The door to the Aegis Chamber hissed shut behind Zaeryn with a bone chilling finality, like the sealing of a tomb. Or an arena.

The transformation was immediate and unsettling. Gone was the purposeful chaos of combat training the grunts of exertion, the sharp calls of instruction, the rhythmic thuds of bodies hitting mats. What remained was something far more different: the focused, electric silence of a crowd anticipating a beat down to happen. The beat down of Zaeryn honestly.

Zaeryn's stomach tightened.

Instructor Zelda stood at the center of the main platform, arms crossed, her expression carved from professional stone. But her eyes tracked him as he entered, and there was something in them curiosity? concern? that made his pulse quicken. He would be concerned about himself too going up against an opponent like Leia. However knowing that he wasn't exactly helpless gave him confidence.

And it wasn't like they were fighting to death. It was more like a spar.

The session had ended fifteen minutes ago. The cadets should have cleared out by now, rushing to showers or the mess hall or wherever exhausted students fled after two hours of getting their asses handed to them. Instead, the chamber was packed.

His classmates clustered in tight knots around the main combat circle. Jyn caught his eye first, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up that was probably meant to be encouraging but looked more manic. Yuna stood beside him, arms wrapped around herself, her face tight with worry. Morticia leaned against the wall nearby, examining her nails with studied disinterest though Zaeryn noticed she'd positioned herself for an unobstructed view.

But it wasn't just his class.

Word had spread. Students he vaguely recognized from other training blocks lined the upper observation rails. Some he'd never seen before. And there, standing in a prime viewing spot across the mat, was a cluster of faces that made his chest constrict: Meira and Ryla from yesterday's gathering, their expressions bright with anticipation. And behind them, just arriving faces flushed, clearly having run were Genevieve and Ingrid.

Genevieve caught his eye, and she had a flirty smile as she mouthed something that looked like "kick her ass." Or possibly "don't die." Hard to tell at this distance.

Ingrid just smiled, slow and dangerous, like a predator settling in to watch a meal.

And there, in the center of the circle, was the reason for all of this.

Leia.

She'd been stretching or perhaps prowling; with her it was hard to tell the difference but she stopped the moment he entered, her head swiveling toward him with predatory precision. That cold, satisfied smirk spread across her face like poison in water.

"Finally," she called out, her voice carrying effortlessly across the chamber. "I was beginning to think you'd locked yourself in the bathroom and were planning to wait me out."

Despite his nerves, Zaeryn felt his jaw tighten. He forced himself to walk forward with measured steps, refusing to hurry, refusing to show the anxiety crawling up his spine like ice.

"You seem awfully confident," he replied, keeping his voice level. "I assure you, I have nothing to fear from you. Genevieve's payday is waiting."

Leia's smirk widened. "Oh, how sweet. She'll still pay you after you lose, I'm sure. But will it be enough to cover the medical bills?"

"Alright, you two," Instructor Zelda's voice cut through the verbal sparring like a knife. She stepped between them, one eyebrow raised in something that might have been amusement or exasperation. "That's enough... whatever this is. Flirting? Foreplay? I don't care. You're here to fight, not engage in witty repartee."

A few nervous laughs rippled through the crowd.

Zelda's expression hardened. "Now listen up. This is not official training. You two decided to settle your little dick-measuring contest apologies, Leia the old-fashioned way. Fine. But if it's happening in my chamber, we do it my way." Her gaze swept over both of them with iron authority. "Vitae dampeners are set to fifty percent. This is a spar, not a murder. When I call stop, you stop immediately. Break that rule, and you'll both be scrubbing waste recyclers for the next month. Are we absolutely clear?"

"Clear," Leia said immediately, and as if to punctuate the point, her crimson aura flared to life around her like a living thing. The flames danced with an orange-red heat that made the air shimmer, controlled but unmistakably dangerous. Her eyes locked onto Zaeryn's, and in them he saw a promise: I'm going to hurt you, and I'm going to enjoy it.

