The next morning, the Hollow was louder.
Distant clashes of power cracked through the mist. Faint screams rose, short-lived, then cut off. Caesar sat at the edge of the clocktower, sharpening his awareness with each sound.
Leo tightened the straps on his gauntlets. "Feels like open war out there."
Jack was checking his traps, muttering, "It is war. Only five can climb. Everyone else gets thrown back to the wolves."
Caesar said nothing. His mind was on the castle in the sky—and the whisper he'd heard last night. A presence had called him Hollowed One. Had known him.
But how?
He forced the question down for now. They had a more immediate problem: climbing the standings. Fast.
Their current rank sat at 28. Progress, but not enough.
Jack flicked the portable map open. "We've got two options. Sweep the abandoned towers for stray duelists—or crash a standing clash between two mid-houses, swoop in, and steal points."
Leo grinned. "I vote crashing. High risk, high reward."
"Crashing gets us noticed," Caesar warned.
"We're already noticed," Jack said grimly. "Valen Dray's been shadowing us all morning. He's waiting."
Caesar's eyes narrowed. A storm was coming. He could feel it in his bones.
"Then let's be the ones who strike first."
---
They moved fast through the Hollow's crumbling streets, cloaked by mist and ruins.
By noon, they reached the conflict zone: an abandoned amphitheater where House Flintblade and House Nyra's Vorn Delegation were locked in a savage battle.
Energy blasts ripped the air. Summoned beasts clashed, shattering stone and steel alike.
A perfect storm of chaos.
Jack pointed. "Flintblade's losing. If we hit Nyra now, we catch them overextended."
Caesar gave a short nod.
Leo cracked his knuckles. "Let's make some noise."
---
The Ambush
They struck like knives.
Jack dropped a Pulse Mine into the heart of Nyra's mages, disrupting their spell matrix. Leo waded into their front line, fists blazing with amplified strikes.
Caesar flanked wide, activating the Whispered Sigil he'd claimed at Fogvault.
It answered with a low, hungry pulse.
A new card materialized from the void.
> [Card Acquired: Bloodmark - Predator's Claim]
Type: Curse / Enhancement
Effect: "Mark a target. If slain within 60 seconds, absorb a fragment of their strength. Mark persists across duels."
He felt it lock onto a Nyra duelist—a thin, sharp-faced woman commanding bone serpents.
Target acquired.
The battle was vicious. The Vorn Delegation fought back with desperate, disciplined violence. But the Bloodmark made Caesar faster, sharper. Every blow landed heavier.
He broke the bone mage's defense, driving Hollow Maw through her chest in a blast of crimson light.
The Bloodmark flared—and absorbed.
> Strength +2
New Passive: Bonecaller's Resilience unlocked.
Caesar staggered back, momentarily overwhelmed by the flood of energy.
Leo and Jack finished the others.
The dust cleared.
Victory.
---
> Standings Update:
Caesar's Team Rank: 9th
---
"Top ten," Leo gasped, wiping blood from his face. "We did it."
Jack was grinning, but it faltered quickly.
"Uh. Bad news."
He pointed behind Caesar.
At first, it looked like a heat haze—but then the mist parted, revealing a group of crimson-cloaked duelists.
At their head: Valen Dray.
He clapped slowly, mockingly.
"Well played, Hollowed Ones. So very well played."
Around him, six others spread out, cutting off every escape route.
Jack cursed under his breath. "Not just him. He brought a strike team."
Valen's eyes gleamed.
"I warned you: two days to prove it wasn't luck. Now, I offer you a duel. A Bloodmarked Duel."
He tossed a black token into the air.
It exploded in red light, forming a burning sigil above them.
> Bloodmarked Duel Initiated.
Rules:
No surrender.
Winner absorbs the loser's card essence.
Death is not required—but permitted.
Jack's face paled.
Leo grinned savagely. "Permitted, huh? Guess I'm overdue for a murder."
Caesar stepped forward.
"I accept."
Valen's smile widened into something feral.
The Bloodmarked Duel began.
---
The Duel
The world constricted around them, forming a circular arena of swirling mist and stone.
Jack and Leo took the sides, engaging Valen's seconds—hard, brutal fights unfolding in the periphery.
Caesar faced Valen alone.
Valen moved first—summoning a crimson scythe from his deck. It bled shadows into the ground.
