[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This-Chapter 93: In Which Denver Has Explosions (And Coalition Politics Get Complicated)

Chapter 93: In Which Denver Has Explosions (And Coalition Politics Get Complicated)

Denver was colder than Seattle, which I hadn’t thought possible.

We stepped through the portal into an industrial area nestled against the mountains, the air thin enough that I felt it immediately in my lungs. The rift pulsed about fifty meters away, surrounded by approximately seventy enforcers arranged in defensive formation, already waiting for us this time.

"Seventy," Kelvin said, sounding pleased. "Now we’re talking."

"You have problems," Mara said, already setting up her scanner.

"I have priorities."

Ryota’s team was already in position, cameras rolling, coalition monitor showing the same grid of faces from Seattle. More of them this time, word had apparently spread.

"Coalition feed is live," Ryota confirmed. "Twelve cells from before, plus six more who wanted to observe."

"Fantastic," I muttered. "A bigger audience."

Chen Wei’s face was prominent on the monitor, her expression somehow even more hostile than it had been three hours ago.

"The Shanghai cell maintains our position," she said, not bothering with preamble. "Demon-warden collaboration is inherently corrupted. Seattle proved nothing except that the warden has been compromised."

"That’s absurd," a male voice interrupted. British accent. "The Tokyo cell reviewed the footage, the technique is clearly collaborative, not coercive."

"You’re being naive," Chen Wei shot back.

"And you’re being stubborn," a third voice added. American, female. "We just watched them close a rift with zero corruption signatures. What more proof do you need?"

"Proof that doesn’t involve a demon lord.."

"Can we close the rift first, argue later?" I called out, loud enough for the microphones to pick up.

The coalition monitor went silent.

"Proceed," someone said finally.

Azryth and I moved toward the rift. The seventy enforcers shifted, tracking our movement with unsettling coordination.

"They’re organized," Azryth observed quietly.

"Veyrith’s learning," I agreed.

I summoned the spectral blade, very aware that cameras were tracking every movement. The enforcers held position, waiting.

"That’s new," Kelvin said. "Usually they attack immediately."

"I don’t like it," Serra added.

"Nobody likes it," Mara confirmed. "They’re waiting for something."

I activated my X-ray vision. The anchor points appeared, nested three layers as expected.

The enforcers still didn’t move.

"This is a trap," I said.

"Obviously," Azryth agreed. "The question is what kind."

I raised the blade to strike the first anchor point.

One of the enforcers in the back row started glowing.

Not the normal purple-black energy. Something brighter, more volatile, building rapidly like a star about to go supernova.

"Get back!" Ryota shouted, recognizing it a split second before I did.

The enforcer detonated.

The blast wave hit like a sledgehammer, throwing everyone back. I felt Azryth grab me, pulling me against his chest as he turned, putting his back between me and the explosion.

The impact was massive. Heat and force and shrapnel, the sound of the blast drowning out everything else.

We hit the ground hard, Azryth still wrapped around me.

For a moment, there was just ringing silence.

Then Azryth’s voice, strained. "Are you hurt?"

"No." I pulled back to look at him. "Are you.."

His back.

The explosion had caught him directly. His shirt was burned away, skin underneath scorched and blistering, blood seeping from where shrapnel had embedded itself in several places.

"Oh god," I breathed.

"It’s fine," he said, already trying to push himself up.

"Your back.."

"Is already healing." His jaw was tight, movements careful. "The rift is still open."

I stared at him. At the burns covering his back, at the way he was trying to hide how much it hurt.

I didn’t yell, didn’t scream at him for protecting me again.

I just felt something cold settle in my chest.

"Casualties?" Ryota was calling out, checking his team.

"Three injured," one of his hunters reported. "Burns, superficial."

"Kelvin took shrapnel," Kade added. "Multiple fragments."

"I’m fine," Kelvin called out, pulling metal out of his shoulder. "I’m just annoyed. Surprise explosions are cheating."

"Suicide bomber," Mara said, scanning the blast site. "The enforcer was rigged to detonate on command. I’ve never seen that tactic before."

On the coalition monitor, the arguing had stopped completely.

Everyone was staring at the feed in silence.

"The demon," someone said finally, voice quiet. "Did he just shield the warden."

"Yes, he took the full force of the blast," another added.

"He didn’t even hesitate," a third voice said.

Even Chen Wei was silent, staring at the screen.

I helped Azryth to his feet, keeping my hand on his arm to steady him. His back was already starting to heal, infernal regeneration working, but it was slow, the explosion had been designed to burn through demonic defenses.

