The gate to Floor 16 shimmered like heat rising off summer stone, and Dante felt the difference the moment they stepped through.
It was subtle at first, a gentle pressure settling across his shoulders like an invisible hand pushing down, and then it spread through his limbs and into his core until every trace of individual power felt muted, dampened, reduced to something manageable. The others felt it too because Ren stumbled and Astrid's hand flew to her sword like she expected an attack.
"What is this?" Sera asked, her voice tight with sudden alarm.
"The True Tower." Dante surveyed the landscape ahead: golden hills rolling toward distant crystalline spires, platforms of floating stone drifting through a sky painted in shades of amber and rose. "Everything below was just the appetizer. This is where the real climb begins."
