Xander did not let her finish recovering.
The moment Parsilla's knee lifted from the canvas, he rushed her again.
Blue flame scraped backward from his feet in ragged trails, and the grid in his vision snapped into place with bright, violent certainty.
Three points lit across Parsilla's body before she fully rose: ribs, shoulder, lead thigh.
Clean targets.
Quick damage.
Keep her from settling into rhythm.
Don't let her breathe.
Don't let her build momentum.
His body obeyed before the thought finished.
He cut across the ring in a blur, low and sharp, one hand brushing close to the canvas as his footwork shifted into something more feline than human.
The crowd's roar stretched thin around him.
The lights became streaks.
Parsilla's smile became the only fixed point in the world.
She looked up.
And grinned wider.
Instead of bracing, she exploded off the canvas.
The motion was absurd.
Parsilla launched forward like the ring itself had rejected her, her body nearly horizontal for a split second as her fist tore toward Xander's face.
It was not a proper punch.
It was a cannonball with knuckles.
Xander's grid flashed red.
He twisted.
The punch missed his head by a breath.
The air snapped against his cheek hard enough to sting.
His balance nearly broke from the pressure alone, and he stumbled half a step sideways before catching himself.
The fist slammed into the canvas behind him.
The ring boomed.
A shallow crater rippled through the reinforced floor where her knuckles landed.
Xander's eyes sharpened.
Holy shit… I cannot let myself get hit by that. A single one of those would probably knock out the Red Ogre..
He slid back, feet narrowing beneath him, body angled sideways.
His stance lowered again, but not like before.
This one was tighter.
Stranger.
Weight coiled in his hips.
Knees bent.
Shoulders loose.
Hands ready to strike or spring away.
Parsilla pulled her fist free from the canvas and stood with dust curling around her knuckles.
Then she laughed.
"Now that's what I'm talking about! Hahaha!"
Her voice rang across the ring, full of wild delight.
Not mockery.
Not anger.
She sounded genuinely happy, like Xander had finally become worth her appetite.
Xander's expression stayed serious.
Too serious.
A bead of sweat slid down the side of his jaw.
Across the arena, Seo Yura leaned into the madness.
"Did you see that opening?! Scarlet Phantom goes for the follow-up, but Parsilla launches off the floor like gravity owed her money! One clean hit from that woman, and we may be scraping Phantom paste off Ring Three!"
The crowd howled.
"MOSSHEAD! MOSSHEAD! MOSSHEAD!"
Jerry gripped the rail, eyes wide.
"Bro, she punched the floor and the floor lost."
TJ nodded slowly.
"Kid needs to stay allergic to those hands."
Near the contestant side, Kari watched without moving.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"She is beginning," he said quietly.
Parsilla lunged again.
This time, the screen above the ring flashed before she even reached him.
[ABILITY DETECTED]
[PRIMAL AURA]
Resource Detected: [Ki]
A physical enhancement ability that uses internal life force to amplify explosive movement, muscular output, pain tolerance, and instinctive combat response. Effectiveness increases with aggression and sustained close combat.
The words burned across the screen for the audience.
Then Parsilla changed.
Her dark green hair lifted around her as if caught in a violent updraft.
Heat shimmered from her skin.
The air around her warped faintly, and a greenish aura crawled over her shoulders, arms, and legs like living smoke.
Her muscles expanded slightly, not into grotesque bulk, but into sharper definition, each line of her body tightening with predatory force.
Her smile turned feral.
Seo's voice rose into a delighted scream.
"There it is! Primal Aura! The Berserker Queen has activated Ki! This is not mana, folks! This is raw body power, internal force, the beautiful little monster engine that turns trained fighters into natural disasters!"
Parsilla vanished forward.
Xander moved.
Her fist ripped through the space where his chest had been.
He slipped left, shoulders folding around the strike, and snapped a jab into her exposed ribs.
It landed.
Barely mattered.
Parsilla turned with the hit, laughing, and whipped an elbow toward his temple.
Xander ducked under it and countered with a short kick to her inner thigh.
The impact cracked.
Parsilla's leg barely shifted.
She stepped through it.
Xander's pupils tightened.
She's eating the hits.
Parsilla's knee came up.
Xander tilted back, the strike cutting past his stomach.
He planted one hand on the canvas and spun away as her heel came down where his foot had been.
