Twelve minutes.
Two stolen flags.
No score.
Leonie looked at me as though I had personally designed the situation to annoy her.
"What do you need?" I asked.
That earned half a second of silence.
Then she handed the Nexus flag to Oren.
He almost dropped it.
"What?"
"You carry."
"I'm the slowest person here."
"Exactly."
Oren stared at her.
I understood before he did.
Xavier carried our flag.
Nexus would expect Celcium to put its stolen flag in the hands of whoever could move fastest—Leonie or me.
Which meant their next pressure would be shaped around stopping either of us.
Oren was not a convincing escape runner.
He did not need to be.
He needed to survive long enough for us to recover our own standard.
"How much mana?" Leonie asked him.
Oren glanced at his bracers.
"One fixed ward at full strength. Maybe two weak ones. Mobile barrier for a few minutes if nobody makes me defend against Arkad."
Arkad, across the field, seemed personally offended by the distance between them.
Leonie nodded.
"Don't run home."
Oren blinked.
"Where?"
"Move south along the neutral wall. Keep their flag away from their base."
"And when they chase?"
"You decide whether you keep moving or come back to us."
No noble command to hold until death.
No assumption.
Just a problem given to the person carrying it.
Oren tightened his grip on the Nexus flag.
"I can do that."
Leonie looked at me.
"We take ours back."
"Xavier has Arkad ahead and Anata behind."
"I can count."
"I'm trying to be useful."
"Then tell me what you see, not what I should do."
That hurt.
Mostly because she was right.
I looked across the field.
Xavier had our flag across his shoulder.
Arkad advanced ten meters ahead.
Anata followed several steps behind Xavier, bow ready.
Their formation was almost a moving corridor.
Arkad cleared threats.
Xavier preserved mobility.
Anata punished pursuit.
"Anata's range gives them the better retreat," I said. "If we chase straight, she controls our approach."
"Ground?"
"Xavier keeps wetting sections before crossing. Resonance is unreliable through the upper layer."
"Mana?"
"Mine is fine. Oren's low. I don't know theirs."
Leonie nodded.
"Better."
Then she ran straight at Xavier.
I followed.
Apparently analysis had concluded.
---
Arkad intercepted us.
Naturally.
Leonie did not slow.
"Mine!"
I almost asked whether that meant Arkad or the lane.
She answered by driving her spear toward his guard.
Arkad blocked.
The impact forced both of them sideways.
I continued toward Xavier.
Anata fired.
First arrow high.
I shifted.
Second lower.
I had expected that.
Third did not target me.
It struck the ground directly in front of my foot.
My body reacted before my mind did.
Ground Resonance opened on reflex.
Impact.
Stone.
A second false return from another arrow behind me.
Noise.
Anata had learned from the last twelve minutes too.
I closed the sense immediately.
Too late to preserve the step.
Xavier changed direction.
I missed the interception by perhaps half a meter.
He smiled.
"Still listening?"
"Less."
"Progress."
He accelerated.
I followed.
His movement remained irritating.
Three longer strides.
Short one.
Change.
No fixed sequence.
Yesterday, I had tried to read the rhythm.
Today I ignored the rhythm and watched where he had to go.
Our flag restricted his options.
He could vary his feet all he wanted.
He still needed to eventually return to the Nexus pedestal.
Chessmaster reduced the field.
Two eastern corridors.
One open center route.
Anata behind.
Arkad and Leonie fighting west of us.
Xavier saw me looking ahead.
Then he did something stupid.
Or clever.
Those categories remain annoyingly close.
He threw the flag.
Not magically.
Actually threw it.
Arkad turned during his fight and caught the Celcium standard with one hand.
Leonie nearly struck him before realizing what had happened.
I stopped.
Xavier did not.
He ran past me.
West.
Toward Oren.
Of course.
I had spent the entire match treating Xavier as the optimal carrier because he was fast, adaptable and difficult to predict.
Xavier had treated the flag as an object anyone on his team could carry.
