CHAPTER 58 — "BEFORE THE FIRST BLOW"
The waiting hall felt smaller than it should have.
Not because of its size—it was vast, reinforced by layered spirit alloys and ancient formations—but because of the pressure pressing inward from every direction.
Outside these walls, Titan Shell Arena was awake.
No—hungry.
The low thunder of tens of thousands of voices rolled through stone and metal alike, vibrating in Long Hao's chest like distant drums of war. Spirit arrays hummed as barriers synchronized. Announcers tested amplification glyphs, their voices echoing and overlapping in fragments.
Inside the hall, Azure Dragon Academy's ten stood in a loose formation.
No one spoke.
This silence was different from the one they'd known on Blackfang Desolation.
There, silence meant danger lurking unseen.
Here, silence meant anticipation.