The ring shook again.
"Phantom is landing!" Seo shouted.
"He is absolutely touching her! But the Berserker Queen is walking through those counters like they're bad weather!"
Xander darted in from the side, his grid guiding him toward a glowing point beneath her ribs.
He struck fast, a clean body shot reinforced by his current speed.
Parsilla grunted, but instead of retreating, she trapped his wrist under her arm.
For one horrible instant, her fingers closed around his forearm.
Xander's danger sense screamed.
He twisted, dropped his weight, and slipped free just as her other fist carved downward.
The punch grazed his shoulder.
Only grazed.
Pain flared all the way through his arm.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
17 Damage received.
He ignored the rest and slid out, boots scraping.
Parsilla chased him immediately.
"Don't run now!" she laughed.
"You kicked me so nicely!"
"You're welcome," Xander shot back, breath tight.
"I usually charge extra for emotional damage."
She laughed harder and came faster.
The next exchange blurred.
Parsilla pressed him toward the ropes with brutal, joyful pressure.
Left hook.
Right straight.
Knee.
Spinning elbow.
Every motion carried heat and force, her green aura flaring brighter with each committed attack.
She did not fight like Vance, with tricks hidden inside range.
She fought like a storm that had learned footwork.
Xander slipped the hook.
Barely.
He leaned away from the straight.
Barely.
The knee clipped his side, driving a shock through his ribs.
He used the pain to trigger Combat Instinct, then snapped a counter across her jaw with the boosted force.
Parsilla's head turned.
For the first time, the crowd saw her cheek ripple from a clean hit.
Then she looked back at him, smiling through it.
Xander felt something cold crawl through his stomach.
That one should've hurt more.
Parsilla threw herself at him again.
He dropped low and slid beneath her extended arm, nearly parallel to the canvas for a heartbeat.
His hand slapped the floor, his body spun, and his heel cracked into the back of her knee.
A beautiful hit.
A tactical hit.
A hit that would have made most fighters stumble.
Parsilla's knee dipped one inch.
Then held.
She looked down at him.
"Good try."
Xander's eyes widened.
She stomped.
He rolled away just before her foot smashed down.
The impact sent a tremor through the canvas and rattled his teeth.
Seo's voice tore through the arena.
"Scarlet Phantom is moving like a shadow on fire, but Parsilla is refusing to fall! He attacks the joints, the ribs, the angles, and she just keeps coming! This is speed versus violence, ladies and gentlemen, and violence is laughing!"
Jerry shoved both hands through his hair.
"Man, he's hitting her! He's actually hitting her!"
TJ grimaced.
"Yeah, but she's acting like he's seasoning her."
"Do not say that."
"What? Look at her face!"
Kari remained silent, gaze tracking every exchange.
Above, behind the VIP glass, Orion Cross sat forward now.
The blue-haired man beside him crossed his arms, but even his glare had shifted.
Less contempt.
More reluctant attention.
Xander retreated, then cut right.
Parsilla followed instantly.
He feinted toward her head and dropped into a body shot.
She absorbed it and swung a backhand toward his face.
Xander bent beneath it, pivoted outside her leg, and fired two rapid strikes into her side.
One.
Two.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
[Combat Instinct] chain triggered.
+2 temporary Strength for 10 seconds.
Xander drove a third punch toward her liver.
Parsilla caught it with her abdomen.
Not her hand.
Her abdomen.
Her muscles tightened under the blow, green aura flaring like a shield made of heat.
The punch sank in, but not deep enough.
Then her hand came down and grabbed the back of his head.
Xander's mind went blank for half a heartbeat.
Parsilla pulled.
Her forehead came at him like a falling brick.
He tore sideways with everything he had.
The headbutt missed clean contact, but her brow clipped his cheekbone.
Pain burst across his face.
Blood flicked from the reopened cut near his cheek as he staggered away.
Parsilla licked a drop of blood from her lip, eyes bright.
"There you are," she said.
"I was wondering when you'd start bleeding again."
Xander wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and forced his breathing steady.
"Yeah, well," he muttered, "I'm trying not to make it a habit."
The grid flashed again.
He moved before she could answer.
This time he did not go straight in.
He circled fast, blue flame skating around the ring as he attacked from angles.
A jab to the ribs.
Low kick.
Shoulder feint.
