Xander's burning fist drove toward the glowing mark beneath Parsilla's ribs.
For an instant, everything became narrow.
The roar of the arena dulled until it was nothing but pressure against his skin.
The lights above Ring Three softened into streaks.
Parsilla's fist, still ripping through the space where his head had been, moved past him in slow, heavy inches.
Her green Ki boiled along her arm, raw and violent, but now he could see where it gathered.
Where it thinned.
Where instinct chose faster than thought.
He hit the mark.
The impact cracked through the ring microphone.
Parsilla's body folded just slightly, her breath catching.
Xander did not let her recover.
His left foot slid across the canvas, blue flame clinging to his calf.
He stepped deeper inside her reach, where her long, powerful swings had less room to become disasters, and drove a second strike beneath her guard.
This one struck the lower ribs.
Another crack.
Her aura flared too late.
Parsilla's eyes sharpened, wild but suddenly aware.
Xander's shoulder rolled.
A third hit followed immediately, short and compact, knuckles burning blue as they slammed into the edge of her abdomen.
Not a pretty punch.
Not a crowd-pleasing swing.
A mean, efficient shot aimed where the body hated being touched.
Three hits.
One breath.
Parsilla grunted and twisted hard, throwing an elbow down toward his temple.
Xander moved before it landed.
He slipped beneath it so closely that her elbow brushed a few strands of crimson hair.
The dodge should have looked desperate.
It did not.
His body was still passing through impossible margins, but now there was confidence inside each narrow escape.
Measured confidence.
Calculated danger.
He was no longer simply surviving Parsilla's storm.
He was standing inside it and reading the wind.
The crowd felt it before they understood it.
The arena quieted.
No chant.
No laughter.
No mocking roar.
Thousands of people watched Ring Three with held breath as the Scarlet Phantom moved inside the Berserker Queen's killing range and did not immediately die.
Only Seo Yura's voice remained, lower than before, sharp with fascination.
"Something has changed. Scarlet Phantom is still dodging by inches, but look closely. He's not flailing. He's not panicking. He's choosing those inches."
Xander's eyes tracked Parsilla's body.
The evolved Predator's Instinct was different from the first version.
Before, the skill had felt like two instincts fighting for the steering wheel, one cold and tactical, the other hungry and animal.
Now they had become a single blade.
The grid did not command him.
The beast did not drag him.
They moved together.
A mark bloomed at Parsilla's right shoulder.
[Hunter's Mark]
Xander saw it.
Parsilla saw him see it.
Her aura rushed toward the shoulder in response.
Xander smiled faintly.
There.
He stepped in as if aiming for the mark, forcing her guard to tighten high.
Parsilla's instincts answered, shoulders tensing, Ki hardening around the expected point of impact.
Xander's foot changed direction mid-step.
His body dipped low.
His fist slammed into her exposed ribs instead.
The hit landed with the flat, violent sound of a gunshot.
Parsilla's guard buckled inward.
Blue flame burst across her green aura, scattering sparks between them.
Seo's voice sharpened.
"He baits! He makes her defend high and buries the real attack low! That is not just speed anymore, folks. That is reading. That is punishment!"
Parsilla swung down with her opposite hand.
Xander twisted around it, shoulder nearly grazing her wrist.
The 2-second slow-motion window caught the shift of her hips and the gathering of Ki around her knee.
He saw the knee coming before it became visible to the crowd.
His heel scraped back.
Her knee shot up.
It missed his stomach by a whisper.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
[Combat Instinct] activated.
Next attack within 5 seconds deals +20% damage.
The stacked strength burned through him.
His muscles felt dense now, charged from previous exchanges.
Bloodied Body, Combat Instinct, Predator's Instinct, the marks, the steps, the damage boosts.
Every part of the system had become a gear inside one violent machine.
Strength: 33.
Damage surged behind his next strike.
Xander's hand shot out and smacked Parsilla's wrist aside.
Not hard enough to hurt her.
Just enough to open the line.
Then his flame-clad fist drove into her sternum.
The hit boomed.
Parsilla's feet scraped backward half a step.
Half a step.
Against her, that felt like moving a wall.
The crowd released a collective sound, not quite a cheer yet, more like disbelief trying to become one.
Jerry was frozen near the railing.
TJ stared with both hands on top of his bald head.
"Yo," TJ said slowly. "That didn't look like survival."
Jerry swallowed.
