Shane’s armor snapped into place.

  Unlike his previous gladiator-style armor, this armor was more ornate. He now wore proper leggings and boots, with a huge emblazed red lion across his chest. Twin gladiuses materialized in his hands, their edges flaring with aura.

  “Come at me.”

  His aura didn’t flare outward. It clung tight to his body, dense and disciplined. I shot Tucker a glance. He gave me the K9 version of a shrug, ears flicking. “Let’s give the people what they came for. Back me up, buddy?”

  Tucker’s howl ripped through the arena as his answer, and I Flash-Stepped forward. My overhead strike crashed into Shane’s crossed blades. The impact cracked the stone beneath him, but he held firm. My momentum had died instantly against his guard.

  That's not good.

  Even with Limit Break burning through my veins, his raw strength obviously eclipsed mine. I tried to disengage, but the moment I eased pressure off his crossguard, he surged upward.

  Shane slammed his boot into my stomach after Ember was knocked high.

  The kick launched me backward, Regalia absorbing the worst of it, but pain still flared through my ribs.

  Fine. New plan.

  I summoned my spheres, sending them to Tucker. Then sent out a volley of Searing Scars.

  A massive round shield projected outward from Shane's chest plate. An image of a red lion stood tall at its center, roaring its defiance.

  The Scars hammered into it the lion one after another, shaking the construct with each impact… but the shield held. Shane stood behind it like a fortress, lowering the lion-faced barrier when my barrage stopped.

  He lifted one gladius, turned it sideways, and curled two fingers at me.

  A taunt. My taunt. Telling me to bring it.

  A voice flickered across my mind. “Hey, he’s doing that thing you always do. It look's way cooler coming from him for some reason.”

  I ground my teeth. “I can see that.”

  I stole that move from Neo, fair and square. The bastard had no right to make it look better than I did.

  "Fine Tucker. If he wants us to bring it. Let's bring it! Tucker growled beside me, low and eager. I nodded once. "Follow me."

  I Flash-Stepped in, Ember carving a burning arc toward Shane’s ribs. I was empowering every blow with Eclipse Strikes, hoping it would create an opening for Tucker to swipe a claw across somewhere.

  I was breathing hard when Shane finally took a step back. Trying to reset. Tucker had made it to me and darted in, lunging from a low angle, claws glowing golden. The glowing claws landed across his leg, drawing a thin slice of blood.

  Shane jerked back and pivoted, blades blurring with increased speed. He stepped in with a reverse pommel strike, trying to knock Tucker out. I Flashed forward, catching his right wrist with my left hand.

  I tried to bring my blade down with my free hand, but he parried mine with his. I was stuck in an awkward position. With an opponent superior in strength. He started to break free of my grip, but before he could.

  Tucker came to the rescue with a point-blank sonic howl. His aura flickered for a moment, and I activated Times Two. I summoned my helm and slammed my head into his nose. I heard a satisfying crack as he stumbled back.

  Instead of attempting a follow-up strike, I positioned myself in front of Tucker and looked him over.

  He was breathing hard now. The big guy was wildly underleveled for this fight, and it showed. He didn’t have the reserves I did, and this was already his second match against opponents more than a hundred levels above him. “I am so proud of you buddy. Great save back there. Hang back and recover for a little while and let me have a crack at him alone. I am going to have to use it, and I don’t want you to get caught up in the blast.”

  Tucker started to back off. Not giving me any lip was a clear sign he was pushing past his limits. “Are you sure you should use it on Shane? I like him, and don’t want to kill him.”

  Shane was wiping the blood from his nose and smiling at me excitedly. I sent back, “I am pretty damn sure he will be fine. I can control it more now, so don’t worry.”

  “Uh huh,” was all I got back.

  Shane flicked the last smear of blood from his nose and grinned as if this was the best day of his life. “It’s good you’re making him back off,” he said, rolling his shoulders as his aura began to thicken, condense, and rise. “Now I can really cut loose.”

  Shit, I guess it's put up or shut up time.

