The Subring was louder tonight.
Not cheering—chanting.
Every few seconds the audience shouted a single name that rolled through the cavern like thunder.
> "Vessa! Vessa! Vessa!"
Rynn elbowed his way through the crowd until he reached the front rail.
Inside the pit stood a woman in a sleeveless black coat, pale hair tied high, eyes glimmering like molten glass.
Tiny cuts covered her forearms, each one glowing faintly with silver light.
"Who is she?" Rynn asked.
Eren didn't take his eyes off the ring.
"Vessa Mire. They call her the Shard Queen. She's what happens when someone stops showing off and starts sculpting their Mirra."
---
Opening Move
Her opponent was a brute wrapped in heavy armor, red glow leaking from every seam—pure beginner Mirra, bright and wild.
He raised both fists and charged.
Vessa didn't move.
The red light hit her like a wave—and shattered.
Hundreds of razor-thin plates of mirrored energy unfolded around her, spinning lazily in the air.
The fragments caught the crimson glow, refracted it into a storm of color, and then—
cut.
When the light faded, the man was on the ground, armor sliced into ribbons that hadn't even bled yet.
Only the faint tinkle of falling shards broke the silence.
The crowd erupted.
People threw coins, food, anything shiny.
Rynn whispered, "She just reflected his Mirra back through itself."
Eren nodded. "She turned energy into geometry. Every piece of her Mirra's a moving edge."
---
Conversation in the Crowd
A merchant behind them laughed. "Worth the entry fee just to watch her move."
Rynn frowned. "She could've stopped before the armor cracked."
"She could've," Eren said. "She doesn't. The Guild banned her three times. She calls this art."
"Art that kills," Rynn muttered.
Eren's eyes stayed on the pit. "That's still art to Varen."
---
After the Fight
Vessa bowed, graceful and detached. The silver shards folded back into her skin one by one, leaving only faint scars.
As she turned to leave, her gaze brushed over the crowd—over Rynn.
For a moment, he felt her notice him.
The air vibrated, a tiny flash of reflected blue across her pupils.
She smiled—polite, amused, dangerous—and walked into the tunnel.
Rynn exhaled. "Did she see that?"
"She saw everything," Eren said. "She'll remember the color."
---
Later That Night
Backstage smelled of ozone and blood. Rynn waited for his next low-tier match while the crowd above chanted for new blood.
He stared at the wall where a faint shimmer of silver light still clung, a ghost of Vessa's Mirra.
It pulsed once, then vanished.
Eren tossed him a towel. "Don't stare at someone else's reflection too long."
"Why not?"
"It starts staring back."
Rynn tried to laugh, but it came out shaky.
Somewhere in the dark tunnels, metal sang softly—the sound of glass remembering shape.
---
End of Chapter 11
---