They were the only two people left at the starting site now. Everyone else had dispersed. And Moon was still standing there, arms crossed, showing no intention of moving.
At this rate, even with her closer assignnt, Selene wouldn't reach her section first. The others in Group A were already on their way.
Moon said nothing. His arms remained crossed. His eyes stayed fixed on the entrance to the zone.
High above, Klein hovered in the air, watching the two figures who refused to move. A glint flashed across his green eyes.
Five minutes passed. In that short span, tens of competitors had already been eliminated, and the leaderboard was filling with nas as points accumulated across the zone.
Selene glanced at her watch. The holographic display showed the rankings, the top competitors already sitting comfortably with double-digit points. She and Moon weren't on the visible portion of the board at all.
Selene began to feel impatient, but she didn't voice it. She had made her choice. Moon had said his piece, she had agreed to stay, and whatever happened next was on her own shoulders.
'I believe in him.'
Above them, Klein drifted closer, his curiosity getting the better of him. He stopped a few ters away, hovering effortlessly in the air.
"Are you not moving?" He asked, his green eyes studying the two stationary figures. "The tournant has begun. Others have already accumulated tens of points."
Moon lifted his head to et the Ascender's gaze. "We will. Soon."
Klein looked at the calm, knowing smile on Moon's face. The corner of his own lips curved upward despite himself. "I see."
He said nothing more and drifted back upward.
That brief exchange told Moon everything he needed to know. The slight smile. The lack of any correction or hint that Moon was wasting his ti. Klein knew sothing, and his reaction confird Moon's theory.
Moon's confidence grew.
Thirty more minutes passed. Nothing happened.
Selene monitored her watch the entire ti, watching the rankings shift minute by minute. Her current position read 1999th. Moon sat at 2000th. Both at zero points, while every other competitor in the tournant climbed steadily above them.
She gritted her teeth but held her tongue. She had chosen to trust him. Backing out now, panicking now, would an her decision had been hollow. Even if it cost her the tournant, she would see this through.
Selene sat down on the ground, her elental wolf settling beside her, its head resting on its paws.
Moon glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
'She's getting impatient. I don't bla her.' He thought. 'I'm getting impatient myself.'
Outside, in the spectator stands and across screens around the world, the audience was electrified. The fights between Evolvers, the races toward section points, the eliminations and the cobacks, all of it made for thrilling viewing.
Then the caras cut to Moon and Selene.
Their figures appeared on screens everywhere, two competitors standing and sitting at the starting line, having not moved a single step since the tournant began. Their zero point totals were displayed prominently beneath their nas.
"What are these two doing?" An Evolver in the spectator section scoffed. He was one of the many who hadn't qualified for the tournant due to his low star ranking. "Did they give up already? Pathetic. These two shouldn't even be allowed in. There are far more worthy fighters who would have killed for their spots."
Murmurs of agreent spread through the crowd.
"Are they scared?"
"Maybe they froze up."
"Zero points after forty five minutes? That's embarrassing."
A chorus of boos began to ripple through sections of the stands, growing louder as more spectators noticed the two unmoving figures on the screens.
But not everyone joined the jeering.
In the spectator section, Yara watched with her arms crossed and her brows raised, completely unbothered by the noise around her. She didn't know exactly what Moon was planning. But she knew Moon. If he was standing still while the entire world called him a coward, it was because he had already calculated sothing the rest of them couldn't see.
A few others in the crowd stayed quiet as well. Scattered among the booing spectators, a handful of people leaned forward in their seats, studying Moon's face on the screen with narrowed eyes.
"Wait. Isn't that..."
"That's the kid. The one who cleared the first S-Rank gate of the First Order. A month or so back."
"Moon Outlaw."
"What's soone like him doing standing still? He didn't pull so many people out of an S-Rank gate to freeze up at a tournant."
The ones who recognized him didn't boo. They watched. Because people like that didn't do anything without a reason.
And whatever that reason was, they wanted to see it.
When the tir hit exactly one hour, Klein, who had remained at the starting site the entire ti, glanced toward the single Surpasser still standing nearby. Every other Evolver and Surpasser had scattered across the map, positioned to handle ergencies wherever they arose.
A silent ssage passed between Klein and the Surpasser.
'Bring it.'
The Surpasser nodded and departed, moving toward a specific location with clear purpose in mind.
Moon caught the movent from the corner of his eye.
It didn't take long for the Surpasser to return. And he wasn't alone.
A massive beast trailed behind him, walking calmly despite its enormous size. The ground trembled faintly with each of its steps. Its presence pressed against the air, radiating a pressure that dwarfed anything the competitors had encountered so far in the zone.
Moon pulled his hands from his pockets and began performing dynamic stretches. Rolling his shoulders, loosening his arms, rotating his neck. Preparing his body for what was coming.
Klein watched him stretch, and his smile widened.
'He knew.' The Ascender thought, surprise flickering behind his green eyes. 'How could he possibly know? This is the first ti this twist has ever been introduced in the tournant's history. There's no precedent, no past data, nothing he could have extrapolated from. And yet he predicted it and waited an entire hour for it.'
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