When Conrad said Shadow's name and Tate's, Tate bounced down to the mat without hesitation but Shadow took a second to glare at Conrad before he went.

As Tate and Shadow faced each other, Lexie could feel the tension radiating off the two. Though Shadow hadn't said much to anyone, he'd never made a secret of just how much he disliked Tate. Not that he liked many of the other competitors but Lexie thought he at least respected Boris and Lane. To a lesser extent Jan and Ken.

But he resented that the likes of Lexie and Tate were here, and he especially resented that he had to face off against Tate today in front of Top Dog. He assumed it would be too easy a victory and it wouldn't truly show off what he was capable of. It wouldn't impress Top Dog to watch him beat a mundane and that was unfair.

He blamed Conrad, and to a larger extent Tate, for this grievous problem.

Top Dog cocked his head, his eyes scanning Tate carefully.

"You're the mundane." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes," Tate answered.

Top Dog narrowed his eyes at him and Conrad sighed.

"You'll have to forgive Top Dog," Conrad said to Tate. "He only knows one other mundane fighter and that one's a raging dickhead."

"I've heard," Tate said with some humor. He looked like he was waiting for Top Dog to get whatever he wanted off his chest, to maybe ask why Tate was doing this or tell him that mundanes had no place in the AFC.

But Top Dog simply shook his head and said, "Carry on."

The opponents faced each other again. Menace glinted in their expressions. Shadow unsheathed his katana-like sword and Tate put up his fists, his mechs flashing.

"Begin," Conrad called out and they charged at each other. Shadow attacked first with two mana slices in the air aimed at Tate. The latter dodged. The second one nearly got him in the eye but he bent lower at the last minute. Shadow followed up with three more slashes and Tate managed to avoid all of them, impressing Boris who murmured,

"He's gotten faster."

"Yes." It was odd. Though Tate had been putting in the work, doing more sprints and workouts than anyone else in the dojo, coming in more often too, no one thought he would advance this quickly. Mostly because the very nature of being a mundane prevented him from leveling up. Unlike rankers, he had a natural human ceiling and no one thought that ceiling could match Shadow, even with all his mechs.

But he was matching Shadow.

Even worse, with the increased speed and Tate's natural talent at avoiding blows, he was almost...better than Shadow.

Tate skipped and flipped, showing athleticism as he dodged more airstrikes. It wasn't as graceful as Shadow's choreography, but it was artful in its own ruffian way.

But Tate's problem was that he had to get close to Shadow to deal a blow given his fighting style and Shadow wasn't letting him.

Or at the very least he wasn't getting close until suddenly he rolled to avoid one of Shadow's attacks and his dagger flipped into his hand.

Lexie recognized the dagger as the Pirate's dagger, he'd gotten from the dungeon. Some of the gems on the hilt of the dagger were similar to those on the sword Tate gave Isaac. Were they the same ones? Did he transfer them?

She didn't have time to wonder. Staying low, Tate bolted for Shadow even faster than before.

Shadow danced out of the way, holding out his hand and gripping the air clearly to manipulate Tate's pathways.

For a couple of seconds, it worked. Tate froze but then he gritted his teeth, gripped the dagger until it glowed, and stabbed it into the ground. Glowing vectors immediately shot out of the point of impact flashing in the air to everyone's stupefaction. A shatter sounded through the room and Shadow reared back, his face reflecting shock.

Tate had broken his effect.

A mundane had somehow resisted pathway manipulation.

It was...unheard of.

But Tate didn't wait for him to recover before he charged at Shadow again. Shadow forced himself back into awareness and slashed the air again, dancing from side to side, clearly not wanting to face Tate in a hand-to-hand battle.

Tate on the other hand was driven and indefatigable. He dodged some of the attacks but took three slashes to the chest on purpose so he could get closer to Shadow. His body only shook from the effect while his eyes remained focused on his target. When Tate was close, Shadow thrust his sword to stab him, but Tate flipped over him, using his shoulder, and instead drove the dagger into Shadow's back.

It didn't pierce through, but zap like a powerful taser sounded and visible lines of electricity sparked through Shadow's body.

Shadow jerked, gasped, and fell to the floor. His body began to shudder as though electrocuted. Tate straightened and eyed him smugly.

"I win," he practically spat.

