I Evolve 10,000 Times Faster

The he Hunting Grounds

The knock came at sunrise.

Holden was already awake, sitting on his bed with the Ashen Bestiary open in his lap. Maeve had highlighted three pages before going to sleep, each one detailing beasts commonly found in artificial forest environments. He’d memorized them all by midnight.

"Team Soup! Open up! Royal summons!"

He set the book aside and opened the door.

A man stood waiting in the hallway, wearing an expensive suit. His collar had gold stitching, and he wore a crown-shaped pin with jewels on his chest. A camera crew floated behind him, using glowing crystals to record the whole thing.

"Good morning, champions!" The man spread his arms wide, his smile blinding. "I am Royal Envoy Cassius, and I have amazing news from the Crown!"

Holden leaned against the doorframe. "It’s seven in the morning."

"Indeed! And what better time to receive honor?" Cassius clapped his hands together. "The Royal Family has selected Team Soup for a Special Media Exhibition at the Royal Hunting Grounds! An exclusive showcase for the kingdom’s finest!"

Behind Holden, Emric appeared in the hallway, still pulling on his jacket. Renna bounced on her heels beside him, half-asleep but curious. Lyra stepped out last, her expression carefully neutral.

"A media exhibition," Emric said slowly. His eyes narrowed. "Before the Quarterfinals."

"Exactly!" Cassius beamed. "The people are hungry for content! Your victory over Blood-Iron has made you celebrities. The Crown wishes to feed that hype!"

Holden glanced at Emric.

Emric’s mouth moved silently, running calculations. His fingers twitched against his thigh, counting invisible variables. After three seconds, his face paled.

"It’s a trap," Emric said quietly. "If we turn down a direct invite from the Crown on live TV, it counts as total disrespect. And according to the tournament rulebook, that means instant disqualification."

Cassius’s smile didn’t waver. "I assure you, this is purely ceremonial!"

"Sure it is," Holden said.

He looked past the Envoy at the camera crew. The lead cameraman had his crystal focused directly on Holden’s face, waiting for a reaction. Waiting for him to slip up.

The smart move was to play along. To smile, accept gracefully, and walk into whatever trap the Royals had prepared with his eyes open.

Holden had never been known for the smart move.

"Tell me something, Cassius." Holden stepped forward, invading the Envoy’s personal space. The cameras followed. "Does Prince Oscar pick out your outfits, or do you dress yourself like that on purpose?"

Cassius blinked. "I... excuse me?"

"That suit. The gold threading. The crown pin." Holden gestured at the man’s chest. "It’s a lot. Very ’I want people to know I’m important.’ Does it work? Do people look at you and think ’wow, that guy matters’? Or do they just see a puppet wearing someone else’s colors?"

The cameraman leaned closer, hungry for drama.

Cassius’s smile flickered. "Now see here—"

"We accept," Holden said, his tone shifting from mocking to pleasant in an instant. "Love a good exhibition. Lead the way."

He patted Cassius on the shoulder and walked past him toward the elevators.

Behind him, he heard Renna stifle a laugh.

The Royal Hunting Grounds sat in the heart of the Capital. It was a massive artificial forest enclosed by thirty-foot walls of white stone. From the outside, it looked like a garden for nobles, with trimmed bushes, pretty fountains, and painted gates.

Inside, it was something else entirely.

The canopy was thick enough to block most of the morning sun. The trees grew close together, their branches tangled overhead like grasping fingers.

"Cozy," Renna muttered, her hand resting on her bow. "Very not-creepy at all."

Lyra walked beside Holden, gripping her spear tight. "Maeve, can you hear us?"

A crackle of static. Then his sister’s voice, clear and focused.

"I’m patched into the arena’s security feed," Maeve said. "I’ve got eyes on all of you. There are camera drones following your positions, but I’m also seeing some weird energy signatures in the eastern quadrant. Be careful."

"Copy," Holden said.

Emric had his shield on his arm, his other hand holding a small scanning device. "The forest is approximately two kilometers in diameter. Artificial terrain, but the plant life is real. Grown from dimensional seeds, most likely."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning the beasts they might have stocked in here could be real too."

They moved deeper into the forest in a tight formation. Emric took point with his shield. Renna covered the rear, her arrows nocked. Lyra flanked Holden, her eyes scanning the shadows between the trees.

The camera drones hovered above them, their crystals glowing soft blue.

After five minutes of walking, the trees got thinner. Holden walked out into a round clearing that was about fifty meters wide. The grass was trimmed short, and the ground was flat and even.

Too even.

"Maeve, I’m in a clearing," Holden said. "Something feels off."

"I see it," Maeve replied. "Holden, there’s a massive energy array directly above your position. It’s dormant, but it’s—"

WHOOSH!

The sound came from everywhere at once.

Holden looked up.

A golden circle had appeared in the sky, hundreds of meters wide. Runes burned along its edges, searing themselves into the air. The light was blinding, turning the entire clearing gold.

"What the—" Lyra started.

The dome crashed down.

A wall of opaque golden light slammed into the ground, circling the clearing in a perfect sphere. The barrier was thick and completely impenetrable.

Holden spun around.

Lyra stood three feet away, on the other side of the golden wall. Her face was frozen in shock. Emric and Renna were behind her, both shouting something Holden couldn’t hear.

He couldn’t hear anything.

The dome was soundproof.

He tapped his earpiece. "Maeve?"

Static. Endless, hissing static.

Outside the dome, he could see the camera drones. Their crystals flickered once, then went dark. Every single one of them died at the same time.

The golden light dimmed slightly, becoming translucent but still solid. Holden could see his team through the barrier, but only as blurred shapes. They were gesturing, shouting, pounding on the wall with their weapons.

Nothing happened. The dome didn’t even shudder.

Holden sighed.

He turned in a slow circle, taking in his prison. Fifty meters of empty clearing. Golden walls. No exit. No sound. No cameras.

Just him.

KRNNNCH.

The ground beneath his feet vibrated.

He looked down.

A crack was spreading through the grass, splitting the ground in a straight line that ran twenty meters long. The dirt bulged upward, pushed aside by something massive moving beneath the surface.

The crack widened.

Heavy steel gates appeared in the fissure, forcing the ground apart as they rose. Rust flaked off their surfaces. Chains wrapped around their bars, snapping one by one as the gates pushed open.

Steam poured out from the darkness below.

And then it emerged.

A giant paw slammed into the grass, followed by another. A body hauled itself out of the ground, all muscle and scarred hide covered in chitinous armor plates. A tail uncoiled behind it, three meters long, ending in a glistening stinger that dripped venom bright enough to glow.

The head came last.

It had the skull of a lion, but twisted and stretched out, with a thick mane of sharp spines instead of hair. Three eyes snapped open across its face, each one burning with a wild, deadly intelligence. Its jaws parted, showing rows of teeth shaped like jagged black knives.

Venom-Tail Manticore.

Holden recognized it from the Bestiary. The entry had been marked with a red warning label.

Rank 3. Found only in deep dimensional zones.

Freshman tournaments were not allowed to include Rank 3 beasts. The rules were explicit. The laws were clear.

Someone had broken both.

The Manticore’s three eyes locked onto Holden. Its stinger tail rose into the air, venom dripping onto the grass and burning holes into the dirt.

It was bigger than anything he’d faced before. Faster and stronger.

Somewhere beyond the golden dome, the Royals were watching. They had turned off all the cameras and cut the audio. They’d isolated him completely.

They thought they’d built a kill box.

Holden rolled his shoulders.

"Alright," Holden said to the monster, his voice flat and calm. "Let’s see what you’ve got."