Vlad stayed quiet for a long breath, eyes fixed on the arena floor below.
The ice leopard was a white blur of pale muscle on the wind, and the Spartan moved to meet it, spear glinting under the overhead enchantments.
The clash rang out a moment later, muted but sharp, the sound sliding through the private chamber like the strike of flint on steel.
"No one," Vlad said and let the answer hang.
"However," he added, as he met the cold, questioning gaze of Angela, "I am loyal to a great cause. A goal, one that must be achieved no matter the price."
Angela smiled faintly, her blood-red eyes burning brighter in the dim light.
"So, I would be right to assume that there is a group behind this… working toward this great cause," she said, and Vlad nodded in confirmation.
"And surely not everyone in that group leads themselves because if they did, differences would fracture it. People would follow their own paths, and the end goal would never be reached."
