A blinding light had erupted, filling the arena with an almost celestial brilliance.
The spectators held their breaths, their eyes wide with awe and suspense. Even the demons had gotten very interested in this.
The light was so intense that it seed to transcend the physical realm, bathing the entire space in a pure, radiant glow. For a mont, it felt as if ti itself had stopped, the world holding its breath in unison with the crowd.
And then, just as suddenly as it had co, the light vanished. The arena returned to its normal state, and standing before the Sphere was Lenny, his eyes fixed on the score that had appeared. The number "15" glowed faintly on the surface of the Sphere, marking his score.
A wave of disbelief and disappointnt washed over the crowd. They erupted into boos, jeers, and shouts of derision. So spectators even hurled clumps of dirt in his direction, their frustration and anger was obvious.
All that hype and nothing to show for it. In truth, they were all greatly disappointed.
Lenny turned away from the Sphere, unfazed by the hostile reactions. His face remained impassive as he walked back towards his side of the line.
Cena and Venir stood there, their expressions mirroring the crowd’s sentint. They looked at Lenny with a mixture of shock and dismay, their hopes seemingly dashed.
"I can’t believe it," Cena muttered, her voice tinged with despair. "He scored the lowest of them all? But he... he." She was disppointed.
Venir shook her head, disbelief etched on her features. "All hope is lost," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "We’ve failed."
But amidst the cacophony of boos and the despondent murmurs of crowd, a pair of eyes and four pairs of ears remained fixed on Lenny, unblinking and intense.
In the luxury boxes, Naamah and Lamastu stared at him, their expressions a mixture of astonishnt and deep contemplation. Their usually inscrutable faces now betrayed a rare mont of vulnerability, as if they had witnessed sothing beyond comprehension.
Lamastu’s green eyes narrowed, the orb on her staff pulsating softly as she watched Lenny with an intensity that bordered on reverence. Naamah, though blind, seed to be staring directly at Lenny, her unseeing eyes wide with a newfound recognition.
In that mont, the two sisters, usually so composed and calculating, appeared almost speechless. The realization dawned on them that Lenny was no ordinary competitor. They exchanged a glance, the significance of what had just transpired not lost on either of them.
After all, they could tell that lenny had actually backed out. He could have kept pressing forward, but he backed out.
Even the Elf old man looked at him with a more focused gaze.
He too knew what had happened.
The worse part is that lenny had been such an incredible challenge for the sphere, that the micro spheres that made up the lock quickly ford back to cover up the hole he had made. After all, this Sphere adapted at extre Nano seconds.
This was the reason why Lenny’s score was so low.
The Succubus in charge of anchoring the event, a captivating figure with flowing black hair and eyes that glimred like obsidian, stepped forward. Her voice, sweet and lodious, echoed throughout the arena as she began to call out the scores. The atmosphere was electric with tension, every competitor and spectator hanging on her every word.
"Only those who have scored 30 points or more will advance to the next rank," she announced, her tone authoritative and clear. One by one, nas were called, and the Frog Demon that had stood close to Lenny earlier was among them. In total, thirty competitors were called up to advance, each one greeted with cheers and applause from the crowd.
As the Succubus was about to conclude, an Asmodeus Demon commander hurried over to her, whispering urgently in her ear. She glanced towards Lamastu and Naamah, both of whom gave the slightest nods of approval. Turning back to the audience, the Succubus’s gaze fell upon Lenny.
"D999," she called out, her voice carrying a note of finality. "You are to join those that passed."
The arena fell silent, shock and confusion rippling through the crowd. Whispers and murmurs spread like wildfire, but no one dared to voice their dissent openly. The handpicking by the most powerful figures present, Lamastu and Naamah, silenced any potential outcry. The respect and fear they commanded were absolute.
Lenny walked towards the group of qualifiers, his expression unreadable. The crowd’s earlier jeers were now replaced with a tense silence, an acknowledgnt of the weight of the decision made by the high-ranking demons. Cena and Venir exchanged bewildered glances, their earlier despair now tinged with a flicker of hope.
The Succubus continued, "The next stage of the competition will comnce shortly. Prepare yourselves."
With a wave of her hand, the slaves ushered by a whip-cracking demon began to remove the Sphere from the center of the arena. The arena floor trembled as powerful magic surged through the ground, causing it to expand rapidly. The boundaries of the arena stretched outward, the once confined space now a vast, sprawling battlefield.
The transformation was nothing short of spectacular. As the ground expanded, a huge sub-plane materialized, its sheer size and complexity awe-inspiring. The landscape was a dreadful amalgamation of contrasting elents. One half of the sub-plane was a dense, dark forest, with towering, twisted trees whose branches seed to claw at the sky. The air was thick with an oppressive humidity, the ground covered in a tangle of roots and underbrush that would make any movent treacherous.
The other half of the sub-plane was a stark, hellish expanse of lava fields. Rivers of molten rock flowed sluggishly, their glow casting an eerie light that contrasted sharply with the dark forest. Geysers of lava periodically erupted, spewing forth showers of burning rock and ash. The ground was cracked and unstable, the intense heat distorting the air above.
The rules of this new competition segnt were brutal in their simplicity. The Succubus raised her voice once more, her words chilling in their finality. "No one is allowed to leave the area until only ten remains. Victory is achieved through survival. Death is imminent."
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