The impact shuddered through my arms as our blades locked above us, sparks scattering across the blackened sand. For a moment neither of us moved. His burning sword pressed down against mine with crushing weight, heat pouring off the blade like a furnace. Our faces were only a few feet apart now, his dragon-slit eyes staring into mine with an unsettling calm. Then he pushed harder. My boots ground into the sand as the pressure forced my guard lower inch by inch. The strength behind his strike was immense, far beyond what a normal warrior could produce. My arms trembled, but I held the line, refusing to give even a fraction more ground.
Suddenly I twisted my wrists. The lock broke. His blade slid off mine and crashed into the sand beside my foot, sending a burst of scorched grit into the air. I stepped sideways and slashed toward his shoulder, but he turned quickly, bringing his sword back up to intercept. Steel met flame again with a violent crack. He stepped in close, forcing the pace before I could reset. His sword flashed toward my neck. I caught the strike and redirected it, but he followed immediately with another attack—a sharp thrust aimed straight for my chest. I knocked it aside and spun with the motion, bringing my own blade across toward his ribs. He blocked again, the force of the clash echoing across the arena.
For several seconds we traded blows without pause. High strikes, low cuts, sudden thrusts—each attack came faster than the last. Our swords collided again and again, sparks spraying with every impact as the crowd above screamed in delight. He was fast, fast enough that every mistake would cost me. His blade swept toward my legs in a sudden low arc. I jumped back, the burning edge slicing through the sand where my feet had been. Before I could counter, he surged forward, slashing toward my shoulder with a powerful diagonal strike. I blocked, but the force drove me backward. He pressed forward relentlessly.
Another slash came toward my side. I twisted away and deflected it, but the next strike followed immediately—a downward blow aimed to crush through my guard. I raised my sword just in time to stop it. The impact rang like a bell and our blades locked again. But this time he moved first. With a sharp twist he knocked my sword aside and drove his shoulder into my chest. The force sent me stumbling back several steps across the sand. Before I could regain my balance he rushed forward, his sword flashing toward my neck in a lethal arc.
I ducked under the strike and rolled sideways, the flaming blade carving through empty air where my head had been. I came up on one knee and immediately lunged forward, driving my sword toward his abdomen in a straight thrust. He twisted away and slapped the blade aside, but the motion opened his guard for the briefest moment. I saw it—a single heartbeat of vulnerability. He swung again, aiming to force me back, but this time I stepped inside the arc of the strike. His blade passed over my shoulder as I closed the distance completely.
My sword moved before he could recover. The edge slammed into his guard, knocking his weapon upward. The impact threw his balance off just enough. That was all I needed. I pivoted on my heel and drove forward with every ounce of strength I had left. My blade plunged straight through his chest.
For a moment the arena fell silent. His sword slipped from his hand as the flames around it flickered and died. The dragon-eyed warrior looked down slowly at the steel buried in his chest, then back up at me. Those yellow eyes studied my face one last time before the fire inside them faded. His body began to break apart, cracks of glowing light spreading across his armor like shattered glass. The form that had mirrored mine moments earlier dissolved into fragments of embers that scattered into the air.
The sword fell from my hand as the last pieces of him vanished. I stood there alone in the center of the arena, chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, the black sand shifting beneath my boots. For a few seconds there was nothing. Then the colosseum erupted. The roar of the unseen crowd crashed over me like a storm, shaking the walls of the arena itself. The shadows in the stands writhed and cheered, their voices echoing endlessly through the massive structure.
But I barely heard them. I only looked down at the place where my reflection had fallen—and realized the trial was finally over.