"No. That looked like he meant it."
Across the ring, Parsilla's smile trembled.
Not from fear.
From recognition.
She swung again, this time faster, lower, all instinct and muscle.
Xander slipped under the first strike, pivoted around the second, then placed two fingers briefly against her forearm as she overextended.
That touch shifted his angle by inches.
It was a small thing.
A Kari thing.
Xander remembered the quiet weight of the man's advice.
Center of gravity.
Wait for the right moment.
Predictable things break.
He guided Parsilla's momentum past him, stepped into the space she left behind, and drove a knee into her thigh where the earlier bruise had begun to darken.
Parsilla hissed.
Xander murmured near her shoulder, voice calm beneath the thunder of his pulse.
"I learned this from a new friend."
Parsilla's eyes snapped toward him.
He was already gone.
[Pouncing Step] triggered.
Xander burst past her guard, movement stretching farther than her instincts expected.
His next punch came from an angle she could not square against in time, smashing into the outside of her ribs with the bonus from the burst.
Another gunshot impact.
Parsilla staggered to the side.
The silence broke in pieces.
A shout from the lower stands.
Then another.
Then a whole section erupted.
Seo seized the moment like a knife.
"Scarlet Phantom is dismantling the guard! He's not overpowering the Berserker Queen head-on. He's lying to her instincts! He shows one target, hits another, drags the aura out of place, and punishes the body underneath!"
In the contestant area, Kari had gone completely still.
His relaxed posture was gone.
Both arms remained folded, but his shoulders had shifted forward.
His eyes watched Xander with the intensity of a man seeing his own lesson return wearing someone else's skin.
"He understood," Kari said quietly.
One of the nearby fighters glanced at him.
"Understood what?"
Kari did not look away from the ring.
"That strength without timing is noise."
Above the arena, Sol leaned on the VIP railing with one hand, his expression no longer bored.
His eyes followed the blue flames around Xander's limbs.
When Xander slipped between two of Parsilla's attacks and countered with a short hook to the body.
"Fast," Sol said softly.
Then, after a beat, "No… sharp."
Behind the glass of the Silver Sphinx room, Orion Cross stood close to the window.
The cigarette between his fingers had burned down nearly to ash, forgotten.
The blue-haired man stood behind him, arms crossed, his earlier hostility strained beneath growing attention.
Orion smiled.
Not politely.
Not like a businessman.
Like an old explorer watching a locked door crack open.
"You see that?" Orion said.
The blue-haired man's eyes remained on the ring.
"I see him moving faster."
"No."
Orion's voice deepened, pleased.
"Plenty of fighters become faster. Plenty become stronger. That is not what matters."
Xander ducked a hook, touched Parsilla's lead hand aside, and slammed a flame-clad elbow into the gap beneath her guard.
Parsilla grunted and answered with a backhand that Xander avoided by less than an inch.
Orion's smile widened.
"He is Adapting while drowning in pressure. That is what I have been waiting for."
The blue-haired man said nothing.
On the screen, Xander's next strike cracked into Parsilla's forearm hard enough to break part of her guard open.
Before she could rebuild it, his second hit slipped through and struck her jaw.
Parsilla's head snapped sideways.
The blue-haired man's eyes narrowed.
Orion glanced at him.
"That boy is far from normal…."
For once, the blue-haired man did not argue.
After another exchange, he gave a slow nod.
"Yes," he said quietly. "He is."
Inside Ring Three, Parsilla took three steps back.
Her breathing had changed.
The War-Beast Trance still burned in her eyes, but the scattered frenzy from earlier was gone.
The beast inside her had stopped thrashing at every movement.
Her gaze fixed completely on Xander, no longer chasing after feints with blind hunger.
The wildness remained.
Now it had a direction.
Her green aura compressed again, wrapping tighter around her frame.
Her shoulders lowered.
Her fingers flexed.
The grin on her face grew smaller, more dangerous.
Blood ran from one corner of her mouth.
A bruise darkened beneath her ribs.
Her thigh had begun to stiffen.
And still, her eyes glowed with delight.
"You're not just quick anymore," she said, voice rough from exertion.
Xander kept his stance low, blue flames licking over his hands and feet.
"And you're not just crazy anymore."
Parsilla laughed.
This time, it was not as loose.
It was focused.
Hungry.
Almost grateful.
"Good."
Then she charged.
The first punch came straight.
