In their respective domains, aside from the humans, the people of the other races of Eldoralth were quiet.
Even in the arena, where the crowd had been screaming at the top of their lungs earlier, it was now utterly silent.
The other races were currently going through a wave of complex emotions, difficult to describe.
For the Verietega Nexus, numerous races had gathered in the arena to personally witness the apex battles firsthand. However, among the crowd, only citizens of the superior races and a few from the mid tier races were present. Not a single human was among them.
Even if some humans had been present, despite how thrilling the situation was, they wouldn't have felt safe enough to cheer in this atmosphere.
The crowd was deathly silent, and many couldn't help but stare at the announcement in disbelief.
The pride of being a superior race wasn't confined to the elites of their race; even the ordinary citizens saw themselves as superior beings compared to those from the mid and lower races.
If Karn Voss of the Nullite race had won, they would have understood. At the very least, he was a member of a superior race like them.
But this wasn't even a mid tier race. It was a lower race. A lower race had actually won. Many didn't know how to feel. Some felt embarrassed, while others felt blatant anger.
They had watched the battles. They knew that Atticus had won fair and square. He had earned that victory. They understood all of this, but pride is a peculiar thing.
A lower race was better than them? Impossible.
They refused to accept it. And so, the inevitable happened. They erupted.
"There's no way a lower race could overpower Karn Voss!"
"A superior race losing to a human? I'd rather be blind than witness this!"
"A human of all things? This is an insult to the Verietega Nexus!"
"Are we supposed to accept this? A human isn't fit to be the Apex!"
Suddenly, a heavy weight descended on the entire arena, silencing the raging crowd. The millions of people who had been throwing food, drinks, and other items into the middle of the arena froze, fear spreading rapidly.
Only one kind of presence could silence millions of people of varying ranks—a paragon.
However, what made the situation even more tense was that it wasn't just one paragon, but almost all of the paragons of the different races had subtly unleashed their auras.
None of the paragons said a word, yet their intentions were unmistakably clear.
Shut up.
The arena descended into a profound stillness, and no one dared to utter a sound.
This approach wasn't just unique to the human domain but extended across all races. In Eldoralth, there was little concern for the public's opinion or trying to garner popular favor. That wasn't how power was maintained.
Since the beginning of time, everything in Eldoralth had been centered on absolute power. Those in control didn't care about public favor because they held the power to enforce their rule.
If they ever lost that power, a good relationship with the citizens wouldn't save them. Other forces would end them without hesitation.
What the paragons felt was hard to put into words. Did they ever anticipate that a human would win the Nexus? Absolutely not.
But a human had won. This was a fact, and there was no changing it. Anyone challenging this fact was, in essence, challenging them—the overseers of the competition.
Youn's frown deepened and remained even as a golden light ignited, and Karn appeared in the middle of the arena.
The brief moment of chaos had left the center of the arena littered with various debris. As Karn appeared, he felt something break beneath his feet, but he didn't bother to look down.
He felt the gaze of Youn and everyone else on him, many expressing disappointment at his loss. Yet Karn seemed unfazed.
His gaze was as intense as when he had looked at Atticus, his aura calm, shoulders firm. There was not a single hint of shame in his stance. With measured steps, he walked out of the arena and through one of its doors.
As Karn left, the paragons' gazes shifted to Magnus and the other human paragons. Magnus's aura was electric with excitement, while Seraphina wore a wide smile, her happiness clear.
Since the start of the battles, Luminous had been utterly shocked. He had heard the rumors, but seeing Atticus's power firsthand was shocking.
His grandsons had actually faced such a monster in school? The Stellaris family were proud and hyper, but they weren't supposed to be stupid.
'I should have taught them better…'
One of the most essential traits in Eldoralth, to live long and prosper, was knowing when to recognize one's superior and act accordingly. Both his grandsons had failed to do that.
Meanwhile, Thorne wore a serious expression. Atticus's prowess had shocked him, but that wasn't the real issue.
To him, it was the implications. Atticus had won the Verietega Nexus. It sounded simple, but it was monumental news. Too monumental.
The attention that would now fall upon the human domain would be impossible to count, and the pressure too immense.
Before, it had been the mid-tier races pressuring them into using Sector 10 as a wager. But now, with the superior races taking notice, he could only expect the worst.
'He's truly a genius, but he's just one boy. He can't even face us yet, let alone the paragons of the other races. He's drawn too much attention—how are we supposed to protect him? Troublesome, so troublesome.'
Thorne was relieved they hadn't lost Sector 10, but the potential troubles of the future outweighed that relief.
As a golden light ignited in the coliseum and Atticus appeared, all eyes turned to him.
Thorne wasn't the only one contemplating the future. As they stared at Atticus, everyone wondered just how the future would unfold.
Would this mark the rise or the fall of humanity?