Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 694: Point Changes

Below the monster death counts, two more records appeared, presented in a distinct format. The descriptive text stretched out longer, cloaked in the official jargon the Association employed to recognize a casualty without pointing fingers.

Competitor Fatality (Accidental) — Combatant hit by stray radiant power unleashed by Alice Ashborn (Runewoven) amid the announced rescue effort. The power aimed at beasts in the basin. Death ruled as accidental side effect per Article 9, Section 3 of Awakened Combat Regulations. Penalty: 0 Points. Under review.

Competitor Fatality (Accidental) — Combatant smashed by rock fragments shaken loose by Nyx Cosmos (Runewoven) in the declared rescue mission. The boulder toss focused on beast clusters in the basin. Death ruled as accidental side effect per Article 9, Section 3 of Awakened Combat Regulations. Penalty: 0 Points. Under review.

No punishment at all. For either case.

Silence filled the tent completely.

Nyx cocked her head, scanned her record again, and let out a breath.

"Oops."

Calypso let out a snort. Bastet’s tail twitched. Luna made no effort to conceal her smile.

In reality, they had taken precautions.

The whole barrage had been adjusted to injure rather than slay. Inflict severe harm on the combatants so they couldn’t escape the beasts, break their setups for the Slashers and Colossus to finish off, yet maintain their own involvement as indirect.

Each shot from the overlook targeted areas thick with monsters, accepting that harm to close-by rivals was regrettable yet permissible by law, whereas outright eliminations crossed a boundary they dared not breach.

Evidently, Alice and Nyx got carried away somewhat.

Regardless, the outcome stayed unchanged. Two lives lost, and the Association marked it with nothing, and no one inside this shelter would fret over the gap between ‘done in by our strike’ and ‘done in by a beast right after our strike.’

Luna’s smile dimmed.

"Any word on the little sister?"

Kaiden’s expression grew somber.

Right after the Association arrived at the ridge, Alice got pulled away from the group. Separate guard, separate shelter, separate questioning. They hadn’t caught sight of her since then.

This didn’t follow usual protocol for a novice under scrutiny.

Yet it matched the routine for Alice Ashborn.

As well as for other alleged serial killers.

His younger sibling carried a past. Numerous events throughout her path, each tied to dubious fatalities that proved too opportune, too precisely timed, and too hard to overlook. Every instance concluded identically: Alice confined in a waiting area, a probe across from her, and Vespera Ashborn’s influence overshadowing until accusations dissolved.

The Association recalled all those episodes, even if the legal system overlooked them.

For them, Alice represented no mere beginner trapped in a messy rescue chaos, but a habitual culprit given a handy pretext, and her past escapes didn’t soften their stance.

Kaiden figured they aimed to probe her Conduit form during the session too.

That glowing ring that had lit up the heavens amid the assault marked an unprecedented skill, the sort that set spy units drooling. A prolonged interrogation with Alice held offered far too tempting a chance to limit to merely the basin event.

Still, he understood his sibling well. She could act like a clingy youth with some absent-minded traits, but she recognized moments to stay silent. Alice had faced Association questioners prior and revealed zilch. She wouldn’t alter that here.

Calypso clasped his left hand. Bastet seized his right.

"Alice will be okay," Calypso assured, her demonic tail swishing behind her rear.

"She’ll be fine," Bastet affirmed, ears perked ahead, hold comforting.

Kaiden regarded them, saw the assurance in their expressions, and allowed himself to trust it briefly. He pressed both their hands.

Nyx, immersed in the projection like someone favoring data over emotions, selected Ashbound’s record.

"Okay, but what about these fools?" She indicated the ranking. "They shed just one teammate. How come they plunged thirty thousand points?"

The record unfurled.

Member Death (Monster - Colossus): -10,000

A single loss. Stacy. The identity stayed unnamed, but the time aligned perfectly, and all in the tent recognized it as hers.

Beneath that, in a deeper crimson hue than the rest—the Association’s cue for penalties:

Competition Violation — Attempted Murder of Fellow Competitor (Article 12, Class One). Combatant voiced deadly purpose against enrolled rival Kaiden Grey across two simultaneous live feeds (total audience: 1.1M) and fired an assault at the mark. Purpose clear as day. Penalty: -25,000. Combatant held. Squad ranking rights halted awaiting Awakened Judicial Board examination.

The projection buzzed faintly in the hush.

Kaiden eyed the record. Next, he eyed his companions.

Luna met his gaze.

Calypso eyed Luna.

Bastet eyed Calypso.

Aria eyed Bastet.

Nyx surveyed them all.

One man and five women occupied the shadowed Association shelter, perusing the formal validation that their day’s actions had succeeded. The assault. The broadcast. The regulatory setup. The taunt that transformed an S-rank warrior into a raging, tearful mess who delivered the Association the sole blatant breach across the whole clash.

Each element. Each perspective. Each factor.

The shared look among them held no affection. It reflected those who had committed a grave act jointly and grasped, sans words, their readiness to repeat it.

Luna broke first.

Her burst of laughter rang brief, biting, and vicious, spite voicing itself fully, shattering the barrier. Calypso bent forward, gasping. Aria covered her face with both palms, body trembling. Bastet’s chuckle gleamed wild and a touch mad, tail lashing. Nyx hid her mouth behind her hand yet her eyes squeezed tight, the noise slipping past undeniable.

Kaiden observed their mirth, his smile the authentic kind, absent from streams, reserved for his self in such confined spaces.

He had killed from the brothel days onward. From entering a den of assaulting brutes to rescue Julia Levander, emerging stained with blood sans remorse. That trait dwelled in him always, his women knew, and cherished him regardless.

Yet now they chuckled over a man’s capture log, the joy unfeigned. None averted eyes from what it revealed of them.

During that onslaught, the trio of mortal Valkyries discarded a remnant. Luna, Aria, and Nyx positioned atop the rise, unleashing ruin on fleeing, scaling, shrieking figures, executed with accuracy and intent. Any prior tenderness, any hesitation bridging ‘fighter’ and ‘slayer,’ the basin purged utterly.

Calypso and Bastet lacked such a divide initially. But their collective ability to gather in a shelter, grinning over the leaderboard fallout from a slaughter they orchestrated, signified Kaiden’s assembled crew was at last, utterly, the force he required.

The chuckles eased into smirks, then the smirks grew keen.

Right then, the shelter entrance parted behind them.