Step out.
Re-enter.
Palm strike to the sternum.
Every hit was quick.
Every exit immediate.
Parsilla turned after him with frightening speed, but he stayed just beyond the center of her power.
For three seconds, it worked.
Then she adapted.
Xander cut left.
Parsilla was already there.
Her elbow smashed toward his chest.
He crossed his arms and took it on the guard.
The impact lifted him off his feet.
He hit the canvas, rolled with it, and came up in a crouch near the ropes.
His forearms throbbed like the bones had been filled with thunder.
The crowd roared louder than ever.
"MOSSHEAD! MOSSHEAD!"
"PHANTOM! PHANTOM!"
The chants collided now, no longer one-sided.
Seo laughed into the mic, voice wild with the arena's fever.
"Oh, listen to that! The crowd is splitting! Half of you want the Queen to smash him, half of you want the Phantom to survive long enough to do something insane! This, my violent little friends, is what a tournament is supposed to feel like!"
Xander's chest rose and fell.
His active skills were still running.
But Parsilla looked barely winded.
She rolled her shoulders, aura burning brighter, and walked toward him with that same delighted grin.
"You're fast," she said.
Xander stayed low, eyes sharp.
"Thanks."
Parsilla's grin turned almost gentle.
"I'm faster when I'm having fun."
Then she dashed.
Xander's grid flashed red across his entire vision.
Move!
He sprang sideways as Parsilla's fist punched through the space beside him, then twisted midair to avoid her follow-up kick.
Her heel tore past his ribs, missing by so little the pressure dragged a line of heat across his skin.
He landed badly, one hand touching the canvas.
Parsilla was already above him.
Xander pushed off the floor and flipped backward, her punch slamming down between his hands as he escaped.
The shockwave caught him anyway, throwing him into a stumble.
He turned the stumble into a spin.
His heel flashed toward her jaw.
Parsilla raised her forearm.
The kick landed with a crack.
Her arm moved slightly.
That was all.
Xander landed and instantly retreated.
This is bad.
Parsilla lowered her arm, smiling like he had just told a joke only she understood.
Xander's mind raced beneath the pressure of Mental Resilience, Rapid Cognition, and the fading guidance of the grid.
My speed is keeping me alive, but my hits aren't stopping her. If I slow down once, she folds me. If I run out of mana, she folds me. If I get greedy…
Parsilla lunged again, green aura blazing around her body.
Xander vanished sideways, her fist ripping past him like a meteor.
She folds me twice.
He clenched his teeth and drove himself back into motion, blue flame and green aura clashing beneath the arena lights as the fight accelerated into something too fast for most eyes to follow.
The first prompt hit Xander's vision just as he ducked beneath another brutal hook.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Due to repeated exposure to high-speed near-impact attacks and evasive maneuvers under lethal pressure, [Hyper Adaptation] has triggered.
You have gained:
+2 Dexterity
+1 Constitution
Xander's foot scraped against the canvas.
His body adjusted mid-motion.
The dodge that should have ended with him off-balance instead became smooth, his weight catching perfectly on the outside of his heel.
The strength in his legs deepened.
His lungs pulled in air with a little more ease.
His frame felt slightly sturdier, as if his body had accepted the fact that Parsilla was a walking demolition permit and decided to reinforce itself accordingly.
Then a second window flashed.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Due to repeated failed attempts to inflict meaningful damage and the resulting muscular backlash from high-force strikes, [Hyper Adaptation] has triggered.
You have gained:
+2 Strength
Xander's eyes sharpened.
A small grin cut through the strain on his face.
Now we're talking.
Parsilla came at him again, green aura burning around her like wildfire caught in human shape.
Xander slipped backward, still wary, still careful, but now the movement had a new bite to it.
His legs responded faster.
His shoulders felt looser.
His punches, even before he threw them, promised more weight.
I just need to draw this out a little longer.
He slid away from a straight punch that carved through the space in front of his face.
The more dangerous it gets…
Parsilla spun into a backfist.
Xander ducked, feeling the wind tear over his hair.
…the faster I adapt.
Seo Yura's voice rose over the madness, bright and hungry.
"Scarlet Phantom is still alive in there! He's been chased, clipped, pressured, and nearly flattened, but look at his movement! He's not slowing down! If anything, he looks sharper!"
