Chapter Fifty-Two

 

Thunderous applause began the moment Dominion stepped into the arena surrounded by a cadre of bloodstone warriors, including Navos. She hoped that Kuma had been able to reach Navos in time, but there was no space to worry about that now. Pandora hid her distaste for her grandfather behind a mien of intensity. She had to focus on the final fight, but her mind wanted to skip ahead to the moment she would have to thrust the blade in. Her mother followed behind, but slipped to the back of the platform, not wanting to take any of her father's adoration.

Pandora wasn't sure what she was going to do about her mother. She might try to interfere, but without stones her mechanical enchanted arm couldn't do much. The cheering went on for a long time. Is this what you want? She didn't think so. The love of the people was only useful so far as you could exploit it. I'm going to take your bloodstone and turn it against you.

The thought curled the corners of her lips. Her grandfather gave a short speech, but Pandora wasn't listening. She barely remembered to wave when she was announced, recognizing the moment not because she heard her name, but the jeers and hisses that followed.

Valor Drux was given a hero's welcome. She saw families wearing T-shirts with his face on them. People held up signs in support. There were signs about her, but all of them negative, except for a small group of college-aged kids wearing the outfit she'd fought in during the weapons round. The high collar and crimson cloak stuck out in the crowd. She would have been flattered if she didn't hate the way the Undercity had been turned into a carnival.

"No place for you to hide here," said Valor, nodding towards the contained platform in comparison to the previous rounds when the arena was an obstacle course. "Winners don't run."

She didn't deem he deserved a response and stared back with contempt. The judge led them to the center of the platform where he gave them the unchanged rules. As the judge moved away, preparing to start the fight, Pandora recalled Sophia's warning about the poison. Most likely it was under his fingernails, or another part of his body that might strike her.

"Begin!"

If Valor had hoped that the fight would be easy, she quickly dissuaded him of that idea. He moved fast. Whatever elixirs and other magics burned in his belly, they made him a blur. He attacked with windmill strikes, his lanky arms coming at her with the power of a sledgehammer. Pandora caught him with a kick to the stomach, sending him flying backwards, aided by a Push. He landed on his feet, but stumbled backwards from momentum before he was able to stop.

Valor glowered, so she waved her fingers at him dismissively.

He attacked with fury, the reckless strikes a blatant attempt to strike her with his fists, which was where she assumed the poison was located. Pandora blocked five, seven, eleven attacks, before sending him spinning away with a hooked kick.

"Getting tired of winning?" she asked.

The blood rushed to his face as he charged. Using a carefully timed twisted Pull, she spun him around, tangling his feet and landing him on his back. He was good. She'd give him that. Better than most waku she'd fought.

But she was better.

He approached cautiously the next pass, having had his momentum used against him. The elixirs burned bright in his eyes, and unlike the young Alliance waku, he had the skills to back up the enhancement. He attacked with patience, content to spar while staying ready for her sapphire.

The attack was clever. Valor feinted a right hook, then threw himself feet first in an attempt at a leg lock, which exposed him to a counterattack. She punished his mistake, catching him solidly in the chest. He bounced off the platform, eliciting an in-breath from the crowd. Before she could leap away to keep him from entangling her legs, he reached up and raked the back of her calf with his fingernails.

Pandora scrambled to a new position, checking her lower leg to find bloody lines. The smirk on his face was enough to signal that she'd been poisoned, even if she hadn't felt the effects yet. Valor approached slowly, head tilted as he waited. Maybe this won't be so bad. She advanced, pulling him in with her sapphire and throwing knees and elbows that caught him across the chest and thighs.

Then she went for a right hook and found her swing missing by two inches, which was a gulf in her mind. The world shifted beneath her feet and her lips felt numb. Valor's eyes lit up as he watched her stumble backwards. He went on the offense, catching her with multiple kicks and punches. When she tried to knock him away using a Push, the weak effort barely knocked his hair back.

"You're mine now."

As she tried to block a punch, her arm coming up too late, she feared that he was right.