Morning arrived dressed for spectacle.
Blackstone had turned today into a holiday.
Banners crossed streets.
Bookmakers screamed fresh odds from rooftops.
Street cooks sold breakfast skewers named Underdog Energy and Vale Victory depending on district bias.
Children chased one another shouting:
"I'm Sun!"
"No, I'm Arden!"
"No, you're dead!"
Sun watched from the warehouse gate.
"I inspire poor education."
Brin handed him a wrapped wrist guard.
"You inspire spending."
He tied it on.
Hands steadier than the day before.
Heart less steady.
Updated betting slips had arrived.
Rhea waved one triumphantly.
"Bad news."
"What now?"
"You dropped from twelve-to-one to seven-to-one."
"That sounds better."
"For you, yes. For me, disaster. I liked the bigger payout."
She looked genuinely wounded.
Nyra took the slip from her, read it upside down somehow, then handed it back.
"He wins."
Rhea blinked.
"That is not analysis."
"It is enough."
Sun pretended not to notice how warm that made him feel.
Failed.
The walk to the arena was chaos.
Crowds packed the roads so tightly guards had to clear lanes.
Some cheered him.
Some mocked him.
Some simply wanted to see whether yesterday had been accident or beginning.
A drunk man stumbled forward and grabbed Sun's sleeve.
"You represent common mistakes!"
Sun frowned.
"Thank you?"
The drunk burst into tears.
"Beat a noble for my first wife!"
Brin dragged the man away.
"Move."
Sun watched him go.
"I have questions."
"Keep them," said Samira.
Inside the competitor tunnel, the air was cooler.
Stone walls muffled the stadium roar into a deep animal sound.
Today's waiting chamber held only one other man.
Arden Vale.
He stood near a pillar while a servant adjusted the wraps on his hands.
White and silver training attire.
Twin short swords laid across a bench.
Hair immaculate enough to insult laborers.
He dismissed the servant without looking.
Then turned to Sun.
"You're early."
"I was told punctuality intimidates nobles."
Arden's mouth twitched.
"It mostly confuses them."
Sun leaned against the opposite wall carefully, hiding rib pain.
"You always speak like someone listening to themselves?"
"Only when audience quality is low."
Good line.
Annoying man.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Arden said quietly:
"You fought well yesterday."
Sun blinked.
"That sounded sincere. Are you ill?"
"It was observation."
"You can stop anytime."
Arden ignored that.
"Lucan fights for approval. Harok fights for wage. You fight…"
He studied Sun properly now.
"…as if losing costs something old."
The tunnel felt suddenly smaller.
Sun covered surprise with sarcasm.
"You flirt strangely."
Arden actually laughed once.
Short and real.
Then it vanished.
"I'm warning you."
"About what?"
"If you bring yesterday's anger into the arena, I'll use it."
That one was honest too.
Sun straightened.
"And if you bring yesterday's hair, I'll blind judges."
A horn sounded.
Saved by ceremony.
"Feature Match! Arden Vale versus Sun!"
The gate mechanisms groaned open.
Light poured into the tunnel.
The roar struck full force.
Arden picked up his twin swords.
Sun rolled his shoulders once.
Pain there.
Good.
Pain meant present.
They walked side by side into the arena.
The stadium was packed beyond reason.
Every seat full.
Standing rows behind standing rows.
Merchant banners.
House standards.
Sect observers.
Even city officials in polished boxes.
The sound when Arden appeared was huge.
The sound when Sun followed was rougher, louder, more personal.
Two kinds of support.
Inherited and earned.
Sun noticed the difference.
He liked his better.
High above, Nyra leaned so far over the rail Brin held the back of her belt.
Rhea waved both arms and several betting slips.
Samira sat composed, though her fingers tapped once against the armrest.
Varen merely watched.
As always.
At center ring, the referee spoke sharply.
"Victory by surrender, incapacitation, ring-out, or my call. No lethal strikes. No outside interference."
He looked at Sun longer on that last line.
Rude.
Arden drew both blades in a smooth cross.
The steel flashed bright.
The crowd roared.
Sun drew only the runed sword.
Dark metal hummed low in reply.
The air changed.
Even Arden's eyes narrowed slightly.
Interesting.
The referee stepped back.
"Begin!"
Arden moved first.
Not fast.
Perfect.
One measured step.
Then another.
No wasted tension.
No theatrical burst.
He tested distance with the left blade.
A whispering cut.
Sun blocked.
The right blade came instantly for the ribs.
Sun twisted away too late.
Cloth tore.
Skin opened shallow.
Gasps.
Arden had already retreated.
Sun looked down at the thin line of blood.
"Rude."
Arden circled lightly.
"You announce before striking."
Sun smiled.
"You bleed before complimenting."
He lunged.
Arden was gone.
Not blurred like Wolf Step.
Simply elsewhere through superior timing.
A heel kicked Sun's calf.
He dropped one knee.
The crowd roared.
Arden's blade stopped at Sun's throat.
One inch away.
Then withdrew.
Message delivered.
Sun rose slowly.
Arden tilted his head.
"Learn faster."
Above, Nyra shouted without caring who heard:
"Hurt him!"
Brin laughed so hard she nearly fell.
Rhea screamed, "Specify!"
Sun wiped the blood from his neck and smiled wider than before.
Good.
Now he understood.
This was not Lucan's chaos.
Not Harok's honesty.
This was a man trying to teach superiority through precision.
Fine.
Sun had lessons too.
He shifted stance.
Looser now.
Less anger.
More hunger.
Arden noticed.
And smiled for real.
There.
Now the fight began.
To be continued...