Raizen stood in the painted circle, lines and marks faint under him. The world outside it felt a step farther away. Faces formed a loose ring. Beasts shifted on nearby platforms. Even the vines above seemed to lean in.

Across from him, the beast watched.

Gray fur over thick muscle. Legs built to launch and land. Eyes glowing a brighter, hungrier orange, even more intense than before.

Those fangs were the worst of it.

They hung down from its upper jaw in long, curved blades. Twice the length they should have been. When its mouth closed, the tips almost touched its chest.

Raku stood just behind it, one hand lifted, relaxed.

"Move" he said.

The wolf stepped sideways. Paws silent on wood. It circled, slow and deliberate, never taking its eyes off Raizen.

Conversations around the ring thinned to a murmur.

Saffi stood near the edge of the circle, knuckles white on her bag strap.

Mina stood beside her, arms folded, gaze fixed on Raizen like nothing else really mattered.

Raizen rolled his shoulders once. His chest still ached, a dull, familiar weight between his ribs. He drew in a careful breath and let it out slow.

"Any rules I should know about?" he calmly asked, eyes on the beast.

"No killing. That's it" Raku grinned. His tone was lazy, amused. "If it feels like you are about to die, you can always yield. If you can still talk."

A few seniors chuckled, low.

Mina didn't. "Remember. This is control, not a power show."

"For him, maybe" Raku muttered.

Raizen's hands hung loose at his sides. The twin blades sat where he expected them, familiar weight, familiar comfort. But he didn't touch them.

The wolf stopped circling.

Its head lowered. Its shoulders sank. Claws flexed once.

Raizen shifted his weight, heels light, ready to move.

The beast lunged.

It left the ground in one violent motion. The floor gained a new scratch where its paws had been a second ago. Its body blurred across the circle, all weight and speed aimed straight at Raizen's throat.

Raizen stepped aside.

Not far. Just enough.

The wolf's shoulder slammed against Raizen's arm instead of its jaws closing over his throat. Claws scraped sparks off the floor as it tried to slow down, ready for the next attack.

Raizen dropped a hand to the floor to steady himself. A few spikes of pain flared across his ribs from the sudden, twist.

A short cough punched out of him before he could stop it.

He bit his tongue and pushed himself back up.

Raku's grin widened.

"Good reflex" he laughed. "Once. Do that ten more times."

Saffi let out a breath she had not realized she held.

"That thing is too fast…" she whispered.

Mina didn't answer. Her eyes tracked the tiny flinch in Raizen's shoulders when he straightened. The way his hand hovered near his chest for a moment before dodging again.

The wolf started to circle again.

This time, the arc was tighter.

The second lunge came without warning. One moment it was pacing. The next its muscles bunched and it shot forward, jaws low, going for his legs.

Raizen leaped.

His boots left the wood a half a second before the thing's teeth clamped shut.

Raizen twisted in the air. His ribs hated it, and he hit the ground hard on his side instead of landing clean.

The impact ripped the breath out of him.

Pain tore across his chest like something inside had cracked again. The edges of his vision dimmed for a second.

He coughed, sharp and instinctive.

"Raizen!" Saffi's voice cut through the ringing in his ears.

The wolf was already turning.

Claws dragged scratches in the floor as it pivoted. It charged again while he was still half down.

Raizen rolled.

It was a bit messy, more survival than training, but it got him out of the way. The beast's paws crashed into the space his torso had occupied a heartbeat earlier. Splinters jumped.

Raizen forced himself back up.

Breaths came short and thin. His chest burned with every inhale. But he kept his gaze locked on the beast.

Still no hands on his swords.

"Why is he not drawing them?" someone murmured behind Raku.

"Because he's stupid" another voice answered.

Saffi took a step closer to the circle, pulse hammering. "Mina, that is enough. You saw his chart. His ribs, barely healed from being broken. He isn't ready for this."

Mina's arm slid out, blocking her without looking. Her palm rested lightly against Saffi's shoulder.