Once again, the dojo was quiet. Then, the clapping began, loud and tremor-inducing, accompanied by loud whoops in the audience. Lexie joined in, grinning. It might have been a short battle but it was an entertaining one. And Tate had been incredible!

How did he escape from Shadow's trap?

Well, Lexie had a theory. She'd closed her eyes and tried to get a read on Tate's 'mana' when Shadow had trapped him. Instead of remaining still, his mana had grown even more chaotic, bouncing around his pathways rather than inside it.

That was probably how he could break the hold because the mana outside his pathways had shifted them out of Shadow's hold. How incredible.

How was he doing it though? Was this really from the mana potions or was it the work of the guy experimenting on Tate? Or was there something special about Tate himself?

Lexie didn't know and had a feeling Tate wouldn't tell her anyway. Shame.

As the applause died down, and Shadow finally got to his feet, glaring fiercely at Tate, Top Dog began his critique:

"Never underestimate your opponent," Top Dog said to a red-faced, furious-looking Shadow. "Mundane or not, you treat everyone in that ring as though they could kill you. Because they could. Ask Conrad about the one time he underestimated Kane the Mundane, and how the fight nearly ruined his entire career."

"Yeah." Conrad rubbed his hand over his hair. "That was rough."

Top Dog nodded. "This fight was probably the most entertaining of the bunch but you both could have upped the ante a little and interacted with the audience better. The finishing blow was hidden and dealt at his left side, so Tate you should have gone from the right so the audience could see it. And…Shadow, was it? Don't keep doing the same shit if it isn't working. It makes you look dumb."

Shadow's red face grew even redder, his expression stonier.

Top Dog, done with Shadow's evaluation, turned to Tate.

"Not bad," he said and though the comment itself was mild, it was what it was accompanied with that made everyone gasp.

Top Dog smiled at Tate. A real genuine smile.

It was clear he was impressed.

Lexie gaped and Tate shrugged like it was no big deal, rubbing his chest that probably stung from the slashes. "Thanks."

As both Tate and Shadow returned to their seats, Shadow sitting far away from everyone else, Conrad and Top Dog stood.

Conrad said, "Alright, I'm sure everyone is thankful for the advice, TD. It's great that he managed to carve out time in his busy schedule to do this, He pointed out all your weak points, points that I may have been neglecting. From today, we're going to get started with teaching y'all how to interact better with PHORBS and how to make your fights more entertaining. Part of that is adopting a fighter's persona. We'll go over all that in a bit but for now, I have to go talk to Top Dog in my office so you guys just chill and share notes." Conrad caught Lexie's gaze and winked. "Don't worry Lexie, I'll still get you the autograph."

Lexie blushed and shrugged like it didn't matter. As the two men walked away into Conrad's office, Urmas leaned in to speak to Tate.

"That was an amazing man," he said.

"Yeah, you sure you're mundane?" Ken quipped, but there was a hint of suspicion in his eyes like he thought Tate might be hiding a secret.

"Yup," Tate said, then he turned to Lexie as though waiting for her compliment. She shrugged.

"It was okay," Lexie said, feeling a little salty about the fact that Top Dog had smiled at him of all people.

Tate saw right through her and grinned mercilessly.

"What, are you jealous?" Tate mocked.

"No," Lexie said.

"Really? Because you seem kinda jealous."

"Can you two not have your lover's quarrel right now?" Cara groaned laying her head back and closing her eyes. "I still feel dizzy from that trick Lexie pulled."

"Sorry," Lexie apologized again, but in the back of her mind, she was already planning more tricks to pull. She needed more cards and quickly.

One way or another, she was going to get that 'not bad' and a smile out of Top Dog too.

***

Conrad closed the door after Hakeem walked in.

Conrad could tell that his friend was deep in thought about something because he hadn't even commented on what the office looked like.

Typically, this was the part where 'Keem would say something sardonic about the muscle man posters on the wall, or at the very least scoff at Conrad's frat boy tendencies. Or remark on all the energy drinks he kept shoved in a corner, hidden away in case Isla came over unexpectedly. Isla had scolded him about his energy drink usage, and to be fair, he'd cut down significantly, but sometimes he just needed a bit of a kick to start his day.

