The gladius enters my abdomen.
For an instant, the arena loses sound.
Not because the world went quiet. The world never does me that favor. I still feel the sand under my boots, the weight of Eventide in my hand, the pressure of Undertow too close, Veric's breath behind the shield. But the pain arrives before anything else and compresses it all into a narrow, hot line driven through the side of my body.
Veric got me.
And it wasn't luck, much less brute force. He read my answer, prepared Azure Dividends, used my impact to open my center, and crossed the gap with Azure Trust before I recovered the line.
That wasn't just good.
It was real growth.
The kind of evolution that turns a follower from someone merely protected by the future into someone who can change that future with their own hands.
Under the pain, I feel pride... Damn pride.
[OXI: 1,619 / 2,500]
[Mild Bleeding Active]
