The silence in the Imperial Arena was heavier than the stone walls that contained it. Fifty thousand people held their collective breath. They stared down at the golden figure standing in the center of the bloody sand.
Kael stood tall. His helmet lay at his feet. His skin was no longer the bronze of a gladiator but the metallic gold of a King. The intricate tattoos of his lineage pulsed with a white light that matched the intensity of the sun overhead. He did not look like a monster. He did not look like a slave. He looked like a god who had descended to judge them.
At his feet the terrifying Chimera, the apex predator of the Guild's genetic engineering, was curled up like a kitten. The massive lion head rested on its paws while its blue human eyes closed in relief. The snake tail lay dormant. The eagle wings were folded in submission.
"Treason!"
The scream shattered the silence.
