Floor Four blurred past in under four minutes — a narrow rope bridge strung across a canyon that wasn't there a second before he stepped onto it, then wasn't there a second after he crossed. Ren didn't stop to analyze it. He didn't have time to. The text flashed CLEARED before his pulse had even finished spiking, and the corridor spat him straight into Floor Five without so much as a breath between them.
FLASH!
Light hit him first. Blinding, white, arena-bright.
He was standing on a circular platform of black stone, ringed by tiered stands that climbed into darkness overhead — empty, silent, watching nothing. The platform beneath his boots hummed faintly, a vibration he felt more than heard, like something enormous breathing just beneath the surface.
FLOOR FIVE — OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE.
No target. No dummy. No opponent waiting politely to introduce himself.