Arkad now had ours.
Xavier was free.
Anata changed direction instantly and followed him.
Leonie shouted:
"Raymond!"
I looked toward her.
Arkad had Celcium's flag.
She had Arkad.
My first instinct was to chase Xavier.
Our stolen Nexus flag was with Oren.
If Xavier reached him—
"Stay!" Leonie shouted.
I stayed.
Horrible experience.
Xavier and Anata disappeared toward the southern wall.
Oren was alone.
Leonie attacked Arkad again.
"Get the flag."
"Arkad objects."
"I noticed."
He certainly did.
Arkad had changed his stance to compensate for carrying the standard.
One hand occupied.
Less reach.
Less flexibility.
Still Arkad.
He used the flagstaff itself defensively, rotating the base to catch Leonie's spear.
The crowd loved that.
I did not.
Tournament officials apparently considered it legal as long as he did not deliberately damage the flag.
Leonie feinted left.
Arkad refused.
I came from the opposite side.
He saw me.
"Finally."
"This isn't personal."
"You keep saying that."
He drove forward.
No attempt to preserve himself.
His job was time.
Every second Xavier spent hunting Oren made Arkad's position more valuable.
I changed gravity around my own base and absorbed his first impact.
Pain travelled through my shoulder.
My earlier bruises had opinions.
Arkad struck again.
Leonie hit his exposed side with the flat of her practice spear.
Valid contact.
Not disabling.
Arkad twisted away.
He gave ground toward Nexus.
Wrong direction for us.
Correct for him.
"Stop moving him east," Leonie snapped.
"I'm not doing it deliberately."
"Do it deliberately the other way."
Charming.
I stopped attacking his body.
Board Sight traced his next step.
Center of mass forward.
Flag held high to keep it away from Leonie.
I moved inside the line.
Not a strike.
My forearm met his flag arm near the wrist.
He turned.
I went with him.
Leonie understood.
Her spear slid behind his retreating ankle without sweeping it, simply occupying the place he wanted to step.
Arkad saw the trap.
Too late to use that route.
He changed direction.
West.
Exactly what we needed.
No one defeated him.
We moved him.
Five meters.
Then ten.
Away from Nexus.
Arkad realized it and laughed.
"Annoying."
"I've had excellent reviews."
He tried to break between us.
Leonie caught the flagstaff with both hands.
Arkad kept hold.
For one absurd second they were simply pulling opposite ends of Celcium's flag like children fighting over a branch.
I reached for it.
Arkad kicked toward my thigh.
I withdrew.
Leonie lost half a step.
He tore the flag free.
Then a distant sound hit the field.
Oren's first ward breaking.
We all heard it.
Arkad smiled.
Not because he was winning here.
Because Xavier was doing his job elsewhere.
Leonie's eyes sharpened.
"Now."
She attacked hard.
So did I.
---
Oren told me later that he knew he could not outrun Xavier after the first twenty seconds.
That was probably obvious to everyone except Oren, who had apparently needed those twenty seconds for personal confirmation.
He ran south with the Nexus flag while Xavier closed steadily.
Anata did not waste arrows on Oren himself.
She fired at his route.
Left side.
Then right.
She was steering him away from cover.
Oren raised his first mobile ward only when Xavier came within striking distance.
Xavier hit it.
Once.
Twice.
Oren kept moving.
The barrier moved with him and drained mana for every step.
He could have continued south.
Maybe another minute.
Perhaps less.
Instead, he turned around.
Toward us.
That was not Leonie's plan.
It was not mine.
It was Oren's.
He had understood something simple.
An isolated defender with a flag was prey.
A tired defender returning toward two allies was a problem arriving with reinforcements.
Xavier hesitated when Oren changed direction.
Only once.
Enough for Oren to gain five meters.
Anata adapted faster.
She moved to the flank and began firing past Xavier.
Oren's ward caught one shaft.
Second.
