The infirmary was a symphony of chaos as Omega and Gamma were hauled away, their broken bodies strapped to wheezing machines. Lambda, unaffected by the carnage, turned her cold gaze toward the remaining three. Zeta didn't wait for an order; she stepped forward, her finger drifting toward Alpha a silent, lethal challenge. Alpha stepped out to meet her, his pulse steadying into a rhythmic drumbeat of war. Lambda gave a sharp nod of approval. Alpha rolled back, creating distance, his hands raised in a tight, defensive guard. Zeta lunged. Her palm ignited with a blinding golden radiance, the light solidifying into a massive, shimmering hammer that came down like a falling star. Alpha rolled beneath the strike, the impact sending a shockwave through the concrete. He didn't give her a second to breathe. Appearing at her flank, he buried a kick into her gut that sent her tumbling toward the arena wall. He was a blur of motion. As he closed the gap, the blood on his arm crystallized into a jagged, crimson gauntlet. He swung for a knockout blow, but Zeta's instincts were sharp. A golden shield flared over her face, shattering into shards of light under the force of the punch. She hit the ground hard. Alpha stood over her, his face a mask of disappointment. I expected a decent fight, he thought. He turned to Lambda for the signal to end it, but a snarl echoed behind him. "Don't underestimate me!" Zeta was back on her feet, her palms glowing as the golden light hardened into a gladius and a heavy tower shield. Lambda's eyes narrowed, her gaze shifting to the lone Delta. With a flick of her wrist, she signaled her to join the fray. Now, Alpha was flanked. He raised his daggers, his eyes darting between the two hunters. The air exploded. Delta and Zeta charged in unison. Alpha ducked Zeta's wide swing, but Delta caught him with a brutal gut punch that sent him reeling. He recovered instantly, catching Delta's follow-up kick and smashing her face into the concrete floor with a sickening crunch. Zeta lunged again. Alpha caught her wrist, his knee driving straight into her joint with an audible CRACK. The golden sword shattered back into light as he delivered a final, rib-breaking kick to her chest. Zeta was out cold. Suddenly, the world turned into a smoky, vibrating blur. Alpha's head rang with a deafening blare. In the center of the ruin stood Delta but she wasn't human anymore. Her skin was cracking like shattered glass, blood weeping through the fissures, and her eyes had turned a terrifying, hollow white. Alpha's fight-or-flight instincts screamed. Delta's fist buried itself into the concrete where his head had been a millisecond before. He retaliated, driving his knee into her chest and kicking her face deep into the wall. She didn't feel it. She kicked his legs out from under him, forcing him to dig his nails into the dirt to stay grounded.
He swung a blood-hardened hammer at her, but Delta punched through the weapon, her fist connecting squarely with Alpha's jaw. Blood sprayed across the floor. Then, with a sickening squelch, Delta drove her hand through Alpha's midsection, punching a hole clean through his gut. Alpha fell to one knee, clutching the gaping wound. Everything was a red haze. He looked at Lambda, but there was no mercy in her eyes only the sickening excitement of a woman watching high-stakes entertainment. Then, the heat took over. A vibrant blue glow erupted from his palms. The flames were cold and searing all at once. He pressed his hands to his stomach, the fire cauterizing the wound with a hiss of burning flesh. He stood up, shaking, his stance ragged, but his eyes were burning with Hades' light. He pounced. Each punch was a thermal explosion. The blue flames scorched Delta's skin and blinded her eyes. He drove her down, his blood crystallizing into a spear that pierced through her torso. She thrashed in a frenzy, her reckless shockwaves tearing the room to pieces. Alpha jumped over a final wave of force, his heel locking onto her head and smashing her face into the floor. He didn't stop. He clamped his foot on hers, pinning her, and began a rhythmic, blue-tinted demolition of her body. The heat in his gauntlet reached a boiling point. The blood bubbled. With a final, agonizing thrust, his fist moved clean through Delta's chest. He pulled back, and her arm came with him, ripped entirely from her shoulder.
Delta's body darkened. The white light died, replaced by a momentary flash of unnatural, terrified red in her eyes as life returned just long enough for her to feel the end. The cracks on her body turned to ash. The arm in Alpha's hand grew cold. She was gone. The sound of slow, rhythmic clapping filled the silence. Lambda stood over the unconscious Delta, an approving smirk on her lips. Alpha's gaze drifted upward to a shadowed observation room. A man stood there, his face obscured, but a golden monocle shimmered in the dark. He gave a slow, approving nod. Medics rushed in, but they didn't go to Delta. They went to Alpha, applying medicine and hauling him toward the med bay. Later, lying in the dark of his room, Alpha stared at the ceiling. He tried to sleep, tried to find the "mechanical" silence again, but he couldn't. All he could see was Delta's face in that final second the moment she became his first kill.