Chapter 268: Five Portions
By the time they reached Endless Rain Academy, the auction house had already closed for the night. Visiting players could rent rooms in the guest lodges near the outer gate, and the communal kitchen in theirs was empty when Martin carried in the ingredients from his inventory.
He claimed the station farthest from the entrance and began preparing the five portions he had promised on the road.
Kumoe settled close enough to supervise him.
Her curious head followed every movement of his knife. Whenever Martin turned toward the stove, she stretched toward the cutting board and sniffed at the meat.
"Don’t."
Her tongue slipped out.
"I can still see you."
She retreated half an inch, then waited for him to become less observant.
The middle head had stretched out beside Alexandra’s chair and seemed prepared to sleep until someone placed food directly beneath her nose. The right remained upright, studying Martin’s hands with the solemn focus of a restaurant critic.
Alexandra ran her fingers through the middle head’s damp fur. She had dismissed her damaged armor, leaving herself in the dark underlayer beneath it. Several cuts marked the fabric along her side, and her wet white hair still clung to her cheeks despite her attempts to smooth it back.
Across from her, Elisebeth had draped her outer robes over two chairs to dry. She had chosen the seat nearest Martin’s cooking station without commenting on it.
Alexandra had noticed.
Elisebeth had told her to mind her own plate.
Martin divided the meat between two pans. He left the curious head’s portion firm enough to tear into, softened the middle head’s meal in broth, and prepared the right head’s plate carefully enough that she would have no legitimate reason to criticize it.
She would probably find one anyway.
The remaining food went onto two larger plates. As Martin finished serving, Elisebeth leaned over the table.
"Why does Alexandra get the same amount as me?"
"Getting launched through four bushes doesn’t make you less hungry."
Alexandra slowly turned toward her. "Four?"
Elisebeth’s lips curved. "You kept insisting it was three."
"I was flying at the time. My count was understandably imprecise."
"See? Even Martin thinks Diva’s Rejection was impressive."
"I counted the bushes while checking whether Alex was still alive."
Elisebeth accepted that without surrendering her smile. "Still four."
Martin carried the first three plates to the floor. Kumoe’s curious head attacked hers before the dish fully touched down, while the middle opened one eye, discovered warm broth within reach, and lowered her muzzle without bothering to stand.
The right waited until Martin stepped away. She inspected the arrangement, took one careful bite, and relaxed her ears.
Martin pointed at her. "I saw that."
She kept eating without acknowledging him.
He brought the remaining plates to the table. Alexandra looked at the fifth portion, then at Martin.
"What are you eating?"
"I tasted enough while cooking."
"That isn’t a meal."
"I’ll make something later."
Elisebeth pushed her plate toward the center. "Take some of mine."
Martin eyed the food. "You demanded a reward."
"I can spare a few pieces."
Alexandra’s eyebrow rose.
Elisebeth pulled the plate slightly closer to herself before adding, "For Martin. I can share with Martin."
Alexandra said nothing. She did not need to.
Martin took a piece before either woman could stretch the exchange any further and returned to the cooking station to clean his tools.
For a few minutes, the room held only the scrape of cutlery and the quiet sounds of Kumoe eating. Martin cleaned the knife twice. Alexandra kept one hand resting in the middle head’s fur even after she fell asleep again, while Elisebeth’s attention kept drifting toward Kumoe’s healed leg.
The red zone had followed them into the kitchen anyway.
Martin dried the knife and set it beside the cutting board.
"Start with the zone."
Alexandra’s spoon stopped above her bowl.
Elisebeth looked at him. "Can this wait until they finish eating?"
"If another Beastslayer can do the same thing, I need the mechanics while they’re still fresh."
Alexandra rested one hand across the middle head’s neck and set her spoon down.
"The system identified it as a Beastslayer Zone. Kumoe’s personal sub-space recall stopped working, and her normal bonded-beast respawning was disabled."
Elisebeth frowned. "What would have happened if he killed her?"
"She wouldn’t have come back."
Her gaze moved toward Kumoe. The three heads remained gathered around their plates, unaware that the conversation had turned toward what might have happened to them. The curious one tried to steal from the middle head’s bowl and received a sleepy growl in response.
"Would Angel lose her protections too?" Elisebeth asked.
Martin kept his attention on Kumoe. "Yes."
Elisebeth’s hand slid away from her plate.
"The Beastslayer Stake maintained the zone, but it served as more than an anchor," Alexandra continued. "Nine also used it for movement. His class inherited abilities from the beast he sacrificed."
Martin pulled out the empty chair beside the table and sat down. "Tell me what each one did."
"Bloodscent Lock let him track wounded prey as long as the wound remained open. Once he drew blood, hiding or creating distance became much harder."
Alexandra traced one finger along the rim of her bowl as she reconstructed the fight.
"Prowler’s Rebound allowed him to redirect himself from solid surfaces while airborne. Trees, rocks, the ground, even the Beastslayer Stake. If he struck someone affected by Bloodscent Lock, he could redirect himself again before landing."
Elisebeth’s expression darkened. "So the same object keeping Kumoe trapped also gave him another place to launch from."
"Yes."
"And your leg?"
"Tendon Rake applied Torn Tendon. It slowed me and punished sudden changes in direction."
Martin leaned forward, his jaw tightening as the pattern came together.
"He wounds you so he can keep tracking you, then makes changing direction hurt while he changes his own direction whenever he wants."
Alexandra nodded. "His equipment resisted Kumoe’s effects too. Her damage amplification still worked, but not as well as it should have. Everything he wore had been chosen to fight bonded beasts."
Elisebeth pushed her plate away. Alexandra’s hand went still in Kumoe’s fur as Elisebeth studied the three white heads.
"So he killed his own beast, took its abilities, and built himself around making sure nobody else could save theirs."
Her mouth tightened.
"That isn’t an evolution. He put on a grave and called it a class."