The tentacles didn't just poke through anymore; they danced.
Purple-black limbs thicker than ancient trees slithered across floating islands, slapping fighters into the void like flies. The seal wasn't cracking; it was screaming. And with every scream came another chapter of the oldest story nobody wanted to hear: the Gods' First War.
The Void Eater didn't whisper this time. It roared the truth straight into souls.
Flashbacks hit every fighter like divine acid.
Ten thousand years ago. Before nations. Before heroes. Only the Celestial Realm and the Primordial Chaos below.
The gods weren't benevolent overlords. They were spoiled brats with infinite power, fighting over who got the shiniest throne. One faction, led by the Radiant Sovereign, wanted perfect order: crystal cities, obedient mortals, no free will. The other, led by the Eclipse Queen (Xyphira's old boss), wanted raw passion: desire, war, chaos, freedom.
The war lasted centuries.
Worlds burned as collateral. Entire realities got deleted in tantrums. The gods hurled stars like grenades, shattered timelines for fun, and when they ran out of ammo, they started eating each other.
That's when the scrap was born.
From the corpses of fallen deities, from the tears in reality itself, the leftover nothingness clumped together. It gained eyes. Mouths. Hunger.
They called it the Void Eater.
At first, the gods laughed. "Just garbage. We'll clean it later."
Then it ate the Radiant Sovereign's left arm. Then the Eclipse Queen's entire legion. Then half the Celestial Realm in one bite.
Panic mode activated.
The surviving gods—terrified for the first time—did the unthinkable: they teamed up. They forged the Eternal Arena from the bones of dead worlds, lured the strongest mortals with promises of wishes, and turned the tournament into a blood battery. Every death fed the seal. Every thousand years, they refreshed the cage.
But some gods never stopped fighting.
Some still wanted the Eater free, because uncontrolled chaos beats losing a throne.
And some? Some secretly fed it, hoping to control the ultimate weapon.
The flashback ended as fast as it began.
Every fighter now knew: This tournament wasn't tradition. It was a desperate patch job by cowards who started the mess.
Haru Cyrius staggered, celestial gold in his veins boiling with rage. "Those bastards... they broke the universe in a pissing contest and made us clean it up!"
Clara's spear trembled. "My sister's curse... came from their war fallout."
Leonhardt's lion roar shook the island. "Honor? They have none!"
The announcer was straight-up speechless for once, then exploded:
"ANCIENT LORE JUST DROPPED HARDER THAN A METEOR! THE GODS' FIRST WAR—THEY CREATED THE VOID EATER THEMSELVES! THIS WHOLE TOURNAMENT IS A COVER-UP! MIND = BLOWN!"
Scoreboard glitched purple:
FIGHTERS REMAINING: 1,298 TIME LEFT: 13:55:12 SEAL INTEGRITY: 41%
The origins triggered the mother of all waves.
Rifts tore open everywhere, birthing "Echoes of the First War"; spectral god soldiers wearing shattered divine armor, wielding weapons made of pure betrayal.
Haru's alliance got swarmed by an entire legion.
Leading them: a towering echo of the Radiant Sovereign himself—half his face missing, one arm void-eaten, golden armor cracked.
The echo spoke with the original god's voice, cold and arrogant:
"Mortals. Tools. You fight so we don't have to. Kneel… or be erased like the failures before you."
Wildane spat blood and charged. "Tempest King's Wrath—Origin Storm!"
His winds turned primordial—raw chaos from the First War era. Hurricane crown roaring, sword slashing arcs that cut divine armor like paper. He surfed the storm, cape heroic, taking on three echoes at once.
Leonhardt met the Sovereign echo head-on. "Lionheart Awakening—Primordial Roar!"
Broadsword clashed with god-spear—shockwave leveled half the island. Golden mane wild, muscles legendary, he tanked divine light blasts like a true king.
Clara spun holy fury. "Sanctum Reversal—Genesis Heal!"
Spear reversed war wounds into power surges for allies, while stabbing echoes with light that burned their betrayal essence.
Luna wove moonlight ancient. "Silver Eclipse Wave—First Moon Bind!"
Chains of lunar silver lassoed echoes, dragging them into eclipse voids—her gentle eyes now fierce with righteous anger.
Mireille danced lethal elegance. "Silver Thorn Strike—Betrayer's Rose!"
Rapier bloomed thorns made from the Eclipse Queen's old petals—poison that made divine echoes scream.
Rhaizen blazed pure. "Light Purification Burst—Original Dawn!"
Sacred blade became the first light ever born, incinerating echoes that dared touch him.
Haru exploded forward, celestial chains now full dragon-mode. "Celestial Breaker—War Ender!"
He punched straight through the Sovereign echo's chest—slow-mo golden supernova. The god-phantom shattered into a million light shards.
The legion fell.
But across the Arena, every Divine Seed was living their own mythic origin battle.
Azra vs an echo of his creator god—claws vs divine forge hammer. "Eclipse Beast Mode—Origin Rejection!"
He tore the echo apart, roaring as lore revealed he was forged from Void Eater scraps to fight in the First War's final days.
Xyphira vs the Eclipse Queen herself—whips vs royal scepter. "Temptation Overdrive—Queen's Fall!"
Pink fire clashed with royal purple—seductive cruelty against ancient arrogance. She laughed through tears: her exile started because she tried to free the Eater back then.
Yura vs the god who ordered his clan's genocide. "Voidstep Decapitation—First Betrayal!"
Shadow blades carved divine flesh that bled starlight.
Akira vs the rune god who cursed his bloodline. "Arcane Cataclysm—Origin Rewrite!"
Runes detonated timelines.
Christine vs the god who twisted her wish a century ago. "Phoenix Ruinburst—Eternal Reckoning!"
Flames of a hundred years burned brighter.
Lady Sakura vs the shogun god who betrayed Hanaryu in the war's fallout. Crimson petals turned into blood rain.
One by one, the top fighters slaughtered echoes of the gods who ruined everything.
The seal cracked louder—now visible as a massive golden ring in the sky, purple tentacles punching through like fists.
The real Radiant Sovereign's voice—no echo this time—boomed from above, pissed:
"Insolent ants! You think knowing changes anything? The Eater wakes because you bleed! Finish the tournament… or we burn the world ourselves to reseal it!"
A golden countdown appeared:
ASCENSION TRIALS END IN: 13:00:00 REACH 1,000 SURVIVORS OR SEAL SHATTERS COMPLETELY
Fighters looked at each other.
No more random killing.
It was open season—hunt or be hunted.
Haru's group stood tall, weapons glowing with First War power.
Haru cracked his knuckles, celestial dragon arms flexing.
"Then we don't play their game."
He looked at his alliance, then at the horizon where other Divine Seeds stood ready.
"We end the war they started."
The sky thundered approval… or warning.