PART 2
Before Maddox could register what was happening, I stepped inside his guard.

Using his momentum against him, I twisted my hips and swept his supporting leg.

I drove him flat onto his back with the force of a falling anvil.

The heavy thud of his body hitting the mat echoed across the entire courtyard.

Five hundred soldiers gasped at once.

Maddox’s breath exploded out of his lungs in a jagged gasp.

His eyes went wide with pure shock and sudden rage.

He scrambled to his feet, his face red and distorted.

The arrogance he had displayed all week vanished in an instant.

“You little—” he snarled, lunging forward with a wild, heavy right hook aimed straight for my jaw.

He was fighting angry now.

Which meant he was fighting sloppy.

I ducked under the swing effortlessly.

I shifted my weight, seized his extended arm, and pivoted in one fluid motion.

Before he could pull back, I locked his arm behind his shoulder in a tight keylock.

I didn’t break the joint.

I simply held him right at the edge of dislocation.

Maddox was pinned face-down on the canvas, completely immobilized.

The giant who had mocked my weight and my right to serve was now trapped beneath a 130-pound operator.

The referee dropped to his knees.

“Tap or break, Sergeant!”

Maddox gritted his teeth, desperately trying to push up.

I applied a fraction more leverage.

Pain shot through his shoulder, and a strained grunt escaped his throat.

Slap.

Slap.

Slap.

He tapped the mat.

The referee instantly raised my hand.

“Winner by submission: Specialist Maya Bennett!”