The arena crew finished their reset in three minutes this time.
They had found their rhythm across the previous fights—the compound, the sweep, the check of the surface for anything the compound hadn't filled cleanly. The crowd had found its rhythm too. Between fights the stands reorganized themselves into conversation and prediction and argument, and then the microphone went up and the conversation cut short and the attention returned to the floor with the particular focus of people who had already seen enough today to know that what came next would be worth watching.
The announcer let the reset finish.
Then raised the mic.
"Fight four."
The crowd settled.
"From Virex Academy—" he let the academy name carry its usual aggressive weight, "Brack."
The Virex tunnel opened and Brack walked out.
He was large.
