Six survivors in the staging grounds. Dark. Seraphina. Kaelen. Lian. Wraith. Vel Moran. The staging grounds received them with the quality they had been developing since the tournament's beginning — the accumulated weight of what had happened in this space across the weeks of competition, the specific density of a place where significant things had occurred repeatedly and the walls had absorbed some fraction of the significance. The Grand Host rose. "Six participants advance. The round of six will convene following a recess. The bracket will be announced at the recess's conclusion." The recess standard interval — one hour. Dark moved to the staging grounds' edge and stood with his hands crossed beneath his cloak. The World Tree's Energy Confluence was still running at its ambient rate — the healing qi that had activated during the fight's final phase continuing at the lower level that the sapling produced between demands, the restoration ongoing at the pace that Stage Tw