The fourth gate closed behind Kai with a sound like thunder.
He stood alone in the chamber, panting softly. His qi still burned gold, steady and strong.
But something was wrong.
The chamber should've dimmed. The platform should've begun its descent back to the sect below.
Instead…
The ground rumbled.
And from the center of the platform, a new gate began to rise.
Not carved stone—obsidian, laced with veins of glowing red and gold. Its runes were unfamiliar. Not from the sect. Not even from the known Flame Scripts.
Kai stepped back.
"There was no fifth trial," he whispered.
But his flame surged on its own—drawn to the gate.
Elder Xuan, watching through the viewing crystal, went pale. "No. No, no, no."
Linya stared. "What is that?"
Xuan didn't answer.
Because he knew.
Only one disciple in Emberheart's ancient scrolls had ever awakened the Fifth Flame Gate.
And that disciple… had never returned.
Kai stepped toward the obsidian gate. He didn't touch it.
He didn't need to.
It opened itself.
Flames didn't pour out.
Silence did.
Utter, absolute silence.
No heat.
No sound.
No feeling.
And then—he fell.
Darkness swallowed him.
He didn't land. He floated.
Suspended in void.
Then, a voice spoke—not around him, but inside him.
"You seek ascension. But do you know the cost?"
Images surged:
Kai's sister, lifeless on a cold floor.
His village burning.
Mei's blood staining the trial stones.
The child from Red Vale, sobbing in shadow.
"Power taken… must be paid for."
"You carry a flame that once burned heavens."
"Now prove you deserve it."
Before him, fire flared—shaping itself into three figures.
One burned like a king, crowned in flame.
One snarled like a beast, wreathed in black fire.
And one stood still—a mirror of Kai himself, but older… crueler… empty-eyed.
"Defeat us," they said in unison.
"Or burn forever in the trial you created."
Outside, the trial chamber shook.
The obsidian gate flared so bright, the Elders were forced to shield their eyes.
Linya's voice was tight. "What's happening to him?"
Elder Su whispered, "The Fifth Trial doesn't test strength, or identity, or even purpose."
"It tests fate."
And fate… is not always kind.
Inside the void, Kai stood facing his three trials made flesh.
The king of fire raised his hand.
And the battle began.