The system didn't wait.
[Optional Advancement: Accepted]
[Commencing Rank XXX Trial]
The world broke apart.
Lucian felt the floor of his quarters dissolve, the air stripped from his lungs. He wasn't falling. He wasn't rising. He was unmade. For a breathless second, he was nothing but thought.
Then the void rebuilt itself around him.
He stood on a battlefield carved from shattered moons, glass plains floating in black oceans. Stars bled light from gashes in the sky. The air was thick, humming, heavy enough that even his skin tingled with resistance.
[Restriction: No Items. No External Aid.]
[Condition: Survive the Onslaught. Reach the Final Opponent.]
Lucian exhaled, low and steady. His body was still torn from the last fight, his ribs aching, his arm scarred with fresh cuts. But his eyes—those burned brighter than the broken stars above.
The ground quaked.
From the dark edges of the plain, they came.
The first wave.
