Everyone outside the citadel froze when they saw a blur burst through its upper wall like a meteor tearing through stone. A sonic boom cracked through the sky as the figure shot across the air, trailing a streak of broken clouds behind it.
Gasps echoed across the floating platforms surrounding the citadel, and all eyes instinctively turned upward. It wasn't until the figure abruptly halted midair—his robes flapping violently against the wind, his silver-white hair streaming behind him—that they realized who it was.
"Max!" someone shouted, voice laced with disbelief.
Shock rippled through the experts from the Lower Domain. The strongest among them—leaders, veterans, kings—all stared up with pale expressions. The same Max who had crushed Drevon in a single blow, the one who had ascended from Seeker Rank to Expert Rank in a day, was just blasted out of the citadel like a broken arrow.
They couldn't fathom it. If he was thrown out, what in the world had done it?
