Galeno stepped forward without a word. The air around him turned heavy, dense, like the gravity itself acknowledged his presence. He removed his pajama top with a single motion, revealing tough, scale-lined muscles glimmering faintly like polished obsidian. His eyes glowed with golden, ancient power.
Ethan mirrored him, tossing his own shirt aside as his body radiated controlled might. Aura rolled off him like a rising storm.
They stared at each other for only a moment.
Then the ground erupted.
Galeno stomped once; the arena floor rose like a tidal wave of earth, jagged stone pillars exploding upward to impale anything in their path. Ethan teleported instantly, a blur of motion and time distortion, appearing high above the arena.
Galeno's gaze snapped upward. His hand rose. Reality responded.
