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The arena stank of rust and old blood.
Lin Xu kept one hand pressed to his jacket. Under the cheap fabric, Crunch squirmed against his ribs, claws pricking through his shirt. The grey furball hadn't stopped shaking since they left the apartment. Neither had Lin.
Two guys blocked the cage door. Both had the same dead-eyed look. The taller one spat into the dirt. "That the beast?"
Lin nodded.
"Let's see it."
He pulled Crunch out slow. The furball hissed, ears flat, amber eyes too bright in the dim. One of the guards laughed. "The hell is that? A rat?"
"It's three days old," Lin said. His voice came out steadier than he felt. "It needs time."
"Boss don't take charity cases." The shorter guard scratched his neck. "Your landlord said you owed six hundred scraps. You bring us that thing?"
"It'll fight."
"Yeah?" The tall one leaned in. Crunch's lips peeled back, showing teeth too sharp for something that small. "Cute. But we got standards. Can't put that on a card. People paid to see blood, not a furball getting stepped on."
Lin's jaw tightened. "Then test it."
Both guards looked at him.
"Test it," he said again. "Put it against something. If it can't fight, I'll pay the debt another way."
The short one grinned. "Another way. Right. You know what that means down here?"
Lin knew. He'd heard the stories. Ash Wilds didn't have prisons. You paid in scraps, in beasts, or in your own skin. The fighting pits ran on all three.
"So?" The tall guard crossed his arms. "You serious?"
"Yeah."
They made him wait in a side pen. The walls were chain-link and sheet metal. Someone had spray-painted numbers on the floor. Three other people sat on the benches, beasts leashed or caged beside them. A woman with a scarred jaw held a reptile thing the size of a dog. Its scales clicked when it moved. Across from her, a kid no older than sixteen fed strips of meat to something that looked like a hairless cat with too many joints.
None of them looked at Lin.
He sat in the corner, Crunch curled in his lap. The furball's breathing had evened out, but its claws stayed half-extended, kneading his thigh. Lin ran a thumb over its head. The grey fur was softer than it looked. Warmer, too.
"First timer?"
Lin glanced up. The scarred woman was watching him now. Her reptile thing hissed, tongue flicking.
"That obvious?"
She shrugged. "You got that look. Like you think this is temporary."
"It is."
"Sure." She fed her beast a chunk of something dark and wet. "What's the furball?"
"Don't know yet."
"But you're testing it anyway." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Good luck with that."
The door clanged open. The tall guard stepped through. "Lin Xu. You're up."
His stomach dropped.
The test ring was smaller than he'd expected. Maybe ten meters across, chain-link roof, dirt floor stained rust-brown in uneven patches. Overhead lights buzzed, half of them flickering. A dozen people lined the rails, leaning on the fence, smoking, talking in low voices. Up in a glass-front box, a man in a grey coat sat with his fingers steepled. The boss, Lin guessed. He didn't look down.
Lin set Crunch on the ground. The furball's ears swiveled, taking in the noise, the smell, the eyes. It pressed against Lin's ankle.
"Other side," the guard said, pointing.
A cage door rattled open across the ring. Something low and wide scuttled out. Four legs, plated shell, head like a wedge of bone. An ironback. Lin had seen pictures in the files his grandmother kept, back when the university still had a biology wing. They used to live in the deep canyons. Scavengers. Opportunists. This one had scars across its shell and a chip missing from one front plate.
It was three times Crunch's size.
The crowd perked up. A few laughed. Someone shouted a bet.
Lin crouched next to Crunch. "Listen," he said, quiet. "I know you're small. I know this is insane. But if you don't fight, they're going to take you, or they're going to take me, and either way we're done."
Crunch looked up at him. Those amber eyes didn't blink.
"So bite," Lin said. "Bite and don't stop."
He stepped back through the gate. It clanged shut behind him.
The ironback circled, claws scraping the dirt. Crunch stood in the center, tail low, body coiled. The size difference was absurd. The furball looked like prey. Looked like something that should run.
It didn't.
The ironback lunged.
Crunch twisted sideways, faster than Lin had seen it move, and the ironback's jaws snapped on air. The crowd noise spiked. The ironback pivoted, slower, dragging its armored bulk around. Crunch darted in, bit at a back leg, tore through the exposed joint, and kicked off before the tail swipe came down.
Blood hit the dirt.
The ironback shrieked. It spun, faster now, angry, and charged head-down. Crunch didn't dodge this time. It leapt up, latched onto the ironback's face, claws sinking into the gaps between plates, and bit.
The ironback thrashed. Slammed into the fence. Rolled. Crunch held on.
Lin's hands gripped the chain-link so hard his knuckles went white.
The ironback's movements slowed. It staggered. Crunch's jaws were locked on something vital, the furball's whole body shaking with the effort. The shell cracked. Not the outer plate. Deeper. The bone underneath.
The ironback collapsed.
Crunch let go, dropped into the dirt, and shook itself. Grey fur matted with blood. It looked up at Lin and chirped.
The crowd went quiet.
Then someone whistled. Another voice called a number. The noise swelled back, louder, bets shouted across the rails. Lin's heart hammered in his chest. Crunch limped toward the gate, one front paw dragging.
The door opened. Lin scooped the furball up before the guards could touch it. Crunch's body was burning hot, breath coming fast and shallow. Its eyes were half-closed.
"Easy," Lin murmured. "You did it. We're good. We're—"
"Hold."
The voice came from above. Lin looked up. The man in the grey coat was standing now, hands on the glass. His face was unreadable. He stared down at Crunch for a long moment, then turned to the guard beside him and said something Lin couldn't hear.
The tall guard stepped forward. "Test is over," he said. His grin was back, sharper this time. "Boss says put them on tonight's card."