he cheers were still echoing off the marble walls of the Grand Arena, a deafening roar of approval that shook the very foundations of the stadium. Confetti, magically conjured by the celebration mages, rained down in a shimmering, colorful blizzard. It stuck to the sweat on the students' faces, to the broken brass of the golems, to the blood drying on the stone.
"Squad 7! Squad 7! Squad 7!"
Fifty thousand voices chanted in unison, a rhythmic, intoxicating sound of triumph.
But Kairen Zephyrwind wasn't listening to the crowd. He wasn't watching the scoreboard. He was listening to the earth.
Thump... Thump...
The vibration was getting stronger. It wasn't just shaking his boots anymore; it was rattling the bones in his inner ear, a low-frequency hum that made his teeth ache. It was a heartbeat so massive, so deep, it felt like the planet itself was going into cardiac arrest.
"Move!" Kairen shouted, shoving past a bewildered referee who was trying to raise his hand in victory.
