Ember's ominous warning, paired with the appearance of new Demons in the Ellipsia citadel, keeps my mind sharp as we zip through the Endless inner city of the Grand Citadel.
I remember the time it took to travel a few dozen blocks that spanned tens of thousands of kilometers across Ellipsia, but we're just flying deeper and deeper, clearing this length multiple times without any change in sight or signs of stopping.
Even looking up, it's like there is no sky, only more towers and other fast travel orbs zipping about with High Class Lords carrying out business and Demonic Servants guarding every shop and conducting business of their own.
There must be tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions of Lords here. This Citadel is beyond enormous.
It is a very ominous environment, and Ember's words, along with the Admin that is guiding us, echo in my mind.
I really don't have any idea what happens here in the Grand Citadel...
Minutes pass, and so do hundreds of towers, before the landscape starts to change slightly.
Instead of just the countless ether commands and rectangular structures on the horizon, I begin to see something plain green, like pure divine threads making a wall.
The closer we get, the fewer buildings take up the skyline, and the more this bright green light takes up the sky and entire horizon in front of me.
Eventually, little to no buildings are left, and all that's between this green mass and our orb are countless single-file lines of other white ether orbs.
We come to a stop behind an orb with a single Demonic Servant in it and a large 2nd Class Wild mutated Bear-like monster in similar restraints to ours. There are hundreds of other similar orbs in front of them.
To my left and right, I can't make out how many more of these lines there are, but they are separated by a few kilometers each, coming out from every crack, crevice, and plausible fast travel orb pathway from all around the city.
My perception of these lines curves, making it clear that this incredibly massive green mass in front of us is circular. Even though I can't see its top, my instincts and the flow of ether strands I see tell me it's an incredibly massive dome.
We all stay silent as the line moves forward, and more ether orbs start to line up behind us, keeping the line pretty long even though we're moving forward at a quick pace.
"Reason for Traveling to the Arena," one of the two 1st Class Demonic Servants that stand in front of the green barrier states.
Our admin responds, "Three Admin Selected Entries. —And I'd like to place my bets for this month's event."
The Servant that didn't speak taps an invisible panel in front of him, and ether commands connect to our fast travel orb, allowing our admin to send 30,000 Low Quality Ether through the link instantaneously.
Strands of ether flow up from the bottom of my avatar, and the entry ticket I received when entering this inner city is connected to a new set of commands. The same happens for Ava and Ren.
The guard comments with a smirk, "Alright, they're registered. Max bets on three sub-2nd Class entries? Not every day we see a triple-ranked up goblin, but what's so special about the humans?"
His partner shakes his head and opens up a small circular opening in the green barrier behind them. "It does not matter, we are impartial. Make comments like that when your shift is finished."
"Right." He nods, taking note of the odd entry then looks forward to greet the next fast travel orb that holds a Demonic Servant and a massive tusked seal creature held down with similar restraints that are on our wrists but wrapped around its tail and neck.
The green barrier closes behind us, and a telepathy message from the admin echoes through.
"We're in. There is no going back now. Once I leave you here, you'll be entering the tournament whether you like it or not..."
I grin, feeling the fast travel orb bend its flight path downward, "That is exactly what I came here for."
We're sent flying through a dark corridor, and it's actually far more calming because, unlike outside, there are no constant flashing ether commands and options flying into my consciousness.
However, the fact that we're moving kilometers below ground now makes me think about the wolfmen that are still far below the Citadel, even days later. It should be a simple procedure just to collect refined ether if my hypothesis is correct, but there seems to be something quite different going on.
These thoughts fade once our downward motion slows and we start to move forward again.
In front of me, I see the corridor we're in split into two paths, and in front of it, another Demonic Servant stands, waiting for us to come to a halt in front of him.
He looks like he's reading something, then nods, tapping on his ether commands before him, and two new empty fast travel orbs form.
"Your entries are registered. The goblin in one, throw the two humans in the other. Then you can leave back to your wilderness post." He says, looking toward the other pathway, then back to us.
All three orbs connect, and we walk inside, doing as instructed, and I hear a mental link form behind myself and the admin one more time as our new ether orbs start to move away from each other down different paths. "Best of luck. I will keep you updated on the tasks you've given to me."
I mentally nod and stare forward as we're brought even deeper into this strange underground portion of the Citadel.
The walls start to change from their basic dark black and green, and start showing more white ether commands the further in we get.
With no sense of air resistance or a moving mini-map in my mind, it's hard to tell how fast or far we're really traveling, but my assumption is thousands of kilometers again.
Ava's fast travel orb veers off in another direction once we're hit with a crossroads after a few minutes, but our mental link still stays strong, and a spectate feature is shared between us, so it feels like we're still beside each other.
Less than 5 minutes later, both of our fast travel orbs come to a halt, and the sides of the corridors we're in open wide like cell doors, and we're sent flying inside while the orbs of light around us fade away.
I see Ava thrown into a massive black room, and the door closes behind her to be left in silence. I have a natural geolocation linked to her, and can tell we're not very far away, about 50 kilometers away at most.
Ren and I are tossed into a similar environment, but my ether senses are active here, and through the darkness, I make out the large outlines of hundreds of 1st and 2nd Class monsters all around.
They too have restraints on their arms, legs, necks, and mouths.
Some appear to have a glint of intelligence in their eyes, while others look like raging beasts ready to tear anything and everything to pieces the moment they get out of their restraints.
The door behind us closes, and as I stand to my feet and look over to Ren, the white-haired Lord looks up at me with a docile and innocent look in their eyes, speaking in a confused and soft voice, nothing like the angry elf that threatened to kill me just a few hours ago in the black sand desert.
"Where are we...? –And how did we get here? W-What are we wearing...?"
Not a drop of fear or anxiety comes off the Lord, they just look me up and down, blinking a few times, then throwing a wondering gaze around all of the monsters in this cell with us.
The massive room is dark, so only their outlines and some of their glowing eyes can be seen.
Massive earth golems, fiery lizards, serpents, mutated Orcs and Ogres, Yetis, and plenty of outlines from vicious monsters I've never seen before.
Though, their bright single and double crowns certainly are of great contrast to the 5 floating above mine and Ren's head.
Some of the intelligent Lords let out loud laughs, and a few mock us with whispers.
"5th Class Lords... this must be some kind of joke."
"What Admin would waste their entries on humans?"
"Just ignore them, we'll kill them for points in the first round."
Even more dismissive grunts and laughter follow as Ren and I walk through the beasts to find a back wall of the cell.
I put a hand on their shoulder to reply, far more interested in the words that were just uttered over any insults from random captured monsters down here.
"What do you mean, 'where are we'? You were here with us the whole way down... What are you talking about?"
Ren looks back up at me with bright white eyes, and we stop once making it to the nearest wall to the far back side of the room, and a telepathy voice comes back, "Oh— you were talking to that one again. Well, if they agreed to being here, it must be for the best."
No change on the uninterested and docile face of this elf is shown, but my mind feels as though it's being played with from these words.
However, before I can reply through our link again, my purple ring vibrates, and a new set of memories from the past flood into my consciousness.