The battlefield had entered forbidden territory.
Nothing about the shattered arena resembled a tournament anymore. The grand imperial finals, once meant to crown the strongest young tamer of the generation, had evolved into something catastrophic—a convergence point where sovereign authorities collided openly beneath a fractured sky while higher-world powers watched from above like predators circling wounded prey.
The capital itself trembled continuously.
Every collision of authority sent vibrations through the city streets far beyond the arena walls. Ancient buildings groaned beneath invisible pressure, defensive formations flickered unstably across the imperial district, and countless civilians stared upward in terror as the heavens warped over the tournament grounds.
Silver-gold soulfire and crimson sovereign mist spiraled around Aether endlessly.
