Annabeth Case continued to play Eleanor's matches, explaining her shortcomings and how she could improve. When it came to the match between Eleanor and Barrock Deepdelver Ironhide, she paused for a moment. She played the whole video to the end, where Eleanor's broken body lay amidst the rubble, and she surrendered.
"You lost," she said, her voice flat and devoid of its usual cutting edge. "Not to a superior fighter, but to your own arrogance."
She rewound the footage to the very beginning… to the moment Eleanor charged in, hands already crackling with lightning. "Your initial assessment was correct. You were at a disadvantage. Your solution was the same as always: overwhelming speed and power. You learned nothing from our previous training session. You treated this stone dragon not as a unique problem, but as a stronger version of your previous opponents."
