Amara felt a subtle shift in the atmosphere as every gaze turned expectantly toward the remaining Wayne House members. A heartbeat passed before she realized what they were waiting for.
They were waiting for her.
Amara uncrossed her arms, a strange calm settling over her as she stepped onto the mat.
She exhaled.
As she approached the centre of the training floor, she caught Jae's encouraging nod from the side-lines. But it was Reyes's expression that surprised her, the instructor's typically stern face held something else entirely.
Interest.
Amara rolled her shoulders back and settled into her stance, facing her opponent.
The Helios trainee stood poised in sleek silver gear that captured and reflected the overhead lights, creating an almost ethereal shimmer around their form. A dark hood was pulled halfway down her face, revealing tight coils of onyx hair framing sharp, calculating eyes that tracked Amara's every movement. Everything about them spoke of precision, control, and disciplined power.
She extended a hand, palm open. "Lira. Helios House."
Amara clasped it firmly. "Amara. Wayne House."
Their grips held for a beat longer than necessary—each taking the measure of the other's strength. Neither gave ground.
"Ready?" Reyes's voice resonated through the training hall, less a question than a command.
They nodded in unison.
"Begin."
Neither fighter moved immediately. They began circling, bodies angled sideways to present smaller targets, feet sliding across the mat in perfect balance. Amara kept her breathing measured, weight centred, hands loose but ready. Lira's movements were mathematical, each step precisely calibrated, each shift in weight economical.
Three full rotations before Lira initiated—a lightning-fast jab aimed at Amara's jaw.
Amara's reaction came a split second too late. The punch grazed her cheek as she jerked away. Not a clean hit, but enough to let her know Lira was faster. She countered with a wild swing that Lira easily sidestepped.
Lira pressed the advantage, launching a textbook combination that had clearly been drilled thousands of times. Amara backpedalled, barely deflecting the first two strikes before the third; a sharp hook that caught her in the ribs.
Pain blossomed along her side, but Amara used it, letting the impact spin her body into a counterattack. Where Lira fought with practiced precision, Amara moved with desperate creativity. She feinted a stumble, drawing Lira in, then abruptly changed levels to drive her shoulder into their midsection.
The unexpected tactic worked. Lira grunted in surprise as Amara's momentum pushed them back several steps before they recovered their balance.
"Huh," Lira muttered, reassessing their opponent.
Amara didn't respond, already adjusting her strategy. She couldn't match Lira's technical proficiency, that much was clear after just one exchange. But she had other strengths. Unpredictability, adaptability and a willingness to take risks that textbook fighters often avoided.
When Lira attacked again, Amara didn't try to mirror her perfect form. Instead, she improvised, slipping strikes at odd angles, countering from unexpected positions. Where Lira moved with elegant efficiency, Amara moved with controlled chaos which made her swings harder to predict.
Lira landed two clean strikes for every one of Amara's, but Amara made sure that each of hers count. A swift elbow to the sternum when Lira expected a retreat. A low kick to the calf when she focused on guarding high.
The crowd's murmurs grew appreciative, recognizing the contrast in styles. Reyes, in particular was mildly intrigued,
'Is that you, Vahari?'
She recognized that fighting style as she was a trainee with Vahari as part of Angel Company. But that's a story for another day.
Vahari's voice echoed in Amara's mind:
'When you can't outmatch them, out think them. When you can't be better, be different. You can at least try to catch them off guard instead of getting your ass beat.'
Lira began to show frustration as her flawless technique repeatedly failed to end the match. Her movements became more aggressive and more committed as she was seeking a definitive blow.
That's when Amara saw her opening.
As Lira launched a powerful combination, Amara deliberately took a glancing blow to the shoulder to position herself inside Lira's guard. Pain radiated down her arm, but she ignored it, dropping low and sweeping Lira's legs with more force than finesse.
Caught mid-strike, Lira couldn't adjust in time. She toppled backward, her eyes widening in surprise. Amara didn't hesitate, pouncing forward to secure a grip on Lira's wrist while using her body weight to pin her down.
Amara tried to recall Jae's victory.
'He did it like this, right?'
They hit the mat together, Lira struggling to apply any grappling techniques while Amara countered with unorthodox grips and leverage points, trying to replicate his skilful takedown. Poorly.
Lira nearly escaped twice, but Amara's stubborn determination and willingness to absorb punishment to maintain position gave her the edge. She locked Lira's arm in an awkward submission hold.
