The arena floor felt solid beneath Jack's boots as he settled into a stance, Oscar held loosely at his side.
The Champion stood thirty feet away, that massive two-handed sword resting against the blood-soaked sand, dark eyes tracking every micro-movement Jack made.
The crowd's roar was deafening. Thousands of voices raised in anticipation, creating a wall of sound that pressed against Jack's consciousness like a blow horn.
"SOUL WARDEN VERSUS CHAMPION!" Valdoren's amplified voice boomed across the Colosseum. "LET THE BATTLE... BEGIN!"
Jack didn't move immediately. Instead, he allowed his awareness to expand, feeling the demonic energy that permeated the place.
Red lightning crackled along his gauntlets, faint at first, then growing brighter. He raised one hand almost casually, and a bolt of crimson electricity arced from his fingertips.
But instead of striking the Champion, it shot upward into the stands.
