***
{Outside The Projection}
They were right.
Malik's words confirmed their thoughts.
But the hall wasn't thinking about that now.
No, right now, they were all still stuck on the fight.
Stuck on Zafar.
They felt...
Respect?
No. Not quite.
Shock, maybe, mixed with a little bit of relief.
Zafar had exceeded all their expectations tenfold.
They knew Roya was technically capable; she always was.
She might've even scratched Malik if he wasn't so, well, Malik.
But they didn't expect that out of Zafar.
Zafar actually fought against him.
Sure, he relied mainly on his luck.
Sure, Malik could've ended him in the first moment.
Sure, he revealed thousands of openings at each exchange.
Sure, Malik had stopped him from blowing himself up and SAVED HIS LIFE, but still...
Still, he was better than they expected.
He fought.
And not in some sad, flailing way either. No.
