Ryu's foot descended and made contact with the first step. Let alone him, there were a large number of Dream Asuras up above that were heavily invested in what would happen. In the beginning, they had been quite indifferent. With the usual culture of the Dream Asura Race, although it was a bit surprising, it wasn't unacceptable for Mae to have already laid in bed with a man. However, the more they saw her berate her own father, a man she was usually greatly respectful toward, the more curiosity they had toward this Ryu.
At the same time, there were those who were more invested in his failure as well, eager to see him struggle.
Even those who were aware of the Samsara Steps would have issues when facing them, let alone Ryu who was completely in the dark about what was happening at the moment. He might very well assume these steps to be normal and suffer greatly as a result. They had all seen the Patriarch enter, and he had clearly not explained anything to Ryu beforehand.