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Top Dog dragged the seat back and plopped himself on it and Conrad rounded the desk to sit. He gave Top Dog a few more minutes to organize his thoughts, before he asked, "So…what do you think?"

Top Dog's eyes flicked to him and he gave a quirk of the lip that could have been a smile. "I think you should get back into the arena."

Conrad grinned. He'd suspected this was why Top Dog came over but he didn't expect the man to be so blatant with it. He probably should have seen it coming though. Top Dog wouldn't know subtlety if it hit him in the face.

"Not happening," Conrad said

"Why not?" he asked. "Damn it, Conrad, the league finals' line-up is downright depressing without you and you know how it kills me to say that, but it's true. Last week, I had to fight Jean and Norris at once and had to deliberately nerf myself so the match wouldn't be over in two seconds. I was subtle with it but people still noticed and complained about how overpowered I am and how it wasn't a fair match. But there is no fair matchup for me now. Do you know how freaking annoying that is?"

"I'm sure."

"Yeah, and I'll probably have to do that again next week against Ghost, just to keep the viewers interested."

"I don't think the league is struggling for viewers right now."

"Not yet but they might be in the future if we keep on the same trajectory. So far no one in the league is getting the attention that the two of us had, and raising the stakes like they should. I mean, our last battle had peak viewership and broke records left and right. The league hasn't' managed to top that, or even come close since. To the point where they had this stupid idea of having me fighting a kid who happens to be a [Hero] student of all things in an attempt to boost interest again."

"I wouldn't underestimate the kid if I were you."

"Yeah, yeah, I already got the speech from Anna and Klaus. I know he beat everyone at prelims."

"Unsurprising. Kid or not, he's a Firebringer. An S-Rank Firebringer of all things. They don't joke."

"The Games aren't just about raw power," Hakeem countered. "Otherwise I wouldn't be where I am. Anyway, I didn't come to talk about that. I came to talk about you coming back to the league."

"And I repeat that's not happening."

"You haven't gotten over your tantrum yet?"

"It's not a tantrum. It was a full mental breakdown." Conrad tried to say it matter-of-factly, the way Isla did when she told him what had happened, but it was hard to fight the shame that came with admitting that he couldn't handle it; couldn't handle his life, his job. Even worse, he couldn't handle it so much that his brain had shut down and he'd locked himself up in his room hyperventilating till he passed out.

Except he couldn't pass out because he was a damn Berserker with crazy recovery and metabolism.

So he just stayed there, breathing hard, shaking, body curled up and reacting with no outlet and no reprieve.

Isla had walked in on him like that, picking the lock when he didn't respond to her knocks.

She'd told him there was nothing to be ashamed of, but he knew how it looked to everyone. It looked like he was just a lazy bum who couldn't take anything seriously, coasting off his parent's money. He'd dropped out of Hero's Academy because he didn't want to be a [Hero], and then he'd done the same thing with the league because he couldn't cut it.

He was a pathetic failure who just couldn't deal with reality.

When he thought about it like that, the shame overwhelmed him and he was tempted to either hide away from the world or take Hakeem up on his offer to return to the AFC, to prove himself even if it killed him.

The only thing that had stopped him from doing that had been Isla who pointed out the damage he'd been doing to himself every single fight. Multiple times a week he would push himself, and dance on the edge of madness. He would struggle to find balance in his body and his mind, battling the rage and the bloodlust, craving the destruction of everyone and everything, and having to reel all that back in to perform and entertain a crowd without killing anyone.

Training with madness had been a good exercise for Conrad the Berserker but for Conrad the human, it had messed him up so badly that anticipating another battle sent him into shutdown. Then after Isla spelled it out for him, after having a cry session on her lap, he had to admit it.

As much as he liked fighting and entertaining, his mind wasn't cut out for being number one or even number two. He wasn't cut out for the Arena, at least not now.

So he'd had to bow out and choose the next best thing. Training fighters.

Somewhat surprisingly though, he was enjoying himself. Spending time with those little rascals–even the difficult ones like Shadow–and watching them grow their strength individually and as a group, brought him a different kind of fulfillment. Plus it was nice, relaxing. It meant he could go home a whole man.

So yes, while he missed the rush of the AFC circuit, this was far better than losing his mind.

