He hit the mat on one shoulder.
The impact echoed across the compound.
The crowd erupted.
Mason rolled up immediately, but his face had changed.
The performance was gone.
What remained was humiliation.
Emily heard her father’s voice as clearly as if he were standing at ringside.
The moment someone loses control, they start fighting themselves.
Mason attacked with a series of heavy strikes.
One clipped the side of Emily’s headgear and sent a bright flash across her vision.
Rachel gripped the edge of the officials’ table.
Emily backed away, blinked once, and steadied her breathing.
Mason saw the hit and smiled.
“There you are,” he said.
“Now you know what you are.”
He expected pain to frighten her.
Instead, it clarified the room.
Emily could hear the referee’s shoes against the mat.
She could see Mason’s chest rising too quickly.
She could feel the slight looseness in his right glove where his injured knuckles had begun to swell.
He had damaged that hand striking the locker before the competition.
Another consequence of losing control.
Mason threw the right again.
Emily moved inside it, trapped his wrist, and drove her shoulder against his chest.
She did not need to hurt the hand.
She only needed to remind him it was hurt.
Mason grunted and pulled away.
The crowd noticed.
He noticed them noticing.
“Fight me!” he shouted.
Emily reset her stance.
“I am.”
The answer landed harder than an insult.
Mason came forward with less technique and more force.
Emily blocked one strike, avoided another, and delivered a controlled blow to his protective vest.
It was not powerful enough to end the match, but it was clean enough for every judge to score.
Mason answered with an illegal forearm after the referee called for separation.
The referee stepped between them.
“First warning, Caldwell.
Obey the break.”
Mason stared past him at Emily.
“She held my arm.”
“The warning stands.”
Emily returned to her corner.
Rachel checked her eyes and asked if she was clear.
“Clear.”
“He’s unraveling.”
Emily drew a slow breath.
“Not yet.”
Across the ring, Mason argued with his corner instead of listening.
His instructor told him to slow down.
Mason shoved the man’s hand away.
The second round began.
This time, Emily stepped forward first.
The change surprised Mason.