The third hit the lower edge of the barrier and made the mana surface flicker.
His reserve was dying.
He knew.
He kept coming.
---
Arkad almost escaped us when he saw Oren.
Leonie slammed the shaft of her spear across his path.
I moved on the other side.
He turned.
We had created a funnel without saying anything.
For the first time all match, we were beginning to move like people who had fought together before.
Which was impressive considering we largely hadn't.
Oren came from the south.
Xavier behind.
Anata farther out.
Six competitors converging toward the same central ground.
The crowd grew louder.
I barely noticed.
Oren's ward failed.
Not shattered.
Simply vanished.
Mana gone.
Xavier reached him.
Oren turned, Nexus flag still in one hand.
Xavier did not attack immediately.
Smart.
If he disabled Oren but the flag fell somewhere Celcium could recover, the exchange might remain bad.
He reached for the flag.
Oren pulled away.
Xavier changed angle.
Anata fired at Oren's legs.
I had perhaps three seconds.
Leonie had Arkad occupied.
I ran.
Arkad saw.
He tried to stop me.
Leonie stepped directly into his route.
"Go!"
I went.
Ground Resonance opened for one pulse.
Dry central stone.
Clean.
Xavier.
Oren.
Anata's next foot placement.
Closed.
I shifted right before she fired.
Her arrow passed where my shoulder had been.
She corrected immediately.
Second shot.
I changed cadence.
Not Xavier's pattern.
Mine.
Two quick steps.
One shortened.
Then a long stride.
Bad rhythm.
Ugly.
Effective enough.
The arrow hit the outside of my arm.
Pain.
Not a disabling mark.
I kept moving.
Xavier finally caught Oren's wrist.
Oren had no mana left for another ward.
He did something even simpler.
He let go of the flag with that hand.
Caught it with the other.
Xavier adjusted.
That half-second was enough for me to reach them.
I did not attack Xavier.
I grabbed the Celcium band at Oren's shoulder and pulled him backward.
He stumbled toward me.
Xavier gained the Nexus flagstaff.
Both of them still had a hand on it.
Tugging.
Again.
Apparently flags destroyed civilization.
Anata moved closer.
If she reached us, this ended badly.
"Oren!"
"I know!"
He did not.
Neither did I.
Then Leonie shouted from behind:
"DROP IT!"
Oren released the Nexus flag.
I stared at him.
So did Xavier.
Xavier now possessed his own standard.
Nexus had recovered what it needed.
Which sounded catastrophic.
Until I saw Leonie.
She was no longer fighting Arkad.
She was running toward us.
Arkad followed, still carrying Celcium's flag.
Leonie had abandoned the duel deliberately.
"Raymond, Xavier!"
That was not an instruction I particularly understood.
Then she pointed between us.
"Keep him there!"
Xavier realized first.
He tried to retreat with the Nexus flag.
I blocked the direct lane.
He changed direction.
I followed.
No need to defeat him.
No need to take the flag.
Just prevent him from returning it to the Nexus base.
Anata saw the same problem.
She fired at me.
I moved.
Xavier slipped past.
I caught his sleeve.
He tore free.
Arkad came from behind carrying our flag.
Leonie chased him.
And suddenly the geometry became obvious.
Both teams had recovered their own standard—
but neither standard was home.
The entire match had collapsed into a race between two moving carriers.
Arkad heading east with ours.
Xavier heading east with his.
Same direction.
Nexus only needed to get its own flag home, then Arkad could score ours almost immediately.
We were about to lose.
Leonie knew.
"Oren!"
He was nearly empty.
Still moving.
He raised one hand.
His final ward did not form around himself.
It formed across the narrow eastern lane.
Small.
Barely shoulder-wide.
Right in front of Arkad.
Arkad hit it at speed.
The barrier cracked instantly.
But it held for one second.
One.
That was enough.
Leonie caught him.
She drove her shoulder into the side of the flagstaff.
Arkad kept his feet.
Barely.
The ward broke.