"Whatever you wanna call it," Hakeem said, "I thought you'd be over it by now. You were number two in the league, making nearly a million credits a year, even though you barely did sponsorships. A million, Conrad. I know that might not seem like much to you given your parents, but it's a lot of freaking money. Not to mention how much fun we used to have."

Conrad smirked. It was hard to believe that Top Dog described their fights as fun when it very much started with them wanting to kill each other.

At the beginning of their relationship, they'd pretty much loathed each other. There were theories on fan forums that the earlier hostility between the two had been faked, but it hadn't. They had truly despised everything about the other person. Top Dog hated Conrad for coming into the league, a rich, privileged hotshot who was advancing so fast without earning it as Top Dog had done. Hakeem had also hated that people always compared him to Conrad and some said Conrad was coming for his throne.

Conrad had disliked Top Dog for being an 'arrogant ass with the emotional bandwidth of a teaspoon'. At the time, TD had was a bundle of anger, snark, and competitiveness and he just wasn't a lot of fun to be around.

Eventually though, through a series of wacky hijinks including the fact that Conrad fell in love with Hakeem's cousin, Isla, the two were forced to get along. And now, they were friends.

Who would have thought?

"Conrad? Are you listening to me?"

"No," Conrad answered honestly because he'd truly zoned out.

"You were one of the best in the league," Top Dog reiterated. "Why would you give all that up just to come and do this?" He gestured around Conrad's office.

"Because it makes me happy, Hakeem," Conrad said quietly. "Teaching those kids makes me happy. Being a sane human being makes me happy. And that's the difference between me and you. You'd rather be the champion and I'd rather be happy."

Top Dog stared at him like he was speaking a different language, and Conrad knew that his words hadn't truly reached him, which meant that they'd be having this conversation again very soon.

"That reminds me of my initial question," Conrad said. "What do you think about my students?"

Top Dog sighed, clearly annoyed that Conrad hadn't immediately capitulated to his demands. Nevertheless, he scratched the tip of his nose as he thought about the question.

"A few of them are promising," Hakeem admitted. "Especially the Berserker. He'll go far. The speedster and the swordsman too. Despite his gaffe today, I could tell he had some serious skill. I predict they'll be somewhere around the top ten of under twenty division in at least a year." He twisted his head to the side. "The mundane was…interesting."

Conrad nodded. That was exactly the word he would use to describe Tate as well.

"He reminds me of you actually," Conrad said and he thought Top Dog would take offense at that but instead he smiled.

"Yeah, I can see that."

Tate had the same hunger Top Dog had in his eyes when Conrad first met him. The hunger was the first thing Conrad realized about the mundane boy when he'd stepped up to capture the flag from him. Conrad hadn't initially been expecting much from the mundane. After Lexie's takedown, he'd grown bored of everyone attempting very similar strategies and failing. Until Tate had pulled off a move that was so crazy, yet so risky, that Conrad had no choice but to respect it.

Nevertheless, while Tate had his respect, he wasn't Conrad's favorite in the group. After all, Tate had never brought him fresh home-baked snickerdoodles.

"How about Lexie?" Conrad asked next.

"Lexie…"

"The Card Mage."

"Oh her." Hakeem shrugged. "I feel like she's not giving it her all to be here. Like she's not all that interested. She's not fighting like she wants to get in the arena and she doesn't fight like people are watching her and she wants to impress them. She fights like she's doing math calculations in her head."

"Jeez, man," Conrad said even though he'd had the same thoughts when he saw Lexie fight. He'd always believed that Lexie might not actually be here for the AFC. Even during the capture of the flag battle, Lexie had seemed more pleased at getting the flag than at getting the golden ticket to train with him. She knew a lot about the circuit, but she never spoke about joining herself, while the others often discussed their costumes, and whether or not they would use a pseudonym.

"Yeah, I agree," Conrad said. "But I do think if she took this more seriously, she could make it very far. Especially with her story."

"Which is?"

"She's an eleven-year-old card mage fighter who makes her own cards. That practically sells itself," he said. "Not to mention, she's The Archmage's daughter."

Hakeem cocked an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to know how that is?"

