Ashveil's combat arenas were built into the code of the world. They willed themselves into existence.
Stone cracked. Circles flared. The crowd locked eyes on the battlefield, hungry.
Kael stepped forward, blade shimmering in his hand. The Shardblade pulsed with something deeper now—he could feel the Hollow Core still bleeding inside it.
Varrick summoned a weapon made of liquid glass, humming with entropy. The air bent around it like it rejected the idea of being touched.
"You die, you reset," Varrick said casually. "Unless you impress the system."
Kael launched forward without a word.
The clash was explosive.
Kael blocked. Barely. Varrick moved like a phantom with memory. Every attack was a reflection of Kael's future mistakes.
A slash across the ribs. Another at the thigh.
[Pain Threshold Breached – +7 Resonant Charge]
Kael didn't retreat.
He smiled through the blood.
Pain was code.
He surged.
The Shard Pulse flared—new. Unstable.
[New Protocol Unlocked – Shard Pulse III]
Kael unleashed it—raw resonance detonated outward. Varrick staggered.
Kael dropped the blade.
And punched.
His fist cracked with condensed resonance, a blow not meant to kill—but to declare.
Varrick hit the stone like a meteor.
[VICTORY: Kael]
[RANK UPDATED: #86]
The silence that followed was louder than the fight.
Then—
Roars. Cheers. Hunger.
Varrick coughed blood. But smiled.
"Guess I like you now."