The group passed through colossal gates.
From outside, the arena had already seemed massive, but within… it was endless. Vastness stretched beyond comprehension.
Colossal walls shimmered with runes, each one folding and refolding space until size itself was a lie. The architecture bent reality, creating impossible distances that his mind struggled to process.
Spectators filled terraces that climbed like mountain ranges, their figures vanishing into distorted horizons. Millions upon millions of beings from across the galaxy, all gathered to witness blood.
The ceiling wasn't stone but a rolling starfield, black velvet scattered with galaxies. An illusion so perfect it made the arena feel like open space, as if they stood among the stars themselves.
Adrian's Source Eyes peeled back the illusion. Layers upon layers of inscriptions hummed across the structure, distance warpers, stabilizers.
All tuned to keep Stellar scale destruction caged within these walls. What seemed miraculous to the crowd was simple truth to him, space concepts he had already unraveled.
"Incredible," Kael breathed, his voice lost in the arena's immensity. "How do they even build something like this?"
"Centuries of work," Aurelia murmured. "And enough mana crystals to buy star systems."
A cloaked attendant approached, head bowed. His voice carried formality but no warmth, as if he spoke to livestock.
"Adrian Blackwood. Your presence is required." He pressed sealed passes into the others' hands without looking at them. "The rest may take their seats."
He turned away, already finished with them. To him, they were furniture, present only to witness their betters.
Adrian noted the distinction. To the empire, even he, a stellar, remained a piece on the board. Stronger than most, but still replaceable.
Elara gripped her son's shoulder, her fingers lingered a moment longer, her voice soft, "Return alive, my son."
Septimus leaned heavily on his staff, "Remember, impatience costs more than blood."
Cassian's gaze drifted into distances only he could see. His eyes rippled with threads of golden light, prophecy stirring behind them.
"The knot tightens," he murmured, voice distant as starlight. "But not all knots choke."
Adrian inclined his head to them, then stepped through the archway alone, into whatever waited beyond.
The ground vanished beneath his feet like a trap door. Space twisted, folded, and then deposited him elsewhere entirely.
He emerged into the battlefield, an infinite void where stars blazed in every direction. The air itself hummed with essence, illusions woven so perfectly they felt more real than reality.
The arena wasn't a cage. It was a galaxy of its own, forged specifically for battle between gods.
The seats of spectators curved in the impossible distance, an arc of countless figures suspended like a second galaxy. Their voices rolled like thunder across the void, a storm that battered the edges of his senses.
Species he'd never seen cheered and jeered in languages that hurt to hear.
And at the center, already waiting with predatory patience, stood Tharion Drakenholt. The Patriarch's presence hit Adrian.
Tall and broad, draped in dark crimson robes that shimmered with living fire sigils. Each emblem flickered like captured embers, heat bleeding from him in waves that distorted the very air.
Even at a distance, his presence smothered everything around him. Pressure rolled outward like a furnace tearing through the void, demanding submission from lesser beings.
Scales glinted along his exposed forearms, remnants of his race's draconic heritage. His eyes burned with literal flames, pupils dancing with molten gold.
A cruel smile split his face, revealing teeth like obsidian daggers. "So… the insect comes crawling from its nest."
He threw his arms wide, turning to address the spectators above. "I thought you might flee back into the shadows where vermin belong!"
The crowd erupted like a volcanic explosion. Cheers, roars, and alien battle cries shook the artificial void until even the stars seemed to tremble.
"At least you have courage," Tharion continued, basking in their bloodlust. "If not sense!"
Adrian stepped forward. Pressure slammed into him, sharp and heavy. His chest tightened.
It was familiar.
This was the same suffocating weight he had carried when he unleashed his Source Form. No wonder the galaxy mistook him for Stellar before he even touched a domain.
But now… now, after comprehending space itself, he felt the change in his seed. Stronger. Denser. He had not yet tested its full measure.
This would be the time.
Light flared at the center of the battlefield.
The Overseer materialized in the center, robes blazing red and gold. He lifted his hand high.
Essence thrummed, and silence fell across the endless stands.
His voice cut through the void, amplified by the arena itself. "By decree of the Aethelian Empire, this duel is sanctioned."
"Life and death. No interference. Only truth will stand at its end."
The crowd hushed, every eye fixed upon the two Stellars.
Among the ocean of seats, Draven leaned forward, fists clenched, muttering through his teeth.
Septimus's staff struck the ground, silencing him with a glare.
The Overseer lowered his hand. Then, without flourish, he dissolved into nothing.
The runes etched across the battlefield ignited, locking the space. There would be no escape.
Adrian and Tharion faced one another.
Two figures suspended in an endless void.
Tharion's eyes gleamed, and his voice cut across the silence. "My son's ashes are on your hands, and for that, you will suffer a death that will echo for centuries."
He took a step forward, his domain spreading out from his body. The very void trembled under his presence.
"I will not grant you the mercy of a quick death. No, I will burn away your limbs, shatter your bones, peel the arrogance from your flesh…"
His smile turned predatory. "Until even your soul begs to scatter into nothing."
The crowd roared its approval, the noise shaking the arena.
Adrian spread his space domain. "Your son threatened my people, he threatened my world, and he dared to lay his hand on someone I respect."
His eyes hardened, white-grey essence pulsing like stars in his gaze.
"For that alone, his death was certain."
Tharion's laughter rolled across the battlefield like a volcanic eruption.
"Your people? Your world?!" He spat the words like poison.
"You cling to your nameless dirt world as if it matters. You think respect and protection mean anything in this galaxy?"
His scales brightened, heat waves distorting the air around him. "Strength is the only law here, boy."
"And before strength, everything you treasure will burn!"
Adrian's Source seed stirred. "Then burn me if you can."
Space warped tighter around him. "Today, it won't be me that's reduced to ashes."
"It will be you and your clan."
The domains collided.
Fire met void, heat crashed against spatial distortion. The arena's protective runes flared to contain the pressure.
Tharion's flames roared outward, seeking to consume everything. Adrian's space twisted, folding reality into impossible angles.
The crowd held its breath. The fight had already begun.