The arena ruins still smoldered, and the desert was littered with shattered bone and scorched sand. Far from the battlefield, in the cold, shadowed halls of Hades' domain, the Absolute King's presence loomed like a storm.
Hades' eyes glimmered with quiet fury, his aura a suffocating black, laced with threads of crimson. He turned toward Igron, who knelt before him, posture tense but composed.
"How…" Hades' voice was low, deliberate, slicing through the shadows, "does he know about the Bone Blade?"
Igron met his gaze steadily, his expression unreadable. "He didn't just know, my lord. He felt it. He understood its presence, its intent… as though the blade was calling him."
Hades' fingers flexed, aura flaring slightly. "Calling him? A mortal child… in the pits of Hell… How could he sense a weapon forged for the fallen, hidden for centuries?"
Igron's tone remained calm, even as a shadow of concern passed his features. "He's not ordinary, my lord. The boy has endured Hell itself. He survived the pit, mastered the chains, and now wields an aura that bends power itself. Perhaps… he is more than we anticipated."
Hades' crimson eyes narrowed, dangerous and precise. "More than we anticipated…" he repeated, almost to himself. "Very well. If he has sensed it, if he has taken the Bone Blade, then he has begun to tip the scales. And soon… I will see if he is merely talented… or a threat."
Igron inclined his head slightly, careful. "What would you have me do, my lord?"
Hades' gaze darkened, a storm gathering in his aura. "Watch him closely. Every move, every thought. If he grows too powerful… we will have no choice but to intervene directly. The Bone Blade… his chains… this boy may yet prove… dangerous."
The halls of shadow seemed to pulse with Hades' silent fury, a promise that the end of the arena battle was only the beginnin