Zala walked the chamber with slow steps, her fingers caressing the statue while she spoke, her voice mixing boredom and a strange anticipation.
"You know what's funny? Nine human victories, and not once have they managed to reach this," she tapped the statue's base softly.
She turned to Elio, her eyes glowing in the dimness. "You see, the game's rules aren't the only thing you should consider. Killing me isn't enough to truly win the world. That's just... the first step."
A gesture of her hand and dim lights began to glow, forming a spherical map of the world's ten rings.
"Killing me makes you win the game, sure... But to truly liberate this world, you need to conquer all ten rings. All of them. And not just that, you have to do it in less than a thousand years." Her smile turned cruel. "Do you know why that specific limit?"
Elio maintained his silence, but his eyes followed every movement Zala made.
