Damian descended the library steps without hesitation.
Each step echoed softly in the endless structure, but he didn't look back once.
At the bottom floor, the Keeper of the Underworld Library remained seated, still reading as if nothing had changed in the world at all.
She lifted her eyes slightly.
"Finished already?"
Damian gave a single nod.
No words.
No expression.
Just confirmation.
The woman smiled faintly and waved her hand, a casual gesture that felt oddly gentle compared to the weight of everything around them.
"Try your best at the Colosseum."
Damian didn't respond.
He simply turned and walked through the exit door.
The moment he stepped outside—
The Underworld revealed itself fully.
The sky above was not night.
It was something older.
A vast dark expanse scattered with distant stars that didn't twinkle, but watched.
A massive moon hung overhead, fractured by a ring of drifting asteroids that circled it like a broken crown.
Below, the land stretched endlessly.
Mountains rose like jagged teeth, and valleys sank so deep they disappeared into void-like darkness where light refused to reach.
It didn't feel like terrain.
It felt like layers of existence stacked upon each other without order.
Somewhere below those depths—
Things moved.
Things that should not exist in a living world.
Sophie materialized beside Damian.
Her form flickered slightly, unstable but present.
She looked up at the sky.
"…Damian."
Her voice softened for a rare moment.
"I could've come here with my real body."
"But Purgatory is my domain."
A pause.
"And I've been banned by Hades from the other regions."
Her gaze shifted slightly toward the horizon.
"But since my spirit is in your subconsciousness… I am here, and I am not at the same time."
"…So it's not a problem."
Damian didn't react outwardly.
But inside his mind, a thought formed.
So Hades is strong enough to ban Sophie.
He didn't dwell on it.
He simply lifted his hand slightly.
The black crown on his arm pulsed.
The air shifted.
And then—
He rose.
Flight activated naturally, as if the concept of gravity had become optional.
The black crown had not fully fused with him yet, but its influence had spread far enough that fragments of Achlys' abilities now responded to Damian's will.
Sophie watched him ascend.
Quietly.
"…You're getting closer to something you shouldn't be close to."
Damian didn't answer.
He was already moving.
He flew across the Underworld sky.
Below him, the world unfolded like a scarred abyss.
Rivers of ash.
Floating ruins.
Massive skeletal remains of beasts longer than cities.
And in the distance—
A structure unlike anything else.
A colossal arena built into the land itself.
The Colosseum.
Even from far away, it radiated pressure.
Not energy.
Judgment.
The Colosseum Region
Damian descended.
He landed.
BOOOOM—
The impact shattered the ground beneath him, dust erupting outward in a circular wave.
Silence followed.
Then—
Movement.
Around the Colosseum's outer gates, countless beings gathered.
Hell Beasts.
Demons.
Abyssal entities.
Drakes with burning bone wings.
Creatures with shifting forms that couldn't be properly defined by physical anatomy.
All of them were waiting.
For entry.
For battle.
For selection.
Every single one of them turned their attention toward Damian the moment he landed.
The pressure in the air changed.
He was noticed.
Instantly.
Damian placed his hands into his pockets.
He began walking forward.
Slow.
Unbothered.
As if the stares of monsters far beyond human comprehension meant nothing at all.
He joined the line.
Not as a challenger.
Not as prey.
But as something that simply belonged there by default.
His empty black eyes scanned forward.
No emotion.
No hesitation.
Just calculation beneath the surface.
In his mind, one thought remained steady—
This is where the Black Pillar is.
This is where everything truly begins.
The wind around him shifted slightly, brushing through his coat as the Colosseum gates loomed ahead like a mouth waiting to open.
And as the creatures around him watched in silence—
Damian's hollow gaze deepened.
As if the abyss itself had found something it recognized.