Xander saw it.
He slipped right and countered with a body shot.
His fist hit.
So did hers.
Parsilla's other hand crashed into his ribs at nearly the same time, smashing through his attempt to angle out.
Pain cracked across his side, but Xander stayed close and answered with a short elbow to her collarbone.
Parsilla's shoulder jerked.
She drove her knee up.
Xander turned his hip to absorb part of it, but the impact still lifted him half an inch off the canvas.
Blood burst from his mouth in a thin spray.
The crowd came alive again.
The silence shattered completely.
Now there were no clean sides.
No single chant swallowing the other.
The arena became a riot of names, curses, prayers, laughter, and disbelief.
"PHANTOM!"
"MOSSHEAD!"
"BREAK HIM!"
"DON'T LET HER CATCH YOU!"
"QUEEN!"
"SCARLET!"
Seo Yura screamed over all of it.
"They're trading! They are trading in the center of Ring Three! The Phantom has found his bite, and the Queen has sharpened her claws! No more running, no more chasing. This is a war in arm's reach!"
Parsilla's fist cracked into Xander's shoulder.
Xander's arm went numb.
He used the numbness anyway.
His opposite hand slammed into her ribs.
She grunted, then headbutted him.
Xander's vision flashed white.
[Mental Resilience] kept the world from falling apart.
He stepped with the impact instead of against it, using the stumble to rotate around her lead foot.
His heel kicked into the back of her injured thigh.
Parsilla's leg buckled for a fraction.
She caught herself and roared.
Her Ki exploded outward.
The shock of it hit Xander's chest and forced him back, but [Bloodied Body] dug into his frame, resisting the knockback just enough for him to plant his feet.
Still standing.
Parsilla swung.
Xander ducked.
He rose into a flame-clad uppercut.
Her guard snapped down and caught part of it, but the force punched through enough to lift her chin.
Parsilla grinned through blood.
"There!"
Her hand seized his shoulder.
Xander's eyes widened.
She pulled him into a short, brutal punch to the stomach.
The air vanished from his lungs.
Pain tore through him, hot and deep.
For a second, the grid flickered at the edges.
The blue flames on his limbs guttered.
Parsilla tried to follow with another.
Xander's Hunter's Mark bloomed at the center of her abdomen.
He saw it.
His body moved before fear could.
He dropped his elbow against her wrist to break the grip, stepped inside her stance, and drove his knee into the mark.
The impact folded her forward.
Then Xander's fist hammered down across her jaw.
Parsilla staggered sideways.
Blood and sweat flew into the light.
The crowd screamed so loudly the sound became physical.
Jerry was shouting now, all caution gone.
"That's it, kid! Make her pay rent in that ring!"
TJ grabbed the rail with both hands.
"Don't stop! Don't you dare stop! She starts smiling, you start swinging!"
Kari's eyes tracked the exchange with rare intensity.
His voice remained calm, but quiet approval lived beneath it.
"He is accepting only the damage he must," he said. "Dangerous. But wise, if his body can endure it."
Another fighter nearby stared at him.
"You call that wise?"
Kari glanced at him once.
"If the mountain falls, you do not argue with it. You choose where to stand."
In the ring, Xander chose.
Parsilla's next attack came like a falling pillar, both hands clasped overhead in a savage hammer blow.
Xander could have retreated.
The grid showed him a line backward.
Instead, he moved forward.
Her arms came down behind him, smashing the canvas and sending a tremor through his legs.
Xander's fist drove into her exposed side.
Parsilla turned with the hit, taking some of the force, and slammed her elbow into his back.
Xander nearly dropped.
His fingers scraped the floor.
He forced himself upright.
Complex, he thought through the pain. Humans are complex.
He feinted a retreat.
Parsilla followed.
He let her.
One step.
Two.
Then he used Pouncing Step again, not to escape, but to burst inward at an angle so sharp that even her focused instincts lagged behind it.
The next strike hit her guard.
The guard cracked open.
His second hit punched through.
Her head snapped back.
His third blow struck the body before she could recover.
Every impact sounded like a weapon discharge.
Not because Xander had become stronger than her.
Because he had learned exactly where to put the strength he had.
Parsilla staggered.
Then laughed again, blood on her teeth.
The laugh was smaller now.
Rougher.
Realer.
"Yeah," she breathed. "That's it."
She rushed him.
Xander rushed her.