A shiver crawled down his spine. Not fear, exactly. Something worse, the primal recognition of a superior predator.

"Crystal," Zaeryn replied, and let his own Vitae rise to the surface. The familiar electric hum of power crackling across his skin was a comfort, a reminder that he wasn't completely helpless. His hands sparked and flickered with barely contained energy.

Zelda looked between them one last time, seeming to weigh whether this was actually a good idea. Then she stepped back, raised her hand, and dropped it.

"Begin!"

Leia didn't charge.

That was the first surprise. Zaeryn had braced for a rush, for overwhelming aggression. Instead, she simply flicked her wrist with casual, contemptuous ease.

A tight spiral of fire dampened by the chamber's safeties but still scorching, still real shot across the mat directly at his chest.

Instinct took over. Zaeryn didn't try to block. Didn't try to counter. He moved.

Drawing on Ravena's gift, he activated Kinetic Acceleration. Not the wild, uncontrolled missile launch from the pool incident that had nearly killed him. This was controlled. Focused. A short, sharp burst of speed that bent reality for just a fraction of a second.

To the watching crowd, he simply vanished.

He reappeared three feet to the left, the fireball hissing through empty air where he'd been standing.

A ripple of impressed murmurs spread through the spectators.

But Leia wasn't impressed. If anything, her smirk deepened. She sent another spiral of flame at him, then another, testing him. Each time, Zaeryn flickered out of existence and reappeared somewhere else left, right, back. The movements were clean, efficient.

He looked, for just a moment, like he knew what he was doing.

"Nice dodge!" Jyn's voice rang out, full of genuine enthusiasm.

"Not bad, anomaly," Leia conceded, her expression hardening. "But dodging is just running with better footwork. Let's see you actually fight."

This time, she moved.

But not with Vitae. Not with the supernatural speed that came from channeling inner energy. This was pure, practiced athleticism the speed of someone who'd spent years honing their body into a weapon. She closed the distance between them in three long strides, her right fist already wreathed in flame, cocked back for a devastating strike.

Zaeryn met her charge head-on.

It was a mistake.

He planted his feet, drew on his raw strength the passive enhancement that was always there, humming beneath his skin and threw a straight right cross aimed to intercept her attack.

Leia read it like a children's picture book.

She slipped inside his reach with fluid, economical motion, letting his punch graze harmlessly past her ear. For Zaeryn, watching her move inside his guard, time seemed to stretch impossibly. He had the speed boost. He should have been faster. How…. Did she react faster than him?

Before the thought could fully form, before he could even begin to retract his extended arm, her left hand glowing with those dark, necrotic flames that seemed to drink light slammed into his ribs.

She wasn't using her full power. Probably not even half of the fifty percent the dampeners allowed. But she was Tier 2, and he was... whatever he was.

WHUMP.

The impact felt like being hit by a speeding vehicle. But worse than the physical force was the cold, a chilling, invasive energy that spread from the point of impact like venom, sapping the strength from his muscles, making his bones feel hollow and brittle.

Zaeryn stumbled backward, gasping, his lungs refusing to work properly.

"Looks like I'm faster and hit harder after all," Leia taunted. She didn't press the attack, didn't follow up, giving him time to recover. Making it worse somehow. "All that strength, and you telegraph like a first-year. Pathetic."

Zaeryn clutched his side, forcing air back into his lungs. "Yeah, how pathetic," he wheezed, managing a defiant grin. "It's almost like I've been doing this for two days and you've been training your whole life."

"You were the one who started this anomaly," Leia sneered, her crimson aura flaring impatiently. "Don't blame me if you can't keep up."

From the sidelines, Ingrid leaned toward Genevieve, her voice low. "She's holding back."

"She'd better be," Genevieve replied, though her eyes never left the fight. Then, quieter: "We're invested now."

"After last night?" Ingrid's smile was dangerous. "Damn right we are."

Zaeryn breathed out, one hand pressed to his aching ribs. "Okay," he managed. "Okay. No more charging."

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