Chapter 16: The Gravity of Betrayal

Draven watched the cultist melt from the inside out. He did not feel an ounce of pity.

He knelt down, carefully pulled the empty kunai from the man’s chest, wiped the blade clean on the midnight blue robes, and placed it back into his System Inventory.

He raised his hand and used a gentle sweep of Vector Manipulation to brush dirt over the bloodstains. He stirred the air, scattering the chemical smoke into the wind.

There were no footprints. There was no murder weapon.

When the Church of the Eternal Eclipse finally found this body, they would assume the Summoner’s own unstable corrupted magic had backfired and cooked him alive.

Draven Mordis was completely off the radar. He was just an Extra.

’Getting attention was seriously a mistake on my part. Attention just brings problem. I thought ranking second would be helpful to affirm my position in the academy, which it did. But I cannot afford the attention from the Cult.’

---

ROOOOOOAR!

A deafening shockwave rattled the trees. Draven snapped his head toward the clearing. With the Summoner dead, the invisible leash controlling the Eclipse Forged Amalgam had snapped.

It was no longer a targeted bio-weapon. It was a mindless, rabid force of nature, and it was tearing the battlefield apart.

Draven coated his boots in kinetic force and launched himself through the canopy.

When he reached the edge of the clearing, the situation was pure chaos.

Aegon Logcheville was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, retreating as the Amalgam wildly swung its massive, bone-plated tail.

Natalie Tokks was desperately firing arrows from the treeline.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

The glowing arrows exploded against the beast’s hide, but the Amalgam did not even flinch. It was entirely consumed by berserker rage.

Reina Frost charged forward, her double-sided axe glowing with absolute zero temperatures.

"Freeze, you ugly bastard!" she screamed, slamming her axe into the ground.

A massive glacier of jagged ice erupted upward, striking the Amalgam’s chest.

But the beast did not freeze. It shattered the ice with a brutal swing of its massive fist. The backhand caught Reina square in the chest.

BAM!

Reina flew backward through the air like a ragdoll. She slammed violently into the trunk of a massive, ancient oak tree.

CRACK!

The sickening crack of the wood echoed over the roar of the monster. Reina collapsed to the dirt.

Her vision swam. Her ribs burned with agonizing pain. She tried to lift her axe, but her fingers would not close.

The Amalgam loomed over her, raising a terrifying, corrupted claw to crush her into paste.

Reina gasped for air. She looked to her right.

Neville Hennesy was standing only twenty feet away. He was glowing with holy light, his sword fully charged.

"Neville!" Reina choked out, reaching a trembling hand toward her lifelong crush.

"Help!"

Neville looked at her. He looked at the Amalgam’s raised claw.

And then, he saw that the beast had left its entire left flank completely exposed.

Neville’s eyes widened with ambition. He did not run toward Reina.

He completely ignored her, using her imminent death as the perfect distraction.

He charged at the monster’s blind spot. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Divine Cleave!" Neville shouted, preparing to steal the glory.

"What...?!"

Reina’s heart shattered.

The Golden Boy, the hero she had devoted herself to, had just abandoned her to die for a clean shot. She closed her eyes and braced for the crushing impact.

FWOOSH!

A sonic boom ripped through the clearing.

Draven had completely nullified the gravitational pull on his own body.

He applied a massive, horizontal kinetic vector to his back, turning himself into a human missile.

He crossed the clearing at sixty kilometers per hour.

He snatched Reina off the ground a millisecond before the Amalgam’s claw slammed down.

KRA-BOOM!

The monstrous claw obliterated the oak tree, sending splinters the size of swords flying into the air.

Reina gasped, the wind knocked out of her lungs.

She opened her eyes. She was not dead.

She was floating mid-air, safe and sound, cradled firmly in Draven’s arms.

The cold, focused eyes of the "slum rat" looked down at her, making sure she was conscious.

[Target Identified: Reina Frost]

[Favourability: 40/100 (Shocked / Heart-struck)]

Draven landed softly near the treeline. He unceremoniously dropped Reina onto her feet right next to Estella.

"Watch her," Draven ordered.

