The field was dead silent.
Both women stood facing each other, no more than fifteen paces apart. The weight of every eye in the Northern Tribes pressed down on them. Hundreds of Sentient Krepsunas packed the stands, the air thick with anticipation, bloodlust, and cold.
Zarvana cracked her knuckles slowly, the sound echoing like bone breaking. Ice mist curled from her fingertips, dripping down her arms in long veins of frost. Her armor was minimal now but it didn't make her look any less terrifying. Muscles knotted under pale skin marked by frost runes. Her expression was the same as ever.
Raika didn't let it shake her.
She exhaled once then her foot slid half a pace back, her stance low, arms loose at her sides. She didn't use any weapons. Not yet at least.
Her club hung on her back, still strapped in. She wasn't going to win this fight by throwing weight around. She was going to win by not being there when Zarvana hit.
The horn blared once. And then it was on.
Zarvana moved first like a boulder tearing loose from a cliff. She didn't charge. She appeared, right in front of Raika, fist cocked back and already swinging. There was no warning. No telegraph. Just raw speed and muscle.
Raika's body snapped sideways. She felt the air tear past her face where Zarvana's fist should have caved in her jaw. Her feet barely touched the ground as she weaved low, slipped around Zarvana's back, and threw a sharp elbow into the Chieftain's ribs.
It felt like hitting stone.
Zarvana twisted, grabbing for her, but Raika was already gone. She performed another sidestep, ducking under the next brutal punch. It cracked into the stone pillar behind her and shattered it into gravel.
"Fast," Zarvana said without emotion. "I see why you're known as the fastest."
She took another step and threw another punch that nearly caught Raika's hip. It glanced off the edge of her ribs. Pain exploded in her side. She knew something cracked but she didn't stop.
Raika retaliated with speed. She darted in, slammed her knee into Zarvana's thigh and drove her elbow up toward the Chieftain's throat. Zarvana blocked it with one hand, catching Raika's forearm in a grip like iron. Raika barely twisted free before Zarvana's other hand came up, claws out.
Not fast enough.
Zarvana's claws raked across Raika's shoulder. Flesh tore open in a hot line of agony, blood spraying the stone beneath her feet. Raika gritted her teeth and pivoted, launching backward, breaking the Chieftain's hold before it could tighten into something lethal.
She landed in a crouch, breathing hard. Her shoulders were bleeding freely. Her ribs ached with every breath.
Zarvana came at her again, slowly this time.
"Why run?" Zarvana asked. Her voice was quiet, but it carried over the crowd, making them lean in. "You can't outrun me forever."
Raika didn't answer. She moved and grabbed twin axes from the weapon rack which was meant for complex battles.
One second, she was crouching. The next, she was in Zarvana's space, the axes unsheathed in a flash of cold steel. She carved upward, the other one spinning low toward Zarvana's legs.
The Chieftain blocked the high strike with her forearm, ice forming over her skin like armor. The low axe bit flesh. Raika's blade sank into Zarvana's thigh, drawing blood.
Zarvana's reaction was immediate. She grabbed Raika by the wrist, the one holding the axe in her thigh, and twisted. Something snapped in Raika's forearm and her weapon clattered to the ground.
Zarvana kicked her in the stomach. Hard.
Raika flew ten, maybe fifteen paces, smashing into one of the stone pillars. It cracked behind her back, sending shards of rock scattering across the arena floor.
Pain screamed through her ribs, her spine and her arm. She forced herself up, legs trembling as she pushed to stand again. She had to. If she didn't, Zarvana would end it. And worse, Veyn would be gone.
Blood ran in a river down her left arm. Her shoulder was shredded. Her ribs were broken. Her forearm was wrecked. But her legs still worked. She could still move.
Raika spat blood onto the ground and met Zarvana's gaze again.
The Chieftain nodded once. Almost...respectfully.
"You last longer than most."
Then she came in for the kill.
Raika was already moving. She sprinted left, her feet barely touching stone, then flipped backward, dodging Zarvana's first swing. The second was faster.
A knee aimed to break her in half. Raika twisted midair, catching it across her hip instead of her gut. Pain lanced through her, but she used the momentum, rolled, landed low, and launched her remaining axe up in a vicious arc.
The blade scored across Zarvana's ribs but it wasn't enough to stop her.
Zarvana's hand slammed into Raika's side, the claws digging deep this time. Ribs cracked under the force as she flung Raika across the field again. Another crunch of bone as Raika hit the dirt hard, rolling to a stop.
The crowd was screaming now. Half for Zarvana, half for Raika. It was a frenzy. The scent of blood and frost filled the air.
Raika coughed, blood painting her lips. But she was smiling. It was a sick, defiant grin.
"You're slow," she rasped.
Zarvana tilted her head, as if considering her. Then she advanced again.
