Chương 33: Chapter 31.1 - Peace was never an option

I raised an eyebrow at Sarah.

"Sure."

"Introductions," Sarah said with an uncharacteristically diplomatic tone.

"Chen Yi, Tribunal of Heavenly Dragons." The warhammer man.

"Kenji Oshiro, Yamato Syndicate." The dual-wielder.

"Adaeze Okafor, Lucielle Legal." The mage.

"And Zhao Liang, also Tribunal." The cultivator. I smiled my best smile.

"Damian O'Connor, Golden Sands. Pleasure to meet you all."

"The pleasure," Kenji said, his English sharp and precisely accented, "is not mutual."

"I can see that," I remarked.

"Let's not—" Sarah began.

"Floor eleven," Kenji continued, not looking at Sarah. He looked at me with an intensity that bordered on surgical.

"Your team got wiped out. All of them. Every single member, zeroed. Except you." He let the sentence breathe.

"You survived. Collected the loot. Came back." I shrugged.

"Not my fault, others got shit for shields." That made everyone's glare sharpen, Sarah slipping a weary sigh. I was not helping. I knew.

"In my tradition," Kenji said, and every word was placed like a cut, "when your team falls, you fall with them."

"In my tradition," I replied, "I clear the floor." Kenji's jaw tightened. A micro-movement, but I caught it. Adaeze stepped forward, planting her staff. The shimmer around her intensified by a fraction.

"This isn't about tradition. It's about the system." Her accent was British, educated, precise.

"The main stage selection process allocated a slot to a level-twelve summoner with one demon and no personal combat ability. Lucielle Legal had four qualified applicants above level thirty denied in the same opportunity." She let the phrase hang.

"With no justification."

"Sounds like your organization should've rigged the wheel better."

"No," she agreed.

"It was supposed to be a fair roll, or a fair selection. Not a farce where the Sands' golden boy gets all the cookies."

"They were delicious." I knew I should have shut up. As if I would ever do that, though. Chen Yi shifted the warhammer on his shoulders. The metal groaned.

"I don't work with people who let others fight for them." He spoke flat in English that was functional but undecorated.

"Stay at the start then. I don't need you to clear the floor." His face caught a shade of red, knuckles whitening around the warhammer. Zhao Liang said nothing. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, eyes closed, breathing with the measured rhythm of someone who had weighed me, found me wanting, and moved on. The silence sat heavily. Just in case, I pushed a bit more power into my shields. Surely, we weren't going to fight. The worst part was that they weren't entirely wrong.

From the point of view of honor, I had nothing going for me. Then again, I was the demon summoner, so the most I could do for that was to get an honorable demon to summon. Sarah stepped between us. Physically, deliberately, shield on her arm, in the exact center of the room.

"Enough." Her voice carried an equal amount of exhaustion and anger.

"We are climbing today together. Personal grievances should stay outside the pod. The Lord does not bless a divided house."

"With respect, Sarah," Adaeze said, "this isn't personal. It's tactical. His combat profile doesn't—""My combat profile is that I can solo this." I really should shut up.

"You all can extract the second we spawn in. It won't have any impact on the final result." You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Even Sarah now glared at me. I knew I wasn't winning anyone over here. But I was effectively raised by demons. Humility was a mortal sin in Hell. The room held still, everyone ready to pounce on me. The bell rang. Showtime. Sarah somehow already stood by the exit, so we filed out, led by her. The dome buzzed with the usual pre-dive energy.

Cameras swiveled, the tribunes were three-quarters full, and the host stood at his podium, loading up his trademark grin.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Six climbers enter the pods today, tackling the highest floor yet attempted by this combined team. Not that we don't have that every day, but hey, when things go well, we need to celebrate." He smiled at Sarah, pointing the microphone at her.

"Any special plan for today?" Sarah ignored him. She walked to the beacon pedestal, picked it up without breaking stride, and tucked it into her belt.

"By the grace of God, we ascend." I had to admire the surety and confidence. Righteousness must have been a hell of a drug. The four new teammates fell in behind her, making sure to avoid me. I slipped into my pod. The display flickered. Damian Gabriel O'Connor. Level: 24. Tower perks: 0. Artifacts: 0. Highest floor: 22. The pod closed. Darkness. I blinked, and the darkness became light. Actual light. Electric, warm, humming from fixtures mounted on poles that lined a wide street stretching in both directions.

