The first challenge began with a dramatic flourish. The shimmering stage beneath the participants' feet shifted, its runes glowing brighter as mana surged through the air. The audience gasped as the ground morphed, creating a vast, uneven terrain of jagged rocks, molten lava streams, and shimmering pools of liquid mana. The participants were now scattered across the battlefield, their expressions ranging from calm focus to determined intensity.
Eren stood at the edge of the stage, his heart pounding in his chest as he crouched low behind a jagged outcrop of rock. The air was thick with heat and crackling mana, and the faint scent of sulfur stung his nostrils. His hands, damp with sweat, clung to the rough surface of the rock as he tried to steady his breathing. He was acutely aware of the eyes on him—thousands of them, watching his every move. His lack of magic marked him as prey in this world, but he wasn't about to let that define him now.
