Lin raised her hand with the ceremonial gesture. "Begin."
Liu's vampire launched itself upward with a burst of wind that created a visible pressure wave against the arena floor.
It was a powerful beast completely adapted for nocturnal hunting. Body slender but muscular, covered in dark black fur that absorbed light and made it harder to track visually against the night sky. On the membranous wings were blood runes, and each beat of those wings generated powerful wind gusts that enhanced aerial mobility beyond what anatomy alone should provide.
It reached fifty meters altitude in two seconds through explosive ascent that spoke of its exceptional power-to-weight ratio.
But the mantis also disappeared from the starting position instantly, vanishing before most observers could track the movement.