Victory was seconds away.
Reyes drew her breath to call the match.
But then something happened…
Amara felt her temperature, particularly on her abdomen, begin to rise rapidly. The dormant tattoo on her midriff—the one that had never responded, never activated, never shown the slightest hint of power—began to tingle. Then burn.
Amara gasped as intricate patterns across her skin flared to life with a deep, golden luminescence. The swirling design, normally dull and unremarkable, now shimmered with inner light. The ancient symbols appeared as if they were dancing and shifting.
A strange sensation, like a dam holding back a powerful flood, began to crack, sending shivers down her spine.
A bad childhood memory creeped into Amara's subconscious.
'Not this again.'
Almost reflexively, a flash of silver erupted across Lira's eyes. Threads of light pulsed beneath her skin, racing down her arms like liquid lightning. Her Aspect had activated out of instinct, as if to protect her from something…that thing being Amara.
Lira's Aspect surged. A concussive wave of kinetic energy erupted from her body, catching Amara squarely in the chest and launching her backward. She flew back, hitting her spine hard on one of the training hall's pillars.
Jae immediately rushed in to check on her.
But the silver light didn't fade. If anything, it intensified, spreading tendrils of energy up Lira's torso and down her arms.
An unsettling cold befell the room as invasive whispers filled everyone's ears. The air itself seemed to vibrate with tension, reality wavering at the edges. Several Revenants backed away instinctively.
Pain radiated through Amara's spine as she slumped against the pillar, but her attention remained fixed on her abdomen where golden light continued to pulse beneath her skin. The ancient symbols on her tattoo weren't just glowing, they were shifting, rearranging themselves into new configurations as if trying to communicate something urgent.
Across the training hall, Lira's silver energy spiralled outward in agitated tendrils. Her eyes were wide with something approaching panic, her Aspect responding to a threat she couldn't comprehend. The kinetic force building around her created distortions in the air, small objects near her beginning to vibrate and lift from the ground.
"I can't—" Lira gasped, struggling to contain the escalating power.
"Something's wrong. It won't stop!"
The watching Revenants were already retreating toward the exits, sensing the dangerous instability of uncontrolled Aspects. Only Jae remained close to Amara, gripping her shoulder in concern.
"What's happening?" he demanded, eyes darting between her golden tattoo and Lira's silver maelstrom.
Before Amara could answer, Reyes moved.
Her tattoo ignited, blue flames roaring to life from the jagged pattern slashing across her face. The ground around her feet scorched black as the heat radiating from her skin spiked. Her hair billowed from her face, not from wind, but from the sheer thermal pressure erupting off her frame.
With a sharp gesture, Reyes thrust out one arm and the flames answered.
A roaring column of fire shot forward like a whip, cracking through the air and slamming into the kinetic field surrounding Lira. The silver energy buckled on impact, distorting violently. Sparks flew in every direction as the two forces collided, silver and blue flame locked in a chaotic spiral.
The fire didn't stop. Reyes narrowed her eyes, and more of it surged from her palms, like living chains of molten heat. It struck again…and again, burning through the ambient energy that threatened to rupture around her.
Lira cried out, body convulsing as her Aspect spasmed, then faltered. The surrounding light flickered violently before collapsing inward with a crack like thunder. Reyes caught the implosion with one final arc of fire, letting the force bleed into the mat, scorching a deep ring around the girl's kneeling form.
The kinetic backlash was gone. Burned away atom by atom.
The scent of scorched air and singed training mats filled the hall.
Jae was still at Amara's side, shielding her from any further harm. Amara, slumped against the pillar, was wide-eyed but conscious. Her face was a mixture of pain and quiet trepidation.
Reyes turned her attention to Lira, who was hunched on the scorched mat. The silver traces of her Aspect had all but vanished, reduced to faint aftershocks dancing under her skin. Her shoulders shook from exhaustion, but she was breathing. Good.
With a sharp breath, Reyes rolled her shoulders, forcing the last flickers of flame back beneath her skin. Heat shimmered off her body, the floor around her still glowing faintly from where she'd landed her strikes.
No one said a word.
No one dared.
Reyes swept her gaze across the gathered rookies—Jae, Amara, the other instructors, the stunned onlookers still frozen near the doors.
"This match is over," she said, voice like tempered steel. "Both Houses are disqualified."
Then, quieter. More to herself than anyone else:
"Vahari… What the hell have you brought into my House?"