CHAPTER 71: INTO THE 10TH FLOOR - BOSS ROOM

The Rift shimmered, then cracked open wider than ever before.

Astraia looked at me one last time, her tone calm but firm. "We’ll finish this."

I gave a nod. "No mistakes."

Noel clenched his fists, his eyes burning with determination. "We fight, we survive, we sync."

The light pulled us in.

And just like that, the Rift swallowed us whole.

The 10th Floor began.

-

[SYSTEM ALERT: GLOBAL BROADCAST INITIATED]

[Challenger(s) "Blank," "Astraia," "Noel" have entered Floor 10 – Boss Arena Engaged]

[Access to Floor 10 is now restricted until current challenge concludes.]

[Boss Arena Lockdown: ACTIVE]

[Live Feed Initiated – Broadcasting Current Challenge Globally.]

[Status: Combat Pending]

-

In every Rift-aligned nation, in guild halls and war rooms, in bars, lounges, military bases, and personal devices, we were everywhere.

My form—still masked, still unreadable—stood at the center of a crimson-lit arena, separated by shimmering mana partitions from Noel and Astraia, each in their own isolated combat zones.

It had begun.

And I was fully aware: the system auto-broadcasts every 10th, 20th, 30th, and milestone boss battle as part of the Labyrinth’s ancient tradition—The Rite of Ascent.

Every move. Every breath. Every blow.

Live. Unedited. Unforgiving.

-

Astral Community – Exploding Global Thread

@CrimsonNet [MOD-PINNED][FLOOR 10 ENGAGED — LIVE BROADCAST ON ALL CHANNELS]All eyes on the world’s most anticipated trio: Blank, Astraia, and Noel.We’re watching history in the making.

@JzOfficialI can’t believe this is happening.Blank’s actually doing it. With Astraia AND Noel.GOOSEBUMPS.

@GuildLynxDon’t mess this up, Noel. Everyone’s watching now.

@AstraiaFanClubJPQueen’s lighting up the floor.Look at that mana signature! 🔥🔥🔥

@SpecHunterThey’re separated... It’s three arenas.This ain’t a party fight. This is a test of gods.

Back inside the arena, the final countdown echoed in my ear like a war drum.

[Combat Initiating: 00:00:05][Stay Alive. Stay Synchronized.]

Noel was adjusting his stance. Astraia was already radiating pressure. And me?I stood motionless—because I already knew what was coming.

The camera feeds had already zoomed in on my position.My faceless mask shimmered faintly in the gloom.People around the world leaned in, breath held, staring at the unknown anomaly named Blank.

And then the ground trembled.

And I stepped forward, raising one clenched fist.

"Let them watch," I muttered. "This will be over before they blink."

Then the arena gates crashed open, and the war began.

-

[FLOOR 10 – THE FORSAKEN ARENA][Combat Initiated][Wave 1: Deployed][Arena Split: Solo Synchronization Required]

-

A deep rumble surged beneath my feet.

From the crimson-lit walls of my arena, obsidian gates slid open with a shriek of corrupted metal. The air split with a sickening pulse—mana warping unnaturally, like veins throbbing in open air.

Then, they came.

Six twisted creatures, humanoid but wrong.

Spindly limbs like daggers. Their skin was black-glass cracked with glowing blue glyphs—fragments of failed summoning rituals etched into their very bones. Their eyes flickered like dying stars.

"Specterbound."

They moved without footsteps. Hovering. Warping forward in short-range blinks, appearing inches from where they once stood. Their bodies phased in and out of form—unstable, erratic.

The first one screeched and lunged. I didn’t move.

[Blank Protocol: Passive - Absolute Dissonance active][Magical anomalies weakened by 30% within 5m radius]

Its claw phased through where my head was supposed to be, but I had already shifted sideways, stepping in like water.

CRACK!

My fist struck clean across its neck. The glyphs flickered violently—then dimmed.

[Burn Stack: 1]

[Burn Stack: 2]

The others surged forward, phasing unpredictably, but I was already moving.

Emberfang Style: Explosive Ember Stance – Activated.

[Mode: Burst Focus]

My feet scorched the arena floor as I blitzed forward, Right palm into a throat, left elbow through a ribcage. My strikes were glowing embers, and each one stacked the flames higher.

Three, four, five strikes—Explosions trailed my fists, like fire cracking stone.

[Burn Stack: 5]

[Burn Stack: 7]

[Burn Stack: 9]

Behind me, another blinked in—this one tried to impale me with a shard blade protruding from its forearm.

I ducked low. Mana surged into my heel.

I launched upward with a spinning rising knee—flame burst like a geyser from the impact.

[Burn Stack: 12]

[Burn Stack: 13]

Two more came in together. I backflipped mid-air, then inverted the stance—

Precision Flame Mode – Activated

I dropped like a hawk and struck both on the nape simultaneously with open palms—delivering fine, exact, punishing pressure to their unstable cores.

[Burn Stack: 14]

[Burn Stack: 15 – Status Applied]

[Target: Defense and Healing -30%]

"Over."

With one final punch, I incinerated the lead Specterbound’s core. It burst in silence, swallowed by a bloom of ash and red light.

The others followed in collapse, no longer stable without their nexus.

One by one, they shattered—like glass catching fire.

-

Across the separated arenas:

—Astraia’s blade arced wide, slashing through constructs of crystalline shadow, her control immaculate. A blinding volley of light magic exploded behind her as her Astral Patron surged through her veins.

—Noel fought tooth and nail, gauntlets glowing with runic overloads, dodging elemental spikes and returning heavy blows. His tempo wasn’t as clean, but his will was solid.

[Wave 1: Cleared]

[Synchronization Complete]

A moment of silence.

Then—

[Wave 2: Incoming in 30 seconds]

I exhaled and rolled my neck once.

"They’re warming us up," I muttered. "Figures."

Far above the arena, unseen but known, the eyes of the world locked on us.

-

@JzOfficial

Bro... I KNEW Blank was strong, but this?

That wasn’t a fight. That was a massacre.

He didn’t even take a single hit.

@TessBlade

Did you see how precise that flame art was?

It’s not just power. That’s refined combat mastery.

The Specterbound weren’t even weak. They’re floor-10 class mobs.

And he made them look like glass dolls.

@ChronoSeer42

The community has long speculated Blank was ahead, but this?

We underestimated the gap.

He’s not ahead by a step.

He’s ahead by a generation.

@AstraiaFanClubJP

Even Astraia—who’s the TOP VASSAL of Japan—was pushed by Wave 1.

She handled it gracefully, of course.

But Blank?

He didn’t struggle. He danced.

-

In guild halls and government bunkers, the scene replayed in slo-mo.

Analysts rewatched the Specterbound flickering through reality—watched as I shut down their unstable magic fields simply by existing near them.

Commentators, guild masters, tacticians—all of them were beginning to realize the same thing:

Blank wasn’t just strong. He operated on a battlefield that followed his rules.