> Card: Crimson Harvest.
"Every strike drains vitality. Every kill feeds the wielder's next attack."
Caesar countered by weaving Hollow Maw into a dual-form weapon—switching from spear to whip mid-motion.
Their weapons clashed with a crack like thunder.
Valen was fast—faster than anything Caesar had faced before. His strikes weren't just powerful; they were inevitable, bending Caesar's movements toward fatal openings.
Within moments, Caesar was bleeding from shallow cuts on his arms and side.
Valen's scythe whirled again, aiming for a decisive sweep.
Caesar ducked low, activated Echo Sigil – Pattern Break, and shifted his own tempo out of sync with Valen's rhythm.
For the first time, Valen's scythe missed.
"Good," Valen whispered, eyes alight. "You adapt."
He launched a barrage of ghostly slashes, even faster.
Caesar dodged left, narrowly avoiding a deathblow—but Valen anticipated the move, driving a boot into Caesar's ribs and sending him flying.
Pain blossomed.
The Beast Core roared inside Caesar, demanding release.
He wiped blood from his mouth, smiled grimly.
"Alright," Caesar muttered. "You want the Hollow? Fine."
He unleashed the Hollow Maw's second form.
Black mist exploded outward, swirling around Caesar, forming ethereal tendrils.
A massive, semi-formed beast loomed behind him, eyes like burning coals.
The Hollow Maw had awakened further.
Valen's grin sharpened into something delighted.
"Finally. Show me!"
They clashed again, harder now.
Valen's scythe tore through illusions and mist, carving real wounds—but Caesar's counterattacks struck deeper, ripping pieces of Valen's armor away.
The battle surged back and forth, neither willing to give an inch.
---
Meanwhile:
Leo slammed one of Valen's seconds into a ruined wall, knocking him out cold.
Jack weaved a web of pulse mines, trapping another pair and detonating them into unconsciousness.
They were winning—but battered, exhausted.
And the Bloodmarked Duel wouldn't end until the leaders fell.
---
Back at the center:
Caesar finally forced Valen back with a brutal whip-strike that shattered the stone under his feet.
Both men were breathing hard.
Valen lowered his scythe slightly.
"You're better than I hoped."
He pointed skyward.
"The Warden watches, Hollowed One. He's waiting for you. For us."
"What are you talking about?" Caesar growled.
Valen laughed softly.
"You'll see... if you survive me."
He lunged one final time, a full commitment to a deathblow.
Caesar met him head-on.
At the last second, Caesar triggered Bloodmark: Predator's Claim—and locked it onto Valen.
Their weapons met in a blinding explosion of force.
For a heartbeat, neither moved.
Then, Valen's scythe cracked—and broke apart.
Caesar's whip snapped around his opponent's throat.
Valen staggered.
Kneeling, smiling bitterly.
"Well done... King of Hollows."
The Bloodmark triggered.
Caesar absorbed a fragment of Valen's strength:
> Passive Acquired: Crimson Tenacity — Survive a fatal blow once per duel at 25% strength.
Valen slumped to the ground, unconscious but breathing.
The Bloodmarked sigil in the sky shattered, raining down embers.
> Duel Complete.
> Standings Update:
Caesar's Team: 3rd Place.
---
Aftermath
Jack hauled himself over, bloody but grinning.
Leo collapsed next to them, breathing hard.
"We… we actually beat him."
Caesar didn't answer immediately. He was staring at the crimson light that hovered over Valen's body.
A memory shard floated free — not a card, but something older.
He reached out—and the shard burned into his palm.
Visions filled his mind:
A vast sea of floating islands. A titanic black tower rising from the depths.
A throne of hollowed souls.
A name, whispered in the old tongue: Eidolon.
The true master of the prison.
The Warden.
Caesar staggered back, heart pounding.
Leo caught him. "Hey! Caesar! You alright?"
Caesar blinked, the visions fading.
He looked up, expression hardening.
"We're not just fighting to survive anymore."
Jack frowned. "What do you mean?"
"We're fighting to escape this place. To tear it apart."
Leo cracked a grin. "Now that's a mission I can get behind."
Somewhere far above, the floating castle's chains groaned—tightening.
The Warden was watching.
And Caesar had just earned his attention.
---
End of Chapter 8