Emery arrived at the same place where he had stood a decade ago—the arena carved into the heart of the golden mountain, where the Divine Instrument awaited.
The same ancient sigils still burned across the floor, resonating faintly with the laws of the cosmos. Yet the arena was no longer as he remembered it. New formations had been layered throughout the chamber, high-grade arrays woven into the walls like glowing veins beneath stone, pulsing with restrained power that made the very air feel heavy.
The facility was packed.
Hundreds of elite guards stood along the perimeter in perfect formation, while beyond them Emery counted more than three dozen Grand Magus gathered in solemn silence. When his divine sense swept across the chamber, it encountered several presences whose depths he could not perceive at all.
Three Cosmos cultivators.
And beyond even them...
The Supreme himself.
A small group soon broke away from the crowd and approached him.
