James looked at Finn, Aria, Elliot, and Kael. They were exhausted, covered in blood, and obviously finished with standing in front of over a million people.

He spoke to the stream one more time. "Team Zero is ending the stream. Thank you for watching."

He didn’t give a long speech or answer more questions because there was nothing else to say.

The interface appeared.

[END STREAM? Y/N]

James selected YES.

[STREAM ENDED]

[FINAL VIEWER COUNT: 1,783,226]

The donation panel disappeared with the stream interface while James caught only a glimpse of the final numbers before everything closed. The money wasn’t handled by the Tower System but would be processed later through the TRB streaming platform under the contract they’d signed.

The silence after the stream ended felt strange.

Aria exhaled loudly. "Finally. I couldn’t breathe with that many people watching."

Finn rolled his shoulders. "Almost two million viewers at the end."

Kael removed his glasses and cleaned them slowly. "The replay is going to be everywhere."

Elliot just sat down on the ground because his legs finally gave out.

The return countdown reached zero and white light filled the battlefield. Team Zero disappeared from Floor 9 and materialized back in Finn’s basement training room at Hale Estate.

For a few seconds, nobody said anything because the clean basement felt unreal after the muddy battlefield while the leather couches looked too comfortable, the strategy table looked too organized, and the air smelled like nothing instead of blood and smoke.

Finn dropped onto one of the leather couches and breathed hard. "We’re alive."

Aria groaned and sat on the floor with her back against the wall. "We actually cleared it."

Elliot leaned against the strategy table while looking like he might fall over at any moment. "World first."

Kael carefully removed the circlet and placed it back in its secure box before setting the box on the table like something precious. "The TRB will want this back immediately."

James stored the reanimated ogre through his contract system and checked that it was still listed as his undead in his status window. The ogre appeared in his summon list as an active contract, which meant he could resummon it whenever he needed.

They were alive.

They were the first team in the world to clear Floor 9.

Nobody cheered loudly because they were too tired, but the happiness was there beneath the exhaustion. Aria eventually laughed once and said, "We’re famous now."

Elliot looked uncomfortable. "I’m not sure that’s a good thing."

Finn stretched out on the couch. "We’ll deal with it after we breathe."

James remembered his phone and walked over to where he’d left it before entering the floor, then picked it up and unlocked the screen to find it full of notifications.

News alerts, missed calls, messages, stream clips, forum posts, and social media mentions filled the screen until it was almost impossible to follow because new notifications kept appearing faster than he could read the old ones.

He saw article headlines already posted:

IRELAND ACHIEVES WORLD FIRST FLOOR 9 CLEAR

TEAM ZERO BREAKS FLOOR 9 WALL LIVE ON TRB STREAM

THE NECROMANCER WHO REANIMATED AN OGRE

APOSTLE’S RADIANT CIRCLET RETURNS TO GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT

James scrolled through more notifications and saw dozens of messages from people he didn’t recognize, forum threads analyzing the clear, and social media posts trying to identify Team Zero’s members.

Then he saw texts from Chairman O’Shea.

O’SHEA: Where are you?

O’SHEA: Do not leave your current location.

O’SHEA: Send location now.

James typed a response with the Hale Estate address and sent it.

The others noticed him typing and looked over. Finn sat up. "What’s going on?"

James showed them the messages. "The chairman wants to know where we are."

Finn frowned because that meant the TRB was moving fast. "How long ago did he send those?"

James checked the timestamps. "Ten minutes ago. We were still on the floor."

Aria groaned. "They’re not even going to let us shower first, are they?"

Kael looked at the circlet box. "They’ll want the circlet back and a full debriefing while the clear is still fresh."

While they waited, James kept scrolling through his phone because the news was spreading faster than he’d expected.

The TRB had already posted an official announcement.

TRB OFFICIAL STATEMENT:

The Tower Resource Bureau confirms that Team Zero has achieved the first verified Floor 9 clear worldwide.

The clear was completed under TRB stream supervision.

Further details will be released after participant medical review and debriefing.

The stream replay was already breaking records while clips of James fighting the ogre alone were everywhere and the moment he reanimated it and brought it back to the battlefield had been replayed thousands of times. Kael’s circlet activation was trending because viewers understood that the holy aura had kept the team alive during Wave 3.

People had seen their faces clearly on stream and were now digging for connections and background information through social media and Challenger forums. Some recognized Finn’s last name and were connecting them to the Hale family because of the Hale Estate facility. Others were searching Challenger databases for anyone matching their appearances and skill sets.

James saw one forum thread titled Who is the Necromancer? but didn’t open it.

Finn’s phone rang.

He answered it and listened for a moment, then looked at the others. "Security says a TRB vehicle is at the gate."

Team Zero walked outside to the estate gate while the afternoon sun felt too bright after being on Floor 9 for hours. A black car with heavily tinted glass sat parked just outside the gate with its engine running.

Finn looked at James. "What exactly did you tell the chairman?"

James showed him the text. "Only the location."

Everyone looked at him like he’d just dragged them into another problem.

The car door opened and a TRB agent stepped out wearing a dark suit with a TRB badge on his chest while moving with the kind of professional calm that came from dealing with Challengers regularly. He was polite but clearly prepared for resistance.

He greeted them by name without checking any notes.

"Mr. James Ganner. Mr. Finn Hale. Mr. Kael Morrow. Miss Aria Vale. Mr. Elliot Reed."

The team went completely still because the agent already knew all of them.

The agent continued in the same polite tone. "Director O’Shea wants to see you immediately. Please get in the car."

He opened the rear door and stood beside it while waiting.

Team Zero exchanged looks while nobody moved for a moment.

Aria muttered under her breath, "I thought we’d at least get time to shower before becoming national property."

Elliot asked quietly, "Are we in trouble?"

Kael adjusted his glasses. "No, not exactly. But the chairman wouldn’t send a car this fast unless the clear created a bigger situation than we thought."

Finn looked at the tinted car windows, then at the circlet box in Kael’s hands. "The TRB doesn’t just want a report. They want control of the story before the rest of the world moves."

James stood at the back of the group and stared at the open car door. The TRB agent waited patiently without rushing them, but his presence made it clear this wasn’t optional.

One by one, Team Zero got into the car.

James was the last to enter. He glanced back at Hale Estate once before climbing in and pulling the door shut behind him.

The door shut behind them, and Hale Estate disappeared behind tinted glass.