**Volume 2: Upper World**

  **Chapter 65: Green Edge**

  January 3rd, 5:18 p.m. – Central Triple Arena (Cam vs Max – Continued)

  The left pit was a mess of smoke and claw marks — shadows bleeding into the stone, wolves circling like ghosts that refused to die. Max stood in the center of his own realm — **Gambler’s Edge** — orange-black aura rolling off him in waves, blood still dripping from his chin, broken ribs making every breath hurt. Cam faced him — green aura flaring steady, wolves reformed and larger, eyes glowing emerald. The crowd had gone from roaring to a low, hungry murmur — everyone knew this one wasn’t ending quick.

  Cam wiped blood from his mouth — slow — and looked at Max.

  “You really wanna know how my realm works?”

  Max laughed — short, wet — blood on his teeth.

  “Tell me. Before one of us stops breathing.”

  Cam’s aura pulsed once — brighter — and the green light spread, wrapping the pit in a soft emerald haze.

  “My realm… **Green Edge**.”

  He stepped forward — slow — wolves padding beside him.

  “It’s not about luck like yours. It’s about balance. Every move I make — every punch, every wolf dive, every roar — builds a meter. Green fills up. When it hits the edge… I get a burst. Speed. Strength. Healing. Whatever I need in that second. But if I push too far — if I overfill it — the green turns black. And then it starts eating me. My own wolves turn on me. My own aura burns my lungs. It’s a gamble too… just not random. It’s me vs me. I have to know exactly when to stop.”

  Max tilted his head — shadows flickering.

  “So you’re saying… you’re walking a tightrope while I’m spinning a wheel.”

  Cam gave a small, tired smile.

  “Pretty much.”

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  He clapped once — wolves lunging again.

  Max met them — loyal shade reforming massive — and the two auras clashed — orange-black fire against green balance. Echoes stacked. Wolves tore. The pit shook.

  But the fight slowed in Cam’s mind — just for a second.

  He saw it.

  November 5th.

  The flashback hit like a slow wave — pulling him back.

  ---

  November 5th — Jefferson Academy Courtyard (Three Months Earlier)

  Late afternoon sun — golden, lazy, cutting through the leaves still clinging to the trees. The massacre at the party was only a few months old, but the rebuild had already started. New concrete where the craters used to be. Fresh paint on the walls. The silver eye emblem on the main building still looked too bright — like it hadn’t earned its scars yet.

  They were all there — the whole crew — sprawled out on the grass like nothing had ever gone wrong.

  Max was on his back — arms behind his head — shadows making lazy hand puppets in the air above him. One shadow was doing push-ups. Another was pretending to bench press Cam’s wolf.

  Cam sat cross-legged — one wolf curled in his lap like a big smoky dog, another chasing its own tail in circles. He scratched behind the first one’s ears — even though it was made of shadow — and it leaned into him like it could feel it.

  Sky sat against a tree — gray hoodie zipped up, hood half-on, knife resting across his knees. He looked tired — eyes older than they should’ve been — but he was smiling. Small. Real.

  Frosty was next to him — legs stretched out — bokken across her lap. She’d just finished icing a soda can for everyone — frost still riming the metal. She handed one to Sky without looking.

  “Here. Before Max drinks them all.”

  Sky took it — fingers brushing hers.

  “Thanks.”

  Mira was lying on her stomach — chin on her hands — one crow perched on her back like a living scarf. Another was dive-bombing a butterfly that kept escaping at the last second.

  Hiro sat with her knees up — golden mend glow faint around her fingers as she absently healed a tiny scrape on Rita’s knuckle from earlier training.

  Rita filmed it all on her phone — quiet commentary under her breath.

  “This is what legends look like when they’re not fighting. Boring. But cute.”

  Aoi was in the shade — knees hugged — spatial cracks flickering tiny around her fingertips like nervous habits. She didn’t talk much. Just watched.

  Kira leaned against the tree next to Sky — katana resting beside her — looking at the sky like she was trying to memorize it.

  Max rolled onto his side — propped on one elbow.

  “Yo. Real talk. If we ever get to the end of this shit… what do we do? Like… after?”

  Cam looked at him — wolf still in his lap.

  “Sleep. For a week.”

  Frosty snorted.

  “Eat real food. Not cafeteria crap.”

  Hiro smiled small.

  “Visit my mom. Tell her I’m okay.”

  Rita kept filming — zoomed in on Max.

  “I’d film everything. Make a documentary. ‘How We Didn’t Die.’”

  Mira’s crow landed on her head.

  “I’d just… keep the crows fed. And maybe sleep without nightmares.”

  Aoi spoke quiet — first time all afternoon.

  “Stay together.”

  Everyone looked at her.

  She didn’t meet their eyes.

  “Just… stay together.”

  Sky looked around — at all of them — and felt something tight in his chest loosen for the first time in months.

  “Yeah,” he said soft. “Stay together.”

  Max grinned — shadows making a little heart shape in the air.

  “Legends forever, bro.”

  They laughed — small, tired, real.

  The sun kept setting slow — golden light stretching long across the grass.

  No one moved.

  No one wanted to.

  ---

  Back in the present — Cam blinked the memory away.

  Max was still circling — supersonic speed — leaving orange afterimages.

  Cam’s green aura flared brighter.

  He clapped once — wolves surging.

  The realm clash deepened — green balance meeting orange gamble.

  Both bleeding.

  Both refusing to fall.

  The chapter ended.

  To be continued…