And Raika stood.
She stood on legs that shook, with one arm useless, her body battered and torn open in three places. But she stood. And she braced for the next round.
Because this wasn't over. Not yet.
And the miracle was that she was still breathing at all.
Blood trickled down her ribs, soaking the waistband of her pants, hot against skin that was already going cold. Her breathing was ragged, wet in the lungs, but she stood. And in this place, that was a victory.
Zarvana was already pacing toward her again. Zarvana looked like she was getting warmed up. But Raika's mind wasn't on Zarvana at that second. She flicked a glance toward the side of the field.
Veyn was standing there, guarded by two elite Sentient Krepsunas warriors in dark bone armor. His hands were clenched into fists so tight his knuckles had gone white, his body pressed against the iron bars as if he could tear them down just by sheer will. His mouth moved in silence and Raika didn't need to hear it to know what he was saying.
'Don't die.'
Her lips twitched. The barest of smiles, broken teeth and blood.
'I won't,' she thought. 'Not yet.'
But the second Zarvana lifted her hand, Raika's heart sank.
Frost bloomed from Zarvana's fingers, curling down her arm, spreading in thin, crystalline veins that shimmered with sick beauty. The ground beneath her feet cracked, lines of ice spiderwebbing outward.
The temperature dropped so fast Raika's breath turned to vapor in an instant. The blood on her shoulder froze solid in the open air, crusting her skin in brittle red ice.
"Oh shit," Raika muttered.
Zarvana smiled and moved.
Raika darted back but not fast enough. A sharp spear of ice erupted from the ground in front of her, forcing her to twist left, right into Zarvana's fist.
It caught her across the jaw with a crack like a breaking tree branch, sending her sprawling. Her shoulder hit hard and before she could recover, something bit into her thigh.
Three long ice spikes, pierced through her leg and pinned her to the ground like a broken doll.
Raika screamed through clenched teeth, biting down hard to keep from crying out loud. Pain flared white-hot, nerves screaming, but she yanked her leg free in a spray of blood and frost. She barely got her feet under her before Zarvana was there again.
This time, Zarvana didn't punch. She drove her palm forward and Raika was hit with a wave of frozen wind. It slammed into her chest, driving every ounce of air from her lungs, and sent her skidding backward across the ice-slick ground. Her back smashed into one of the stone pillars, splintering it into rubble.
The crowd was going insane. Half of them were chanting Zarvana's name. The other half screamed for Raika to stand up, to move, to fight. But all Raika could hear was the rush of blood in her ears and the rattling wheeze of her breath.
"Get up!" Veyn roared from his cage. His voice cracked from the force of it. "RAIKA!"
She blinked, eyes clearing for a heartbeat. She saw him. She saw his hands bloody from punching the bars. His eyes were wide with something between terror and rage. And it hurt. Because for six years, she'd kept him safe. No matter what.
And now…?
Zarvana strode forward. Icy mist curled around her hands as she shaped another weapon, this time a long blade, carved from solid ice, sharp as regret and cold enough to burn.
"This is where it ends," Zarvana said. "Six years is enough."
Raika spat a mouthful of blood.
"Not yet."
And she moved faster than before. Pure desperation screamed through her muscles as she lunged left, barely avoiding the downward slash of Zarvana's ice blade. It carved a deep gouge into the stone where her shoulder had been a second before.
She drew her second axe from the ground where it had fallen, flipping it in her grip, and drove it forward. It scraped across Zarvana's ice-armored ribs again but this time, the frost was thicker.
It didn't break through.
Zarvana's backhand caught Raika across the side of the head. It sent her spinning, her ears ringing, blood flying from her lips. But even dazed, Raika landed on her feet.
Barely.
"You got faster," Zarvana said, eyes narrowing. "But not enough."
The Chieftain's hand snapped out. Ice shackles exploded from the ground, coiling around Raika's ankle. She slashed at them with her axe but it was too late. The momentary hesitation was enough.
Zarvana slammed her shoulder into Raika's chest and drove her backward into the stone pillar again. The crack of impact was sickening. Raika's breath fled her lungs as pain ripped through her spine.
And then the blade was at her throat.
Veyn screamed again. The bars rattled under his fists.
"NO!"
Raika's pulse thundered in her ears. Her eyes blurred. She could taste her blood. Zarvana's blade kissed her skin, a drop of blood welling at the edge.
And then Zarvana spoke.
"Surrender or die, Spine child."
Raika's teeth bared in a bloody grin. She coughed, once.
"Bite me you bitch."
Zarvana's fist punched her in the gut, folding her in half. Raika hit the ground, coughing hard enough to spit blood onto the stone.
Veyn was breaking. She saw it. She felt it. His rage. His panic.
And Raika…was losing.
Zarvana raised the blade again.
"Then die."
But before she could land the blow...