The arena lights dimmed as the combatants returned to their corners. The air smelled of ozone and sweat, thick with anticipation.
Kenneth exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders. Across the ring, Cassian wiped blood from his split lip, his gold-flecked eyes gleaming with something unreadable.
The referee's voice cut through the silence.
"Round two. Begin."
---
Kenneth moved first.
No hesitation this time.
Fire erupted from his palms in a searing arc, forcing Cassian into a desperate backward roll. The crowd roared as flames licked the arena tiles, leaving blackened scars in their wake.
Cassian came up in a crouch, his breath quick but steady. "There it is."
Kenneth didn't reply. He advanced, fire coiling around his fists like living serpents.
A snap of his wrist sent a whip of flame cracking toward Cassian's chest.
Cassian dodged—barely—but the heat seared the edge of his tunic.
Kenneth pressed the attack.
Fire and lightning intertwined, a devastating helix of destruction that forced Cassian into a defensive retreat.
For the first time since the Crucible began, the mimic looked cornered.
---
Then Cassian smiled.
A flicker of movement—his hand brushed Kenneth's forearm as he deflected a firebolt.
Contact.
Kenneth's flames stuttered.
Cassian's veins lit up with stolen fire.
The crowd gasped.
Kenneth recoiled, but it was too late.
Cassian retaliated with Kenneth's own fire, shaping it into a concentrated lance that seared past his guard.
The heat forced Kenneth back, his forearms raised to shield his face.
Cassian didn't let up.
He struck with precision, not brute force—each blast aimed to destabilize, not destroy:
A fire whip to the legs to disrupt footing
A controlled burst to the left to herd Kenneth toward the edge
A final, point-blank eruption that Kenneth barely deflected
The force sent him skidding back, his boots scraping against the arena tiles.
Cassian advanced, his stolen fire flickering in his palms.
"You're still holding back."
Kenneth's jaw tightened.
He wasn't.
Was he?
---
Kenneth shifted tactics.
If fire was compromised, he'd use lightning.
A crackling bolt lanced from his fingertips—too fast to dodge.
Cassian took it head-on.
The electricity wreathed his body, muscles locking as the voltage surged through him.
Kenneth didn't wait.
He closed the distance, a fist wreathed in flames aiming for Cassian's ribs—
—only for Cassian to grab his wrist mid-swing.
Another copy.
Lightning surged back at Kenneth, the mirrored strike sending him stumbling.
Cassian didn't pause.
He pressed the advantage, combining fire and lightning in a devastating cross.
Kenneth barely raised a guard in time.
The impact sent him crashing to one knee.
The arena erupted.
---
Cassian loomed over him, stolen energy crackling in his fists.
"Get up."
Kenneth's breath came ragged, his arms trembling from the backlash of his own power.
He could end this.
One transformation. One burst of his true strength.
But that wasn't the fight he'd agreed to.
He forced himself to his feet.
Cassian struck before he could fully recover—a final, brutal surge of fire and lightning that sent Kenneth sprawling across the ring.
Smoke curled from his clothes as the referee's voice rang out.
"Winner: Cassian Veyne."
---
Silence.
Then—applause.
Kenneth pushed himself up, his body aching but his mind sharper than ever.
Cassian offered a hand.
Kenneth took it.
"Next time," Cassian murmured, "don't hold back."
Kenneth almost smiled, whispering to himself "I wasn't."
Zarek's voice cut through the noise as Kenneth stepped from the ring.
"You let him win."
But Kenneth knew that wasn't the case
Cassian was a true monster.