Every moment that this duel continued, the other elders watching could see more clearly that the outcome… was already decided in favor of Navuill er Yecine. Not because he was expressly faster or demonstrably stronger. Nor because his Fire gave some insurmountable advantage in the exchanges, especially with the constrained way he used it.
His willpower was simply higher in a way that was present for all to witness. Unwavering, honed to a single minded pursuit, and masking something else that slowly dawned on those who had been hoping he would lose rather quickly. He was *controlling* himself better than the Patriarch. In moments that repeated themselves through feints and commits, the mercies that stacked without first notice eventually proved too hard for experienced onlookers to ignore.