Estella caught Reina.

She glared at Draven, then looked down at Reina’s very generous chest, and let out a sharp, annoyed huff.

She looked exactly like a cute, territorial kitten.

"You certainly took your sweet time carrying her," Estella pouted, crossing her arms.

"I was saving her life," Draven replied flatly.

"Whatever. Just kill that thing," Estella grumbled, though she gently kept Reina steady on her feet.

Draven turned back to the battlefield.

Neville’s ’Divine Cleave’ had hit the Amalgam’s flank, but it only managed to scorch the bone plating.

The beast roared, swatting Neville away like a fly.

Draven analyzed the situation. He needed this monster dead to save the students.

But if he killed a Level 25 Boss Monster himself, his score would skyrocket.

He would become the indisputable number one ranker.

The Academy Instructors, the Guilds, and the Government would immediately put him under a microscope.

An Extra could not afford that kind of attention. He needed to be suspicious enough to be useful, but weak enough to be ignored.

He needed to hand the kill to the idiot.

Draven raised both of his hands toward a massive, uprooted pine tree lying on the edge of the clearing.

He gripped the invisible vectors of the heavy wood.

"Hey, Golden Boy!" Draven shouted, drawing Neville’s attention.

"Get ready to hit it!"

Draven applied a violent, counter-rotating kinetic force to the ends of the massive pine tree.

VRRRRRRRRRR!

The tree lifted into the air and began to spin along its axis at a terrifying speed.

It sounded like a massive, roaring chainsaw.

Draven accelerated the rotation until the air around the wood began to shriek.

SHHHHHRIIIIEK!

With a brutal downward thrust of his arms, Draven launched the spinning tree directly at the Amalgam.

SQUELCH! BOOOOOOM!

The high-speed rotational force acted like a giant drill.

The massive tree trunk pierced straight through the Amalgam’s corrupted chest plating, burying itself deep into the beast’s heart and pinning the colossal monster flat against the dirt.

The Amalgam shrieked in absolute agony, its limbs thrashing wildly as it bled out, completely immobilized. It was sitting at exactly one hit point.

Draven dropped to one knee, panting heavily. He purposely made himself look completely drained of mana.

"It is pinned!" Draven yelled, pointing at the trapped beast.

"Finish it! I am out of energy!"

Neville, eager to salvage his heroic image and secure his victory in the bet, scrambled to his feet.

He gripped his silver sword with both hands, leaping high into the air above the pinned monster.

"DIVINE SMITE!" Neville roared.

A blinding pillar of holy light crashed down from the red sky. The blast struck the Amalgam’s head, completely obliterating it in a shower of light and ash.

The forest went completely silent. The red sky flickered and slowly faded back to a normal blue. The barrier had rebooted.

Beep.

The Nexus-Bands on their wrists chimed.

Neville looked down at his watch.

A massive "+100 Points" flashed on his screen.

A victorious, arrogant smirk spread across his face. He turned to look at Draven, panting on the ground.

"It seems I win the bet, Mordis," Neville declared proudly, sheathing his sword.

"I delivered the killing blow. I am the top Vanguard."

Aegon Logcheville spat a glob of blood onto the grass. He looked at Neville with pure, unadulterated disgust.

Reina Frost leaned against Estella. She clutched her bruised ribs.

She did not look at Neville with admiration anymore. The "Fatal Devotion" had completely shattered.

She looked at the Golden Boy, realizing he had happily left her to be crushed just to score some points.

Then, she looked over at Draven.

The guy who supposedly had a bad attitude had crossed the battlefield at the speed of sound just to save her life.

Draven slowly stood up, wiping fake sweat from his brow. He looked at Neville’s arrogant smile.

"Congratulations, Hennesy," Draven said, keeping his tone perfectly defeated. "You are the hero."

Draven had lost the bet. He had lost the points.

But as he looked at the sheer betrayal in Reina’s eyes and the absolute disgust on Aegon’s face, Draven smiled internally.

Neville had won the battle, but Draven was completely destroying his character arc.

’I know the whole story, little boy! This defeat means nothing and these points you just earned...’