Chapter 144: S-Class Abyssal Spire
Holden was flipping pancakes when the aggressive knock came.
BANG BANG BANG
"Got it," Holden called over his shoulder.
Maeve was sitting at the table with her tablet, scrolling through the latest news feeds. Renna was face-down on the couch, still half-asleep. Emric was reading something on his wrist display. Lyra sat by the window, watching the city with the calm expression she’d been wearing more often since the Sterling family fell.
Holden opened the door.
Four Royal Guards stood outside in full dress armor. The guard in front held a sealed envelope stamped with a gold wax seal.
"Holden Voss. Team Soup. His majesty requests your immediate presence at the Royal Palace."
"Right now?" Maeve asked from the table. "He just woke up."
The guard glanced at Holden.
"The Emperor’s schedule does not accommodate breakfast."
"Apparently mine doesn’t either."
The guard didn’t react.
Holden sighed, took the envelope, and examined the seal. A crown surrounded by the rays of a rising sun.
The Emperor’s personal mark.
"Give us ten minutes."
"You have five."
The door closed.
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Then Renna slowly lifted her head from the couch.
"Please tell me that’s not what I think it is."
"It’s exactly what you think it is," Lyra said, already standing.
Renna groaned and dropped her face back onto the couch.
"I knew breakfast was too peaceful."
Twenty minutes later, a Royal carriage rolled through the Capital’s main avenue toward the palace. Team Soup sat inside the velvet-lined cabin, still wearing their semi-formal clothes from the previous night because five minutes wasn’t enough time to change properly.
Holden still had pancake batter on his sleeve.
He’d tried wiping it off but had only gotten worse.
Emric leaned closer, lowering his voice.
"An unscheduled imperial summons immediately following the destruction of a major noble house is a very bad sign. The Emperor is either going to publicly reward us so he can take some of the political credit, or he’s going to quietly eliminate us to tie up loose ends."
Holden glanced at him.
"Optimistic as always."
"I prefer the term analytically prepared."
Renna yawned from across the carriage.
"I prefer the term ’you make everything sound horrible.’"
Emric adjusted his glasses.
"That’s because everything is horrible."
Renna stared at him.
"You know, sometimes I wonder if you actually enjoy being miserable."
"I don’t."
"You answer too quickly."
The carriage stopped before the palace gates before Emric could respond.
More guards waited outside. More salutes followed as they were escorted through the sprawling palace grounds, past fountains, gardens, and statues of ancient kings, until they reached a section of the palace Holden hadn’t seen before.
It wasn’t the throne room.
It was a garden.
The courtyard was beautiful. Flowering hedges lined the marble paths, sunlight spilled across polished benches, and a wide fountain sparkled in the center. Birds chirped from trees, and the whole place smelled of roses and fresh grass.
It was also absolutely packed.
Reporters stood everywhere.
Camera crews had set up bulky magical broadcasting equipment around the courtyard. Photographers held crystal-powered flash devices. News anchors spoke into microphones with the palace crest floating above them. They were arranged in a semicircle around a raised platform, where a single microphone stood on a golden stand.
Holden stopped walking.
"Well," he muttered. "This doesn’t look suspicious at all."
Maeve glanced around.
"Definitely a normal breakfast meeting."
Renna looked at the cameras.
"I hate when breakfast meetings have an audience."
The Emperor was already waiting on the platform.
Emperor Regis didn’t look like Holden had imagined. He was shorter than the statues suggested, perhaps five foot nine, with a rounded face and thinning gray hair. He wore a simple white suit with a gold sash instead of armor, and there was no crown on his head.
He was giving off a warm, gentle smile. The kind that made people feel safe almost immediately.
But his eyes were different.
Holden’s 10,000x processor caught it in an instant.
Behind the warmth and kindness, the Emperor’s eyes were flat and cold. They moved across Team Soup slowly, measuring each person like a man looking for a good wife.
Then his smile widened.
"Ah! Our champions!"
The Emperor spread his arms wide, his voice carrying across the garden and into every microphone.
"What a glorious morning to finally meet you all in person."
Team Soup stopped at the edge of the platform.
Lyra performed a perfect noble bow. Emric bowed stiffly. Renna curtsied so quickly that she nearly lost her balance. Maeve gave a quiet bow.
Holden barely moved.
The Emperor’s smile remained.
"You do not bow, young man?"
Holden straightened slightly.
"My knees act up in drafty castles, Your Majesty."
A few reporters chuckled.
Renna covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
The Emperor’s eyes flickered for the briefest moment before the warm expression returned.
"Spirited! I love it."
He stepped forward and placed a hand on Holden’s shoulder.
"My boy, I have been following your career with great interest."
"I’m flattered."
"As you should be."
The Emperor turned toward the cameras, keeping his hand on Holden’s shoulder.
The grip tightened.
Not enough to hurt.
Just enough to make the message clear.
"My fellow citizens," the Emperor began, his voice shifting into the smooth, practiced tone of someone who had spent decades speaking to crowds. "We gather today during a time of great concern. As many of you know, an S-Class Abyssal Spire erupted last night just beyond our eastern wall."
