BAB3 -Chapter 10

# Chapter 10: Final Preparations

\

\

\

\

\

\

Xay slept for over fifteen hours.

After leaving the dungeon, his entire group had gotten cleaned up, ordered takeout, and completely crashed.

It was well earned.

That Saturday morning, while waiting for Rox, Xay sat quietly in his room thinking about their performance in the dungeon.

His team had dominated most of the floors—and even the ones that weren’t outright slaughters were still overwhelming victories.

The overall difficulty hadn’t been especially high, though.

He’d rate floors one through five as Crisis-level and floors six through ten as Disaster on the Apocalypse Threat System scale—the method used to categorize rifts.

Crisis, Disaster, Maelstrom, Cataclysm, and Apocalypse were the five main levels of the system. It was based on the estimated damage a rift could cause if it broke.

Their first rift had also been rated Disaster, and his team hadn’t run into any real issues—at least, not until they encountered the Latch Stalker.

It was a far cry from when he’d first entered the dungeon on probation, worried he’d be expelled.

He was so much stronger now. His entire team was.

The one-on-one coaching they’d received from their instructors had been invaluable—even if it began with crushing defeats at the hands of the S4.

All of their weaknesses had been laid bare, and each of his team had stepped up to the challenge of correcting them.

Xay wouldn’t change how it all went down—but in the back of his mind, he had plans for a rematch that would be just as brutal.

He was especially curious to see how his control of psychic force stacked up against Dante Diamond’s now.

But with the Diamond Group already asking questions, he needed to be prepared.

Pointing to his Bloodline was a valid option, but he also had to be ready to defend himself against psionic techniques that targeted the mind directly.

From what he’d seen of Virgil at the candlelit vigil, they just might try to rip the truth from him by force.

Even the twins—his own family—were afraid of him.

Out of an abundance of caution, Sasha and Sophia had spent the last few days at the Quantium Penthouse with Amy.

Xay worried for them, but there was still time to come up with a plan.

As he mulled things over, Rox burst loudly into his room.

“Morning, Sunshine! You ready to go?”

She wore her signature red combat jacket, cut just above her abs with a black crop top underneath.

“Yup,” Xay grinned, slipping on his hoodie as he and Dragon got ready to head out.

They were going to Solaris.

Originally, Xay didn’t think he’d be able to get Rox an A1-X Comet for free—but he was very wrong.

Not only did Solaris offer Rox one without hesitation, they extended the offer to Xay’s entire team, along with the proposed weapon upgrades.

But his team declined their own for various reasons.

It was also possible that Solaris still felt responsible for Xay being so close to the Aero Cup explosion.

Not that he blamed them. How could they have possibly predicted a terrorist attack?

Xay had originally been promised a hundred thousand Neon for the lap, but the president, Ebony, sent a personal apology and bumped it up to a million.

She called it hazard pay.

Watching Rox’s hips sway in her tight leather pants ahead of him, he realized she already dressed like she exclusively flew hover bikes.

Today would just be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Snickering to himself, Xay followed Rox to the kitchen while Dragon lazily flipped through the air in his orbit.

She’d discovered recently that if she shrank herself to about half a foot in length, she could slip into Xay’s *Orbital Array* alongside his Jetnir Orbs.

Dragon clearly enjoyed it, so Xay just let her do what she wanted.

Lexi, Kimi, and Tyra were seated around the kitchen island, while Willow perched quietly on the windowsill.

“Congrats on clearing the dungeon, everyone!” Rox cheered, clapping her hands loudly. “And in record time too.”

“Thank you,” Kimi replied with her usual graceful smile.

“We smashed it,” Lexi smirked.

Tyra nodded rapidly. “It was fun.. not the Slime floor though,” she shuddered, looking off into the distance. “I did not like the Slime floor.”

Rox laughed.

After exchanging a few words, Xay and Rox said their goodbyes and headed downstairs.

The others stayed behind to take care of a few things before everyone left the city the next day.

“You know my mom planned all this right?” Rox asked as they entered the elevator. “The trip?”

Xay thought about it aloud, rubbing his chin. “She probably knew about Shifu Wu’s plans to go home.. Got Theo to move up the dinner.. Invited Shifu Wu.. And asked how I was doing in front of her.. Woah.”

Rox nodded knowingly. “She’s a lot.”

“It’s.. manipulative. But you can’t be mad at her because it comes from a good place,” Xay mused, slightly frowning. “It’s probably a good thing for all of us.”

“Tell me about it,” Rox sighed, shaking her head.

The two of them shared a silent moment of solidarity—before shaking it off when the elevator stopped.

Finding a clear spot, Xay activated his ring and summoned his A1-X.

As the glass canopy slid back, he beat Rox to the pilot’s seat by half a second.

