The moment the horn sounded, the entire arena lunged forward into chaos. Disharmonious moved first and the name suddenly made sense the instant he did.
His fighting style carried none of the clean elegance the Concordants preferred and none of the theatrical hesitation that made average fighters predictable. He moved like someone who had learned to survive. The iron mallet in his hands whistled through the air with such force that the shock alone rattled the stone floor beneath him.
Alpha II analysed him. He was experienced and every step he took had the weight of someone who had fought enough times to stop wasting time. Alpha II reacted before the first full swing could land.
She lifted her flute and played.
The sound came out clear and beautiful, but the moment the note left her instrument, it changed into something much more dangerous than music. Her Pinnacle Tether, Opera Singer, responded to her will at once, turning the melody into a force that pushed against Disharmonious's attack. The Essentia Form struck the air, causing the hammer's path to shift just enough for her to twist away at the last second. The impact still shook the arena and the audience roared when the soundwave from her flute cracked across the stone and forced several people in the front rows to brace themselves.
Disharmonious did not look surprised. He looked delighted.
He spun the hammer back around with frightening speed and drove it down again, forcing Alpha II to leap sideways as the arena floor cracked under the weapon's impact. She landed softly, already playing again and a second note came from her flute in a rising sweep that slammed into his chest.
The Essentia Form altered sound, compressing the force of the music into a shockwave that pushed air, dust and even the loose fabric of his clothing away from her. Disharmonious stumbled half a step. He recovered far too quickly and immediately came back with a side swing that would have split her in two if it had connected cleanly.
Alpha II ducked beneath it and turned the movement into another time. Her flute became an extension of her breathing.
She played while moving and the notes followed her body that gave her enough force to redirect her own momentum whenever she needed it. One note created a pressure wave that kicked her backwards just before the hammer came down. Another note struck the side of the arena and ricocheted back toward Disharmonious as a burst of force that interfered with his balance.
She had no Divine Weapon beyond the flute because Vastarael had never intended her to become a frontline warrior. That made her fighting style even more dangerous because everything she did had been built from precision rather than brute aggression.
Alpha II barely managed to block a swing with a shockwave that cushioned the impact before it could crush her ribs. The force still drove her across the ring in a spray of dust and shattered stone. Her boots skidded violently while her body vibrated from the aftershock. For a brief instant she felt the danger of fighting someone who could attack at high speeds. Disharmonious was not swinging randomly. Every blow he threw was setting up the next one, forcing her to choose between exhaustion and injury.
She answered with a stronger note.
The Ascender Form activated through the flute and the entire tone dropped into something colder beneath the harmony.
To weaker beings, that kind of sound would have gone directly for the soul, tearing through spiritual defenses with horrifying precision, but Disharmonious was not weak enough for that kind of direct attack. Instead, the effect hit him like pressure inside the mind and soul, forcing a visible distortion through his rhythm. His next movement slowed down not fast enough for an ordinary observer to notice, but enough for Alpha II to exploit.
The flute's melody surged forward in a sharp, staccato line that struck his shoulder and pushed him sideways just before his counterattack could land. Disharmonious twisted with it, using the momentum of the hit to spin his body into another strike aimed low at her legs, clearly trying to break her footing and end the fight through attrition.
Alpha II jumped over the mallet and as she did, the Ascender Form pulsed again, sending a disruption through his soul. He slammed the mallet into the floor and used the recoil to hurl himself in a sudden burst, twisting in midair into a descending blow that would have turned her skull to mush. Alpha II answered with a note that hit him across the body like a compressed wall, forcing the hammer to lose alignment as he landed.
The sound did not merely push him back. It made the air around him ring and that vibration interfered with the stability of his step long enough for her to retreat and reposition herself. She kept moving because standing still against him for even a second was suicide.
Alpha II's breathing remained steady despite her running around. Her flute rose and fell against her lips in a steady rhythm. She used the platform of her body to dodge the hammer's impact. Every time Disharmonious forced her into a corner, she turned the corner into another measure of music. He struck and she answered. The battle became a contest between overwhelming physical force and refined musical violence.
Disharmonious finally changed tactics.
Instead of continuing with his wide, crushing blows, he narrowed his stance and began using the mallet with frightening precision, forcing Alpha II to handle feints that would have been impossible for a slower opponent to survive. He was absurdly good at reading her timing. Twice, he nearly caught the flute as she moved it away from her mouth. Once, he struck the ground where she had been standing a fraction of a second earlier, blowing apart the stone in a way that would have shredded her if she had not already moved.
Alpha II realized that immediately.
The flute's sound grew less melodic and more forceful. She used the Essentia Form to turn one phrase into a burst that shoved Disharmonious back, then followed it with a rising counter-melody that struck at the rhythm of his breathing. He staggered once, then smiled through the pressure.
He lifted the hammer again. This time, he brought it down from above with enough force to make the entire arena tremble.
Alpha II barely escaped by using a sharp, piercing note that forced her own body sideways. The hammer shattered the floor where she had been standing. The shockwave threw dust into the air while people in the stands shouted wildly. Vastarael's posture shifted as he watched the exchange unfold. He had placed his bet already and though he looked calm, Alpha II knew that he would not have placed it unless he truly believed she could do this.
She raised the flute again. This time, she played a longer phrase. The sound moved through the arena. The Essentia Form expanded through the tone and pushed the air itself into a wave that forced Disharmonious to brace. At the same time, the Ascender Form layered behind it and the disruption in his soul and body grew just enough to make his next movement less precise. That was her opening.
She bent low beneath the mallet swing, sliding through the space beside him while still playing. The flute's note struck his ribs as she passed, sending a burst of impact directly into his side. He turned quickly and caught the end of the movement with a shoulder check that nearly crushed her against the arena wall but Alpha II rotated with the hit, used the pressure to redirect herself upwards and landed one clean note across the back of his neck.
Disharmonious stumbled for real this time but it was only for a moment. He slammed the hammer into the ground with enough force to split the stone ring in half. Alpha II was thrown backwards.
She caught herself at the edge of the broken floor with her boots grinding against debris. Disharmonious rested the mallet om one shoulder. Tourists from Concerto were on their feet. The Faltered in the stands were laughing, shouting, betting and hollering like the whole thing was a festival. The host's voice echoed somewhere but even he sounded excited that the girl from nowhere had survived this long.