Death Cultivator by eden Hudson (best books to read .TXT) 📕

“They can catch him,” Kest insisted. “There’s nowhere on Van Diemann they can’t find him. Technols have every resource at their fingertips. They’re probably listening to him and his bruisers strategize right now. They’re listening to this conversation for sure. We’ve used every keyword imaginable except ‘murder’ and ‘gang war.’ There. Now they’ve got them all.”

“The Bailiff’s on Van Diemann, ain’t he?” Warcry said. “He knew he might get caught for whatever job he pulled off-planet, but he did it anyway. He don’t care about consequences.”

“We’ll get to the arena floor first thing tomorrow,” I said. “Maybe if we stick close to the kokugikon staff until the matches are over, he won’t try anything. And if he does, he’ll have to do it out in the open in front of everybody.”

Warcry let out a disgusted grunt. “Oughta bleedin’ skip town while we can.”

“We came here to get an affiliation,” I said. “I lost it for us in the individual competition. Tomorrow’s our last shot.”

“You’re willing to gamble their lives on it, are you?” he said, jerking his chin at Kest and Rali.

I curled my hands into fists. Dead Man’s Hand pulsed in my brain. This wasn’t a gamble. If we had to, if there was absolutely no way out, I could take the Bailiff down. I glanced around at my friends. They didn’t know about it. There was no way they’d all just be sitting there acting like everything was normal if they knew I could kill somebody like blowing out a candle.

“We can’t go back to Ghost Town,” Kest said in this low, hard voice, “and we don’t have enough credits to buy tickets off this rock. Winning the riot bracket is our only option. We’ll deal with whatever happens when it happens.”

Rali grinned. “Live or die in the moment. That’s something you can appreciate, Warcry.”

Restrictions

I SLEPT ABOUT AS WELL that night as I had the night before. Lots of tossing and turning, lots of nightmares about Kest and Rali getting gunned down in the middle of the kokugikon and me using Dead Man’s Hand on the Bailiff. Except instead of just dying, he erupted in a shower of blood and guts. In the dreams, I was totally fine with that. “You shouldn’t have tried to hurt my friends,” I told the puddle of gore.

As soon as I heard someone in the hotel room stir, I jolted awake.

Kest was getting out of bed, her long black hair hanging down around her shoulders. She stretched and scrubbed at her lacy eyes, then headed toward the bathroom.

She smiled when she saw me pushed up on my elbows.

“You can go back to sleep,” she whispered. “We don’t have to leave for another couple hours.”

I nodded, but there was no way I was getting back to sleep. When the bathroom door closed behind her and the water started, I pulled my shirt on—I’d been sleeping in my jeans because it would’ve been too weird to sleep in my underwear with three other people in the room—and went out on the balcony.

It was almost cool out there. I could see the night sun going down through the forest of skyscrapers, but blue hadn’t started to filter into the eastern sky yet, and the traffic down on the street was still quiet. I’d never been in a city of any size in the morning. It was kind of nice.

Kest came out after her shower and leaned on the railing, looking out at the city with me, not talking. That was okay, though. It was the good kind of not talking. I could’ve hung out there being quiet with her all day, but I figured the spell would break once the rest of the world started waking up.

Just before the blue sun rose, Rali joined us.

“You’re up early,” he said to me.

I shrugged. “I couldn’t go back to sleep. I’m ready to get today done with.”

“Care to meditate with me?” He sank into the lotus position on the concrete, facing east. “It’s good for centering your Spirit sea.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m going to stop off at one of the subway stations and top up. Want to go?”

He closed his eyes. “It’s a little early for me to start rushing around like I have places to be.”

I laughed. “You do have somewhere to be.”

“Not yet, though.”

Kest crossed her arms over her stomach. “Be careful, Hake. Watch out for OSS.”

“I will.” I headed for the door. “Message me when you guys get to the kokugikon.”

What I hadn’t told Kest and Rali was that part of me kind of hoped the Bailiff would turn up with his hooligans and try something while my friends were safe somewhere else. It was stupid and unlikely, but it was also a little bit why I’d gone out at all.

Hardly anyone was out on the sidewalks that early except for some homeless people and a jogger. The subway ossuary was similarly empty. A few people in janitorial-looking uniforms milled around the platform, waiting for the train to work.

I hadn’t been there ten minutes when that catfish guy showed up.

He nodded and came over. I started cycling Spirit to my muscles and eyes, making sure I was ready for anything he might try.

It was definitely the same guy who’d been sitting in front of us at the fights; he had the same scarred-up flathead’s face, but today he was back in a suit, a fancy black one with a thin silver tie.

“Grady Hake, right?” he said. Standing right in front of me, he was a good foot taller and at least two of me wide. “I caught a few of your fights yesterday. Your kishotenketsu’s mighty defensive for a Death cultivator, shields and counterstrikes and all that.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Not necessarily a bad thing.” His whiskers twitched. “It’s just interesting that you lean so hard on physical combat. That’s not very common for a Mortal supertype.