A massive boulder, easily tens of meters in diameter, was plummeting from the sky.
To the eye, it appeared to descend slowly, almost lazily. But that illusion was born of its sheer size and distance. In truth, it was falling at a terrifying speed. It was so fast that the air around it seemed to scream as it tore through the skies.
Its surface shone with residual mana fluctuations, glowing faintly red-hot from the force of its conjuration. Cracks spread across the asteroid's surface like veins, and mana leaked from them like a blazing inferno.
And then… silence.
The crowd had gone completely still.
Tens of thousands of people in the arena, Magi and mortals alike, remained frozen on their feet, their wide eyes locked upward.
Time itself seemed to come to a halt.
No one moved. No one breathed.
The spectacle above was too colossal… too final.
Death no longer seemed like a distant concept. It was real. And it was falling.
