The arena opened before me. Bright sunlight. Packed stands. Twenty thousand faces blurred into a wall of noise.
Reyna stood at the opposite entrance.
Her crimson hair burned in the afternoon light. Her combat suit hugged her figure in ways that probably weren't regulation. Her emerald eyes found mine across the distance and something passed between us that had nothing to do with combat.
Recognition.
Two predators acknowledging each other's strength.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE FINAL MATCH OF THE ONE-ON-ONE DUELS! THE FIGHT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!"
Maximus Hype's voice boomed through the arena. The crowd responded with enthusiasm that bordered on feral.
"IN THE CRIMSON CORNER! THE LIGHTNING GODDESS! THE CRIMSON COMET! LA SIRENA HERSELF! REYNA CABANA!"
Reyna stepped onto the platform. Her supporters went wild. Signs with her name. Chants in Spanish. The kind of following that came from years of manufactured celebrity.