Raymond, move.
No one said it.
I saw the opening.
Xavier was still carrying the Nexus flag toward home.
I could chase him.
If he returned it, Nexus became score-ready.
Or I could help Leonie recover ours.
Chessmaster offered both.
The second looked slower.
More bodies.
Anata approaching.
Arkad stronger than Leonie.
The first appealed to me.
So naturally I did the second.
I left Xavier.
His head turned when he realized.
Surprise.
Excellent.
I reached Arkad from the opposite side.
He tried to rotate away.
Leonie had one hand on the staff.
Arkad the other.
I struck neither.
I dropped my weight through my legs and increased gravity around my own center for one short pulse.
Then I hit the flagstaff with my shoulder.
Not magically moving it.
Just being very unpleasantly heavy.
Arkad's grip slipped.
Leonie tore the standard free.
Celcium flag recovered.
"HOME!" she shouted.
Oren turned immediately.
Not me.
Oren.
He ran toward our pedestal with Leonie.
She handed him the flag.
Why the exhausted one?
Because Leonie turned around.
Toward the Nexus standard lying in Xavier's hands fifty meters away.
No.
Not lying.
Xavier had stopped.
He understood.
If he kept running east and returned Nexus's flag, Arkad could no longer score because he no longer possessed ours.
They needed to steal it again.
The game had reset asymmetrically.
Celcium possessed its own flag.
Nexus possessed its own.
Nobody held the enemy's.
Except the Nexus flag was still with Xavier far from his base.
Leonie smiled.
"We take him."
I almost objected to the wording.
No time.
She ran.
I followed.
Anata stepped between us.
Arkad joined her.
Xavier moved behind them.
Three people protecting their own flag.
Oren running ours home.
Two versus three.
Terrible arithmetic.
Fortunately, we did not need to win the fight.
We needed time.
Oren reached the western lane.
Leonie attacked Anata.
Anata expected me.
Leonie didn't give her the choice.
Spear against bow.
Close range.
Anata retreated.
Arkad came at me.
My favorite recurring problem.
I did not fight him properly.
Again.
Block.
Move.
Give ground.
Keep him from turning toward Oren.
Xavier looked past me.
He knew.
"Oren!"
Arkad understood.
He tried to disengage.
I grabbed his practice weapon.
He nearly pulled me off my feet.
Worth it.
The Celcium pedestal rang.
Oren had returned our flag.
Home.
Now we could score.
We still needed Nexus's.
Leonie heard the bell.
So did Anata.
Everyone changed at once.
Xavier ran for Nexus.
If he returned their standard first, the situation became neutral again.
Leonie chased him.
Anata followed Leonie.
I remained attached to Arkad by one increasingly poor decision.
He finally ripped his weapon free.
I stumbled.
He ran.
I followed because dignity had already departed.
Leonie could not catch Xavier.
Not before his base.
Unless—
Ground Resonance.
One pulse.
Dry stone.
Xavier's next line.
Not his rhythm.
The terrain.
A low broken wall forced him left or over.
He would go over.
Faster.
I shouted:
"Leonie—left wall!"
She trusted me.
Did not follow Xavier.
She cut left.
Xavier jumped.
Landed.
Leonie met him on the other side.
Not a perfect interception.
Enough.
Her spear struck the flagstaff.
Xavier twisted.
Kept hold.
Anata reached them.
Arkad behind.
I arrived last.
Again.
The next five seconds were awful.
Arkad hit my guard hard enough to numb my forearm.
Anata's arrow struck Leonie's shoulder pad.
Valid hit, not disabling.
Xavier tried to escape.
Leonie blocked.
I moved inside.
Xavier expected gravity.
I used none.
He expected me to control the wrist.
I went for the flagstaff instead.
Both hands.
He pulled.
I pulled.
This tournament had become deeply undignified.
"Let go," Xavier said.
"No."
"Wonderful strategy."
"Leonie's."
He looked genuinely surprised.