I stood on the pavement. A decently modern one, at that, poured and smooth, with faded lane markings painted down the center. Sidewalks flanked it, bordered by curbs. Buildings rose on either side, actual skyscrapers made of glass and steel, climbing easily fifty stories into a sky the color of burnt amber. The sky almost looked as if the sun existed somewhere behind the clouds. It looked like any modern-day metropolis. Everything fits in the general shape and feel. People walked the sidewalks.

Local inhabitants, who looked like humans, wore either practical or business casual clothes. Some carried parcels. Some sat at what looked like outdoor café tables. A pair of them argued in front of a shop, gesturing at a display in the window. My five teammates materialized around me. Sarah appeared with shield up and sword drawn, white flame already dancing along the blade. She froze, eyes scanning. The flame dimmed. Chen Yi materialized with the warhammer already in both hands, feet planted, ready to swing.

He held the pose for three full seconds before slowly straightening. Kenji appeared in a crouch, both kodachi drawn, and rose, sheathing the blades. Adaeze slammed her staff down, barriers rippling outward in concentric circles… and then pulled them back when nothing triggered. Zhao Liang appeared standing straight, hands behind his back, eyes open.

"It's a city," Sarah said. The surprise in her voice was real.

"A functioning one," Adaeze added, her eyes tracking the locals moving around us. Some of them glanced our way. Most didn't.

"The ambient mana density is significantly higher than on previous floors. The architecture suggests an organized civilization. This isn't a monster floor."

"Every floor is a monster floor," Chen Yi said. Not necessarily. I needed information, which wasn't going to be obtained by blasting everyone in sight. I pulled on my power. Astarielle. In a burst of crimson flame, she appeared, dressed as usual. Behind me, the reactions were immediate. Zhao Liang's eyes opened fully for the first time since I'd met him. His lip curled in disgust. Demons apparently weren't terribly popular in China either. Kenji's hands went back to his kodachi hilts.

A scanning technique pulsed outward from him, scanning Astarielle with the same focus he'd use on an enemy. Chen Yi stared at her. At the dress, the heels, the crimson skin, the horns. He looked at me. Then back at her. The contempt that crossed his face was the wordless kind. Adaeze didn't look at Astarielle at all. A deliberate choice. A refusal to acknowledge. Sarah stepped in.

"Everyone, calm down. She's technically on the team."

"Technically?" Astarielle, reading the room with the precision of a wrecking ball, turned to me.

"What's with this bunch of losers? I thought the bar was set low on floor eleven, but holy fuck." The silence that followed could have frozen the Pacific.

"Moving on," Sarah said firmly.

"Formation. Chen Yi, with me on point. Kenji, scout ahead, thirty-meter range. Adaeze, barriers at intersections. Zhao Liang, rear guard. Damian." She hesitated.

"Flexible position."

"You don't tell me what to do," Chen replied and stepped ahead. The other three members of their team followed him. For a second, Sarah looked like she would cry. She quickly recomposed, and we headed after them. She fell in step next to me.

"Do you have to be so abrasive?" she whispered.

"No." Astarielle matched it with a chuckle.

"I wasn't here for most of it, but I'm pretty sure it was deserved. If anything, my almighty master isn't abrasive enough."

"You know," Sarah said toward me, ignoring her, "You don't have to act as your demons would. There are better ways to carry yourself." Astarielle gasped, touching her chest in an exaggerated gesture.

"Excuse me? We—""Shut up." I interrupted her. She didn't finish the sentence, only raising her chin, looking up and away, pouting.

"I know, Sarah," I said.

"But I am not going to not say what I want to just to not hurt someone's feelings. If they want to fight, we will fight. And I will win." Sarah rubbed her face with her palm.

"Your soul apparently needs a lot more prayers." Shadows moved on the street to my side. They tightened and sprang up into a monster the shape of a man, just with unnaturally long arms, and fingers tipped with massive claws. The shadow monster slashed at my throat.