Chapter 178: Can We Talk?

The barrier came down to a wall of noise.

Medical teams reached Sun and Moon first.

Officials locked the field exits.

On the big screens, slow-motion replays of Eternal Winter, the earth wall, and Thea’s finishing hit started cycling before Kalon and Thea had even left the snow.

In the stands, the Academy sections were on their feet. Students shouted both names until their voices broke.

In the organisation tiers, scouts and managers were already on calls. Some looked excited. Some looked unsettled. A few simply stared at the replay of Sun’s light disappearing into Kalon’s darkness for the second time.

In one of the upper boxes, a commentator could be heard through a live feed trying to list Kalon’s shown affinities in order and failing to keep the names straight.

For years, Sun and Moon had been treated as the unfinished successors of Atlas Greatest.

Not full inheritors yet, but close enough that most Year One brackets were built around avoiding them.

Beating them in public did not just crown a tournament winner. It forced every organisation in the country to recalculate who the actual top of the new generation was.

Thea walked beside Kalon toward the competitor tunnel with water still drying on her wraps. Blood from Kalon’s shoulder had soaked through the edge of his gear. Neither of them spoke until the tunnel mouth cut off the worst of the crowd noise.

"You good?" Thea asked.

"I’m great," Kalon said. "You?"

Thea’s face slowly etched into a smile.

"I’m incredible."

They did not get a quiet exit.

As soon as they cleared the internal staff line near the media outward route, the paparazzi hit them. Camera lights snapped on in a dense cluster. Recorders pushed forward. Questions came from every direction at once.

"Kalon! How many affinities do you have in total?"

"Was Eternal Winter planned before the match?"

"Thea, how did it feel to finish Moon Greatest?"

"Are you accepting Atlas Corporation after this?"

"Did you hold back in the earlier rounds?"

"Can you confirm another affinity for the public record?"

Security tried to open a lane and only half-succeeded.

Kalon kept walking. Thea stayed close to his side and did not answer any of it.

A camera almost clipped Kalon’s shoulder before a staff member shoved it back. Someone shouted Thea’s full name hard enough to cut over the rest. She flinched once, then kept her face level and moved with him until the restricted residential turnoff finally broke the pack apart.

Even then, two persistent camera operators tried to follow the staff route until security shut the last door in their faces.

Only when the stadium housing corridor sealed behind them did the noise drop to a muffled press against the walls.

In the corridor outside their rooms, Kalon stopped and checked his phone.

One message sat at the top of the screen from Atlas Greatest.

> Congratulations kiddo.

> Report to Atlas Corporation headquarters within 48 hours if you intend to accept.

> Bring Bluegale if she is part of your continuing arrangement.

> — Atlas

Kalon read it once, then showed Thea the screen.

She scanned it quickly.

"Me? He even wants me?"

"I guess so. Don’t make a decision immediately though, have some time to think."

Thea leaned her back against the wall and let out a slow breath. The adrenaline was starting to fall off her in visible stages.

Winning with him mattered to her. Not being seen as dead weight had mattered too. That was why she had pushed so hard once the cage broke.

However, there was something else on her mind.

Something more important.

"Tonight," she said. "Before we have to deal with everything else that comes with winning, we have to travel."

Kalon smiled. He thought she might have forgotten.

"My bedroom. Meet me at my bedroom at midnight, and we will travel."

Though I’ll need to raise your seduction a bit more first.

The excitement was clear on Thea’s face.

"Where?"

"You will see." Kalon responded.

"Alright, I’ll be there."

They split at their doors. Both fighters were told to stay in the stadium for one more night to let the press wear down before travelling back home.

Kalon showered long enough to clear the blood and melted frost from his skin and ordered food up through the stadium residential service line. By the time it arrived, the worst of the physical drain had started to ease.

He sat at the desk and ate properly for the first time since morning. Rice. Meat. High-calorie sides.

He did not rush it.

Platinum rank recovered faster than Gold had, but the final had still burned through stamina and focus.

Outside his window, the service yards were quiet. Distant city noise carried faintly through the sealed glass.

His phone continued to fill with notifications he ignored.

Contract offers.

Interview requests.

Old classmates suddenly remembering his name.

Organisation accounts that had never contacted him before today.

He finished the food, drank the full bottle of water that came with it, and leaned back in the chair. For a short while he only sat there, letting his body settle, replaying the moment Eternal Winter stripped the siblings of their passives and the fight turned.

Then someone knocked on his door.

Kalon stood, crossed the room, and opened it.

Sun Greatest stood in the corridor.

Her bright blonde hair was damp from a post-match recovery shower. She was out of full tournament gear and dressed in a plain dark jacket and training bottoms that clung to plump thighs.

There was still a faint mark along her jaw from where the death-prevention field had stabilised her after the ice shard.

Her expression was serious, but she did not look like she had come here on official family business.

People usually approached Sun through formal channels. Managers. Family aides. Tournament staff. She did not make private corridor visits to opponents she had just lost to. That alone told Kalon this was not about rankings.

Kalon opened the door.

"Sun." He said.

"Manchester," she replied. Her voice was steady. "Can we talk?"