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Hedeon raises his face, wild-eyed and angry, like he’s going to snarl at Ares. He stops himself, just barely.
“Thanks,” he mutters, taking the water and drinking it down.
Dean is up next, against Zeke Golden.
Tension sweeps the crowd. The Seniors have already lost two of their fighters—if Zeke doesn’t win, they’ll lose the challenge and be eliminated from theQuartum Bellum.
The pressure is visible on Zeke’s rigid frame, and on Dean as well. Both fighters look strained as they climb into the ring. Unlike the first two pairings, both Dean and Zeke are experienced boxers, hands wrapped with professional care, both falling naturally into their stance before Professor Howell has even tapped the starting bell.
“Fucking hell,” Anna breathes as the fight begins.
Dean and Zeke are so fast that I can hardly keep track as they attack each other with rapid, intricate combinations. This is the difference between trained and highly-trained, boxers vs. brawlers. The crowd collectively holds their breath, the punches landing too fast even for cheers.
The fight goes the full three rounds. I can’t tell who won, though I suspect it might have been Dean. His face is almost unmarked, other than a small bruise under one eye.
The judges—Professor Howell, Professor Bruce, and the Chancellor himself—bend their heads over their scorecards. The crowd silently waits. The Chancellor gives Dean an approving nod as he announces the unanimous decision.
The Seniors howl with rage. They’re out of theQuartum Bellumwithout even the dignity of advancing to the final round.
Dean looks angry instead of pleased. He probably wanted to win that fight outright, not by decision.
“I can’t believe it!” Anna cries. “We’re safe!”
“Yup,” Leo says with a strained smile.
“That was intense,” Anna sighs.
“Dean’s a good fighter; that’s why I picked him,” Leo says, trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice.
Anna catches it anyway. She grabs his face and kisses him.
“You’d knock the shit out of any of them if you were down there,” she says.
Leo smiles, mollified. “I don’t know about that. I’d definitely beat that fucker Calvin Caccia though, wouldn’t I, Zoe?”
“That’s right.” Zoe grins.
With only Sophomore and Junior fighters remaining, the matches continue for bragging rights, and possibly an advantage in the final challenge.
The last pairing is Kenzo Tanaka against Jasper Webb.
I know who I want to win, and not just because I’m supporting the Sophomores. Any friend of Rocco deserves an ass-kicking.
Jasper Webb climbs up in the ring. He looks calm and unphased, even as the surrounding students scream down at him. He shucks off his shirt, revealing a chest and back tattooed in the same manner as his hands, with a perfect anatomical representation of the bones beneath the skin.
“Why do you think he did that?” Zoe says quietly, beside me.
“I don’t know,” I say. “To remind himself of our inevitable end, I suppose. Or he just thinks it looks scary.”
I say it mockingly, but in truth Jasper does cut an imposing figure as he tosses his long, dark red hair back out of his face. His body is lean, hard, and pale, with ripples of muscle beneath the tattooed bones. Even from up here, I can see that his green eyes are vivid as my sister’s, though infinitely colder.
He faces off against Kenzo Tanaka, who has his dark hair brushed into a retro-style pompadour, and his shirt likewise stripped off to show the dragon tattoo running from thumb to shoulder.
“It’s the battle of the ink,” Leo says. He’s trying to sound casual, but his eyes are fixed on the ring. He wants Kenzo to win. He wants the Sophomores to triumph.
We’re all destined for disappointment. Kenzo starts out strong, hitting Jasper with some vicious kicks and punches to the head. Jasper barely seems to feel it. He takes blow after blow, never staggering.
The second round begins, and Jasper walks to the center-ring as fresh as if the fight is just beginning. Kenzo fires a few more combinations at him. Jasper slips them easily. Waiting patiently for an opening, he shoots the gap and hits Kenzo with a single hard right-cross straight to the jaw. Kenzo goes down limp and boneless.
