The cold mist thickened around the arena. The audience had stopped chanting, stopped screaming. Even breathing seemed disrespectful now.
They all felt the shift in pressure. That calm before the storm. Their bodies knew what their minds had yet to understand: this was it. This was the end.
Ren's body trembled from fatigue, not fear. His kusarigama chain bore fresh dents. His shoulder ached from a frost blade graze. His lungs burned from the freezing air, his stamina scraped raw.
Mirabella stood tall, but her legs locked in a stance too perfect to be casual. Her breaths came steady, yet her fingers trembled against her frost blade.
The silver gleam of her chitin armor had dulled. Even the Ice Queen was at her limit.
But they both stepped forward. Together.
Rumble!
They didn't move immediately. They gathered energy instead. From the Loom, from the air, from within their very souls.
