Kyyle wasted no time. Just moments after everyone had agreed to start the contest, he moved from his spot at the head of the table and made his way over to Noah. The man didn’t even say so much as a word. He simply put a single hand on Noah’s shoulder.

Then they were gone.

The ground jerked, yanked out from beneath Noah like a tablecloth. A wave of heat drove into his body as the smell of ash and blood filled his nostrils. He could feel thick, vile power rolling over him like a crashing wave.

And then it vanished as quickly it had come. Noah’s feet slammed down onto hard ground once more. He’d been through a number of teleportations and relocations after first arriving at Arbitage — enough to get fairly used to them — but this one had been uniquely displeasing.

Noah shook himself off as the rancid smell slowly faded away. He stood at the edge of what looked to be a large stone maze. A lattice of walls rose before him, forming dozens of different pathways. The walls were uncovered by a roof. They were, however, tall enough that peering over them wouldn’t have worked even if he had been a giant like Audren.

He craned his neck back to look up at the sky. Instead, Noah found the ceiling of a cave looming far overhead. They weren’t outside. The curved stone above him must have risen hundreds of feet above them, but it seemed that the Spilling Grounds were within an enormous cave.

Greenish light shone down on the maze from long, dangling strands of glowing moss that clung to the ceiling like stalactites. Some of the strands were so large that they nearly reached all the way down to the maze below.

Noah rubbed at his nose. Now that the smell of Kyyle’s magic was fading, his nose was picking up on heady earthen undertones in the air. Undertones that couldn’t even begin to cover the sharp smell of blood.

He also couldn’t help but notice that the room was eerily quiet. For a cave of this size, there wasn’t a single noise within it. There was no distant plink of water. No whisper of conversation from the Apostles’ disciples, who were presumably down here somewhere with him. There was only dead silence.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

Something about this place set him on edge. It was the same feeling that came with walking through an abandoned graveyard in the middle of the night or snooping through his father’s office in search of the keys to his car.

It was as if the world didn’t want to draw attention to itself. Like it was waiting for something to happen and desperately hoping that it wouldn’t, and even the slightest peep could bring everything crashing down.

The hell is this place? Leave it to the Apostles to find the creepiest spot for what is definitely just a glorified tournament. I mean, seriously. What’s with the maze? Just sic everyone on each other and let the last man standing claim the prize. That feels much more along the lines of what the Apostles would like… or maybe Revin and Garina have just warped my perception of them a bit too much.

Noah scratched at the back of his neck. He couldn’t see anyone else or feel anything with his domain since his mind was still fogged over — and a violent headache was still busy assaulting his skull. There also didn’t seem to be a helpful announcer present to let him know that the fight had started or what the rules were.

What, do I just choose a path and walk in?

A foot fell behind him. Even though the noise was so faint that it would have been lost in even a quiet conversation, in the Spilling Grounds, it practically echoed through the room. Noah spun toward it like he’d heard a gunshot.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Standing behind him was Audren’s disciple. The armored person’s gender and appearance were still as completely indecipherable as they had been a few minutes ago. Even their eyes were difficult to make out through the slits in their bone mask.

Noah didn’t have access to his domain yet, but something told him that it wouldn’t have helped. The disciples were probably all experts at concealing their souls. That felt like it would probably be a pretty clever move considering all of them were probably about to be doing their best to kill each other.

Or is this more like a race? I sure do wish someone told me what the hell the rules were before we got started.

“You are not Garina’s,” Audren’s disciple said. Their voice was masculine, but only just.

“I’m sorry?” Noah asked. “Also, are we meant to start killing each other now? Or does that come later?”

The masked man — which Noah decided the disciple would be until further notice —shook his head.

“It begins once we enter the Spilling Grounds.” He gestured to the walls rising before them. “Do not attempt to climb the walls. You will be killed by the Guardian. The contest will end when one of us claims the prize.”

So it is a race. Why the hell are we just standing around here, then? Something tells me this guy wouldn’t just be sitting around for no reason… I’m missing something.

“Sounds like we should get going,” Noah said. “Don’t let little old me hold you up. I wouldn’t want to impact your chances of—”

“You are a liar,” Audren’s disciple said. His tone didn’t sound so much accusatory as it did curious. “Audren would not like you very much if he spoke with you for long.”

“I’m… sorry to hear that?” Noah half said, half asked. “Does he want a written apology in the mail? And don’t you think we should get going? The others are going to get ahead of us.”

“The others will fight,” the other man said. “There is no rush. I do not plan on winning this rune.”

Noah blinked. “You aren’t? Kind of defeats the purpose of you being here, doesn’t it? Why even show up to a contest if you don’t want the prize?”

“To see how I stack up against the others.”

“Why do you say that in a way that implies that I’m not among the people you see as competition?”

Even though the disciple’s face was covered by his bone mask, for a moment, Noah could have sworn he saw the other man smile.

“You do not know much of the Apostles, do you?”

“Shitall,” Noah admitted. “You feeling in the mood to fill me in?”

“Each Apostle and disciple pursues a different aspect of power. Audren follows the path of sheer strength. That is why he took me on as his disciple. We are both brute force. But, while his is physical strength, my greatest strength is my soul.”

“What, so you’ve got a big soul?”

“I have a cultivated one. My training is very intentional,” the disciple corrected. He tilted his head, then turned away from Noah. “But it makes me sensitive. Just as Audren can sense someone’s strength, I can feel their soul. And you are not worth challenging.”

“Well that’s just rude,” Noah said with a frown. “I might just be a Rank 5, but…”

He trailed off, watching Audren as the disciple strode into the maze and vanished from sight. Noah blinked. Then his eyes narrowed.

I suppose I don’t really care what that guy thinks of me. He’s not even interested in the rune. Unless he was lying, that is. No way to know for sure. Just need to focus on getting in there and finding that rune before the others do.

Noah glanced at the maze once more, trying to see if he could notice anything that would indicate which path was the best. He couldn’t. Every single one of them were, as far as he could tell, identical.

A small frown pulled at Noah’s lips. This room was huge. If he took the wrong path through the maze, he could be wandering around for hours. Just being Rank 6 would give his opponents an enormous advantage over him because of the increased size of their domains.

How am I supposed to…

Noah blinked. Then he grinned. He didn’t have the power to detect anyone from afar. But he’d met somebody who could. Someone who might not have given a shit about the prize of the contest but was most certainly seeking out the people who did care how the contest turned out.

Someone who had already showed they had the ability to locate where people were by strolling right up to Noah without a care in the world. It was certainly convenient. Convenient enough that he couldn’t help but feel like there was something up.

It might have been a trap, but blundering straight through those was his specialty.

So, without a second more of hesitation, Noah darted off down the very same path that Audren’s disciple had just chosen.