In the locker room, Leo sat on a bench while Mia stood over him with a small flashlight, tilting his head gently and shining the light into his eyes. "Follow the light," she said calmly.
Leo blinked twice, squinting.
"Good," she muttered. She clicked the light off and began packing her things back into her case. "You're fine. If you feel any pain or soreness later, take painkillers. And don't be stupid."
Leo smirked. "I'm always stupid."
Mia rolled her eyes, but she couldn't quite hide a faint smile. Before she could say anything else, the door burst open and Toney stormed in. "Hey, kid!" He pointed straight at Youri. "I've got a guy without an opponent. You up for another match?"
Youri blinked, surprised, and tilted his head as he thought it over. His body felt fine — better than fine — but he remembered Mia's warning. "Who's the guy?"
Toney's grin widened. "We call him Zeus."
As he spoke, a huge silhouette filled the doorway behind him. The man stepped slowly inside, and the whole room changed around him. He was tall — very tall — and lean, his frame packed with dense muscle rather than bulk, in a dark windbreaker with its hood up over messy short brown hair, and a pair of worn jeans. His eyes were dark, sharp, impossible to read.
"This," Toney said, raising a hand toward him, "is Zeus."
Zeus walked past them all without a word and went to an open locker. As he passed, Mia looked at him and frowned. "You should slow down," she said firmly. "Your body might feel tough now, but it will fail you one day if you keep this up."
Zeus didn't answer. He didn't even look at her. He simply opened his locker and began his routine.
Mia sighed and shook her head. "This guy. This is his fourth fight this week."
Youri frowned. "So he likes fighting?"
Mia snapped her case shut and slung it over her shoulder. "No," she said quietly. "He doesn't." She paused at the door and looked back at Zeus. "He just has to." And then she was gone.
Has to? The words echoed in Youri's head, but there was no time to dwell on them. As he began wrapping his hands, Toney came closer. "Hey, kid. What do we call you?"
Youri looked up. "What?"
"We can't keep calling you 'the newbie.' The crowd needs a name."
Youri hesitated. "You got any ideas?"
Toney scratched his head. "Not really."
Just then Zeus closed his locker and turned to look at Youri. His gaze lingered, sharp and measuring. "Do you know who Zeus is?" he asked calmly.
Youri blinked. "An ancient religious figure?"
A faint smile crossed Zeus's lips, and he turned and walked out without another word.
Youri closed his own locker slowly as a memory surfaced — an old book from the stacks in his room at Altex, full of myths and forgotten gods. Stories of power, betrayal and time itself. Olympus. And the Titan who had ruled before Zeus, the father the young god had risen up to overthrow. A faint smile spread across his face, and he turned to Toney. "I think I've got an idea."
A few minutes later, Toney stood in the middle of the octagon again with the microphone in his hand, while the crowd still buzzed from Leo's fight and money changed hands at the betting stations. "Gentlemen! Are you ready for the second fight of the night?"
The crowd roared.
Toney paused for effect. "I hope you placed your bets wisely, because for the fourth time this week — make some noise for Zeus!"
The cavern erupted as Zeus came out of the tunnel, stripped down now to black shorts and fighting shoes, his hood gone and his sharp features and intense eyes laid bare. He walked unhurriedly, like a man stepping into a routine rather than into danger, climbed into the octagon, and rested his arms on the fence of his corner with his eyes on the opposite tunnel.
"And his opponent," Toney called, "back for his second fight — make some noise for Kronos!"
Youri stepped out of the locker room entrance. Every eye turned to him, and whispers rippled through the crowd. That's the kid from last time. Didn't Boris wreck him? What the hell is he doing back here? He walked steadily to the octagon with a calm, almost detached face, the lights reflecting in his eyes, and climbed in and took his corner. For the first time Zeus studied him closely.
"Rules are the same," Toney said. "No weapons. No interference. Fight until someone drops." He stepped back, and the bell rang.
