The sky above the Ascension Arena burned the color of fresh blood. The grey clouds dissolved into steam as the Starfall Judgment tore through the upper atmosphere. The High Tier Advanced miracle did not fall like a natural stone. It descended as a perfect sphere of concentrated divine fire. The heat radiating from the projectile was so intense it turned the cold wind into a fine white mist.
Trent stood inside his pulsing blue dome and stared upward. His jaw dropped. The giant spectral projection he had cast into the clouds flickered violently. The raw atmospheric pressure of the incoming meteor crushed his cheap magic. The massive face of the Valorian king warped into a twisted grimace before it popped out of existence.
The sudden severing of the magical connection sent a sharp spike of
