The Class 2 grand final.
The bracket that had started with eight fighters had moved through semifinals and a final four and had arrived here—two fighters, one fight, the Class 2 championship decided between them. The crowd that had been present through every previous stage felt the arrival the way they had felt every previous stage's arrival, but with something additional sitting underneath the feeling. Something that had been building since the tournament's first day and had accumulated through every fight and every result and every moment that had demanded something from the stands.
This was the last fight before Class 1.
After this—the stage that had been waiting since the bracket was revealed. The stage that contained Jelo. The stage that contained Zaire. The stage that the tournament had been building toward in the background of everything else that had happened.
But first—this.
Mark of Aurelius against Ordin of Solmara.
The announcer raised the microphone.
