The Announcer spread his arms as the arena settled around Camber and Ravel.
"One fighter is built to open the body, and the other is built to take impact until impact starts owing him money."
He stepped back from the center line.
The arena floor hardened into glass-paneled stone with dark seams running beneath the surface. The sky above stayed flat gray, not natural enough to be outside and not false enough to ignore. Every sound carried too cleanly.
Ravel stood without shifting.
Camber set his weight low. His hands stayed open, fingers relaxed near his hips. Bairn hovered half a step behind him with its three arms curled close, soft limbs flexing as if the Ikona were warming up a body it did not own.
The start tone rang once.
Ravel moved first.
One vertebra broke from Necklace's orbit and drifted wide past Camber's left shoulder. The rest of the bone ring adjusted behind Ravel with quiet precision, each segment finding a new angle without touching the next.
