The arena was breaking apart.
Platforms drifted in different directions, some spinning slowly while others flickered like they could disappear at any moment. The dark space around them pulsed, as if the system itself was under pressure.
David stood on a cracked platform, facing a creature that no longer attacked him. It just watched.
His arm was glowing more clearly now. The markings were no longer faint. They looked like a pattern, something structured.
"I understand it now," he said under his breath.
He wasn't just looking at the arena anymore. He could feel how everything was connected. The creatures, the platforms, even the shifting space around him were all part of the same system.
The creature responded immediately.
ACCESS DENIED.
David lifted his hand slightly. "We'll see."
The air around him distorted, and a ripple spread outward. This time, the system didn't react like before.
It pushed back.
David steadied himself. The resistance was stronger, but clearer. It felt like the system had been forced open during the separation phase, and now he could read it better.
On another platform, Sharon and Pearl were moving carefully.
Sharon's red energy was still active, but it flickered unevenly around her arm.
"I can't keep this up forever," she said.
Pearl stayed close, maintaining a weak barrier around them. "You don't have to. We just need to regroup."
The platform shook, then a narrow path formed ahead of them.
Pearl noticed it first. "It's leading us somewhere."
Sharon didn't trust it, but she didn't argue. "Then we move."
Collin stood surrounded again.
He looked at the creatures closing in and let out a tired sigh. "Seriously?"
He tried to use his power again, but nothing happened.
For a moment, panic flashed across his face.
One of the creatures spoke. "You depend on instinct. Without it, you fail."
Collin clenched his fists. Something about that annoyed him more than anything else.
"Then I won't depend on it."
He stepped forward and punched the ground as hard as he could.
This time, the force didn't spread outward.
It went straight down.
The platform shattered beneath him, pulling the creatures with it. As he dropped, a fragment of the arena reformed under his feet and carried him forward, like the system itself was redirecting him.
Collin shook his head. "Yeah… I'm counting that as a win."
Tobi was still facing the Higher Node.
The space around them had turned into a grid, structured and controlled.
"CONTAINMENT FAILED," the entity said.
Tobi shrugged. "You keep saying that."
The entity split into multiple fragments and surrounded him.
"YOU ARE INTERFERENCE."
"And you're predictable," Tobi replied.
They moved at the same time. The clash wasn't explosive, but precise. Tobi didn't try to overpower it. He kept disrupting its patterns, forcing it to adjust.
Then he stopped suddenly.
"You're not the source," he said.
There was a brief pause.
"CORRECT."
Tobi gave a small smile. "Thought so."
At that moment, something changed across the entire arena.
A deep pulse spread through the system.
Everyone felt it.
David looked down. "There's something below us."
Sharon stopped moving. "I feel it too."
Tobi glanced at the grid beneath him. "So this is what they were hiding."
The platforms began shifting again, but this time it was controlled. They moved toward one central point.
One by one, they were brought together.
David landed first. Then Sharon and Pearl. Collin arrived a moment later, still catching his breath. Tobi appeared last.
For a second, nobody spoke.
Then Collin laughed. "We're actually all alive."
"Barely," Sharon said.
Pearl looked relieved more than anything else.
Tobi turned to David. "So, what now?"
David looked ahead.
The ground in front of them opened slowly, and something massive began to rise from below. It didn't look like the creatures they had fought. This was something bigger.
Something important.
David's expression hardened.
"This is the real test," he said.