Three days had passed since the finals ended, and Jack stood deep beneath the stone roots of the capital.
The tunnel descended into absolute, suffocating darkness.
At the center point of the ancient passage, Jack raised his hand. A tear in space opened before him. A jagged, purple-edged portal that peeled back reality to reveal another sector of the Spire.
Ren stepped through first. His silver-blue armor caught the ambient dark mana, and his katana remained sheathed at his waist.
He didn't speak; his presence simply expanded to fill the entire subterranean chamber like an unspoken threat.
A second portal fractured the air beside him.
Pho emerged, his deathfrost magic radiating outward in physical waves, trailing like a freezing mist down the treeline of the dark passage.
