The challenge arrived at dawn with formatting, which told him the patron had drafted it personally. Every screen in the school carried the summons in gold-edged System type, and the type had opinions about grandeur.
[ Formal challenge issued. ]
[ Jax, champion of the gym, challenges Nox, First Player, for command priority of the central trial. ]
[ Venue: center court. Time: dusk today. Witnesses: unrestricted. ]
[ Proposed stakes: command priority to the victor. ]
"Proposed," Vasa said, reading the last line the way she read expiry dates, "because it wants the fight cheap. Priority only, nothing bankable, nothing the patron can lose."
"Then we counter," Nox said, "in public, where declining my terms costs it face in front of its own market. Gods shop for audiences, so we charge admission."