"Can you fight?" I asked quietly.

"Yes."

"Can you fight without making it worse?"

"I’ll manage."

The remaining enforcers were regrouping, forming up for another assault. Sixty-nine left, all watching us with that same coordinated intelligence.

"Close the rift," Azryth said. "I’ll handle them."

"You’re hurt."

"I’m functional." His power manifested around his hands, controlled despite the pain. "Close the rift, Riven."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to make him sit this one out.

But we both knew he wouldn’t.

I turned back to the rift, trying to focus past the awareness of Azryth’s burned back, the blood still seeping from shrapnel wounds.

The first anchor point was still there, waiting.

I struck.

The blade severed it cleanly. Azryth’s power joined mine immediately, and I felt the pain he was suppressing, the way channeling energy pulled at burned skin and embedded metal.

Behind me, the enforcers attacked.

Kelvin, Serra, and Kade met them head-on with their usual enthusiasm, though Kelvin was moving more carefully around his injured shoulder. Ryota’s team formed up alongside them, working in practiced coordination.

Azryth stayed between me and the bulk of the fighting, his barrier catching enforcers before they could reach me.

I felt every movement through the binding. Every time his power flared. Every spike of pain when the effort pulled at his injuries.

"Second anchor," I said, watching it appear. "Ten seconds."

"I have it," Azryth said, and his barrier intensified despite the cost.

Ten seconds.

Strike.

The second layer severed. I immediately poured power through the binding, sealing the wound before the nexus could restore it.

The rift screamed, fighting back harder than Seattle had.

"Third anchor," I announced, searching for it through the chaos.

An enforcer broke through the defensive line, heading straight for me.

Azryth eliminated it with a blast of power that made him flinch, the exertion clearly painful.

"Stop," I said.

"Don’t worry."

"You’re making it worse."

"Doesn’t matter." His voice was tight. "Close the rift."

The core anchor appeared, vulnerable, exposed.

I struck with everything we had.

The rift collapsed inward, imploding with enough force to create a vacuum. Every remaining enforcer got sucked back through the tear before it sealed completely.

Silence.

I stood there, breathing hard, the blade dissolving from my grip.

Then, through the map knowledge, I felt it.

The cluster collapsed. Three more rifts scattered across the Rocky Mountains sealed simultaneously as the resonance field destabilized and fell apart.

"Cluster collapse confirmed," Mara announced, checking her scanner. "Three additional closures. Nineteen total rifts sealed."

On the coalition monitor, multiple people gasped.

"Three at once?"

"The resonance theory works."

"I’ve never seen coordinated closures on this scale."

Even Chen Wei looked stunned, though she was clearly trying to hide it.

Azryth swayed slightly.

I moved to his side immediately, steadying him. "We’re done. Going back now."

"I’m fine.."

"You’re not." I looked at Ryota. "We’re done here."

"Understood." Ryota turned to the coalition monitor. "Demonstration complete. Rift closed, cluster collapsed, technique proven effective at scale. Questions can be directed to my formal report."

Several coalition members started talking at once, but Ryota cut the feed.

"Well," Kelvin said, still picking shrapnel out of his shoulder. "That was exciting."

"That was a disaster," Mara corrected.

"Exciting disaster," Kelvin amended. "The best kind."

Ryota approached us, medical kit already out. "Azryth, I need to remove the shrapnel before it heals over."

"I can do it myself."

"Azryth," I said, looking at him sternly. "Sit."

Azryth looked at me, then sat.

While Ryota worked, carefully extracting metal fragments and treating the burns with something that made Azryth’s jaw tighten, I stood beside him. Close enough to feel his warmth, to know he was alive and healing.

I didn’t say anything.

What was there to say? He was protecting me, and he’d do it again. We both knew it.

"You’re quiet," Azryth said finally.

"I’m tired."

"That’s not it."

"I felt your ribs break in Shanghai. I felt this explosion through the binding." My voice was flat. "I’m running out of things to say about you getting hurt."

His hand found mine. "I know."

We sat there in silence while Ryota finished, while his team packed equipment, while Mara analyzed the cluster collapse.

Nineteen rifts closed. Thirty to go.

One more and we could assault the nexus.

One more, and then we’d find out what Veyrith had actually been planning while we’d been distracted closing his rifts.

But first, Azryth needed to heal.

And I needed to figure out how to keep functioning while watching him throw himself at every threat to protect me.

I had a feeling that wasn’t going to get easier.