The crowd had turned restless now.
Not bored.
Never bored.
But unstable.
They could feel something changing even if they couldn't name it.
"MOSSHEAD! MOSSHEAD!"
"PHANTOM! PHANTOM!"
The chants collided again, louder than before.
Above the arena, behind the VIP glass, Orion Cross watched with his cigar lowered between two fingers.
Beside him, the blue-haired man's scowl had tightened, but his eyes no longer held simple disdain.
"He is adjusting," Orion said quietly.
The blue-haired man said nothing.
On the VIP railing outside another room, Sol leaned with one knee raised, chin resting against his knuckles.
His bored expression had not changed much during the early parts of the fight.
But now his eyes followed Xander carefully.
In Ring Three, Xander saw the timer at the edge of his vision.
[Predator's Instinct: 20 seconds remaining]
He let his breathing turn ragged on purpose.
His shoulders dipped.
His steps grew wider, uglier, less precise.
He staggered back from Parsilla's next feint as if his legs were finally failing him.
Parsilla noticed.
Of course she did.
Her grin sharpened.
"Tired already?" she called.
"Come on, Phantom! Don't disappear before I'm done playing!"
Xander let his mouth hang open slightly, selling the fatigue.
"Sorry," he panted.
"You're just… a lot."
Parsilla laughed and rushed in.
Exactly as he wanted.
Her right fist came first, heavy and direct, wrapped in green Ki that condensed around her knuckles right before impact.
Xander's grid flared.
He slipped to the outside, closer than he would have liked, and snapped a counter into her ribs.
One.
Parsilla's body tightened.
Her left elbow came immediately.
Xander bent under it, pivoted, and drove a second punch into the same side.
Two.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
[Combat Instinct] triggered.
Next attack within 5 seconds receives increased damage.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
Consecutive hits confirmed.
Temporary Strength bonus applied.
But Xander was already moving.
The third marker on the grid lit near Parsilla's midsection, bright and tempting.
He almost followed it directly.
Then something clicked.
Parsilla's green aura had a rhythm.
It was not evenly spread all the time.
She gathered it at the point of contact.
Fist before punching.
Forearm before blocking.
Thigh before absorbing a kick.
Abdomen before taking a body shot.
She wasn't just tough.
She was focusing the aura where she expected impact.
She hyper-focuses it at the impact zones.
Xander's grin returned, smaller and sharper this time.
Then let's throw her a curveball.
He turned his hips like before.
Parsilla's eyes lit up.
A roundhouse.
The same attack that had sent her sliding earlier.
Her aura shifted instantly, green light thickening along her waist and outer thigh.
Her body braced to take it, punish it, and probably break his leg for trying the same trick twice.
Xander's kick began to rise.
Then stopped.
He twisted his torso instead, shoulder driving forward into what looked like a committed punch.
Parsilla's aura spread again, rushing upward to reinforce her guard and ribs.
Xander did not throw the punch either.
He used the force of the motion to whip his lower body around from a different angle entirely.
His shin cut low and inward.
The kick came toward her inner thigh.
There was something different about it.
Not just speed.
Not just power.
It carried a compressed snap, a violent rhythm born from dodging, striking, failing, adjusting, and striking again.
The air around his leg seemed to bend as the blue flame at his foot narrowed into a sharp streak.
The system chimed as the kick crossed the final inch.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
[Hyper Adaptation] has triggered.
Due to repeated activation and refinement of [Combat Instinct] under sustained combat pressure, the skill has reached the next rank.
[Combat Instinct] has upgraded.
Rank E → Rank D
[Combat Instinct] (Rank D)
After dodging or taking a hit, your next attack within 5 seconds deals +20% more damage.
Landing 2 consecutive hits grants +5 temporary Strength for 15 seconds.
This effect can stack up to 3 times, resetting duration with each stack.
Current Stacks: 2 / 3
Current Strength: 16 → 26
The kick landed.
Crack.
The sound was not loud like one of Parsilla's punches.
It was sharper.
Cleaner.
Meaner.
Parsilla's reinforced aura was a half-beat too late.
Xander's shin smashed into the inside of her thigh with focused force, right where the body hated being struck.
Muscle buckled.
Her balance broke.
For the first time in the fight, Parsilla dropped to one knee.
The crowd lost its mind.
Not because she had been flung.
