The arena felt different now—not louder, not more chaotic, but tighter. As if the spiral itself had grown hungry. Stone plates ground inward with the groan of ancient machinery waking from a long sleep, the entire battlefield contracting, squeezing every fighter toward the center like prey caught between closing jaws. Dust fell in thin streams from the ceiling with each seismic shift. Mana veins pulsed brighter along the walls, throwing long, jagged shadows across the platforms.
Jake screamed somewhere. That was normal.
A deep rumble passed beneath Mira's sealed chamber, shaking motes of stone from the roof. Swift flinched instinctively, ears flattening as the vibration vibrated up through his boots. He stood on a lower platform, chest rising and falling with the ragged exhaustion of his last fight. Frost still curled from between his teeth in faint wisps, the lingering aftermath of dragon breath. His right arm throbbed where the anti-scale spear had scraped past his guard, and his ribs still felt bruised where the chi disruptor had hit him square.
He didn't have time to breathe.
The moment the spear wielder teleported, three more fighters sprinted across a rotating walkway toward him—two short-range combatants and an archer with mana-tipped arrows. Swift tensed instinctively. His wings remained folded, trembling slightly; he couldn't rely on them yet. Not after the last fight. His body was beginning to feel the drag of his transformation, the deep fatigue beneath the new power.
He tried to center himself.
Above him, another platform lurched downward as the arena adjusted. Giga-Ronin landed on it with a thundering crunch, sliding a full foot before planting his heels and stopping the motion entirely. The impact fractured the stone edge outright. A fighter unlucky enough to stand too close lost his footing and slipped with a wild cry, teleporting mid-fall.
Jimmy's voice shrieked over the speakers. "THE ARENA HAS COMPLETELY LOST ITS MIND!"
Julian's voice followed, calm only in comparison. "THIS IS ALL ACCORDING TO STAGE FIVE PROTOCOL!"
"WHY WOULD ANYONE MAKE THIS A PROTOCOL?!"
Swift didn't hear the rest. The three attackers rushed him at once.
He ducked the first punch, let the second graze across his scales, and swept his leg low to knock the first fighter off balance. The archer loosed an arrow that crackled with violet energy; Swift twisted his torso mid-motion, letting the shot narrowly miss him as it struck the stone behind him and exploded in a burst of unstable mana.
The shockwave threw all four of them off their feet.
Swift rolled with the motion, sliding across the stone and slamming into a pillar. He hissed sharply—it was old pain, not deep, but enough to blur his vision for half a heartbeat. He pushed off the pillar and caught the first attacker charging toward him again.
Enough.
Swift raised one hand and exhaled a narrow cone of frost. The beam wasn't as wide or powerful as before, but focused—sharp enough to freeze the leading fighter's arm mid-punch. Frost trapped his elbow joint. Swift pivoted, grabbed the frozen forearm, and swung the man bodily into the second attacker, sending both tumbling toward the arena's edge.
They teleported a moment before hitting open air.
The archer hissed, drew three arrows at once, and fired. Swift's eyes narrowed. Instinct and exhaustion warred for control.
Someone else intervened.
A burning sphere of fire arced across the spiral, vaporizing the arrows before they reached Swift. He didn't need to look to identify the source. Ember Claw rarely missed.
Swift dipped his chin in acknowledgment across the distance.
Ember Claw returned a curt nod before diving back into a close-range brawl with someone who appeared far too flammable to be fighting Ember at all.
Tundra Lynx, not far from him, slammed a frost-coated kick into a lightning fighter, the clash of elements detonating in a burst of steam.
Shadeclaw dragged a stubborn opponent toward a beam with his claws sunk deep into the man's armor. The man screamed, flailing helplessly. Shadeclaw's injuries were worsening—ribs cracked, shoulder hanging wrong—but he fought with the same feral determination as always. He slammed the fighter's head into the stone hard enough to break the man's helmet and send him teleporting out.
Jade roared on the opposite side of the spiral, smashing both fists into the ground and sending a shockwave through the stone that toppled two fighters on a raised platform. Both went airborne. One caught the edge, scrambling. Jade leapt, grabbed him by the collar, and shoved him clean off.
The second fighter had already teleported.
"Oi!" Jade yelled, "Two-for-one sale's still on!"
Swift barely had time to appreciate the chaos before the archer took another shot—this time at Swift's head. Swift tilted his head aside and shot frost at the ground instead of the man. The stone ballooned into ice, rising into a jagged spike that sent the archer stumbling.
He slipped—and teleported mid-fall.
Swift fell into a ready stance again, breath fogging lightly.
He should have felt triumphant.
He only felt the ache spreading down his arms.
Above them, the stone dome where Mira and the Wolf Queen fought trembled violently. The sound of claws, stone scraping, and something breaking reverberated through the cavern. Dust fell from the ceiling in waves.
Wolf King crouched atop the dome, golden eyes gleaming as he listened to the rhythm of the combat below him. His tail flicked like a metronome.
He muttered, "Shadow-girl survives longer than expected."
Danny appeared behind him, quiet as a breath.
Wolf King didn't turn. "Do you think she wins, Breaker?"
Danny shrugged. "I think she's alive. That's enough for now."
Wolf King's smile widened. "I may break this shell open."
Danny's eyelid twitched. "Don't."
Wolf King only chuckled and stayed perched, watching the dome tremble harder.