Conrad rolled his eyes. "Jeez. I forgot you don't pay attention to anything that isn't in the arena. He was a powerful mage [hero] back in the day. Was the system marked as a villain suddenly for doing something heinous although no one knows exactly what he did." Conrad only had hints here and there from what his parents said, and it seemed like it had to do with Aiden Sparrowfoot reviving his dead wife. So, Conrad assumed Aiden had attempted some forbidden necromancy that involved killing creatures or stuff. But he'd never dived down that rabbit hole enough to be certain.

"Oh." Top Dog didn't show much of a reaction. "That's interesting, I suppose. But she'll need an even more interesting story than that to make up for her lack of flair when fighting."

"Yeah, you have a point. But you could have said that a little nicer." Conrad tapped his finger scoldingly on the table. "I think she might be a huge fan of yours." That was how Conrad had translated Lexie's shy tongue-tied nature in front of Top Dog anyway. It didn't seem like something she extended to other famous fighters. She'd certainly never been that way around Conrad.

Hakeem shrugged unapologetically. "She has to have thicker skin if she's going to join the AFC. People are going to say much meaner things to her. Besides, I don't know that she's a fan of mine. I think she might like the Mundane."

"Tate? How do you know?"

"Not him. Kane. The first time we met, she was betting on him to win against Mave. And he won." Hakeem still looked pissed about it.

Conrad gave him a disbelieving look. "Now tell me you're not blaming a kid for that, right?"

"Of course not, but my opinion of her should be the least of her worries if she indeed is taking this seriously."

"She better be. I'm entering all of them as possible candidates to fight in the opener for your exhibition match," he said.

Hakeem cocked an eyebrow. "You sure they're ready for that?"

"This is the only way they'll get ready. Plus they're pretty strong players, power-wise. They just need to work on their flair. And their personas. And their ending look." Especially Tate's faux intense look at the camera after his fight. That still gave him chills from how cringy it was. "Anyway, I'm sure it will all work out. I have a lot of faith in those kids, and I know a few of them will surprise you."

Top Dog left with a small spectacle from an army of people outside screaming, crying, and possibly throwing up just from seeing him. He put on his sunglasses and walked through them as they grabbed him, while a Road Rocket swept in to pick him up.

Once, he was gone, Lexie approached Conrad about the footage from the PHORB and how it would be used. He assured her that he wasn't broadcasting this one, at least not yet, and it would only be used to evaluate them. That gave her relief.

Then for the rest of the session, Conrad lectured them on their 'look' which was the look they would give the PHORB at the end of the fight after they'd presumably won their match. Conrad told them to come up with a signature, a distinctive look that would match their persona.

The problem was that he hated every single idea they tried.

"No, Boris don't wink like that at the camera. You look like you're harassing it."

"Jan. No kissy faces, please."

"Tate…what on earth are you doing? Are you…smoldering?"

Tate stopped peering and frowning at the PHORB to regard Conrad. "I'm trying to look intimidating. And mysterious."

Conrad gave him a blank look. "Well, it's not working. You don't have the charm to pull that off and the persona doesn't suit you. Pick something else."

"Ouch," Lexie giggled and Tate flashed her the finger.

On the way home, Lexie finally caught up with Dewie and Xena. She'd been neglecting them–well they'd been neglecting each other really–as they each got busy with their individual homework. Lexie spoke to Dewie first who told her about his new roommate who'd just arrived.

"He's great," Dewie said. "His name is Jace and he's an explosive spell user. He can make fireworks shoot out of the tip of his finger."

"That's nice," Lexie said. She could do that too, kinda.

"I told him he had an ugly phantom bird on his shoulder, and he said it was probably the ghost of his great-grandfather coming to haunt him. He bred ugly birds. And Jace's father might have accidentally killed the birds. It's a long story, but Jace seemed super casual about me seeing weird stuff and didn't freak out at all. He kept hanging out with me after."

"Aw, I'm glad." Just for that, Lexie gave this Jace fellow a billion cool points. "So you guys are friends?"

"I think so. He introduces me as his friend to other people."

"Well, what does Xena think about him?"

"She hasn't met him yet."

Lexie grinned. "What do you mean she hasn't met him yet? Aren't you guys in the same school?"

"Yeah, but...Xena didn't tell you?" Dewie frowned. "That's weird I thought she told you."

"Told me what?"

"She's gone. She hasn't been here for a couple of days. Her trainer took her to Planet Fae."

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