The arena reset.
Class 2 Semifinal 3.
Zara of Virex against Varen of Aurelius.
The Virex sections gave Zara their aggressive territorial response—the support base that had watched her find the shin-routing pattern against Seris, the fight that had ended with eight thermal impacts to the same location and a fighter unable to escape her own defensive mechanism. The Aurelius sections gave Varen the home warmth that had carried through the day—the fighter who had read three overclock recovery windows and put a precise strike into each one.
Zara walked out of the Virex tunnel.
She was compact and quick, the same restless energy that had defined her fight against Seris, her palms already carrying the faint warmth that preceded ignition. She moved across the floor with the specific quality of someone who generated output from multiple positions rather than a fixed stance—palms, feet, all four limbs potential sources.
Varen walked out of the Aurelius tunnel.
