I, the slave boy, awaken with the most potent seed!!

The arena's crystal-lights cast harsh shadows as Zafron and Steele faced each other. Red slime coated Zafron's arms like living armor, while that eerie green energy continued to pulse around Steele's fists.

'He's different from last time,' Zafron analyzed, noting the subtle changes in Steele's stance. 'More controlled. More focused.'

Steele made the first move – a probing jab that Zafron easily slipped. But it was just a setup. As Zafron weaved left, Steele's right leg snapped up in a vicious head kick. The slime on Zafron's forearm hardened instantly, absorbing the impact with a wet smack.

'Testing my defenses,' Zafron thought, countering with a straight right that Steele barely blocked. 'But two can play that game.'

The red slime suddenly shot forward like a spear, forcing Steele to dive and roll. He came up firing those phantom-enhanced strikes, each one distorting the air around it. Zafron's slime barrier caught the first two hits, but the third broke through, catching him in the ribs.

Pain exploded through his side. 'Fuck, he's hitting harder than before.'

[Well, this is going swimmingly,] Calista commented as Zafron stumbled back. [Maybe try not getting hit?]

'If you're not going to help then shut up. Mere hours of training is not enough to prepare for this guy. He's on a different level. But fuck it, so am I!!'

Steele pressed his advantage, launching into a brutal combination. Left hook to the body, right uppercut that barely missed Zafron's chin, spinning back elbow that connected with Zafron's shoulder. Each strike carried that strange green energy, making the impacts feel like they were coming from multiple directions at once.

But Zafron wasn't helpless. As Steele's elbow connected, the slime around the impact point suddenly liquefied, wrapping around Steele's arm. Before he could pull back, Zafron twisted, using the slime's grip to throw Steele over his hip.

Steele hit the ground hard but rolled with the impact, his phantom energy flaring to break the slime's hold. He sprang back up, eyes narrowing as he reassessed his opponent.

'The slime responds to his thoughts,' Steele calculated, wiping blood from a split lip. 'Changes properties instantly. Need to overwhelm it.'

They clashed again in the center of the arena. Steele's enhanced strikes met Zafron's slime defenses in a series of thunderous impacts. Each collision sent shockwaves through the air, the green energy crackling against the red barrier.

Zafron caught a kick aimed at his knee, his slime immediately hardening around Steele's leg. But instead of trying to break free, Steele used the connection to pull himself closer, driving his phantom-charged fist directly into Zafron's solar plexus.

The blow drove the air from Zafron's lungs. His slime barrier shattered, fragments of hardened red material scattering across the arena floor. Before he could recover, Steele's follow-up hook caught him in the jaw, sending him spinning.

'Can't let him get inside again,' Zafron thought, desperately trying to reform his defenses. The slime flowed back to him, collecting around his arms as he regained his balance.

[You know,] Calista chimed in, [getting your ass kicked isn't actually part of the plan. Sakura would be seething whereever she's watching from now]

But on the contrary, Sakura sat perched on one of the benches in the crowd, her ass glued to the seat as she watched nervously.

'This guy...the green glow...the eyes...why does it feel like I know him... He reminds me of that famous fucker...but ...that guy looks different,' she kept thinking as she watched the fight. From her on assessment, Zafron seemed to be doing well. Anyone else with the monster that was Steele would have been long dealt with. And she wasn't the only one that had this sentiment.

Maze watched as well with what could only be described as uncomfortable admiration.

'I mean, from his file, he is said to be a master combatant but this good?!!' she thought watching Steele go.

Zafron ignored however ignored all of Calita's fuss, focusing instead on Steele's movement pattern. There was something familiar about it now, something he recognized from their last encounter.

'He always shifts his weight slightly before using the phantom gaze,' Zafron realized. 'Telegraph I missed before.'

[Yes, but that isn't going to do you much favours now is it? From the onset I did study his fight pattern but he seems to be able to not just slow time from what I have observed but dare I say, he sees beyond it. He is constantly changing tactics, even I can't see a steady pattern in his routine,]

'Well, let's see then!!' Zafron answered in his head.

The next exchange was more measured. Steele launched another combination, but this time Zafron was ready. As Steele's weight shifted for a phantom-enhanced strike, Zafron's slime shot out in multiple tendrils, attacking from different angles.

Steele's eyes widened slightly as he was forced to defend against the writhing red attacks. His phantom energy deflected most, but one tendril wrapped around his ankle while he was distracted. Zafron yanked hard, pulling Steele's feet out from under him.

As Steele fell, Zafron stepped in with a brutal knee strike. The impact caught Steele in the chest, drawing a pained grunt. But even as he hit the ground, Steele was already moving, rolling away from the follow-up stomp that would have crushed his ribs.

