The insect creature died instantly. Impaled on the silver pillars, its body went limp. The human-faced bird fluttered above Nemalda, looking puzzled.

Achille needed to use this opening to get back to the waiting area. Perhaps thinking the same thing, Riccardo walked over to him, bent down, and lifted him up. He deftly slung Achille's arm over his shoulder and helped him toward us.

Huh? Why hadn't the third creature come out yet?

Putting that question aside, I took Achille from him.

"Please forfeit too, sir."

I met Riccardo's eyes as I took Achille, but he turned away without answering. With his usual unhurried, firm strides, my tall senior headed back into the arena.

I gently laid the dazed Achille down beside Bobby. He could barely open his eyes. His uneven breathing troubled me.

I wanted to get him medical attention right away...

I didn't want to see another of my seniors end up like this.

I whipped my head around.

"Riccardo!"

I raised my voice at his retreating back.

"Let me go out now!"

Without looking back, he raised his middle finger.

He was driving me insane.

The silver spikes impaling Nemalda began to melt, slowly lowering its corpse to the floor. The human-faced bird stopped tearing into the body and turned its head. Dark red blood drenched its pale mouth. With that blood-smeared mouth and an expressionless face, it stared fixedly at Riccardo.

["Riccardo has taken up a spear!"]

Ha. He really was going through with this.

The silver liquid crept toward him, then stretched into a spear. Without so much as a glance at me, he pulled it free and gripped it. Having absorbed the broken piece left lying on the floor, it was twice as long as the spear Achille had held. The shape-shifting weapon gleamed dazzlingly in the arena lights.

The human-faced bird took wing from Nemalda's corpse. I bit my lip as it cast its shadow over Riccardo.

["Go, Pepper!"]

THUNK

The spear sank into its eye.

"Aaaagh!"

["Oh dear! Pepper's left eye has been pierced!"]

The emcee sounded anything but sorry. The frantic beating of wings filled the arena, followed by the sharp rattle of chains.

["But it's not a fatal wound!"]

That was the problem.

The spear fell from its eye and hit the floor, rolling across the arena.

["Not enough strength! Repeating Bobby's mistake all over again—these people really are slow learners!"]

BOOM!

Riccardo dodged the human-faced bird as it swooped down as fast as a hawk. Its enormous talons sank into the arena floor, slightly off from where he had been standing.

It wasn't a mistake. Losing the use of one eye had impaired its depth perception. And Riccardo was skilled enough to exploit that.

"But you should still forfeit!"

That didn't mean he could kill it.

"For! Feit! For! Feit!"

"Shut up for a minute, will you?"

He grumbled as he rolled clear of the bird's second attack.

"Let me concentrate..."

BOOM!

BOOM! BOOM!

The attacks kept coming, but none connected. Riccardo darted clear of the human-faced bird's strikes.

Fine cracks multiplied across the arena floor, but not a blow landed. He evaded every attack with ease, without a single wasted movement. The difference from Achille and Bobby was unmistakable. Granted, Achille's injury had hampered him, but even allowing for that, Riccardo moved far more efficiently than either of them.

["You can certainly see the difference all those years of experience make!"]

Apparently even a civilian could tell. The emcee shouted excitedly.

["Sordi is showing us what sets him apart from the previous Badgers! I think we can give up hoping Pepper will land a hit!"]

I agreed. In fact, it looked as though he might even manage to attack. I watched Riccardo melt the spear into liquid while dodging.

Then...

THUNK!

A silver spike pierced a talon.

"Oh!"

["Ah! He predicted where Pepper would land and extended his shape-shifting weapon there!"]

The human-faced bird beat its wings against the floor in pain.

["Pepper's right foot is pinned!"]

Got it.

The bird's agonized cries echoed through the arena. He hadn't killed Pepper, but it wouldn't be taking flight for a while. Especially now that the tip of the spike piercing its foot had split open like a pinwheel.

Admiring his apt response, I raised my voice.

"Sir! I'll come out and kill it now!"

For the first time, Riccardo turned and met my eyes.

"Please call forfeit!"

He didn't answer. Instead, he slowly walked toward the waiting area. That alone was enough to satisfy me. My racing heart began to settle.

Once he got here, I'd make him forfeit, no matter what. Then I'd run straight out and start with that flapping human-faced bird...

Something squished underfoot.

Hmm?

Riccardo and I looked down at the same time. For a while, we stared at the same spot: his left foot, halted on his way to the waiting area.

It was hovering slightly. About three centimeters off the ground. His right foot was planted firmly on the arena floor, but his left wasn't touching it. As though something invisible lay beneath it.

