The aftermath didn't settle right away.
The stadium—what was left of it—was still humming. Not with cheers, not with movement. Just a low, residual vibration. Like the space itself was trying to remember how to exist after what it just witnessed.
Smoke hovered near the cracked arena floor, where chunks of stone and broken glyphs littered the space like ruins of a fallen temple. No one moved. No one even breathed loud.
Because two students—just students—had almost broken everything.
And one of them wasn't even fully human.
Athena stood at the center of the crater, arms still lowered from separating them. Her presence alone kept the arena from falling into full panic. She didn't speak again. She didn't need to.
Everyone had already heard the message.
No rematch. Not here.
The stranger was gone now. Walked out like nothing happened. Blended into the crowd. But the silence he left behind was heavy.
