The challenger's gate shut behind Knox with a heavy clang, and Darius watched him from across the arena with real interest now.His eyes moved over the wrapped wrist, the bruises on Knox's face, the slight stiffness in the way he held himself, then down to Ignis crouched low at his side. He took his time about it.The crowd had not settled. Knox's arrival had changed the mood, but the old mockery still ran under the noise."He can barely stand!?" someone shouted from the upper seats confused.Darius did not rush. He let the noise sit, then spoke."You look worse than the rumors."Knox looked down at himself once, then back up. "Still better than waiting alone."A few students laughed. A few drew sharp breaths. Some leaned forward, because the disgraced boy was still talking like he had a right to stand on that sand."Big words from a bandage," a voice called.The official stepped between them before the noise could climb any higher.His gaze moved from Knox to Darius.“No killing,” he

For the first time, Darius Vorden had brought out Black Verdict.The arena did not settle after that. It got louder.Darius stood across the sand with Black Verdict locked over his right hand and forearm. The red lines beneath the metal pulsed, slow and deep, like something waking up under his skin. Redhook lay on the floor behind him, cracked and forgotten.Knox watched the gauntlet instead of Darius's face.Darius was done pulling him apart from a distance.Now he wanted to crush him by hand.Ignis lowered himself beside Knox, but the Bloodcrown Direwolf stepped forward too. Its red eyes stayed fixed on the drake. Its mane bristled along its spine, and its claws sank deeper into the ground.Darius flexed the gauntleted hand once. The metal fingers clicked.The official stayed back.Darius moved.He crossed the distance with a sharp breath through his teeth.Knox reacted with Echo Step.[Echo Step Activated]Mana Cost: 6Mana: 108/200 → 102/200He slipped away from the first punch, b

Darius lay on the arena floor, looking up at Knox.Black Verdict was still locked around his arm. His chest heaved from the Spiral Quake that had thrown him across the ground. His eyes were still sharp, still fixed on Knox, but there was a weakness under them now. Knox could not tell how much of it was real and how much was bait.A few steps away, the Bloodcrown Direwolf tried to move.Its red eyes flickered. It took one step toward Knox and Ignis, and then its front leg buckled under it. Red light cracked across its body in thin lines.Darius's hand twitched toward his beast mark. The motion died halfway.The Bloodcrown Direwolf broke apart into red particles and vanished back into the Other Side.The arena reacted at once.That was when the stands understood how hard Spiral Quake had landed. Darius was not just down. He was too shaken to keep his summon anchored.Knox looked from the fading red particles back to Darius.Now he was sure.He had already told Darius to give up. Darius

Knox sat up on the infirmary bed with his back against the wall.He had already been checked once when the nurse stepped out., and he had stayed like that since, upright, because lying flat made his ribs worse. His wrist was wrapped tight. The bruise across his side pulled with every breath. His mana pathways still felt raw, especially the one he had forced Spiral Quake through, which throbbed in a slow, deep way that did not quite stop.Ignis lay beside the bed, close enough that his side touched the frame.Serena sat in the chair next to him."Do not circulate mana," she said. "Do not move around. Do not test the wrist to see how bad it is.""You make it sound like I do that.""You do exactly that."Ignis rumbled low, the sound landing somewhere between agreement and complaint.Knox looked down at him. "You too? My own summon."The door opened, and Crane came in.She crossed to the bed without a word and lifted his wrapped wrist, turning it once to look at the angle. Knox raised a b

Knox stood outside the exam hall and made himself send Ignis back.Crane's words stayed in his head the whole time. He knew she was right. He knew keeping Ignis beside him too long was slowing what the drake was meant to become, and he knew a controlled return was the start of fixing it. None of that made the moment easier.He opened the bond and let Ignis go.The drake dissolved into faint light and was gone, and the space beside Knox's leg went wrong at once. The bond was still there. He could feel it stretched out across some distance he could not see. But it thinned, and the empty patch where Ignis usually pressed against him felt like a missing tooth he kept reaching for with his tongue.He hated how much it bothered him.Serena found him before he went in. Her eyes went to the empty space at his side."You sent him back.""For a bit." Knox left it there. He did not want to say out loud how much the thinning bond was crawling at him.Serena did not push it. She only fell into ste