The reporters immediately erupted.
"S-Class?"
"How close is it to the Capital?"
"How many monsters have emerged?"
"Has the military been deployed?"
The Emperor raised one hand.
The noise slowly died down.
"The Spire is highly unstable and extremely dangerous. Our military analysts have classified it as an S-Class threat. Only our most elite combatants have any realistic chance of clearing it."
He paused.
Holden already knew where this was going.
"Naturally, I turned to our finest."
The Emperor’s smile widened.
"Our National Champions."
Holden felt the trap close around him.
"And I am proud to announce that Holden Voss, hero of the Academy Wars and slayer of the Demon-Mouth Warlord, has graciously volunteered to lead Team Soup into the Spire and protect our great city."
The garden exploded.
Cameras flashed.
Reporters shouted questions.
The Emperor’s announcement was already being broadcast across the Capital.
Holden didn’t move.
Beside him, Emric’s expression had gone rigid.
"S-Class Spire," he whispered without moving his lips. "Historical mortality rate for S-Class dungeon clears is ninety-five percent."
Holden kept smiling for the cameras.
"Good to know."
Emric’s eyes narrowed.
"This is a legalized execution dressed up as a heroic mission."
"Also good to know."
The Emperor leaned closer.
His smile never changed.
His voice dropped low enough that only Holden could hear.
"Say no, and I’ll revoke your student immunity for treason in a time of war."
The Emperor’s fingers tightened slightly against Holden’s shoulder.
"The Sterling guards won’t need to touch you. The law will do my work for me."
Holden’s expression didn’t change.
The Emperor straightened and turned back toward the cameras.
"Behold our brave youth! Is this not the spirit that makes our Kingdom great?"
The reporters cheered.
Holden stood still. His 10,000x processor was already working through the situation.
The Emperor had planned this carefully.
If Holden refused in front of the entire Kingdom, he could be painted as a coward who abandoned his duty during a national emergency. His Academy protection could disappear, and the nobles who already hated him would have every reason to move against him.
If he accepted, he would be walking into an S-Class Spire with a ninety-five percent mortality rate.
There was no clean answer.
So Holden stopped looking for one.
He stepped forward.
The golden microphone stood in front of him.
Every camera turned.
The Emperor watched with that same warm smile.
Holden smiled back. The perfect smile for a young champion standing before his people.
"Your Majesty," Holden said, his voice carrying clearly through the garden, "it is truly an honor to clean up Your Majesty’s messes."
Silence.
A reporter blinked.
Another lowered his microphone slightly.
The Emperor’s smile remained in place, but his jaw tightened.
Holden continued.
"The Spire blow up under your watch, after all."
His smile widened.
"Lucky for you, Team Soup has a habit of fixing problems other people can’t handle."
Renna’s shoulders shook.
Maeve looked down, clearly trying not to smile.
Emric whispered, "Please stop."
Holden ignored him.
He turned toward the Emperor and placed his hand over the Emperor’s.
Another friendly gesture and perfect image for the cameras.
"I accept the mission, Your Majesty."
The crowd erupted again.
Holden leaned closer.
His smile never moved.
"And when I come back from your little death trap," he whispered, "you and I are going to have a long conversation about what happens to people who send boys to die for their politics."
For the first time, something cold appeared behind the Emperor’s eyes.
It lasted less than a second.
Then the smile returned.
Holden straightened.
He gave the cameras one final wave before stepping away from the microphone.
The Emperor turned back toward the crowd, his expression composed.
But Holden could feel the tension in the man’s fingers as he lowered his hand.
Behind them, the reporters were already creating the headlines.
BRAVE CHAMPION ACCEPTS SUICIDE MISSION!
HOLDEN VOSS: THE BOY WHO FEARLESSLY FACES THE S-CLASS SPIRE!
TEAM SOUP TO DEFEND THE CAPITAL!
Holden walked back toward his team as the Royal Guards moved to escort them toward the carriage.
Emric fell into step beside him.
"That was either the bravest or the most reckless thing I have ever witnessed."
Holden glanced at him.
"Why can’t it be both?"
Emric considered that.
"Unfortunately, I think that is exactly what worries me."
Renna hurried up behind them.
"I thought we were going to get breakfast."
"We did," Holden said.
She stared at him.
"We got kidnapped by the Emperor."
"Technically, we were invited."
"Against our will."
"Still invited."
Renna sighed.
"I miss yesterday when our biggest problem was robbing a noble."
Maeve walked beside them, shaking her head.
"You’re both impossible."
Lyra appeared on Holden’s other side.
She didn’t say anything.
She simply slipped her hand into his and gave it a quiet squeeze.
Holden looked down at their joined hands, then back toward the palace.
The Emperor had tried to force his hand in front of the entire Kingdom.
Fine.
Let him think he’d won.
The carriage door closed behind them.
As it pulled away from the palace, Holden looked through the window at the distant golden towers.
An S-Class Abyssal Spire.
A ninety-five percent death rate.
An Emperor who wanted him dead.
Holden smiled faintly.
This was going to be interesting.