The atmosphere inside the Velmora arena was still dense—so much so that even the whispers sounded strained. Kenneth's match had shaken everyone. No one spoke above a murmur. The memory of his rage, that brutal precision, the unrelenting strikes, and the haunting stillness as he walked away from Xen's near-lifeless body—it lingered like a specter over the stadium.
Even now, the medical center's doors remained sealed. Xen Karr hadn't woken up.
Master Rhelgar's voice finally returned, more solemn than before. "Next match: Kael Drayven of Class A… versus Selene Rimehart of Class S."
A ripple of movement passed through the crowd. Attention shifted with palpable relief—though unease still simmered beneath the surface.
Kael Drayven stepped onto the platform, his lean frame covered in a dark-blue armored suit of his own design. A visor glinted over his eyes, connected to a wrist controller flickering with light. He adjusted a dial absentmindedly as he walked, his expression calm, nearly bored.
Selene Rimehart floated across from him, silent and elegant. Her white hair shimmered faintly like fresh snow, and ice crystals formed with each step she took. Her silver battle robes trailed behind her, and her eyes were cold as her element—sharp, assessing.
"She's dangerous," Lira Voss murmured from the Class A section, arms folded.
"She nearly froze out three Class S members last month in a duel," Rook Blademane added.
"I hope Kael's got more than gadgets this time," Zarek said quietly.
"He always does," Kenneth answered without looking up.
Master Rhelgar raised a hand. "Begin."
Selene struck first.
With a sweep of her arm, jagged ice spiraled forward—sharp, fast, precise. Kael instantly threw up a glowing blue energy shield from his left gauntlet, and the shards slammed into it with a deafening crack. He was already moving, but she was faster—sheets of frost raced across the arena floor toward him, and spikes erupted underfoot.
Kael leapt, barely avoiding impalement, but Selene followed with a wave of ice in the air, turning the very moisture around him into frozen needles. He crashed into the ground and rolled, shielding himself again.
"Damn, she's overwhelming him," Garrik Voss muttered.
"Selene's got control over environment now," Elara Thorne noted. "She's grown."
Kael remained crouched behind his shield. But instead of attacking back, he began typing rapidly on his wrist interface, then reached into a small device on his belt and tossed a flickering orb into the air. A holographic grid shimmered above the arena—pulsing, calibrating.
"What's he doing?" Mira asked.
"Kael, move, she's gaining on you!" Darien shouted.
Selene narrowed her eyes. She hurled another barrage of spears—Kael's shield barely held, cracks splintering across its surface. Yet he didn't move.
He knelt.
Placed one palm against the arena floor.
And whispered, "Activate: Alpha Unit."
The arena shifted.
Metal plates hidden beneath the tournament floor unfolded like blooming petals. Circuits blazed with blue light. In seconds, a massive humanoid mech rose up from the ground, standing nearly three stories tall, with glowing red eyes and a pair of arm-mounted laser cannons.
Gasps filled the crowd.
"Holy hell…" Rook muttered.
"He had that built into the floor?" Garrik exclaimed.
Zarek blinked. "No… he built it into the arena schematics... I guess?."
Kael rose, finally stepping out from behind the shield as the mech powered up behind him, scanning and locking on. Selene hesitated.
The robot fired.
Twin beams of focused light shot out, melting through the first wave of ice she raised. She leapt backward, summoning a massive ice wall—only for the mech to plow through it and raise a protective shield around Kael.
She landed gracefully, forming a frost field beneath her feet—but suddenly her knees buckled. She froze mid-step, then tried again. Nothing.
Kael's voice echoed across the arena, crisp and amused.
"I've altered the gravitational field in your sector. You weigh three times your normal mass right now, Selene."
Her eyes widened.
"And," he added, tapping his gauntlet, "you're inside a micro force-field I designed ten minutes ago. I know your attack radius, and I calculated your pivot patterns. You can't leave that area."
Selene hissed and tried to shatter the force field—but the air around her rippled instead of cracking.
Kael placed both hands on the ground again.
"Engage: Drone Units Two, Three, and Four."
More metal cracked through the floor—three smaller, spider-like mechs unfolded around Selene. Each glowed red in the center, each wired to Kael's neural band. The audience leaned forward in stunned silence.
"Uh-oh," Mira whispered. "She's trapped."
The drones pounced. One fired an electrified net. Another rammed her with a kinetic pulse. The third launched miniature frost-nullifying pellets. Selene tried to fight, tried to summon another storm—but the force field crushed her momentum, and her own ice melted on impact.
One drone struck her in the stomach—then again in the back. She dropped to one knee. A third swipe sent her crashing into the field wall.
"I… yield…" she gasped.
The arena lights dimmed slightly, and Master Rhelgar's voice boomed.
"Victory: Kael Drayven."
Silence.
Then a slow build of murmurs and awe from the crowd. Zarek exhaled. "That… was genius."
"Pure tech warfare," Garrik said.
"He turned the arena into a damn battlefield," Darien added, shaking his head.
Kenneth watched, arms crossed, a quiet smile at the corner of his lips. "That's Kael for you."
As Kael walked off the stage, the mech units folded silently into the ground behind him, vanishing as if they had never been there.
And everyone watching understood one thing clearly now:
Kenneth may be a monster...
…but Kael was the architect of war.