The Colosseum blazed white and gold under a cloudless noon, ninety thousand voices rolling over the sand like surf. Ruvan sat beside the King in the royal box, one ink-stained hand lifted in a wave to the crowd.
"Citizens of the Crown, behold the Final, in the gold corner the Undefeated, Kaizer Orlov, Rank One, a man who has never once been touched!" Herald Quillon howled, leaning so far out of his pulpit that his horn nearly fell.
The stands erupted in a wall of sound that shook dust from the arches overhead.
Orlov strolled onto the sand in a coat of polished gold, one hand in his pocket, yawning behind the other. A blade hung at his hip, its sheath of gold so bright that the front rows flinched from the glare.
"And his challenger, revised by the Court with great care to Rank Sixty-Four, the Baron of Ironwood, the Sun Boy, whatever he is called this hour!"
"Revised to the exact number I started with... how generous," Hajin muttered.
