The golden fire was fast, crossing distance in a heartbeat, before striking Ian.
Golden flame layered on top of blue flame. Two powerful Ascender burns stacked into the same body.
Ian's body convulsed against the ground, whatever life had been holding on inside him finally extinguishing in a rush of overlapping heat.
He screamed his lungs out in the last moments of his life, but he died before Tom's flame was extinguished by Klein's rushing healing water that was too late.
Baaron's cleaver came down in the same instant.
But Tom, who had already achieved his goal, was on the move.
His body drifted sideways with the same footwork he had been using all fight, and Baaron's strike hit empty rubble. The impact sent up a spray of stone that clattered around Tom's boots as he settled into his new position meters away.
Baaron's eyes were locked on Ian's smoking corpse.
His face turned dark red.
"YOU BASTARD!"
His voice tore across the arena.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD, THAT'S NOT—"