Blue flame and green Ki collided at the center of the ring.
Their fists met first, knuckle against knuckle, and the shock burst outward in a flash of color.
Then the slugfest returned, uglier and closer than before.
Parsilla smashed a hook into Xander's cheek.
His skin split.
Xander answered with a punch to her ribs.
She drove a knee into his thigh.
He kicked her injured leg.
She elbowed his jaw.
He headbutted her shoulder, then hammered a fist into the gap it created.
For a few seconds, neither looked like they cared about defense.
But that was only half true.
Parsilla defended with toughness, aura, and instinct.
Xander defended with angles, pain resistance, and refusal to give her a clean target twice.
The difference kept him alive.
Barely.
Seo Yura's commentary grew breathless, her polished showmanship fraying under genuine excitement.
"I don't know what I'm watching anymore! The Berserker Queen is in War-Beast Trance, Scarlet Phantom has evolved mid-fight, and now they're standing in the center like two disasters arguing over territory! Every hit is landing heavy! Every dodge is a coin toss with death on the other side!"
Parsilla struck Xander's ribs.
Xander's fist slammed into her sternum.
Both stumbled.
Both stepped forward again.
The arena roared with them.
The canvas beneath their feet was smeared with blood, sweat, and streaks of blue fading into green.
Xander's wounds continued to heal slowly beneath fresh damage.
Parsilla's bruises deepened across her ribs, thigh, and shoulder, but her aura kept flaring, refusing collapse with furious brilliance.
For one brief moment, their eyes met in the pocket.
Hers were wild, burning with the joy of battle and some deeper dream she had been chasing since childhood.
His were dark green and feral, but behind them something human remained awake, measuring, choosing, adapting.
Parsilla smiled.
Xander smiled back through blood.
Neither backed away.
Seo Yura's voice dropped to a whisper that somehow carried through the entire arena.
"Watch closely…"
Jerry stopped shouting.
TJ stopped breathing.
Kari smiled and leaned forward.
Behind the VIP glass, Orion Cross smiled like a man who had just found proof of a rumor he had chased for years.
The Hunter's Mark burned beneath Parsilla's sternum.
Xander saw it.
Parsilla knew he saw it.
The system window flickered at the edge of his vision, cold and merciless.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Current HP: 29 / 98
Seventeen.
That number was almost funny.
Not actually funny.
The kind of funny that made a man cough blood and laugh anyway because the alternative was screaming until his lungs split.
Parsilla's aura tightened around her body.
The wild green blaze collapsed inward, compressing against her skin until it looked like a second hide.
No wasted flame.
No loose fury.
Every inch of her became guarded, packed, ready.
Xander dragged in a breath through his teeth.
Yeah… figured.
His ribs screamed.
His face was hot with blood.
One eye kept trying to close.
His legs trembled like they were negotiating surrender behind his back.
But his lips still curled.
She's learning. Good for her.
He lowered his stance, blue flames licking over his hands and feet.
But she's not me.
Seo Yura's voice came through the roar, sharp and electric.
"Scarlet Phantom is at death's door, but look at him! He's still smiling! The Berserker Queen has tightened her aura into a full-body guard, and this ring is about to become a graveyard for bad decisions!"
Parsilla moved first.
Xander launched to meet her.
He pushed off the canvas with everything he had, copying the way she had exploded forward earlier.
Strength and Dexterity fired through his legs, and for one wild second he flew low across the ring, blue flame trailing behind him.
Parsilla swung.
Xander vanished under it.
[Pouncing Step] kicked in, stretching his burst farther than her timing allowed.
He came up at her side and hammered a fist into her ribs.
The compact aura dulled the blow.
It still made her grunt.
Xander fell back before her elbow could take his head off.
The elbow missed, but the pressure kissed his cheek like a warning from hell.
Too close.
He went in again anyway.
Left jab to the guard.
Right hook feint.
Low kick.
Retreat.
Burst forward.
Strike the thigh.
Slip the counter.
Hammer the ribs.
Back off before the grab.
Every movement hurt.
Every breath scraped.
Every attack felt like borrowing money from tomorrow's corpse.
But he kept paying.
Parsilla chased him, no longer laughing as loudly.
Her grin was still there, but now it looked strained, carved into her face by stubborn joy and pain.
She kicked at his knee.
Xander jumped back.
She followed with a straight punch.
He slipped left and drove his fist into her shoulder.
