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pockets. “There are obviously some things about my niece and son I don’t know about. You said twenty feet, but it looks like she noticed you.”
    “Yeah. And she was ready to kill. Dad, if the bandages don’t change me enough, she’ll know I killed Spencer.” If she can’t distinguish between my blood and people I’ve killed, she’ll think Kay murdered Kode.
    “That could be a problem, but we’ll have to discuss that at another time. Let’s head to the meeting.”
    As we exit the repugnant laboratory and close the squeaking black door, I hear screams from down the hallway. The last one comes from the mouth of Yukio. Though I spend most of my time in the dungeon, I can still hear him when I’m at home. Yukio hasn’t been the same since I killed his friends and family members at Yang Arena. Unfortunately for him, his father rushed to Feng’s aide when he heard of Helios’ threat. Though Yukio hasn’t said much, even to his mother, I sense his determination to search for his father’s murderer. Maybe I’ll give him a hint one day.
    Dennis places his hand on my shoulder and stops me at the door. “This won’t be friendly, Kay.”
    “I don’t think Vincent was ever friendly. I’ll feel right at home.”
    “He’s not the only one. When this is all over, we have to explain this to my family.”
    “Even better. Let’s get it over with. I want to see how much pain this thing can cause. Those screams sound exciting.”
    “You’re a strange kid.”
    I’m the first to walk into the garage door, followed by Carmen.
    The storage room looks like some ancient cult meeting place. The floor is a bloody red. It seems as though someone tried renovating the room by throwing a few buckets of paint on the ground, leaving most of it uneven. Then, they tore large holes in the walls to reveal the support beams and covered the windows with cardboard.
    This room used to belong to an instructor Dennis once warned me about. Bae Dong-gun was a South Korean doctor completing his residency with the academy under Gonzales’ supervision. As legend tells, the experiments he performed in this garage make the blood splattered walls in Gonzales’ lab look like child’s play.
    All the students stop what they’re doing and turn their attention to me.
    Twelve gods and demigods are standing in a circle. The ceremony is already under way and I made it just in time to interrupt the next wrapping. Yukio was the last to be sealed. He has two very powerful barcodes on his forearms. At first glance, they look like various stars. But if you played Connect the Dots with them, the constellation would form two dragons. I imagine he’s lost a lot of the power. Nearly an inch of girth seems to be missing from his forearms.
    Two high-ranking demigods, Brandon and Trent, are unconscious but still a part of the circle.
    Vincent, the biggest of the group, is wearing a brown cloak like the others. He removes his hood. I think he wants me to see the disgust on his face clearly.
    The beautiful girl hiding behind my back catches his attention when she peeks around my arm. Vincent’s level of surprise is alarming. “Why is she here? No other woman besides Angie is allowed, and that’s only because my wife was unable to bear a boy.”
    My dad reacts as though he just noticed Vincent, but doesn’t reply. Instead, he announces, “I’m very proud to see the top performing students from Colt Academy gathered here today. You all have worked extremely hard to obtain the honor of being bandaged by the Seal of Solomon. Colt warriors have held this power to themselves for far too long. Fortunately, you were approved by my family. That means they believe you are the future of Gladiator Sports Entertainment.”
    A few students smile under their cloaks, though others, like Malik and Patrick, keep their eyes and firm expressions on me.
    “But I have some bad news. It seems the student with the highest scores, Malik Jules, won’t undergo the first full body