The Grand Imperial Arena no longer resembled a battlefield prepared for a student tournament.
It looked like the heart of an apocalypse.
Crimson-gold flames rolled endlessly across shattered terrain, swallowing broken stone and molten debris beneath waves of sovereign heat. Above the battlefield, golden solar fire churned through the sky like divine wrath descending from the heavens themselves, illuminating the entire Imperial City in violent flashes of gold and crimson.
The arena barriers trembled continuously under unbearable pressure.
Ancient runes carved into the surrounding pillars glowed brighter with every passing second, releasing layer after layer of reinforcement energy just to keep the stadium intact. Even then, cracks occasionally spread across sections of the translucent barriers before hastily sealing again under the desperate efforts of the elders maintaining them.
Yet despite the chaos—
Despite the fire, destruction, and spiritual pressure flooding the arena—