'He's adapting too quickly,' Steele thought, spring-kipping back to his feet. 'Need to change tactics.'

The green energy around his fists suddenly intensified, becoming almost blinding. The air itself seemed to thicken as Steele unleashed a barrage of strikes too fast to count. Each blow carried that reality-bending phantom force, attacking from impossible angles.

Zafron's slime barrier held against the first few hits, but then began to crack. A phantom-enhanced punch broke through, catching him in the liver. Another snapped his head back. A third drove into his kidneys, making him taste blood.

But something strange was happening. With each devastating hit, with each spike of pain, Zafron felt something building inside him. A pressure behind his eyes, a burning in his veins.

'What is this?' he wondered, even as another phantom strike cracked his ribs. 'This feeling...'

[Oh, this should be interesting. Steele is even more of the threat than you know. Your system is acting to protect you. You are about to go …] Calista barely finished before Zafron took the words from her mouth.

'Berserker,'

The hits kept coming. Steele was relentless, his phantom energy tearing through Zafron's defenses again and again. Blood ran from multiple cuts, and Zafron's healing factor struggled to keep up with the damage.

But still, that pressure built.

In the high tables, Matilda felt it first – a change in the air, like the moment before a storm breaks. Her hand tightened on the device in her clutch as she watched Zafron take another brutal combination.

'Something's happening,' she thought, feeling Raxus tense beside her. 'Something new.'

Back in the pit, Steele sensed it too. There was something different about the way Zafron was moving now, something primal. The slime around his arms had taken on a darker hue, almost black in the crystal-light.

'What are you playing at?' Steele wondered, launching another phantom-enhanced strike.

This time, when his fist connected with Zafron's slime barrier, something changed. Instead of cracking or shattering, the slime seemed to pulse. A deep, resonant throb that Steele felt in his bones.

And then Zafron looked up.

His eyes were different – pupils dilated until barely any iris remained, blood vessels standing out starkly against the whites. The slime around his arms writhed and twisted like it was alive, its color shifting between deep red and absolute black.

"You wanted to see what I can really do?" Zafron's voice was different too – deeper, resonating with something that made the crystal-lights flicker. "Fine."

The pressure that had been building suddenly released. Power exploded from Zafron in a visible wave, red energy crackling around him like lightning. The slime on his arms spread, flowing across his entire body until he was covered in a living armor of writhing crimson and black.

'What the fuck?' Steele had just enough time to think before Zafron moved.

The speed was impossible. One moment Zafron was ten feet away, the next he was inside Steele's guard. A slime-covered fist caught Steele in the stomach with three times its usual force, lifting him off his feet. Before he could fly backward, tendrils of red wrapped around his arms, pulling him into a knee strike that would have killed a normal man.

Steele's phantom energy flared desperately, trying to counter this new onslaught. But Zafron was everywhere at once, his enhanced strength and speed making each hit feel like being struck by a freight train. The slime seemed to have a mind of its own, attacking from multiple angles while Zafron landed blow after devastating blow.

'This power...' Steele thought, barely managing to block a strike that still sent him sliding backward. 'It's like he's become something else entirely.'

Blood ran from multiple wounds as Steele struggled to defend himself. His phantom energy wasn't just being blocked now – it was being absorbed and reflected back at him by that strange, living armor.

But something was happening to Steele too. As Zafron's berserker assault continued, a change came over his opponent. The green energy around Steele's fists began to spread, covering his entire body in a phantom shroud.

'Yes,' some part of Steele's mind whispered. 'Show me everything you've got.'

The fight evolved into something beyond human comprehension. Zafron's berserker-enhanced strikes met Steele's phantom-shrouded defenses in explosions of red and green energy. Each impact cracked the arena floor, sending spider-web fractures spreading in all directions.

Neither fighter was fully human anymore. Zafron moved like a force of nature, his slime armor rippling and striking with impossible speed while his enhanced strength shattered everything it touched. Steele had become something like a ghost, his phantom energy letting him phase through some attacks while countering with reality-bending strikes of his own.

The crowd was silent now, watching in awe and terror as these two monsters clashed. Even the hardened veterans of the Fighting Pit had never seen anything like this.

It all came down to a single moment.

Zafron and Steele faced each other across the shattered arena floor, both breathing heavily despite their transformations. Blood dripped from multiple wounds on both fighters, though neither seemed to notice their injuries.

'End this,' Zafron's berserker mind demanded.

'Now,' Steele's phantom-shrouded consciousness agreed.

They moved simultaneously, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. The ground beneath their feet cracked and cratered from the force of their launch.

Time seemed to slow as they met in midair, Zafron's slime-armored fist drawing back as Steele's phantom-charged strike came in from the opposite angle. The very air seemed to hold its breath.

And then—

The crystal-lights exploded as red met green in a collision that shook the entire arena.

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