  I forced my breathing steady and pushed Times Two into full activation. I’d only ever used it in short bursts before, and now I needed to maintain it. My soul felt like it was being dragged across hot coals as I surged forward.

  I Flash-Stepped to his right, Ember carving a diagonal arc. Shane twisted, blades intercepting mine with a clang that rattled my bones. I heard an oof come from him. At least Times Two had an effect.

  I vanished again, reappearing above him, then behind him, then low at his knee, using every angle, every trick, every feint I had.

  He met all of them. Steel rang. Sparks flew. The arena roared around us as we blurred across the stone, two streaks of light colliding again and again. Every time I thought I’d slipped past his guard, his gladius was already there waiting for me.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  My lungs burned. My soul tree felt on fire. Shane laughed, not mocking, but exhilarated. “Come on, Riven! Don’t hold back!”

  I didn't think that deserved a response. I was Flash-Stepping so hard the stone was cracking beneath me; Ember had been empowered on every strike, and I could tell I was slowly losing.

  I roared and attacked again, trying to turn this around somehow. Shane caught the strike on one of his blades, twisted, and slammed his shoulder into me. I staggered back, barely blocking the follow-up slash that would have taken a chunk out of chest.

  I chained my movement skill, creating some distance and fell out of times two. My body feeling exhausted and heavy. I let my helm dissipate. My mana was dangerously low now.

  Shane’s aura shifted as soon as my helm had fully disappeared. A gravitational-like pull slammed into my chest, not physical, but spiritual. “Gladiator’s Embrace,” Shane said, voice low and resonant. “I want you to show me everything you've got before you fall!”

  My body suddenly felt fine. Hell, it wanted me to give it all I had, damn the consequences. To lay everything on the line, in a giant blaze of glory. I knew his Talent was making me want to be reckless, but even the rational part of me that knew that didn’t care. I was going to have to show this card and go all out if I had wanted to win, anyway. That much was clear.

  I took up a guard position, forcing my breathing steady as I focused inward. Every part of me, body, aura, soul, had to align for what I was about to attempt.

  Instead of attacking me in my guard stance, he spoke, “You’re one hell of a fighter, Riven,” he said, voice warm with respect. “If I’d been fighting you at level seventy?five, I wouldn’t have stood a chance, but you appear to be at your end, so if you don’t mind, I am going to finish this. Hell of a fight though, brother!”

  I was starting to pour sweat now from the strain; I felt my eyes sting from it. “I appreciate it… but I’m not done yet.”

  This was going to hurt. I reached inward, visualizing my soul tree, the branches trembling, the trunk blazing with sapphire and silver energy. I placed my hand on the trunk. Bear this with me and we can win. The tree shimmered, in response, and I pulled the energy out.

  The world snapped back. “Times three!”

  I was in Shane’s face before the echo of my words faded, Ember already swinging upward with every ounce of strength I had. The strike caught him under the ribs. Launching him skyward.

  I launched myself upward like a rocket with Aura. Pain detonated through my left leg, a sharp, sickening crack. I’d pushed off wrong. Too much power. There was not enough balance between the two limbs to distribute the force.

  Didn’t matter. I roared and pushed hard on my good leg, using aura platforms to Flash Step upwards after him.

  My aura wasn’t just flaring; it was detonating off me in violent waves, shredding the air as I overtook Shane’s rising form.

  I could barely feel my body anymore. Everything was heat, pressure, and the roaring burn of my soul pushing past its limits.

  As I shot past him, Ember began humming in my hands as if it had been waiting for this exact moment. It was time to reveal Limit Breaker Slash's upgrade.

  I raised Ember overhead. Its sapphire edge erupted outward into a colossal arc of burning, translucent power, ten times its normal size, a titanic greatsword formed overhead. I brought it down with everything I had.

  “SUNDER!”

  The attack carved downward with a sound like a mountain cracking open. My soul poured into the strike, a torrent of energy that made my vision white out at the edges.

  Shane’s armor reacted instantly.