Gunshot impact.
She staggered half a step.
The crowd shrieked.
"PHANTOM!"
"MOSSHEAD!"
"PHANTOM!"
"MOSSHEAD!"
Jerry was losing his mind at the rail.
"Move, kid! Move! Don't let her touch you clean!"
TJ was beside him, face tight, both hands gripping the barrier.
"He's running on fumes, man! That ain't a gas tank anymore, that's prayers and spite!"
Xander heard none of it clearly.
The world was narrowing.
Parsilla's breath.
Her shoulders.
The compact glow of her aura.
The mark beneath her sternum.
I can't trade forever.
Parsilla lunged.
Xander dodged, countered, and landed a sharp body shot.
She hit him anyway.
Her fist clipped his jaw.
The ring tilted.
Xander's knees buckled.
"Ghh!"
He caught himself with one hand on the canvas, blood dripping from his mouth in thick drops.
Parsilla stepped in to finish it.
Xander's head snapped up.
No.
He pushed off the floor and slammed his shoulder into her stomach.
It didn't move her much, but it broke her rhythm.
He followed with two fast punches to the ribs, then leapt back as her knee tore upward.
It grazed his stomach.
Pain ripped through him.
He nearly folded.
No, damn it. I buried enough of myself already.
Parsilla's aura flared.
Her fist came in like judgment.
Xander ducked too late.
The punch scraped over his back and sent him stumbling forward.
His vision flashed black at the edges.
He wanted to fall.
God, he wanted to fall.
The canvas looked soft.
It looked honest.
It promised silence.
Xander spat blood onto it.
Not yet!
I didn't claw out of a coffin to get put down by a girl with a good smile and anger issues.
Parsilla rushed him again.
This time, Xander didn't run.
He stepped in.
Parsilla's eyes brightened.
The crowd felt it.
Seo Yura shouted, voice cracking with excitement.
"He's choosing the pocket! Scarlet Phantom is choosing to trade with the Berserker Queen! Either he found an answer, or his brain has finally left the building!"
Parsilla punched him in the ribs.
Xander screamed.
Not loud enough for the crowd to hear over the roar, but loud enough for the ring mic to catch the edge of it.
Raw.
Furious.
Human.
He answered with a hook to her face.
Parsilla's head snapped sideways.
She came back with an elbow.
Xander took it across the shoulder and grunted so hard spit and blood flew from his mouth.
His counter smashed into her ribs.
Her aura held, but the flesh beneath it didn't like the message.
She hit him again.
He hit back.
Blood sprayed from both of them now.
Sweat flew under the lights.
Blue flame and green Ki burst on every collision, painting the ring in violent flashes.
Xander's thoughts became jagged.
Hit me, then.
Parsilla's fist cracked against his guard.
Come on.
He stumbled.
Think I'm done?
Another blow smashed into his side.
He roared through clenched teeth and drove his fist into her stomach.
I decide when I'm done!
Parsilla stepped closer, breathing hard, eyes wild but focused.
"Good fight, Phantom," she rasped.
Her aura compressed around her fist.
Everything in Xander screamed danger.
This was the blow.
The real one.
She was done playing.
Done chasing.
Done laughing.
She was going to put him down with everything she had left.
Xander let his shoulders sag.
Let his breath break.
Let his eyes flicker.
Parsilla took the bait.
Xander smiled through the blood.
"Not done."
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
[Scarlet Reprisal] activated.
Duration: 10 seconds
Strength +4
Endurance +4
Physical Damage +15%
The first heavy attack received during Scarlet Reprisal will have its damage reduced by 30%.
Power slammed into him like a second heartbeat made of knives.
The blue flames along his limbs darkened, scarlet sparks flashing inside them.
His wounds burned.
His muscles seized, then surged.
His body was screaming louder than the arena, but for ten seconds, it was his to command.
Parsilla's punch landed first.
It crashed into his face.
The damage reduction caught part of it.
Not enough.
Pain detonated through his skull.
His head snapped sideways.
Blood burst from his mouth.
His eyes rolled so far back the lights vanished for a blink.
Blackness opened under him.
Warm.
Easy.
Final.
Xander screamed himself back.
Not words.
"YAAAAARRGGGGHHHH!!'
Just sound.
A furious, broken roar that tore from his chest as his foot slammed into the canvas.
His body stayed upright.
Parsilla's eyes widened.
Xander's fist was already moving.