Zeus moved first — but not quickly. He stepped forward deliberately, circling to his left, with his eyes never leaving Youri's center, and Youri mirrored him on light feet, remembering everything Leo had shown him. Don't rush. Don't freeze. Zeus tested him with a low kick to the thigh, and Youri checked it on instinct, shin meeting shin with a dull crack that sent a jolt up his leg, but he didn't falter. The crowd murmured in surprise. Zeus jabbed, and Youri slipped it; he jabbed again, and Youri leaned back just far enough to let it pass an inch from his nose and answered with a quick straight to the chest. It landed — not hard, but clean — and Zeus raised an eyebrow, faintly impressed.
Then he stepped in. A heavy right hand tore through the air. Youri ducked too late, caught the edge of it on his shoulder and staggered sideways. Zeus pressed at once with a hook, an uppercut and a knee. Youri took the hook on his forearm and twisted away from the uppercut, but the knee drove into his ribs and knocked the breath out of him. He stumbled back into the cage with the metal rattling behind him. Zeus didn't rush. He waited half a second. Then he smashed a punch through Youri's guard that split his lip, and Youri's mouth filled with the taste of iron.
"Kill him!" the crowd howled. "Zeus!"
Youri pushed off the cage and surged forward without warning, catching Zeus with a sharp elbow to the jaw that snapped his head sideways. The crowd gasped. He followed with a punch to the body, another, a kick to the knee. Zeus grunted as his leg buckled slightly and took two steps back to reassess. Now the crowd was split. "Kro-nos!" "Zeus!" Zeus wiped the blood from his mouth with his thumb and smiled — not mockingly, but seriously.
"You're learning," he said.
Then he lunged, faster this time, feinted high and drove a brutal hook into Youri's side. Something cracked. Youri cried out in spite of himself, but he didn't go down; he grabbed Zeus's arm and twisted, trying to throw him off balance, and they locked together in a clinch, chest to chest, Zeus smelling of sweat and metal and smoke. Youri drove a knee upward. Zeus blocked it with his thigh and answered with a headbutt that sent stars bursting behind Youri's eyes. Then he threw him. Youri hit the mat shoulder first. Zeus followed him down, mounting him and raining down punches. One broke through his guard, then another.
Youri kept his arms up, blocking and counting the rhythm. Now. He bucked his hips and rolled them both sideways, and for half a second Zeus lost his balance — just long enough. Youri slipped out, scrambled to his feet and threw himself forward with everything he had left. His fist caught Zeus's jaw once, twice, a third time. Zeus staggered and caught the cage to keep from falling while the crowd screamed in disbelief. Somewhere beyond the fence Leo was yelling, "Keep going! Don't stop!"
Youri didn't stop. He threw Boris's punch — the exact angle, the exact timing, the same turn of the hips. It landed flush, and Zeus crashed to one knee. The hall went dead silent. Youri stood over him, swaying, his vision blurred and his lungs burning. For one heartbeat it looked as though Zeus might not get up.
Then Zeus rose, slowly and angrily, and took Youri by the throat and lifted him off the mat. "You should have stayed down," he growled. He slammed him into the cage once, twice, then hurled him across the octagon. Youri hit the mat and didn't move. The referee rushed in. But Youri's fingers twitched and curled, and he tried to push himself up. Zeus stepped in and delivered one last, devastating punch to the side of his head, and everything went black.
"It's over!" Toney roared into the mic. "We've got a winner!"
The crowd exploded. Zeus stood over Youri with his chest heaving, his face bruised, blood dripping from his nose. It hadn't been easy. Not even close. Leo was in the cage at once, kneeling beside Youri and gripping his shoulder. "You almost had him," he whispered. "You almost had him."
Zeus came over and stood above them for a moment. Then he held out his hand. Youri took it weakly and was pulled to his feet, and Zeus leaned close. "Next time," he said quietly, "we finish this."
As Youri was helped out of the ring, the crowd didn't boo. They cheered, because they knew they hadn't just watched a fight; they had watched the birth of something dangerous. Kronos had lost. But Zeus had barely survived.