The silence that followed Cairo's revelation was heavy, charged with the weight of realization. Alina and Layla stood on opposite sides of the arena, their personal duel interrupted by the understanding that the landscape had fundamentally changed.
Cairo remained where he was, breathing steadily, watching both of them with careful attention. His Limitbreak boost had faded completely now, leaving him with just his enhanced base attributes. Still stronger and faster than he should be, but not superhuman. Against these two, he'd need strategy more than raw power.
"Clever," Alina said finally, her crimson hair settling around her shoulders as she descended slightly, conserving energy. "While we were focused on each other, you picked off the weak links."
"Not weak," Cairo corrected. "Just outmatched. Michael fought well. So did Dena."
Layla's katana remained steady in her grip, her Zone still active, that invisible sphere of death surrounding her like armor. "And now you think you can take both of us?"
"I think," Cairo said carefully, "that you two have been throwing everything at each other for the last ten minutes. I've been conserving strength. That changes the math."
It was a bluff, partially. He'd used Limitbreak twice already, engaged in two fights, and was definitely feeling the strain. But they didn't need to know that.
Alina and Layla exchanged glances, another one of those wordless communications. Cairo could almost see the calculation happening. Continue fighting each other and let Cairo pick off the winner when they were exhausted? Or temporarily alliance to eliminate the upstart first?
The decision seemed to reach them simultaneously.
"Truce?" Layla asked, her eyes never leaving Cairo.
"Until Starlight is eliminated," Alina agreed. "Then we settle this properly."
Cairo's heart rate spiked. This was not ideal. Facing either one of them alone would be difficult. Facing both together, even exhausted as they were, might be impossible.
He needed to break their alliance before it solidified.
"You sure about that, Layla?" Cairo called out, backing up to give himself more room to maneuver. "Alina's been floating this whole time. She's probably got more energy left than you do. The moment I'm out, she'll press that advantage."
"Nice try," Layla replied, though Cairo thought he saw a flicker of doubt in her eyes.
"And Alina," Cairo continued, his mind racing, "Layla's been holding back. That Zone explosion? She's used that maybe once. She's got more tricks, and she's saving them for you. The moment you let your guard down—"
"Enough," Alina interrupted, but her gaze had shifted slightly toward Layla, reassessing.
The seed of doubt was planted. Not enough to break the alliance immediately, but enough to make them second-guess each other. Cairo just needed to water it.
They attacked in unison, and Cairo's world became chaos.
Alina's telekinesis ripped chunks of the already-damaged floor toward him from multiple angles. Layla closed the distance with Zone-enhanced speed, her katana positioned for a strike that would force his yield the moment he entered her sphere.
Cairo jumped, his enhanced agility carrying him over the first wave of projectiles. He landed, rolled, came up just outside Layla's Zone range. A practice sword flew past his head from Alina's direction, close enough that he felt the wind of its passage.
"He's fast," Alina noted, her concentration evident in the slight furrow of her brow.
"Not fast enough," Layla countered, adjusting her approach.
They were coordinating now, Alina herding Cairo with ranged attacks while Layla cut off escape routes with her Zone. It was effective, professional, and Cairo was rapidly running out of space to maneuver.
He needed to separate them. Get them fighting each other again instead of him.
Cairo feinted left toward Layla, then reversed direction sharply, closing on Alina's position instead. She was still floating, which gave her an altitude advantage but limited her lateral movement. If he could get under her, force her to deal with a close-range threat—
Telekinetic force slammed into him from the side, not Alina's doing but debris she'd positioned earlier. Cairo hit the ground hard, his enhanced durability the only reason ribs didn't crack.
Layla was there instantly, her Zone encompassing him, that cutting pressure building against his exposed skin.
"Yield," she said simply.
Cairo's mind raced. He was trapped, again, by the same combination. But this time he had information he didn't have before. He'd watched their entire fight, seen their patterns, their preferences, their tells.
Alina was conservative with her energy now, using smaller, more precise attacks instead of the massive displays from earlier. That meant she was running low on stamina, despite the bravado.
Layla's Zone was still strong, but she'd been maintaining it continuously for fifteen minutes. Even a talent that powerful had to have limits.
They were both exhausted. They just hid it better than he did.
Cairo activated Limitbreak.
The talent surged through him, shattering the limitations of his current state. Strength flooded back, speed increased beyond his already-enhanced baseline, and most importantly, his pain tolerance skyrocketed.
He rolled, accepting the cuts from Layla's Zone as the price of escape. Shallow slices opened across his arms and back, blood beginning to flow, but nothing deep enough to be debilitating. The Limitbreak boost let him push through the pain that would have stopped a normal fighter.
"What—" Layla's surprise was evident as Cairo cleared her Zone faster than she'd expected.
Cairo came up in a sprint, heading not away from his opponents but toward the wall where equipment racks still stood. His hand closed around a practice staff, the weight familiar enough for improvisation.
Alina sent more projectiles, but Cairo was moving too unpredictably now, his Limitbreak-enhanced speed letting him dodge with minimal wasted motion. He closed on her position, leaped, and swung the staff toward her floating form.
