From the lower Evercrest challenger platform, Max moved toward the central battlefield with calm steps. His white hair shifted gently in the wind stirred up by the arena formation, and his black robe carried no sacred clan insignia.
Next to the clan heirs wearing robes marked by Valerius, Ashbourne, Ravenhart, and Evercrest, he looked like a total outsider.
Yet the moment he entered the arena, every eye turned toward him. The noise started to fade. It didn't vanish all at once. It rolled down slowly, section by section, platform by platform, until the whole massive arena grew quieter than before.
Max Morgan. The champion of the Cosmic Ascension Conference. The man who'd defeated Revona, Damian Voss, Ervin, Orion Starfall, Kaiden Voidmere, Rakan Thorne, Aurelian Lareth, and every other opponent placed before him.
The strongest genius of the Divine Realm's younger generation. Even inside the Four Sacred Clans, his name had already spread everywhere.
