Aurelia turned her piercing gaze toward Rex, her eyes reflecting the cold hunger of a strategist who had just seen a new weapon unveiled and immediately demanded to test its limits.
"I want to see more," she said, the words carrying the weight of an ultimatum. "I want to see what happens when the predator meets something that doesn't break like glass."
Her eyes shifted, locking onto the figure standing in the shadows. "Iris."
Iris moved. She didn't step so much as glide into the light, her movements carrying the practiced grace of someone who had spent years managing a volatile emotional landscape.
She had been watching Rex not as a student but as an observer gauging a potential catastrophe, and now she was being summoned to confront it.
"Sparring with Rex," Aurelia commanded, her voice echoing off the blood-stained walls. "Unarmed..."
"Show me the difference between raw power and disciplined restraint."
Iris didn't respond immediately.
