[This chapter is being edited along with trial 2 and 3. Please standby.]
The silence didn't last long.
Just as Verena took a breath, a distant rumble echoed through the newly reformed corridor—low, guttural, and wrong. The glittering dust of the fallen Sagittarius Zodiabeast began to swirl unnaturally, drawn toward the corridor's end like ash caught in an unseen wind. Her body tensed, instincts prickling. This wasn't supposed to happen. There were no reinforcements in a solo trial. At least, not according to the rules.
"Something's wrong," she murmured.
The air thickened. The constellations on the walls blinked out one by one, like dying stars. Her celestial bow dissolved, reacting to a distortion she couldn't yet comprehend. Even Saphira, coiled tightly around her arm, tensed, her scales bristling.
"I don't like thissss," the serpent hissed. "This isn't part of the trrrial. This… this is something else."
And then—like the tearing of cosmic fabric—it appeared.
