The Vanguard's Severed Gift
By @john1208
I survived three years in the rotting jungles of the Rimur Expanse because Baskara's manipulative family forced me away. Now I’m back in the floating sky-city of Dirgantara, greeted by a strange delivery: a blood-stained courier-hawk carrying a wedding invitation. Baskara is marrying Citra - a stand-in who hasn't just taken my place in his bed, but used a forbidden ritual to swap her magical signature with mine, legally stealing my family's legacy. When Baskara pulls me aside at the gala and whispers, 'It's just a contract, my heart is yours,' I don't shed a single tear. Instead, I loudly congratulate them, hand over the severed head of the shadow-beast his father sent to assassinate me as a petty wedding gift, and walk out. To reclaim my birthright, I must fight my way up the brutal Spire of Cyclones. I forge an alliance with Rimba, my former deadliest tournament rival, who offers me a fake identity to enter the games. But as Baskara's marriage crumbles and he drops to his knees begging for my forgiveness, I don't even look at him. I have bigger problems - can I slaughter my way to the top before Dirgantara falls from the clouds?
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The Apex Hunter's Ultimatum
By @john1208
I strike the deal in the shadows. Fifty-one percent of Tyren Aegis, mine. I survived a year of agonizing purification from the Scourge-Rot in secret, only to return to the capital and find Jorik, the man who swore to wait for me, holding a girl with my exact silver eyes. His excuse? 'She looked like you, I was lonely.' I am Xiraza Vex, the legendary Apex Hunter. I don't fight for men who can't keep their promises. Being naturally shy doesn't mean I lack a spine. I walk into his guildhall, reveal myself as his new boss, strip him of his rank, and banish him from the Apex Vanguard forever. Leaving him to drown in regret, I throw myself back into the frontlines alongside Chitter, my lightning-fox. But when my fiercest rival, Khyren Zhal, offers a temporary truce to investigate a surge of mutated beasts, we uncover a terrifying truth. The person who infected me wasn't a monster - it was my most trusted ally. Can Khyren and I survive the ultimate betrayal, or will the engineered horde consume us both?
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