Jade Killington rolled his shoulders as he stepped into the prep tunnel, the air vibrating faintly around his arms as chi rippled across them. He cracked his knuckles one by one—each pop sounding like a shell being chambered into a shotgun. His face was still bruised from earlier rounds, one cheek swollen, lip split, but his grin carried enough reckless confidence to fill the whole corridor.
A medbot whirred nervously beside him, holding up a diagnostic wand. "Contender Jade Killington, your blood pressure indicates—"
"Yeah, yeah," Jade said, waving it off. "It indicates I'm alive. And that's all I need."
The medbot hesitated. Jade kept walking.
Ahead, the tunnel opened into the blinding light of the stone arena. The crowd was already screaming his name—some cheering, some booing, some chanting for carnage.
"JADE! JADE! JADE!"
"RIP HIS HEAD OFF, KILLINGTON!"
"NO WAY HE BEATS VORKENN!"
And then—
The opposite gate opened.
Raze Vorkenn stepped out.
He didn't strut. He didn't smirk. He didn't nod to the crowd. He simply walked, posture flawless, head level, his entire body aligned like a blade honed too many times. His hair fell behind him in an unbroken sheet of dark silk. His eyes were pits of cold calculation, tracking Jade's every breath, every twitch.
Jade spat to the side. "Blimey. They really sent me the tax collector."
Raze stopped at the center of the arena.
Jade stopped opposite him.
Neither bowed.
Neither blinked.
Raze spoke first, voice flat. "Your style is inefficient."
"That so?" Jade said. His grin widened. "Funny. I was just thinking the same about your personality."
Raze didn't react. "Surrender now. It will reduce the damage to your internal organs."
"Mate," Jade said, rolling his neck until it cracked loud enough to echo, "I'm about to use those organs to beat your head in."
The arena chime hit.
The fight began.
And there was no buildup.
Raze blurred forward, a straight line of precision and murder. His first strike was a spear-hand jab aimed at Jade's throat—Jade barely tilted his head and the blow sliced past his cheek, leaving a red line. Raze's second strike hit Jade's ribs—an elbow that cracked bone instantly. Jade grunted, but before he could breathe Raze hit him again, palm smashing into his solar plexus hard enough to force air out in a wheeze.
Jade stumbled back.
Raze was already there.
Three hits landed before Jade regained footing:
A knife-hand strike to the bicep—nerves flared up Jade's arm.
A knee into the liver—Jade tasted metal.
A two-finger jab to the jaw hinge—Jade's vision flashed white.
The crowd roared.
"RAZE IS DISSECTING HIM!"
"THIS IS A SLAUGHTER!"
Jade swayed on his feet.
Raze stepped closer, expression blank. "Do you understand now? You cannot win."
Jade spit blood on the ground. "I understand you talk too bloody much for someone who fights like a spreadsheet."
He slammed both fists together.
Chi detonated.
BOOM.
A concussive shockwave blasted outward, hitting Raze point-blank and throwing him across the arena like a ragdoll. He crashed against the stone wall hard enough to crater it, dust exploding around him.
The arena erupted in screams and gasps.
Jade shook out his arms, chi still sizzling along them. "Oi! Precision boy! Hope you brought more than that!"
Raze stood.
Immediately.
He pushed out of the crater with mechanical grace, one rib audibly shifting under skin. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but his face remained unreadable.
He vanished.
Not literally—but fast enough that Jade barely saw the blur until Raze's foot slammed into his knee.
Jade buckled.
Raze's palm struck his chin.
Jade's head snapped back, spit flying.
Raze's hand chopped at his collarbone—there was a crack. Not a break. A fracture. Jade roared and swung, but Raze ducked under and hit his kidney with a thrust that made Jade's entire side go numb.
Jade stumbled, coughing blood.
Raze pressed forward, hitting Jade with a flurry of strikes—each one surgical, bone-targeting, tendon-slicing, nerve-destroying. Jade's skin split along his forearms, his nose broke sideways, blood gushed into his eye.
He fell to one knee.
Raze stood over him, breath steady.
"You rely on chaos," he said. "Chaos is flawed."
Jade grinned up at him through a mask of blood. "Chaos is fun."
He clasped his hands together.
Chi gathered like a thunderstorm.
Raze's eyes widened by a fraction.