"I know what that kid is capable of" she said calmly, "Even weak, like this."

"He will break something" Saffi hissed. "You are going to let him -"

"I trained him. He knows what he can take" Mina answered, sharp. "Let him prove it."

The wolf paced, tail lashing, breath coming faster.

Raizen took another slow breath. The pain did not ease. It simply settled into a hot, steady line under one of his ribs, where a fracture has been.

He had fought with worse.

"Give me more" Raku exclaimed, thrilled by the feeling that he was winning.

The wolf obliged.

It came in low again, but this time Raizen didn't try to run. The circle felt smaller with every step.

He moved into it.

His feet did what they had been drilled to do in the Rust Room. He stepped inside the lunge instead of away, twisting his body, arms snapping up. One forearm slammed into the side of the beast's neck. The other braced against its shoulder.

The impact rattled him from wrist to spine, boots sliding a hand's width across the wood.

He didn't throw the beast. He didn't really need to.

The wolf stumbled as its weight shifted wrong. Its claws scrabbled for grip. It landed heavy and off balance, tail slashing, claws dragging long scars in the platform before it caught itself.

A few of the seniors blinked.

"He caught it" one said, sounding more surprised than impressed.

"With his hands?" another answered.

Raku rolled his shoulders, but some of the amusement had drained from his face.

Raizen's arm shook where it had hammered into the beast's neck. He coughed again.

The wolf saw the change.

Its lips peeled back farther, revealing even more of its sharp yet beautiful fangs. Its eyes burned hotter, insulted now. Its paws stamped once, claws biting deep.

Raku lifted his hand higher.

"Stop playing" he said. "Let's just win already."

The wolf's ears flicked.

It didn't even bother to circle around Raizen this time. It just charged.

The platform vibrated under its weight. It ate the distance between them in a heartbeat, head low, shoulders driving forward.

Raizen's heel caught on a rough patch where claws had torn the floor. Balance slipped.

The wolf hit him.

It was like being smashed by a slab of stone wrapped in fur. The air left his lungs in a single violent exhale. His back slammed into the wood.

Raizen was on the ground, weight crashing down on him.

One front paw slammed into the floor beside his head, claws piercing deep. Another landed across his hip, giving him nowhere to go.

Fangs hung above his face like curved knives.

The circle went silent.

Even the nearest beasts had stilled.

Saffi shoved against Mina's arm. "Enough. He can't even breathe-!"

Mina's fingers tightened on her shoulder. "Shut up. Watch."

"He's going to die" Saffi hissed, panic shoving the words out. "You are using him as a test dummy."

Mina's jaw clenched once.

"If he was going to die" she said, "it would have been long before he came here."

Inside the ring, the wolf's breath washed hot over Raizen's face.

Its pupils were narrow slits in the orange.

Raku's smile came back, slow.

"I knew it. You're all show" he laughed again.

The wolf opened its jaws.

There was only the dark cave of that mouth.

Only those long fangs.

Fear didn't rise in Raizen's.

His body remembered other jaws, other claws, other nights. Remembered snow collapsing under his feet. The hollow weight of falling. Hikari's hand clamped around his, frozen and shaking. The stillness of the Med Wing after.

He knew what dying felt like when it was close.

His fingers brushing the warm wood.

The floor trembled faintly with the beast's growl.

This isn't new, he thought.

Everything in him wanted to thrash. To roll. To grab his sword and instantly behead the beast. To get away.

He did none of it.

He looked up.

Straight into the beast's eyes. Into those wild, hungry, shiny eyes. The ones certain of their place in this circle.

Raizen thought… Predators knew patterns. They also knew who was stronger and who to fear.

The growl hitched, just a little.

At the edge of the circle, Saffi saw Raizen's face clearly.

No panic.

No anger.

Just the smallest, strangest curve at the corner of his mouth.

"Raizen, what are you… Just move…" she whispered, voice trembling.

But Raizen didn't.

The wolf's head dropped.

Fangs arced down toward his throat.

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