The enormous demonic dragon, flapping its wings above in the cubic dueling room, swoops down, dark demonic energy trailing behind it.
None of the Warlords move a muscle, and the Noble Demon closes its eyes, digging deep within its mind to unlock its Noble Bloodline Transformation.
It is the only technique on its status that doesn't use a system command; it has to be unsealed naturally. This is what sets many Noble Bloodlines apart from all the other Lords in the Upper Realm.
As its eyes open, waves of dense Ether and demonic energy imbued with natural intimidation ripple through the room, causing the gravity to increase by dozens of times.
Ember gives a slight nod, releasing the relaxed, crossed-arm grip he held before to take up a fighting stance. The three 1st Class Lords to his left take this cue to release their full power and continue the plan they've agreed upon.
Torvak immediately bursts with thick bolts of lightning surging all over his body and Soul Weapon. He jumps upward as his greater form grows around him, increasing his range and size by over ten times.
Around Asic, the air starts to smell sour, like blood. Dark red, almost brown crystalline structures begin to form around his being, and sharp fragments of this dark rock summon from thin air to cover his dual-bladed axe.
A dark energy form grows around the High Orc, creating the imagery of a dark knight's armor. He jumps upward as well, right beside Torvak.
The Demon still on ground level doesn't even bat an eye as the two massive, growing figures soar over him, on a direct course for the demonic dragon swooping down their way.
Breakthrough after breakthrough makes the room fill with the Noble Demon's strange aura, pushing outward to the walls almost instantly, hundreds of kilometers away.
In less than a second, the Demon's size matches Zashen, but he continues to grow past the 200-meter mark like it's not even an obstacle.
The Demon's face still shows no signs of emotion, as if it is merely taking out the trash.
It grows past 500 meters while pointing its three-pronged spear forward at the growing Berserker King.
A team of anonymous servants within the Central Tower overrides the Exile Facility's Citadel Power Plant functions and begins closing the access point early.
Everyone working in the Citadel, even the Lords within the black market, have already left their posts, swept into the streets by mandatory fast-travel orbs to the nearest projection site to watch the duel.
This ripple effect of events quickly reaches the Exile zones below the floating city.
A loud rhythmic twang, followed by an eruption of bright white light, green divine energy, and the metallic scraping of the thousand-kilometer-wide access point doors shifting, echoes throughout the entire mountain below.
It's hard to see through the thick fog, but the outer edges of the white circular light in the sky begin to shrink very slowly.
Memories of the Goblin King's countless treks through these lands remind me that Ava and I should have more time... There have only been a single digit number of times the doors were shut early, and the timing makes me assume this could be the result of Ember in the Citadel above.
Even if this is a coincidence, and the doors are closing because of a criminal Lord being locked in, or to protect visiting Demons from other Citadels; it doesn't change the fact that I want to get through those doors before they close.
My eyes gaze forward, past the 6 shadowy figures that emerge from the fog, staring toward the real enemy that swings its ball on a chain at the top of this peak.