Max stood beside Rose on the lower waiting platform beneath the Evercrest end and looked out over the vast arena.
The Bloodline Legacy Battle hadn't officially started yet, but the pressure from the gathered crowd was already heavy. The Four Sacred Clans didn't carry the same public noise as the Cosmic Ascension Conference.
Their atmosphere felt different. There were fewer outsiders, fewer excited spectators, and no grand proclamations meant for the whole Divine Realm. Still, the feeling here ran sharper, older, and more suffocating, since everyone present came from bloodlines that had stood at the top of humanity since the earliest eras.
Valerius. Ashbourne. Ravenhart. Evercrest.
Each clan held one end of the arena, and each end carried a completely different aura.
The Valerius platform shone with white-gold brilliance, as if every disciple there had been born beneath a sacred sun.
The Ashbourne platform felt like a silent battlefield soaked in old blood and iron will.
