"Good," William said.
Now the fight had started.
That turned out to be premature confidence.
Daren roared and the flames around his arms surged brighter, shifting from orange to blue at the edges.
The temperature in the ring spiked instantly.
Students in the front rows leaned back.
One girl shouted, "He can do that?"
Kai shouted louder.
"I also did not know he could do that!"
William glanced toward the stands.
"Very supportive people I have."
Daren cracked his neck.
"You talk too much."
William sighed.
"You're the third person to say that this week. I'm starting to feel targeted."
Then Daren vanished forward.
Not teleportation.
Just speed.
Fast enough to matter.
William barely turned before a burning fist slammed into his guard and hurled him backward across the ring.
He skidded hard, one knee scraping stone.
The barrier behind him flashed from the impact.
The crowd exploded.
William stood slowly, flexing his fingers.
His forearms stung.
"…Right," he muttered. "Fire punch hurts. Good to confirm."
Daren stalked forward confidently now.
Flames spiraled around his shoulders like living cloth.
"This is where you run."
"That would be smarter."
"But?"
"I'm making poor choices today."
Daren lunged again.
This time William watched deeper.
Not the fist.
Not the fire.
The fracture before movement.
The slight shift in weight.
The tightening of the shoulder.
The pulse in his hand sharpened.
He stepped aside a fraction early.
Daren's punch missed clean.
William pivoted and drove a palm into Daren's back.
Not powerful.
But enough to throw his balance.
Daren stumbled three steps.
The arena reacted again.
Vale's voice rang from outside.
"Better."
William pointed at her while circling.
"Praise noted."
Daren turned with murder in his eyes.
"That was luck."
William shrugged.
"Then you should be embarrassed twice."
Daren slammed both hands together.
Fire burst outward in a ring around him.
Students shouted and recoiled from the heat.
William jumped back.
The flame wave chased farther than expected and clipped his pant leg.
He yelped and slapped at the fire.
Kai stood up screaming.
"Stop, drop, and preserve dignity!"
"There is no dignity!" William shouted back.
Daren laughed openly now.
"Still joking?"
"It's how I heal emotionally."
He tore away the burned cloth at his ankle and reset his stance.
This was different from Serena.
Serena had precision.
Control.
Cold pressure.
Daren was impact.
Volume.
Heat and ego.
Messy, but dangerous.
William could work with dangerous.
Daren thrust both palms forward.
Three firebolts shot across the arena.
Actual projectiles.
William ducked the first.
The second exploded against the floor near him and blasted him sideways.
He rolled under the third just in time.
Smoke rose around him.
The crowd was on its feet now.
Even Jonah leaned forward slightly.
William emerged coughing.
"…You know," he called out, "you could've opened with this."
"I wanted you hopeful first."
"That was emotionally manipulative."
Daren charged through the smoke.
William sensed the fracture.
Turn.
Left.
Down.
He moved before seeing the strike.
Daren's flaming elbow cut through empty air.
William slipped inside and jabbed twice into Daren's ribs.
Then once into the throat area—not enough to injure, enough to shock.
Daren staggered backward hacking.
Kai screamed like he had won money.
"Again," Daren growled.
"That seems unhealthy."
Flames surged higher.
They crawled down his legs now, boosting each step with bursts of force.
He rushed William in a zigzag pattern.
Better.
Smarter.
William frowned.
"Oh, he learns too."
The first feint nearly caught him.
Second one did.
A flaming kick slammed into William's side and launched him across the ring.
He hit hard enough to lose several opinions.
The barrier flashed again.
Vale's expression did not change.
Mara, standing nearby, looked almost interested.
Which was somehow worse.
William dragged himself up slowly.
Everything hurt.
Kai cupped his hands and shouted:
"If you die, I'm taking your shoes!"
"I hate this family!"
Jonah added quietly:
"They're fake."
Kai looked offended.
Daren approached more carefully now.
"You're done."
William spat blood to the side.
"Maybe."
"Then surrender."
"That word sounds ugly on you."
Daren's jaw tightened.
Good.
Anger made patterns louder.
William steadied his breathing.
The ring on his finger felt colder.
The pulse beneath it knocked once.
Then twice.
Different.
Rhythmic.
A warning.
Mara's earlier words flashed in his mind.
If it starts pulsing in rhythm… run.
Not now.
Terrible timing.
William ignored it.
Probably another poor decision.
Daren attacked with both hands blazing.
William moved.
Everything slowed—not the world, exactly.
Just the gaps between things.
He could see each burst of flame before it formed.
Each footstep before it landed.
Each choice before it completed.
He slipped past the first strike.
Bent under the second.
Turned through the third.
The crowd fell strangely quiet.
William was no longer reacting.
He was arriving first.
Daren's eyes widened.
"What—"
William tapped his wrist.
The flame there collapsed.
Tapped the elbow.
Arm redirected.
Stepped inside.
Palm to chest.
Not strength.
Timing.
Daren's own forward force folded inward.
He flew backward and crashed onto the stone floor.
Silence.
Then a roar shook the arena.
William stood in the center breathing hard.
The pulse was still rhythmic.
Too steady.
Too sharp.
The air around his hand warped faintly.
Vale's expression changed for the first time.
Concern.
"William," she said sharply. "Stand down."
He looked at her.
"I already did."
"Now."
Too late.
A crack split across the stone floor beneath his feet.
No impact caused it.
It simply… aged.
Dark lines spread outward in a circle.
Students nearest the barrier stepped back in alarm.
William stared at the floor.
"…I didn't do that on purpose."
"No one ever says that before doing it again," Mara said.
The ring on his finger glowed red-hot.
Then shattered.
Pieces fell around his hand.
The pulse hit like thunder.
William dropped to one knee.
Pain lanced through his arm.
Visions flashed behind his eyes.
Broken towers.
Burning streets.
A man in black armor turning toward him.
Then nothing.
He gasped.
The arena had gone dead silent.
Vale was already moving toward him.
Mara faster.
Students shouting now.
Kai yelling his name.
Jonah vaulting the railing.
William looked at his bare hand.
The skin across his palm shimmered with lines of pale light.
Then faded.
He laughed once, weakly.
"…I think I broke school property again."
And collapsed.