Day eighteen.
The morning was quiet. Cold air, pale sky, the mountain range stretching north in jagged layers. Kaiden’s group moved through their routine with the wordless efficiency of people who’d done this enough times that communication was redundant.
Aria braided her hair. Luna cracked her knuckles and pulled her gauntlets on with the focused aggression of a woman preparing to commit violence. Nyx adjusted her armor in silence, using nothing but telekinesis. Bastet did nothing visibly, which meant she was already ready and had been for some time. Calypso stretched, popped her neck, and grinned at the sky like it owed her a fight.
Alice floated above his head in her Conduit form.
Kaiden buckled the last strap on his armor and stood.
"Let’s go."
They walked.
The stream went live. Comments flooded in immediately, the overnight crowd from different time zones filling the chat with greetings, predictions, and the usual cascade of heart emojis.
They’d been walking for less than ten minutes when Alice’s voice cut in.
<Incoming. The cuck and the three bitches.>
Kaiden didn’t respond.
Ashbound appeared from the southeast, matching their pace. Ash walked at the front, weapon slung across his back, camera drones orbiting him in a tight formation. Brittany, Stacy, and Trisha followed in a spread formation behind him.
Kaiden’s girls didn’t look at them. They kept walking.
"Morning, Grey!" Ash called out, his voice pitched for both streams simultaneously. The grin was already in place. "Where are we headed today?"
Kaiden kept walking.
Ash fell into step alongside them, close enough for both sets of camera drones to capture the same frame. He didn’t seem bothered by the silence. If anything, it gave him more room to perform.
"Chat, for those of you just tuning in, welcome back! Yesterday was a huge day for Ashbound. We ground from dawn to dusk, cleared multiple new species, and finished with a net positive on the standings." He winked at his camera. "Then we had a variety stream. Cooked some of the monster meat from the kills. Brittany made this incredible stew, and you guys loved it. After that, well..." He grinned wider. "We filmed your favorite kind of content. All three of them. Links in the description. But remember, kids. Those links are not for you."
Brittany smiled on cue. Stacy waved. Trisha giggled.
"And for the record," Ash continued, his voice carrying the casual confidence of a man reading a script he’d rehearsed, "the Sinners pushed hard yesterday, but Ashbound matched them step for step and came away with more points." He spread his arms wide, addressing his camera like a stage. "This rivalry is turning quite one-sided, wouldn’t you agree?!"
His chat exploded with emojis and hype messages.
Kaiden’s chat had a different reaction.
— 44xStorm: This man is talking about his porn links
— SinnerDevotee: the secondhand embarrassment is killing me
— BastetThrone: notice how Kaiden’s team is in full combat gear, and Ash’s girls are in... that
— NyxWife4Life: Brittany’s armor has a window for her cleavage. In the MOUNTAINS. At THIS altitude!
The last comment wasn’t wrong.
Ashbound’s women wore armor designed for cameras. Fitted plates that accentuated curves. Strategic cutouts that served no tactical purpose. Heeled boots that looked good on a thumbnail but would cost precious milliseconds on uneven terrain. Every piece was polished to a shine that said ’content first, survival second.’
Kaiden’s girls were the opposite.
Luna, Nyx, and Calypso wore proper armor, covering them from head to toe. Even Aria and Bastet, the mages who relied on mobility and range rather than plating, wore practical combat attire designed for movement, not aesthetics.
They looked like soldiers.
Ashbound looked like a content house on a field trip.
The contrast was visible on both streams and the audience saw it clearly.
Ash was still talking. Something about engagement metrics and a collaboration he was planning. Kaiden let the noise wash past him like wind.
Then he stopped walking.
Ash stopped too, surprised by the sudden halt. His grin flickered for just a moment before resettling. "What’s up, Grey? Have something to say?"
Kaiden looked at him.
It was the first time he’d made direct eye contact with Ash all morning.
The day was young, the mountain range was vast, and the competition clock was ticking. Eighteen days down, twelve remaining. But twelve was a generous number. The competition ran for thirty days or until someone uncovered the reason behind the monster convergence, whichever came first. The veterans had been pushing deeper every day, and the deeper they went, the closer they got to an answer that would end everything.
The competition could have twelve days left. It could have two. Nobody knew.
Which meant every hour counted.


VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Demonic Pornstar System