Because she had been forced down.
A bruise began to bloom across her inner thigh, faint but visible beneath the arena lights.
Seo Yura's voice nearly cracked.
"HE GOT HER! Scarlet Phantom fakes the repeat kick, sells the punch, and slips the real strike into the inner thigh! That is not luck, folks! That is adjustment! That is nasty fight intelligence! The Berserker Queen just took a knee!"
Jerry slammed both hands on the railing.
"There it is! There it is! He made her bite on the fake!"
TJ was practically vibrating.
"That was dirty! Beautiful dirty! That's alleyway scholarship right there!"
Kari watched with a calm, approving stillness.
"He saw the aura," he murmured.
Behind the VIP glass, Orion Cross's faint smile returned.
"Good," he said.
Even Sol reacted.
The King of the Ring, who had watched most of the night like boredom was his natural climate, raised one eyebrow.
Only one.
But for Sol, that was practically applause.
Xander slid back before Parsilla could grab him, chest rising and falling hard.
The kick had cost him.
His muscles burned from the recoil.
His mana still ticked downward.
His active skills were nearing their end.
But for one shining second, the fight had shifted.
Parsilla remained on one knee, one hand pressed lightly to the canvas.
Her green hair hid part of her face.
The arena shook around them.
Xander's grid flickered.
His blue flame curled low around his feet.
Then Parsilla lifted her head.
The smile was still there.
But now there was something else inside it.
Respect.
And hunger.
"Okay," she said, voice low enough that the ring mic barely caught it.
"That one was good."
Xander swallowed.
His grin stayed in place, but sweat slid cold down his neck.
"Thanks," he said.
"I've been told I'm educational."
Parsilla's fingers dug into the canvas.
The green aura around her body flared brighter than before.
Seo Yura's voice dropped into a dangerous whisper.
"Ladies and gentlemen… I think he just made her serious."
Xander lowered his stance.
His eyes flicked to the stack counter hovering at the edge of his vision.
She likes taking my hits head-on.
The thought moved faster than his breathing.
That's why I started with two stacks.
She probably thinks that kick was a stand-alone attack.
Because seriously, who the hell would assume I'm gaining power in real time?
Parsilla was still on one knee, fingers pressed into the canvas, her green aura hissing around her like heat over asphalt.
Her smile had changed.
Not gone.
Never gone.
But tighter now, more focused.
The bruise blooming on her inner thigh had not crippled her, but it had taught her something.
Xander refused to let that lesson settle.
He darted forward before she could fully stand.
His fist snapped toward her face, fast more than powerful.
Parsilla raised her forearm and caught it with a focused burst of Ki, the green aura thickening over the impact point like living armor.
The punch barely moved her.
But it landed.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
[Combat Instinct] chain triggered.
Current Stacks: 3 / 3
Current Strength: 26 → 31
Power surged through Xander's body.
Not like speed.
Speed made him feel light, slippery, untethered from the floor.
This was different.
His muscles tightened with dense, brutal force.
His arms felt packed with pressure, like every tendon had become a drawn cable.
For a second, his body felt too strong for its own frame.
I feel like I could punch a hole through someone right now.
A grin spread across his face.
Parsilla saw it.
She pushed herself up and laughed, though there was a sharpness beneath it now.
"Your kicks are pretty good, Phantom."
Her eyes gleamed through the green aura.
"But you gotta work on those punches."
Xander flexed his fingers once.
"Funny. I was just thinking I needed a better test dummy."
Parsilla's laugh turned wild again.
Then they crashed back together.
Xander changed his pattern completely.
No repeated angle.
No obvious rhythm.
He cut left, feinted low, sprang back, then entered from the outside of her lead foot.
His blue flame dragged across the canvas in broken streaks while the grid in his vision flashed and warped, struggling to keep up with both his speed and Parsilla's rising aggression.
Parsilla answered with violence.
Her Ki flared higher, green light rolling over her shoulders and down her arms.
Each movement snapped with heavier pressure now.
A punch missed Xander's head and tore a gust across his ear.
A knee rose for his ribs, and he twisted around it so closely the heat from her aura kissed his skin.
She spun into an elbow, and he ducked so low his knuckles brushed the canvas.
Seo Yura's voice climbed with the pace.