Meanwhile, Jake clung to a narrowing walkway with every ounce of his being. Bumble rolled up beside him and announced proudly, "DANGER LEVEL: MAXIMUM! GOOD JOB, JAKE!"
Jake wheezed, "I didn't do anything! Why does everything think I did something?!"
The walkway jerked sharply, causing Jake to lurch sideways. He flailed, grabbing Bumble, who responded by clamping onto him even tighter. A fighter sprinted toward them, only to have the walkway abruptly retract into the wall. The fighter's yell cut off as he fell, teleporting out.
Jake blinked dumbly as the walkway left him and Bumble dangling from nothing.
"Oh no," Jake whispered.
Gravity agreed.
They dropped—only for a platform beneath them to shoot upward from a shifting mechanism. They landed with a bone-jarring thud. Jake wheezed as Bumble declared, "STRATEGIC DEPLOYMENT SUCCESSFUL!"
"That wasn't strategic!" Jake coughed.
The fighter whose duel they landed in the middle of took one look at Jake and charged.
Jake screamed.
Swift heard it, but another attacker forced his attention away. A muscular fighter wearing reinforced knuckles came at him full-force, aiming for Swift's jaw. Swift dodged, ducked under a swing, and caught the man's wrist. The fighter used the momentum to shift into a grapple, attempting to pin Swift's left arm.
His mistake.
Swift's wings snapped outward a fraction, their edges glinting. He twisted, using the leverage to throw the fighter over his shoulder. The man hit the ground hard, struggled to stand, and Swift kicked upward with a burst of frost. The ice carried the man over the platform edge.
Teleport light whisked him away.
Swift exhaled sharply, forcing himself upright as fatigue made his legs tremble.
Three heavy thuds from above caught his attention.
Swift looked up just in time to see the dome crack visibly near the top. A loud, sharp fissure spread in a jagged line across the stone surface. The entire structure pulsed with mana and vibration. Something slammed into the inside of the dome like a battering ram.
Wolf King straightened, intrigued.
Danny's eyes narrowed.
Shadeclaw snarled instinctively, ears flattening.
Jade paused mid-fist-throw to glance over. "Oh that's not good."
Tundra Lynx growled, fur bristling.
Even Giga-Ronin paused to look up.
Another blow landed.
The crack widened.
Swift felt it like a pressure spike in his chest.
"Mira—"
Before he could dwell, another platform collapsed near him. Two fighters fell through the gap and teleported, reducing the count. A nearby pillar burst upward from shifting stone, launching another fighter into the air, screaming, before he vanished in a teleport beam.
The arena voice boomed overhead, unfazed.
"Remaining fighters: Thirty-two."
The spiral shifted again, retracting walkways, raising single-person planks, and dividing the battlefield with jagged stone ridges.
Ember Claw barely avoided a collapsing plate by leaping across a widening gap. He rolled, slid under a thrown spear, and shot a column of fire straight up into the face of a fighter attempting to ambush him. The man vanished mid-fall.
Tundra Lynx slammed a frost-sheathed claw across the neck of a fireburst opponent, the temperature shock eliminating him instantly. Shadeclaw, bleeding heavily from a fresh gash across his back, still managed to drag another fighter into a teleport beam.
Jade found himself facing two coordinated duelists wielding short hammers and charged toward them with manic joy. "Time for a proper workout!"
Giga-Ronin moved past one cluster, punching a falling platform into stability before it hit him. The platform rose back into place like it knew better than to collapse on him.
Danny casually eliminated a fighter who attempted a sneak attack on Swift by flicking a pebble at the man's forehead. The pebble hit harder than gravity. The man teleported immediately. Danny muttered, "Pick someone your own weight class," before turning away again.
Jimmy screamed from above, "DANNY IS HIS OWN WEIGHT CLASS!"
Julian retorted, "YES, THAT IS THE POINT!"
The floor shuddered again. A narrow bridge retracted mid-step, dumping a fighter into the abyss. Teleport light swallowed him.
Another elimination.
A moment later, the arena trembled violently.
The dome housing Mira and Wolf Queen bulged outward as if struck by an explosion from within. Dust showered down. A shockwave radiated along the stone. Wolf King whipped his head toward the sound, eyes flashing with delight.
"Oh…" he whispered. "Beautiful."
Danny braced his feet. "It's going to break."
Swift stared upward, heart pounding.
The dome cracked fully down one side—
—but did not shatter. Not yet.
Jake clung to Bumble as their platform tilted dangerously. "Why. Won't. It. Stop. MOVING?!"
Bumble replied, "BECAUSE THE ARENA IS ADAPTING TO KEEP YOU ALIVE!"
"IT DOES NOT FEEL LIKE THAT!"
Across the spiral, one last violent shift threw two fighters on the highest walkway directly off balance. They plummeted toward the abyss, teleported out before they hit anything.
The system voice chimed.
"Remaining fighters: Twenty-eight.
Stage Five compression complete."
The stone dome cracked again, a sliver of light spilling through.
Something moved behind the fissure—
something that wasn't still.
Swift lifted his head, breath catching.
Shadeclaw snarled.
Jade grinned.
Ember Claw tensed.
Tundra Lynx crouched.
Giga-Ronin straightened.
Danny watched in silence.
Wolf King leaned forward eagerly.
The dome bulged a final time.
A single, sharp claw tip punched through the stone—
and the chapter ended with dust drifting down like snow as the sealed chamber finally began to break open.
Fighters Remaining: 28 / 500