Dragon leapt to the dash from Xay’s orbit, and his Jetnir Orbs paused, hovering just above his shoulders.

“Ah—just the way everything is supposed to be,” Xay laughed, gripping the yokes.

Rox slid in behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest and gently squeezing the air from his lungs as they lifted off into the sky.

Xay tried to laugh but it sounded more like dry heaving.

The flight was otherwise uneventful, and before long, they were landing in front of Solaris HQ’s gleaming cube-shaped building.

Past the concrete lobby and security, Jessica—the Marketing Director—and Dex—the Lead Engineer—were waiting for them.

Jessica smiled warmly as she stepped forward—only to be interrupted by a high-pitched screech.

“Xayyy!!!”

Looking up, Xay saw Ebony’s petite figure hurtling toward him. She had jumped from her office, somehow bypassing the several designated slides.

Xay slowed her down, gently plucking her from the air with *Psychokinesis*.

Jessica sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Before Ebony even touched the floor, Jessica grabbed her by the collar of her blouse like an unruly toddler.

“Ms. President,” Jessica said, her voice icy. “This is no way to behave.”

Ebony pouted as her short legs flailed. “I just wanted to hug him! He deserves to know we care, Jessica.”

Sighing again, Jessica set her down.

Ebony’s shoes immediately became a blur as she charged forward and slammed into Xay. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his hoodie.

“Hi, Xay!” she exclaimed, her voice muffled and her glasses askew. “I’m so sorry about everything that happened. I tried to rush down to the field, but they wouldn’t let us out of the suites!”

Ebony had been in one of the VIP suites at Helix Stadium when everything went down last weekend.

“It’s fine. None of it was your fault, and there was nothing you could’ve done afterwards,” Xay said, instinctively patting her on the head.

Ebony let out a high-pitched, happy squeak at the gesture and nuzzled in even harder.

Rox raised an eyebrow, curiously glancing at Xay—who was just trying not to laugh at the display.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Jessica announced, snatching Ebony up again. “They’re here for a reason, and you’re getting in the way.”

Ebony clung tighter, arms locked around Xay’s waist in defiance. “No!” she shouted. “I don’t wanna go!”

After several firm tugs, Jessica finally managed to pry the shouting Ebony loose and hurried her back upstairs.

Dex stepped forward, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. “Good to see you, Xay,” he said, choosing to ignore everything that had just happened. “And you must be Ms. Roxana Blake.”

Rox shook his hand firmly, and Dex nodded before leading them toward the elevator.

“Xay said something about a flight track in the basement?” Rox asked, her smile intimidating.

Dex cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. Of course, Ms. Blake. As a special guest, you’ll have full access to the track once you have your hovercraft.”

Xay snorted. She wasn’t even trying to be scary on purpose.

“There’s a city-mandated pilot test anyway,” Xay said, shrugging as he turned to Dex. “What about the weapons? Are they actually doable?”

“Your request couldn’t have come at a better time,” Dex said rapidly, clearly excited. “Not only are they possible, but I’ve got a team that’s been developing a new weapon module. You’re in for a treat.”

Xay pulled six Auric Diamonds from his dimensional storage, and Dex’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“I figured the weapon system would need a dedicated power source,” Xay explained with a grin.

“I—uh, yes.. right,” Dex stammered, finally collecting himself as the elevator doors slid open to the testing floor.

“The weapons can operate off one dedicated Auric Diamond each. We can also add local mana barriers, which would take another two.”

He rubbed his chin, thinking aloud. “And if Ms. Blake wants the extended HyperBoost system, that would bring it to five total.”

“She does,” Rox cut in without hesitation.

Chuckling, Xay handed over five Auric Diamonds, and Dex promptly passed them to a nearby engineer.

“We’ll also need your A1-X to install the weapon and barrier modules,” Dex added, turning back to Xay as he pointed to a large powered cart.

Xay activated his ring and materialized his A1-X atop it.

He and Dragon watched on wistfully as it was carried off into the distance along with the Auric Diamonds.

“Alright,” Dex clapped as he turned down another corridor. “While they work on your craft, let’s go take a look at what you’re getting.”

He led Xay and Rox through a blast-proof door off to the side. They passed several testing labs, each housing smaller but more intricate experiments than those in the main A1-X component wing.

“Now, I won’t bore you with all the basic details of how a mana barrier works,” Dex said as they stopped in front of a large glass panel.

On the other side, multicolored lasers fired across the room in a shifting array, expanding and condensing as they converged on a single point of impact.

Each beam struck a transparent energy field and scattered into particles of light.

“But what we’ve done specifically,” Dex continued, “is create a more adaptive barrier—one that intelligently redirects power to areas where impact is predicted. That means greater efficiency and a lower chance of failure.”

“Like the city’s mana barrier?” Xay asked.