Jade thrust his palms forward, releasing a shotgun blast of chi so forceful it blew cracks through the stone floor. The blast hit Raze square in the chest—sending him airborne again, body flipping twice before slamming into the ground hard enough to bounce.
Jade staggered to his feet. "Yeah. That's what I thought."
But Raze was already up.
His ribs visibly shifted—broken. His forearm was bent at a wrong angle. Blood covered half his face.
He did not care.
He moved again—this time with killing intent radiating cold as death.
The next exchange wasn't skilled.
It wasn't elegant.
It was a slugfest.
Raze's fist smashed Jade's jaw—Jade's fist crashed into Raze's cheek. Both men's heads whipped sideways. Blood splattered across the stone. Raze drove a knee into Jade's sternum—Jade responded with a chi-laced uppercut that sent blood and spit spraying from Raze's mouth.
They collided again and again—
Jade's elbow to Raze's temple
Raze's palm heel to Jade's broken ribs
Jade's knee into Raze's abdomen
Raze's forearm across Jade's throat
Jade slamming Raze's head into the floor
Raze flipping Jade with a shoulder throw
Stone cracked beneath them.
The arena floor became a mosaic of fractures.
Both men bled freely, sweat mixing with crimson, their breaths ragged and feral.
Julian's voice was tight. "Vitals for both contenders are deteriorating rapidly."
Jimmy screamed joyfully, "THESE TWO ARE GONNA BE DEAD BY DINNER AND I'M LOVING IT!"
Jade blocked a strike with his forearm—bone cracked. He swung wildly and caught Raze in the jaw so hard a tooth flew out and hit the ground.
Raze retaliated by jabbing his fingers into Jade's shoulder, dislocating it with a wet pop.
Jade roared.
Raze tried to follow up—
But Jade, snarling through the pain, slammed his forehead into Raze's nose.
The crunch was audible through the entire arena.
Raze staggered, blood pouring down his face.
Jade grabbed him by the throat with his good arm, lifting him slightly. "Precision this, you metal-faced wanker—"
Raze slammed his knee into Jade's gut, forcing him back.
They separated.
Barely standing.
Barely seeing.
Barely breathing.
Raze drew himself into final stance.
Zero-Motion Step.
A technique that ends fights in one blow.
Jade dropped into a low, wide stance.
Chi Shotgun Burst.
A technique that could kill him if he overuses it.
The arena lights flickered from the pressure of their combined energy.
The crowd knew what was coming.
Some cheered.
Some screamed.
Some prayed.
The world held its breath.
Both fighters charged.
Time slowed.
Raze's killing strike hit Jade's sternum dead center. Jade felt bones bend, felt something tear inside, felt breath explode out of him. His vision darkened at the edges.
But his chi burst hit Raze's ribs—
And for the first time, Raze made a sound.
A sharp, wet gasp.
His ribs shattered. Not one. Several.
The shockwave lifted both fighters off their feet.
The arena floor erupted in a radial crater, stone fragments flying like shrapnel.
A giant plume of dust swallowed them.
The arena went silent.
Even Jimmy stopped yelling.
Even Julian's breath caught.
The dust settled.
Two bodies lay on the ground.
Neither moved.
Seconds passed.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
A medbot began to roll forward—
Jade's hand rose.
Shaking.
Covered in blood.
He planted it on the ground.
Pushed.
Slowly.
Agonizingly.
He rose to one knee.
Then, roaring, he forced himself to his feet—barely, wobbling, vision swimming, but upright.
The crowd exploded.
Raze tried to rise.
His fingers dug into the cracked stone.
He lifted himself a few inches—
His ribs shifted with a sickening crunch—
He collapsed.
Face-first.
Unconscious.
The arena chime struck.
"WINNER: JADE KILLINGTON."
The crowd roared so loud the entire arena vibrated.
Jade lifted one bloody fist, grinning through broken teeth. "Told you… stubborn… wins…"
Then he collapsed backward as medbots swarmed both fighters.
Jake stared wide-eyed. "We're supposed to fight THESE people?!"
Swift wiped cold sweat from his forehead. "This tournament is insane."
Danny watched the crater, quiet and serious. "It's only going to get worse."
Shadeclaw grinned in the tunnel, eyes glinting with hunger for violence.
In the repair bay, Bumble's optics flickered one eerie green pulse.
Bones' influence crawled faintly through the arena walls.
The bracket updated overhead.
Fighters Remaining: 11.
And the stone square waited for more blood.