That cost him.
Leonie hooked the lower end of the staff with her spear and twisted.
Three directions.
Xavier could hold against one.
Maybe two.
Not three.
His hand opened.
I got the Nexus flag.
Anata immediately shot me.
The arrow struck my ribs.
Pain exploded across my side.
Still not a disabling zone.
Lucky.
Arkad came.
I threw the flag.
Not toward our base.
Toward Leonie.
She caught it.
Turned.
Ran.
Everything followed her.
Xavier first.
Anata.
Arkad.
Me somewhere behind them reconsidering my relationship with breathing.
Oren stood near Celcium's pedestal.
No mana.
No ward.
But our flag was home.
Leonie had forty meters.
Thirty.
Xavier gained.
Twenty.
Anata stopped running.
Raised her bow.
She could not safely shoot through Xavier.
She moved sideways.
Ten.
Leonie saw her.
Changed line.
Five.
Xavier reached.
His hand touched Leonie's shoulder.
She did not fight him.
She dove forward and drove the Nexus flagstaff into the scoring cradle.
The arena rang.
A deep metallic note rolled across the field.
For half a second, nobody understood.
Then the scoreboard changed.
CELCIUM — 1.
NEXUS — 0.
Match time remaining:
00:17.
Seventeen seconds.
Arkad looked at the board.
Then at our flag.
Then toward Nexus's empty pedestal.
There was no time.
The final horn sounded.
Celcium had won.
By seventeen seconds.
---
I lay on the grass.
This was not ceremonial.
My body had simply rejected further negotiation.
Somewhere beside me, Oren was laughing.
Leonie had enough energy to remain upright, which I considered suspicious.
The crowd was loud.
I closed my eyes.
A shadow stopped over me.
Xavier.
"You left me."
I opened one eye.
"In the middle?"
"You had a line to stop me returning our flag."
"Yes."
"But you went for Arkad instead."
"Leonie needed our flag."
He looked toward her.
Then back at me.
"She called that?"
"Yes."
A pause.
"And you listened?"
"I'm trying new things."
He laughed.
Small.
Tired.
It felt almost normal.
Anata arrived behind him.
Her bow hung against one shoulder.
"You stopped chasing the impacts."
"Eventually."
"I noticed."
"That sounded disappointed."
"It was."
Arkad dropped onto the grass beside me without permission.
"You grabbed my weapon."
"Yes."
"That was pathetic."
"Successful."
"Barely."
Also true.
The scoreboard confirmed the final result.
Celcium victory.
Not domination.
Our overall tournament standings now placed Nexus and Celcium close enough that the third trial would matter enormously.
Exactly what the organizers wanted.
Commerce again.
Leonie joined us.
Xavier stood.
The small circle broke naturally.
No one announced forgiveness.
No one needed to.
We had played a game.
That was all.
For now.
---
Vann's message reached me after the medical check.
Three lines.
I read them twice.
The public renovation trail had yielded the name of an external artificery contractor responsible for part of the North Faculty Annex safeguarding works.
The company still existed.
Its private maintenance records were not public.
But if those records survived, they could identify the **type of system installed** without anyone entering Nexus first.
That was movement.
Not proof.
A door with a lock instead of a wall.
Beneath it, Vann had written:
DO NOT CONTACT THEM YOURSELF YET.
I smiled.
Anata, passing nearby, saw the expression.
"What?"
"Someone has finally learned to give me instructions."
She looked toward Leonie.
"I doubt he's the first."
Cruel woman.
I folded the note.
Tomorrow began the Martial Arts and Magic Championship.
Individual brackets.
No flags.
No teammates to hide behind.
Across the arena, officials were already raising the boards.
Names.
Matches.
Academies.
My body hurt.
My mana was lower than I wanted.
And Nexus now knew how I moved when the ground lied.
I looked at the new bracket.
The tournament had spent two trials teaching me something inconvenient.
The people across from me were no longer pieces I remembered.
They moved back.