The overseer's final declaration still echoed through the arena: "Victory to Lady Katerina by submission. The trial is concluded."
Eve stood in the center of the combat ground, every muscle in her body screaming, her vision swimming with exhaustion and pain. Blood dripped from the cut above her eyebrow, from her split lip, from her nose where one of Katerina's strikes had landed harder than she'd realized in the moment.
Her power reserves were....gone. Completely, utterly depleted. The feeding she'd done from Katerina's hostile energy had sustained her through the fight, but the moment the combat ended, the moment she stopped actively processing that aggressive projection, the reality of how much she'd burned through hit her like a physical blow.
She'd drawn on power she didn't know she had. Accessed her parents' techniques through sheer desperate need. Pushed herself past every limit Raphael had carefully established during training.
