The doors boomed open like the gates of a nightmare.
The moment Creed, Lilith, and Tierra stepped through, it felt like they had entered another world entirely.
The air was thick here, not just with pressure, but with a dense, electric tension that made it hard to breathe.
The massive chamber was circular, stretching wider than a football stadium, its floor made of black and crimson marble in intricate patterns.
Above them, ghostly banners fluttered from unseen winds, each one stitched with strange, ancient symbols that almost seemed to writhe if you stared too long.
And in the center of it all, perched atop a throne forged from the broken weapons and shattered armor of past 'challengers', sat the Arena Lord.
It was a monster in human form.
Twice the size of any knight they had faced so far, clad in ornate armor of molten black edged in burning red lines, as if magma pulsed through the seams.
