Vane reached the access point for the Upper District ten minutes ahead of the purge wave. It was a bridge. Specifically, it was a rusted iron catwalk suspended over a dark, churning chasm of machinery. Below, gears the size of houses ground against each other with a sound that vibrated in the teeth. Above, the smog cleared just enough to show the flickering neon lights of the Foundry District.

It was the only way up.

Vane tested the railing. It rattled under his touch. He looked at the floor grating; it was sturdy enough to hold weight, but you could see the lethal drop through the rusted holes. He walked to the exact center of the bridge and sat down. He unslung the Star-Metal Spear and laid it across his lap, running a hand over the ash wood shaft. It was cool to the touch. The silver metal of the tip gleamed dully in the industrial twilight.

He thought about the rulebook General Kael had sent out the night before. Rule 4: Prohibition of Active Artifacts. Items containing independent mana cores, automated spell sequences, or defensive wards were strictly banned. The Academy wanted to test the student, not their inheritance. If a Duke's son brought a ring that automatically blocked fireballs, he wasn't learning anything. He was just paying to win.

But passive weapons were allowed.

Vane smirked. His spear was not an Artifact. It had no mana core. It had no brain. It did not shoot lightning on its own. It was simply a lump of the hardest metal in existence attached to a stick of wood that refused to break. It was a loophole. In a world where mages relied on enchanted trinkets to save them from mistakes, Vane held a weapon that demanded perfection but promised invincibility in return.

'If the playing field is level,' Vane thought, unwrapping a nutrient bar, 'then the hungry dog eats.'

He took a bite of the dry, chalky bar. He let his legs dangle over the edge of the bridge. He waited. Fifteen minutes later, the first customer arrived. It was a boy covered in soot. He wore the heavy leather apron of an Earth Mage, and he carried a jagged iron staff. He was an Adept. His mana signature was solid but unrefined. He stopped at the start of the bridge. He saw the drop. Then he saw Vane.

"Move," the boy shouted over the noise of the gears.

Vane finished chewing. He swallowed. "This is a toll road," Vane called back without standing up. "Price of admission is fifty points. Tap your band to mine and you can walk. Refuse, and you take the long way down."

The Earth Mage scoffed. He slammed his staff onto the metal grating. "You are the Rat," the mage sneered. "I saw you in the opening ceremony. Rank 1. You think you can extort me?"

The mage began to chant. Chunks of concrete from the bridge supports tore loose and floated around him. "Rock Barrage!"

The stones flew. They were fast, heavy, and aimed to kill. Vane did not even stand up fully. He gripped the spear and initiated the Spiral Circulation. He planted the butt of the shaft against a rivet on the floor grating and leveraged his body weight against it. When the stones came, Vane did not dodge. He swatted them.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The Star-Metal tip moved in a blur. Assisted by the Frictionless Sleeve, Vane treated the lethal projectiles like slow-pitch baseballs. He deflected them into the chasm below with minimal effort. The Earth Mage stared, his mouth open. He had poured his mana into that attack, but Vane had simply used the Cyclic Resonance of his spear to shunt the force away.

Vane stood up. He picked up his spear. "My turn," Vane said.

He charged. The bridge was narrow. There was no room to strafe. The mage panicked. He raised his iron staff to block. Vane thrust. It was a simple, brutal Quicksilver Thrust. The tip of the Star-Metal Spear collided with the center of the iron staff.

There was a high-pitched ping. The iron staff snapped clean in two. The mage looked at the broken pieces of his weapon in horror. That staff was reinforced steel; it should have held. Vane did not stop. He stepped inside the mage's guard and kicked him in the chest. The mage flew backward, wheezing, and landed hard on his back. Vane was on him instantly. The silver blade hovered over the boy's eye.

"Tap," Vane said. The mage tapped.

Transfer Complete. +50 Points.

"A pleasure doing business," Vane said. He grabbed the boy by the collar and dragged him to the side of the bridge, propping him up against the railing. "Sit there. Don't move until the purge comes."

An hour passed. The pile grew. Vane did not hide the bodies. He lined them up. Six students sat against the railing. Some were unconscious. Some were just sitting there, staring blankly at the fog, their wristbands glowing red to indicate 'Eliminated' or 'Yielded'. Vane sat on the railing above them like a gargoyle.

Groups of students began to gather at the far end of the bridge. They were running from the shrinking zone. They saw the bridge. They saw the pile of bodies. And they saw the lone figure sitting in the steam. Fear is a social contagion. It spreads faster than a virus.

"Is that... is that the Rank 1?"

"He took out the entire Delta Squad."

"Look at their weapons. He snapped them."

Vane watched them whisper. He was building a legend. A trio of Wind Mages decided to be brave. The suppression wall was visible behind them, a towering wave of blue energy eating the district. "Rush him!" the leader screamed. "He is just one guy!"

They sprinted onto the bridge. Wind magic accelerated their steps. Vane sighed. "The price just went up."

He dropped from the railing. He didn't engage them directly. He spun around and kicked a rusted pressure valve on the main pipe running along the bridge.

HISSSSS.

A wall of scalding, white steam erupted from the pipe. It enveloped the middle of the bridge, blinding everyone. The Wind Mages ran into the whiteout. Sounds of violence echoed from the cloud—the wet thud of wood on bone, the clang of metal, the sound of bodies hitting the floor grating. Vane moved through the mist with the Argent Horizon humming, his mana vortex allowing him to sense the vibrations in the air.

Ten seconds later, the steam cleared. Vane stood alone in the center of the bridge. The three Wind Mages were on the ground. One was groaning, holding a broken arm. The other two were out cold. Vane tapped their bands one by one.

+150 Points.

He looked at the crowd gathered at the entrance. They took a collective step back. Vane pointed his spear at the Upper Foundry. "The shop is closed," Vane announced. "Wait for the next bridge."

He turned around. He had accumulated a buffer of nearly four hundred points. He was safe. He had fed on the weak. Now it was time to move to the grounds where the strong hunted. He began to walk toward the exit of the bridge.

THOOM.

A heavy vibration shook the catwalk. Vane stopped. The vibration did not come from the machinery below. It came from the other side of the bridge. From the Upper District. Someone was walking toward him. The footsteps were heavy and deliberate. Each step sounded like a pile driver hitting the metal.

Vane narrowed his eyes. A figure emerged from the smog of the Foundry. He was massive. He stood nearly seven feet tall, wearing the heavy, customized plate armor of a frontline tank. His skin was grey and rocky, a mutation of his bloodline. He carried a war-hammer that looked too heavy for a normal human to lift.

It was Magnus. The scion of a House famous for producing siege-breakers. Magnus stopped ten meters away from Vane. He blocked the exit completely. He looked at the pile of defeated students. He looked at the broken weapons. Then he looked at Vane.

"You are making a mess of my exam, Rat," Magnus rumbled. His voice sounded like stones grinding together. "My little brother was in that group you just scammed."

Vane turned fully to face him. He felt the shift in pressure. This wasn't an Adept. This was a wall. Vane shifted his grip on the spear. He widened his stance and initiated a deep, grounding Spiral Circulation. The playful, arrogant gatekeeper persona vanished. His eyes went cold.

"Are you here to pay the toll?" Vane asked softly.

Magnus slammed the head of his war-hammer onto the bridge. The metal grating buckled. "No," Magnus said. "I am here to evict the squatter."

Magnus's skin began to harden, turning into literal granite. His mana flared, heavy and brown, a manifestation of the Iron Clad Art.

"Show me the teeth you used to bite the Princess," Magnus challenged. "Or get crushed."

Vane smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Finally," Vane whispered. "Main course."

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