“Exactly,” Dex nodded. “But the difference is, the city’s system has thousands of processing units and control nodes. Ours? A a single, integrated multicore processor and control node in one.”

The barrier emitter was just a small, inconspicuous metal box.

“Clean,” Xay let out a low hum of appreciation. “I assume all the sensors onboard the A1-X help it out too?”

“You know it does,” Dex chuckled. “While they’re installing your new kit, you’ll also be getting a firmware upgrade,” he added, ushering them along.

Xay glanced over at Rox. Her eyes had completely glazed over the moment they started talking tech.

She walked stiffly beside them, clearly tuning it all out, while Dragon lounged contentedly on her shoulder.

“Now, what you’ve both clearly come for,” Dex said, stopping in front of the largest lab along the glass corridor.

At the center of the room sat two sleek, twin-barrel blasters attached to a robotic arm.

“These are our mana busters,” he said with a grin. “Pure mana discharge. Designed for short, high-intensity bursts.”

Rox immediately perked up, stepping closer to the glass with interest.

The units were compact, wedge-shaped, and matte-black, with faint blue lines pulsing across their casings.

“They mount flush against the A1-Xs frame, right atop the left and right propulsion disks,” Dex explained. “In standby mode, no one will even know they’re there.”

“I was wondering how the city would handle them,” Rox said with stars in her eyes.

Dex rubbed the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t exactly call them street legal, but as long as you don’t fire on anyone.. it’s probably fine.”

“Of course not,” Rox replied, far from convincingly.

“Right,” Dex said, choosing to ignore it. “Moving on.”

Without warning, several small metal plates flew across the testing chamber.

The twin buster heads rotated independently, tracking each target in real time before firing four rapid, condensed bursts of blue mana.

Each plate was disintegrated on impact.

Xay and Rox both gasped in unison, absolutely loving the display.

“They’ll have dual-axis articulation,” Dex said, tapping a nearby console. “Three-sixty horizontal and one-eighty vertical—full hemispheric coverage.”

“Do it again,” Rox said, completely ignoring Dex’s explanation.

Chuckling, Dex obliged, running the test sequence again while continuing to explain to Xay.

“Tracking is a combination of auto and target control with a manual override. They have their own custom-built cooling system. And, you can even customize the color of the mana discharge.”

“Gotta match the kicks,” Xay muttered.

Dex smirked.

After several more demonstrations—insisted on by Rox—Dex finally received the notification that everything was ready.

The group quickly hopped back into the elevator and descended to the underground cavern below.

It was a massive space lined with sprawling tunnels, sky tracks, and obstacle courses.

Xay’s A1-X Comet hovered on a platform ahead, while an engineer stood nearby, holding out a red Key Ring for Rox.

She brushed past Xay and nearly snatched the ring from the man’s trembling hand.

Shaking his head with a smirk, Xay turned his attention to his hover bike.

Dex had been right—while in standby mode, the weapons module was completely invisible. Everything looked perfectly normal.

He sent a command, and twin barrel heads smoothly extended from either side of the A1-X’s frame.

Disabling live fire, he began testing the tracking systems by designating himself and Dragon as moving targets.

It tracked them with ease, needing only a few seconds to reacquire them even after short-ranged teleportation.

What intrigued Xay most was how the barrel heads autonomously switched targets based on proximity—seamlessly shifting focus to whichever was closer. It was simple, but ingenious.

While Xay turned his attention to the local mana barrier, Rox took to her A1-X like a fish to water.

The first thing she did was shift the chassis color to a glossy red, accented with dark red, confetti-like speckles.

She left the glass canopy and propulsion disks black, and adjusted the Luminary Trail System to match—black with glowing red edges.

By the time Xay looked up, she was already out on the smallest test track—manually piloting with surprising skill.

She flew fast and aggressive, yet she stayed in full control the entire time, hitting turns with perfect precision. It was clear this wasn’t her first time.

Xay was genuinely impressed.

Still, he wouldn’t let her pilot his A1-X.

Some things were sacred.

Rox breezed through the government pilot test, and wasted no time setting her sights on the sky track.

Not about to let her have all the fun, Xay and Dragon hopped in his A1-X and took off after her.

It was time for a little race.

“Are you sure you want this?” Rox’s voice cracked through the comms link in challenge.

Xay chuckled. “Show me what you got!”

They both pulled up to the start line, playfully glaring each other down.

Xay’s Hardlight Display switched to the racing presets, while his finger hovered over the HyperBoost.

Getting clear, Dex headed back to the viewing deck and counted down the start of the impromptu race.

*3.. 2.. 1..*

Xay and Rox blurred forward, leaving only black and white light trailing in their dust.

Both had immediately started with HyperBoost—each of them laughing the entire way.