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The arena does not groom. It only replaces.
When a champion is publicly executed for “subverting the sanctity of the Trial,” the court calls it procedure, but Seventeen calls it proof.
The replacement arrives before the body finishes collapsing into the sand.
This is no longer a competition of merit, but a curated spectacle, and someone other than the Crown is rearranging the board faster than the throne admits.
By Lora TiaThe arena does not groom. It only replaces.
When a champion is publicly executed for “subverting the sanctity of the Trial,” the court calls it procedure, but Seventeen calls it proof.
The replacement arrives before the body finishes collapsing into the sand.
This is no longer a competition of merit, but a curated spectacle, and someone other than the Crown is rearranging the board faster than the throne admits.