The arena came apart.
"How did he take that hit?"
"I don't know, but he's bleeding everywhere. He's not supposed to be standing right now."
"This is interesting." Someone laughed, somewhere in the upper tiers. "I'm starting to like the Lestilaut."
Auros launched.
Vexis was grinning. Wide, stupid, eyes too bright. The dust in the air tasted like grit on his tongue and he let it. The sun sat hot on the back of his neck. Pain radiated from his temple in slow, hard pulses and it felt incredible, sharp and real and his, every nerve lit up at once after weeks of watching all of it happen to someone else from somewhere behind his own eyes. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed the weight of his own body until this exact second. The way his knuckles felt when he closed them. The specific pull in his shoulders when he straightened up.
He closed his fist. Leaned his head forward.
"Honorable," he said, and grinned wider.