  The red lion burst from his chestplate, roaring as it formed a shield of spectral crimson steel. Its mane flared like wildfire, jaws wide, fangs bared, ready to defend its master. Shane crossed his swords in front of him, prepared to receive my attack.

  It didn’t matter. Sunder connected.

  The lion?shield shattered in an explosion of red shards. The shockwave radiated outward. The arena barriers rippled green. Shane didn’t just fall; he was launched, driven downward like a meteor ripped from the sky.

  He hit the arena floor with a thunderous crash that kicked dust off the ground. Making it so I couldn’t see the bottom. I hoped Tucker had been well clear of Shane’s fall.

  I hung in the air for a heartbeat, Ember still blazing with the last remnants of my transcendent talent. My leg throbbed with white?hot agony, my lungs burned, and my aura flickered around me. A wave of dizziness washed over me.

  Then I started to fall.

  Ember shrank back to its normal size, the massive soul?blade collapsing into a dull, exhausted weight in my hand. Somewhere in the haze, I felt the cool air through my robes.

  I realized my armor was gone, stripped away without me noticing. The thought drifted through my mind, distant and strangely unimportant. The air stilled, the world jolted, and something unforgiving rose up to meet me. Everything went dark.

  Tucker

  Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

  Riven hit the ground hard, and Tucker sprinted toward the impact site, heart pounding so violently. Riven had to be okay. He had to be.

  Tucker fired his speakers, blasting the dust away in a single concussive burst.

  The sight beneath it nearly broke him.

  Riven lay twisted on the shattered stone, limbs bent at wrong angles, armor gone, Ember clutched in his hand. Tucker’s roar tore out of him, raw and terrified, the sound of someone who thought he’d just lost the last piece of his family.

  He slid down beside Riven, nose pressing against his chest, ears straining.

  A heartbeat. Faint but steady. He was alive.

  Where were the healers? Where was the announcement? Why hadn’t anyone declared the match over? The only reason they wouldn’t have rushed in by now… the only reason the arena stayed silent, was…

  Tucker lifted his head, sniffing sharply. Shane was still in the fight somehow. The scent was close.

  Tucker rose, fur bristling, and stepped forward on trembling legs. He didn’t know what he could do to stop someone who could still move after taking a hit like that, but it didn’t matter.

  If Shane was coming for Riven, Tucker would meet him with tooth and claw. He looked side to side, searching, and took in the new arena. It was unrecognizable.

  Riven’s final strike had carved a steep incline into the battlefield; the stone warped upward like a frozen wave. Massive cracks spider-webbed down the slope, each one radiating from the crater where Shane had landed.

  Tucker padded toward the edge, ears pinned back. He peered through the broken stone, following the fractures downward until he spotted movement.

  Shane.

  The man was dragging himself forward, elbows digging into the ground, legs twisted beneath him at angles that matched Riven’s. Tucker’s stomach dropped. Looked like Riven wasn’t the only one in awful shape.

  Tucker approached cautiously, hackles raised, every muscle tense. When he finally reached Shane, the gladiator looked… rough. Bloodied and Pale. Armor cracked.

  Tucker sat back on his haunches, seeing his true state up close. He tilted his head.

  “Do you surrender?”

  Shane barked a laugh that turned into a wet cough, blood splattering the stone. “It’s… not over until it’s over, friend Tucker.”

  Tucker sighed, a deep, rumbling, put?upon sound. “Well… I’m sorry about this then, Shane.”

  He stepped forward and, with all the gentleness of a falling boulder, planted his full weight squarely on Shane’s lower back.

  Shane wheezed, letting out a pained cry. “Do you surrender now?” He didn’t hear a response and started moving his butt from side to side.

  A rasping noise came from under him. “Bad dog… no more treats for you…”

  The voice faded as consciousness slipped away. Tucker moved off him, then looked up towards the dais.

  Altus's voice blared across the arena. “Winner Riven and Tucker.”

  Tucker stood over Shane victoriously and did the only thing he could think of doing. He howled their victory.