Iron Arena: Debtbound Champion

The mech’s neural core is seconds from melting when a runaway girl grabs Cole Varen’s control arm and whispers, “I can see what it’s thinking.” The retired champion knows one wrong move will fry her brain—but the debt collector behind him gives him no choice: put her in the ring or die with his past. Cole is a disgraced legend hiding from the neural damage that ended his career. Lila is a twenty-one-year-old prodigy determined to escape the slums, even if every victory burns through her nerves. Forced to train her, Cole plans to use her talent to pay his debts—until her symptoms begin to mirror his own, and protecting her becomes more important than surviving himself. As they claw their way from underground fights to the city’s forbidden championship, they uncover the league’s secret: the greatest pilots were never meant to retire alive. Will Cole sacrifice Lila’s dream to save her life—or let her enter the final arena and become the league’s next disposable champion?