The arena was still in uproar due to the aftershocks of Fade's impressive victory. The smell o scorched stone lingered around as the various students stared at the Void Whale's massive body folding reality with a blink of its cosmic eye as it disappeared back where it came from.
The thunder of applause and shouted speculation gradually ebbed, replaced by an expectant hush. Everyone knew what came next, another battle. The runes that ran along the obsidian walls of the arena pulsed again, casting the Beast Coliseum in a fresh storm of blood-red light.
Professor Xyvarr stood unmoving at the center of the arena, his crimson gaze sweeping across the gathered factions with deliberate weight.
The scarred lines of his face glowed faintly in the residual mana-light, and when he finally spoke, his voice cracked across the obsidian floor like a rending blade.