"They're accelerating again! Scarlet Phantom is changing his rhythm, no pattern, no comfort, nothing for Parsilla to grab onto! But the Berserker Queen is answering with pure pressure! Every missed hit sounds like it could crack the ring!"
The crowd could barely keep a chant together anymore.
Every exchange stole the sound from one side and gave it to the other.
"MOSSHEAD!"
"PHANTOM!"
"MOSSHEAD!"
"PHANTOM!"
Jerry was gripping the railing so hard his knuckles paled.
"Come on, kid. Don't get greedy."
TJ leaned forward, eyes wide.
"He's doing something. Look at his face. That's not panic. That's street math."
"Street math?"
"Yeah. Ugly calculations."
Near the contestant side, Kari watched with a stillness that made him seem carved from the arena's shadow.
His gaze followed Xander's feet, then Parsilla's aura, then Xander's shoulders.
"He is baiting where she defends," Kari said quietly.
Above, Sol's raised eyebrow had not lowered.
Xander's timer pulsed.
[Predator's Instinct: 7 seconds remaining]
His lungs burned.
His body felt too strong and too fast and still not safe enough.
I can only make this count once more during this window.
Parsilla lunged.
Xander dodged beneath her right hook, the fist passing over his head with enough force to rattle the air around him.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]
[Combat Instinct] activated.
Next attack within 5 seconds deals +20% damage.
The third stack still burned through him.
Strength: 31.
Xander saw the marker on her ribs.
Parsilla saw his eyes shift toward it.
Her aura reacted instantly, thickening around her right side.
But not fully.
Not like before.
Most of her Ki gathered over her left fist as she prepared to counter.
She had learned from his shallow punches.
She expected another quick body touch, something annoying but not devastating.
She was already planning to trade through it.
There.
Xander planted his foot.
For the first time in the exchange, he did not pull the punch short.
He committed.
His shoulder rolled forward.
His hips twisted.
His back foot drove into the canvas so hard the blue flame at his heel burst outward.
Every stack, every adaptation, every boosted scrap of strength and timing poured into one compact strike.
Parsilla's eyes widened at the last instant.
The punch landed.
Not with a slap.
Not with a crack.
With a deep, heavy boom that seemed to punch the sound out of the arena itself.
Parsilla's aura dented inward.
Then broke around the impact.
Something snapped beneath Xander's knuckles.
A rib, maybe more than one.
Parsilla's breath left her in a harsh grunt, and her body folded around the blow.
The counter she had loaded died halfway through its swing.
She stumbled backward, boots scraping hard against the canvas, one hand flying to her side as pain finally cut through the joy on her face.
For the first time since the bell, Parsilla looked confused.
Then concerned.
The crowd went berserk.
Not loud.
Savage.
The lower stands exploded upward.
Drinks flew.
Bettors screamed.
People who had been chanting "Mosshead" suddenly shouted "Phantom" like they had always believed.
The entire arena buckled into chaos, every screen replaying the punch from three angles, each one showing the exact moment Parsilla's aura failed to fully protect her.
Seo Yura nearly screamed herself hoarse.
"HE HURT HER! SCARLET PHANTOM JUST HURT THE BERSERKER QUEEN! That was not a tap, not a trick, not a lucky scrape! He waited, he baited her defense, and he punched straight through the Ki guard!"
Jerry grabbed TJ by the shirt.
"Did you see that?!"
TJ looked personally offended by how impressed he was.
"I saw it! I think my ribs saw it too!"
Kari's eyes narrowed, but there was approval beneath the calm.
"He waited for belief," he smiled.
"Then punished it."
Sol's mouth curved faintly at one corner.
A small thing.
Dangerously close to interest.
In the VIP room, Orion Cross smiled wide.
The blue-haired man beside him said nothing, but his glare had finally lost the last traces of dismissal.
Inside the ring, Xander lowered his fist slowly.
His knuckles throbbed.
His muscles screamed from the force of the blow.
The blue flame around his feet guttered violently as the last seconds of his active skills continued burning away.
Parsilla stood several steps away, one hand pressed against her ribs.
Her smile was still there.
But it had cracked at the edges.
Xander looked at her, breathing hard, his grin now almost as wide as hers had been before.
"So," he asked, voice rough but clear, "more like that?"
The arena roared louder.
Parsilla's fingers tightened over her bruised side.
For once, she did not answer immediately.