Something squishy...

"What is that?"

It was moving.

"What the hell..."

As Riccardo backed away, a pillar-shaped shadow stretched up in front of him. I stared incredulously as the outline of a translucent column emerged, bubbled like the surface of boiling water, then assumed a human form.

No...

It became me.

["At last! Huu has revealed itself!"]

A dripping, translucent Hildebert Taleb.

["Let's give it a round of applause! It seems Huu has decided to imitate that handsome new Badger recruit in the waiting area today!"]

"Me?"

"What an unpleasant face..."

My keen hearing caught Riccardo's mutter.

"Looks full of himself..."

I did?

I couldn't ask. Riccardo had turned the remainder of his shape-shifting weapon into a dagger and swung it.

WHOOSH

The dagger sliced through the fake Hildebert Taleb's neck. There was the sound of a blade cutting through translucent liquid. The cut collapsed and ran downward, but the shapeless, rippling mass soon reconstructed the fake Hilde.

["As you know, physical attacks aren't very effective against Huu!"]

Not very effective meant they still worked.

["Especially with a dagger like that—there's no way he can kill it!"]

This was maddening.

Frowning, I assessed the situation. Meanwhile, slime Hildebert's right hand was turning into a sharp dagger, copying the one Riccardo had swung.

Riccardo stood still, dagger in hand, his expression cold and rigid. Apparently he didn't have enough mass left to form a spear. Most of the weapon was restraining the human-faced bird, leaving him little material to work with.

And then there was the cold sweat. It troubled me to see it beading on his face, now paler than before. He didn't look well. It didn't seem to be exhaustion like Bobby's. Was it a side effect of using the shape-shifting weapon?

Whatever the cause, we needed to end this quickly.

As the creature readied its sword-hand to swing like Captain Hook, I shouted.

"Riccardo!"

He'd killed Nemalda and pinned the human-faced bird. Now could he please think rationally!

"Forfeit!"

The jellylike creature swung its arm.

"Please forfeit!"

SLICE

The dagger grazed his neck.

My heart sank. Bright red blood ran from the straight cut. A little deeper and he would have died.

Frowning, Riccardo pulled back. Clamping his left hand over the area around the wound, he swung his dagger. The silver blade collided with the creature's sword-shaped arm.

CLANG!

He was overpowered. As his right arm was knocked down and away, I screamed.

"Ric!"

That stubborn bastard!

"Forfeit! I said forfeit!"

At this point, to hell with it.

"I'm coming out anyway!"

Whether the chains exploded or not. Whether electric bars blocked my way or not. I ran to a corner first, to keep Bobby and Achille from being caught in any explosion as they lay there, then charged at the electric bars. The explosive chains were still fastened around my wrists and ankles.

"Give me a sword!"

"I forfeit!"

Riccardo shouted sharply the instant my foot touched the electric bars.

"Hurry up and undo his chains!"

CLATTER!

My wrists and ankles felt lighter. The electric bars vanished, and the ceiling overhead fell away.

New sensations flooded in. The audience surrounding me, the emcee holding a microphone atop a huge hoverboard, the enormous lights illuminating the arena, the high, open ceiling.

A vast colosseum.

Taking in that rush of sensations, I ran toward Riccardo. Then I kicked the fake Taleb as it turned to look at me.

THUD!

It flew into a corner of the arena and splattered.

Riccardo Sordi stood fully in view. He raised his gaze from my ankles to meet my eyes. He looked ready to kill someone. I beamed at him.

"Sir! Let me help you back to the waiting area!"

"You crazy fuck!"

Riccardo grabbed my collar. Glaring murderously at me as I kept smiling, he growled.

"Do you have no fucking sense of danger?"

"I'll finish this quickly."

I gave him a faint smile.

Truly...

"I'll do this right, so please put a sword in my hand, sir."

His green eyes stared at me, burning with fire. A fire of mingled anger and irritation. Gradually, the flames fueled by those intense feelings subsided, replaced by emotions I couldn't identify.

I didn't try to work out exactly what those emotions were. Instead, I smiled a little as he released my collar.

"Thank you for trusting me."

"Once you kill the bird, I'll make it bigger..."

His voice thick with irritation, he held out the blade.

"But if you get so much as a scratch, I'll run you into the fucking ground when we get back..."

A silver dagger. I took it from him. It was solid. More than enough to cut down the human-faced bird flapping on the ground and Huu as it recreated my face. Enough to cut down the creature beyond the slowly opening door.

"This is enough."

I answered as he passed me.

"I'll make you proud."

With the hunt.

And the payback.