The Subring was packed again, the air thick enough to taste.
No chants tonight—just the low, nervous murmur that comes before something ugly.
At the center stood Vessa, pale and perfect, silver cuts along her arms shining faintly.
Opposite her waited a man twice her size, wrapped in bandages and relic tape that pulsed with orange rhythm.
> "That's Echo," Eren said quietly. "He turns sound into concussive force. Whole buildings have cracked because he screamed."
Rynn swallowed. "And she's fighting that?"
"She asked for him."
---
The First Exchange
The bell clanged once.
Echo opened his mouth—
and the world exploded.
The blast wasn't fire or light; it was pressure. A wall of invisible noise hit so hard that the front row ducked.
Vessa slid backward across the floor, shards flying from her arms to form a spinning barrier.
The vibration splintered the first layer instantly.
She moved before the dust settled, sending dozens of mirrored blades through the air.
They caught the faint vibration trails and bent them, slicing the waves apart before they could reform.
Echo laughed, voice booming, every word another pulse of violence.
> "You can't cut silence, little queen!"
Her lips barely moved. "I don't. I cut you."
---
Breaking Point
He stomped; the floor cracked.
Mirra energy roared around him—visible even to civilians. Orange spirals of sound made the air shake.
Vessa's shards blurred faster, silver traces weaving into a whirling dome.
Each impact sent pieces flying, cutting the crowd barriers.
Rynn covered his face as fragments hissed through the stands like razors.
For a second, both fighters vanished inside the storm—just vibration and glittering dust.
Then came the silence.
Not peace—absence.
All sound died. Even breathing disappeared from Rynn's ears.
Eren's expression tightened. "He's overdrawn his Mirra. He's killing the frequency itself."
Vessa's body flickered in and out of view, silver bleeding from her pores.
She raised both arms, every remaining shard gathering into a single point above her palm—a mirror of pure white.
She whispered something no one heard, and dropped it.
The mirror shattered outward.
---
The End
When hearing returned, the pit was gone.
Only shattered tiles, falling dust, and Echo on his knees, clutching his chest.
Blood poured from his ears, his mouth, his nose—silent, then still.
Vessa stood over him, trembling. Her Mirra had burned through her skin entirely; veins of light crawled up her arms like cracks in porcelain.
She smiled faintly.
> "Beautiful," she murmured, before collapsing.
Medics rushed in. Her pulse flickered but held.
The crowd erupted, half in awe, half in fear.
Eren pulled Rynn back before the shockwaves reached them.
"See that?" he said. "That's what mastery costs. She'll never shape light again without bleeding."
Rynn stared at the pit, at the silver glow fading into dust.
"She won, though."
Eren nodded. "Barely. Every victory here is just the slowest death."
---
Later
Hours later, Rynn walked past the infirmary.
Through the glass he saw Vessa lying motionless, arms wrapped in relic bandages that shimmered faintly.
For a moment her eyes opened—silver meeting blue.
She raised one finger to her lips: quiet.
Then she smiled, and the monitor beside her beeped once, steady.
Rynn didn't realize until later that the mirror on her wrist had fractured again, all on its own.
---
End of Chapter 12
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