Everything he had left went into it.
Combat Instinct.
Predator's Instinct.
Flame-Clad Limbs.
Bloodied Body.
Scarlet Reprisal.
Rage.
Fear.
The ugly refusal to be buried twice.
His fist smashed into Parsilla's face.
The impact thundered through Ring Three.
Her head snapped back.
Blood sprayed in a red arc.
Her body lifted, stumbled, then fought to stay standing.
But even half-conscious, she swung.
Her counter slammed into Xander's ribs.
Something cracked.
His breath vanished.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Current HP: 3 / 98
Three..
Xander couldn't feel his legs.
Parsilla swayed.
He swayed with her.
The arena disappeared behind a wall of white noise.
His vision tunneled until all he could see was Parsilla's bloodied face, her fading aura, her eyes still trying to burn.
Both of them began to fall.
No.
His knees folded.
No!
His spine dipped.
Not first.
His heel dug into the canvas.
I don't need to win pretty.
His teeth clenched hard enough to taste more blood.
I just need to be the bastard still standing!
Parsilla's knees hit first.
Then one hand.
Then her shoulder.
The Berserker Queen collapsed onto the blood-streaked canvas, green aura sputtering out around her.
Xander remained standing.
Barely.
His body leaned forward like a broken post in a storm.
His arm hung limp.
Blood dripped from his chin.
His eyes were unfocused, rolling at the edges, but his feet stayed planted.
For one second, the arena went silent.
Then Seo Yura screamed.
"HE'S STANDING!"
The arena detonated.
The sound was ear-shattering.
Railings shook.
People jumped from their seats.
Drinks flew.
The chant came apart into pure, violent disbelief.
"SCARLET!"
"PHANTOM!"
"SCARLET!"
"PHANTOM!"
Jerry was screaming himself hoarse.
"THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT! HE DID IT!"
TJ grabbed the railing with both hands, eyes wet from the sheer insanity of it.
"STAY UP, KID! STAY UP! YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH, STAY UP!"
The referee rushed in and dropped beside Parsilla.
She stirred, trying to rise.
Her arm shook.
She pushed herself up an inch.
Then collapsed again with a breathless laugh.
"Damn…" she whispered.
The referee stood and grabbed Xander's wrist.
Xander almost fell from that alone.
The ref raised his hand.
Seo Yura's voice tore through the speakers.
"Winner of Ring Three, by knockout… SCARLET PHANTOM!"
The crowd screamed his name until it no longer sounded ridiculous.
It sounded earned.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Quest Completed: [The Phantom Born In Blood]
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
You have defeated Parsilla "Berserker Queen" Veyra.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Level Up!
Level: 3 → 4
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Crowd Reputation has increased.
Previous Reputation: Curious / Controversial
New Reputation: Rising Phenomenon
Xander stared at the prompts through blurred vision.
His mouth twitched.
Rising Phenomenon…
He almost laughed, but it came out as a bloody cough.
Yeah. Bet that comes with a medical bill.
The referee let go.
Xander staggered, caught himself, then looked down at Parsilla.
Medics were already rushing toward them.
He lifted a trembling hand.
"Wait."
The referee stared at him.
"You can barely stand."
"No kidding," Xander rasped. "Still got one useful hand."
He stumbled toward Parsilla.
Every step was a war.
His ribs screamed.
His skull rang.
His HP sat at three, which felt less like a stat and more like a dare from death itself.
Parsilla lay on her side, green hair spread across the canvas, blood at her mouth.
One eye opened.
Xander bent down and offered his hand.
The crowd caught it on the big screen.
The roar shifted.
Parsilla stared at his hand, then laughed weakly.
"You look terrible."
Xander's smile was crooked, swollen, and full of blood.
"Yeah," he muttered. "You should see the other girl."
She laughed harder, then winced and gripped his hand.
Xander pulled.
His whole body screamed.
He grunted, nearly dropped with her, then forced himself through it.
Parsilla rose to one knee, then to her feet, leaning on him as much as he leaned on her.
For a moment, the Phantom and the Queen stood together in the ruined ring, bloodied, shaking, and half-dead beneath the lights.
Parsilla looked at him with exhausted respect.
"Good fight, Phantom."
Xander nodded, barely conscious.
"Good fight, Mosshead…"
The arena swallowed them in thunder.
And through the fading roar, one final prompt appeared.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Rewards pending…