She blocked with telekinetic force, but Cairo had expected that. The real attack came when he dropped the staff mid-swing and grabbed it with his other hand lower on the shaft, changing the angle. The improvised strike got through her hastily-erected defense and caught her shoulder.
Not hard enough to injure, but enough to break her concentration.
Alina dropped, her flight faltering. She caught herself before hitting the ground, but her altitude advantage was gone. And more importantly, her confidence had taken a hit.
"He's using…" Alina called out to Layla, breathing harder now, "some kind of enhancement talent."
"I noticed," Layla replied, repositioning to cut off Cairo's angles again.
But Cairo was already moving, using his temporary boost to its fullest. He engaged Layla directly this time, the staff spinning in his hands. He couldn't enter her Zone without getting cut, but he could attack its perimeter, force her to expand energy maintaining it.
Each strike of his staff against the invisible barrier sent vibrations through both the weapon and his arms. But each strike also forced Layla to reinforce that section of her Zone, to maintain the cutting pressure that defined her defense.
It was a war of attrition, and Cairo was betting that her stamina would crack first.
Alina tried to support, sending debris toward Cairo's back. But without the altitude advantage, her attacks were easier to predict. Cairo spun, using the staff to deflect a flying practice sword, then immediately returned to pressuring Layla's Zone.
"This is unsustainable," Alina said, frustration bleeding into her voice. "He's going to—"
"I know!" Layla snapped, and Cairo heard it. The strain. The exhaustion finally beginning to show.
He pressed harder, his staff becoming a blur of motion around the perimeter of her Zone. Not trying to break through, just forcing her to defend, to maintain, to burn energy she didn't have.
Alina attacked his exposed back with telekinetic force, and Cairo let it hit. The Limitbreak boost let him absorb the impact, stay on his feet, keep attacking. Blood ran down his back from the Zone cuts, his arms ached from the impacts, but he didn't stop.
Because he could see it now. Layla's Zone was fluctuating. Just slightly, just for microseconds, but it was there. Her control was slipping.
"Layla, pull back!" Alina called out, recognizing the same thing. "Disengage and recover!"
But it was too late.
Cairo saw his opening, a flicker in the Zone's consistency on Layla's left side. He struck there with everything he had, the staff driving through the weakened section of her defense.
Layla tried to dodge, but exhaustion made her slow. The staff caught her ribs, not the full force Cairo had intended but enough to knock the wind from her lungs and disrupt her concentration completely.
Her Zone collapsed.
Cairo was inside her guard instantly, his Limitbreak-boosted speed letting him capitalize before she could recover. His hand caught her wrist, the one holding the katana, and twisted. The blade clattered to the floor.
They grappled, Cairo's enhanced strength against Layla's skill and desperation. In the close-quarters struggle, his hand accidentally grabbed her hip, fingers pressing into the curve there. Layla gasped, her face flushing, her concentration disrupted for a crucial moment.
"Really?" she hissed, trying to break free. "Even now?"
"Not intentional," Cairo grunted, adjusting his grip to something more appropriate while maintaining control. His arm wrapped around her waist from behind, lifting her off balance. "But I'll take any advantage."
"Starlight, you magnificent bastard!" Noah's voice rang out from the sidelines. "That's twice now with the tactical groping. I'm definitely jealous. When I was young, that kind of combat would've gotten me promoted!"
Cairo ignored him, focusing on maintaining his hold on Layla. She was strong, skilled, and even exhausted she was dangerous. His other arm came up around her shoulders, establishing a proper control hold.
"Yield," he said into her ear.
Alina's telekinetic force slammed into both of them, trying to separate them. But Cairo had positioned Layla between himself and Alina, using her as a shield again. The attack dissipated around her body.
"Get off me," Layla demanded, still struggling.
"Yield first."
She tried one more escape, her body twisting in his grip, but Cairo's Limitbreak boost and better position were too much. He felt her strength fading, her movements becoming less coordinated as exhaustion finally overwhelmed her.
"I yield," she said finally, the words bitter.
Cairo released her immediately, stepping back. Layla stumbled, catching herself against the wall, her chest heaving with exertion. Her silver hair was disheveled, her uniform torn in places from the extended combat, and her light blue eyes burned with frustration at being eliminated.
"Layla Wisteria eliminated," Noah announced. "Two remaining. Commander and Vice Commander will come from Alina Tallis and Cairo Starlight. This should be good."
Cairo's Limitbreak boost faded, leaving him with his base enhanced attributes and a body that was screaming in protest. Blood ran from multiple cuts on his arms and back. His muscles ached from sustained exertion. His head pounded from the mental strain of using Limitbreak three times in one fight.
Across the arena, Alina floated once more, having recovered enough energy to resume flight. Her crimson hair framed a face that had lost all traces of boredom. Now she looked focused, dangerous, and absolutely determined.
"Just you and me now, Starlight," she said, her blue eyes fixed on him with predatory intensity. "No more hiding behind others. No more tactical groping to distract your opponents. Just raw power against raw power."
Cairo adjusted his stance, the practice staff still in his hands, and managed a tired grin despite everything.
"Works for me."
The final battle was about to begin.