifted her head. Her eyes were bright but dry. She was too proud to cry.
"I told you I’d handle it," Holden said. "I don’t break promises."
"Oscar has royal guards now. His family filed formal complaints against you. If you go back there—"
"I’ll go back there."
"Holden—"
"Lyra." He cupped her face with one hand and looked her in the eyes. "I am going to crash that banquet. I am going to end Julian permanently. And then nobody is ever going to touch you again. Got it?"
She searched his face for a long moment. Then she nodded slowly.
"Alright," she said.
He kissed her forehead and let her go.
That night, Holden locked the door to his new bedroom on the second floor. It was a nice room. Wide bed, tall windows, a desk near the balcony. This was luxury compared to anything he’d ever had.
He didn’t care about any of it.
He sat on the bed and pulled the Rank 3 Aether-Battery from his pack. The soft blue glow lit up the dark room, casting long shadows on the walls.
He pulled up his System panel.
[Item: Rank 3 Aether-Battery]
[Energy: 5,000 units of pure, refined Aether]
[Status: LOCKED]
[Requirement: 10,000x Multiplier needed for safe absorption]
[Warning: Current 1,000x Multiplier cannot process this energy density. Attempted absorption will result in catastrophic bodily damage.]
Holden stared at the warning.
The 10,000x multiplier. The legendary upgrade. It cost 100,000 Kill Points to unlock. With it, he could absorb this battery safely and rocket his cultivation forward. Without it, the battery was just a pretty paperweight.
He checked his balance.
[Current Balance: 74,390 KP]
Not enough. He was short by over twenty-five thousand points.
The banquet was at the end of the month. That gave him roughly three weeks. He needed to farm points faster than ever.
Holden put the battery away and stood up. He walked to his closet and reached into his closet. The items inside were cold to the touch.
A heavy black cloak.
A gold mask with no features. No eye holes in the traditional sense, just thin slits that let him see out but showed nothing of his face.
Asura’s gear.
He hadn’t worn it since he killed Varga in the Blood Colosseum and canceled the assassination contract on his head.
Holden changed into dark clothes. He pulled the cloak over his shoulders and fastened the clasp at his neck. He lifted the gold mask and pressed it to his face.
Click.
He slipped out his bedroom window and dropped silently to the garden below. The Shadow-Weave boots absorbed the impact without a sound.
Rain had started falling.
He found Maeve in the library, still awake, reviewing monitor screens she had connected to the villa’s new security wards.
"I’m going out," he said.
Maeve looked up. She saw the cloak and mask. Her expression didn’t change. She just adjusted her glasses and nodded.
"The wards are active. Henry’s squad is doing perimeter checks every twenty minutes. Renna set up tripwires at every entrance."
"Sounds safe."
"Come back before dawn," she said.
"I always do."
He left through the back garden gate and moved through the rainy streets of the academy. Within minutes, he was past the nice districts and descending into the underground.
The Blood Colosseum was packed tonight. Fighters, gamblers, smugglers, and criminals filled the seats around the massive central cage. The air buzzed with aggressive energy.
A scarred man with a gold tooth stood near the entrance. The bookmaker. His eyes lit up when he saw the black cloak and gold mask step out of the dark.
"Well, well, well!" The bookmaker spread his arms wide, grinning like a shark. "The champion returns! Asura! We thought you retired after the Varga fight!"
Holden said nothing.
"Not much of a talker. I remember." The bookmaker rubbed his hands together. "You picked a hell of a night to come back, my friend. We’re hosting a Grand Melee. Fifty fighters. All Rank 2. All ruthless. Last one standing takes the entire prize pool."
"We’re talking a fortune, Asura. The betting odds are insane because everyone thinks the new guys have a shot. But I know better. I know what you did to Varga."
Holden walked past him without a word.
The bookmaker laughed and hurried to catch up. "The cage is right through here! They’re already locked in! Fifty killers waiting for the main event! You!"
Holden stopped at the edge of the arena and looked down.
The cage was enormous. A circular pit lined with thick iron bars. And inside it, fifty fighters milled around. They were armored and armed to the teeth. Mercenaries, bandits, and assassins. Every one of them a Rank 2 cultivator who had killed before.
They hadn’t noticed him yet.
Holden rolled his shoulders under the heavy cloak. He raised one hand and cracked his knuckles, one finger at a time.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The bookmaker pulled open the iron door.
"Welcome to the Grand Melee, Asura."
Holden stepped through the gates.