The starting siren hadn't even fully faded when Isaac Moonfall moved so fast the average eye couldn't track him.
Arianna didn't panic. Her crimson eyes swept rapidly, scanning every corner, every shadow, every footfall on the arena floor. Her ears caught the sound of her own breath, her heartbeat, and beneath it, the faintest whisper.
Left rear.
She spun, arm raised to block, but Isaac had already materialized. His small frame shot out from the darkness beneath the stands, twin black daggers striking like serpent fangs.
In an instant, Arianna's entire body exploded.
BOOM.
Arianna's entire body erupted in a blaze of reddish-gold fire. The heat was so intense that the marble tiles around her cracked instantly, shockwaves rippling outward in a three-meter radius. Isaac, whose daggers had been half an inch from Arianna's back, was forced to leap backward.
