Chapter 8 : The Edge Before Dawn**
The wind whispered through the upper branches of the ancient Heart Tree, carrying the scent of ripened fruit and the faint hum of celestial energy.
Vael sat as he always did... back resting against the trunk, legs casually folded, one hand lazily peeling an orange in his palm. His eyes were half closed, but the subtle twitch in his left ear betrayed that he'd been aware of his visitor the moment he arrived.
High above, in the dense canopy, Mikaeru crouched, balanced with the stillness of a hawk on a branch. The soft rustle of leaves almost masked his breathing. Almost.
"You've been up there since dawn Mikaeru my boy," Vael said, voice calm, almost bored. "You're going to scare the birds."
Mikaeru smirked faintly from the shadows. "You always could sense me, even when you pretended not to."
Vael popped the orange into the air and caught it again. "And you're here because of him."
Silence hung for a beat.
Vael exhaled slowly eyes half closed. "I won't lie the he is the first mortal I've ever seen in a while… who already has the sense we Tenshi hone from birth... He felt it. He owns it. And yesterday.... his Reikiatsu.."
Mikaeru cuts in, eyes opening, gazing fixed on the distant training grounds. " Yeah i know... he showed early signs of the five-inch technique while trying to condense his Reikiatsu. Without anyone teaching him. Without even knowing what it was."
Vael's eye opened full ,locking his anicent eyes on the training grounds.
Mikaeru shifted his weight on the branch. "And its the reason why I'm… conflicted. He's learning too fast.
Rushing it.
And if he burns out..."
"He won't," Vael interrupted.
This time with the faintest of smiles. "You don't see it because you're thinking like a guardian. I see it because I'm thinking like a fighter. Kevin doesn't need endless physical drills. Look at his eyes Mikaeru... he's already tracking movement in ways some Tenshi never master. His instincts… his reflexes… they're frightening."
"The is perfect at its best."
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Mikaeru muttered, voice dropping.
Vael's smirk widened. "Afraid he'll surpass you or might become someone you once bread?"
Mikaeru didn't answer. His silence was its own confession.
...
On the training grounds
The midday sun beat down on white stone tiles, heat shimmering in the air. Kevin stood in the middle of the sparring circle, chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm, sweat glistening down his jawline. Around him, a crowd of trainees watched, some curious, some irritated.
Rei was the first to break the silence. "Again."
The two clashed. Rei's strikes were clean, precise... the kind born from years of drilled discipline. Kevin slipped past them with movements that weren't polished, but alive... dodges that shouldn't have worked but did, turns that put Rei off balance in a instant, before he even realized he was falling into a trap.
Kevin's foot swept behind Rei's ankle... not forceful, just perfectly timed... and Rei stumbled back three steps. Murmurs rippled through the watching Tenshi.
"Is he reading Rei's movements?" one whispered.
"No," another replied. "He's anticipating them and redirecting every strike at a godly reaction."
By the third spar, Rei stepped back with a grudging grin. "You're annoying to fight, you know that?"
Kevin smirked. "I've heard."
...
One by one, others stepped forward. Each brought their own techniques... some relied on raw Reikiatsu bursts, others on flashy forms that lit the air with gold and silver arcs. Kevin never met them with equal energy output. Instead, he slipped into their blind spots, changed rhythms mid fight, baited reactions, then punished them for it.
The crowd's noise grew until even Junren... still basking in the praise of achieving the First Heavenly Form the day before... crossed his arms and stepped forward.
"I want to fight him."
The sparring ground went still. Rei raised an eyebrow. "Getting desperate for attention, Junren?"
Junren ignored him, eyes fixed on Kevin. "You think tricks and instincts can close the gap between you and someone with true power?"
Kevin's smirk faltered just slightly. "True power?... we'll see."
Junren's aura flared, the air itself vibrating. Kevin's eyes narrowed, every muscle primed. The crowd leaned in...
...
A calm, commanding voice cut through the tension.
"That's enough."
Raphiel stepped between them, posture perfectly straight, eyes sharp. "The trial is tomorrow morning. You'll have your chance to let out your steam then. Unless you'd rather be too injured to stand when it begins."
Junren clicked his tongue but stepped back. Kevin relaxed his stance, though his eyes stayed locked on Junren's until the last second.
Then looked at his hand that was shaking from the spar he did... letting out smirk from the corner from his mouth.
"Still not there yet... huh."
...
As the trainees dispersed, Mikaeru finally dropped from the tree into the clearing. Vael didn't look at him, just kept tossing his orange into the air.
"let me take my leave for today Gramps," Mikaeru said quietly.
Vael finally turned, meeting Mikaeru's gaze. His tone softened, almost reverent.
"You still see me as a fool Mikaeru, don't you? He carries the same energy signature you had… back then."
Mikaeru froze, a shadow crossing his face.
"Mikaeru have you been meddling too much in the mortal in spare time."
Mikaeru answerd scratching his head, " No its just complicated."
Vael shrugged. "hmm if you say so, but remember the Tenkai sees it all and there would come a point where she can't help even her cherished burning flame."
Mikaeru remained silent and answered with sounds of his steps walking away.
Leaving Vael sat under the tree finally eating his orange.
...
Alright — I'll continue this scene into Kevin's **post-training inner reflections**, keeping the pacing slow, deeply introspective, and layering in the emotional and tactical depth of what he just experienced.
---
After a few hours..
The courtyard was quiet now.
Not silent... quiet.
That kind of quiet where the air still carries the faint tremor of a crowd that's only just left. A few loose leaves skated across the stone tiles, tracing the paths where so many feet had been moments ago. Kevin stood in the middle of the circle, head slightly bowed, hands resting loosely at his sides. Sweat clung to his shirt, cooling faster than he liked. The sun was dipping lower now, its angle turning the white tiles into pale gold.
He exhaled slowly, deliberately.
The sound felt loud against the emptiness.
His hands still had a faint tremor.
Not from exhaustion... no, he had plenty of energy left.
It was from awareness. That high alert state where every muscle is still listening for a strike that's no longer coming.
He flexed his fingers once.
The sparring with Rei had been clean . Rei fought like a textbook... sharp edges, no wasted movement, no hesitation. That was the kind of discipline Kevin respected… but also the kind that could be bent if you knew where the edges were. Rei's rhythm had been his biggest tell... three count bursts, slight pauses in breath between flurries, the faintest lean of the hip before pivoting. Kevin had felt those micro movements like ripples in water.
Was waiting for them.
"He moves the way a river flows over rocks", Kevin thought. "Steady… but if you place a stone in just the right place, the whole current shifts."
"The others had been different. Some flared bright with Reikiatsu, throwing it around like it was free. They lit the air with their techniques, as if trying to overwhelm me by spectacle.
But power without subtlety was easy to dance around.
I didn't need to meet their energy head on. I needed to… listen.
Not with my ears... with everything."
That's what unsettled them.
The way he'd wait for them to commit… and then make them pay for it.
His breathing slowed, his mind replaying the fights frame by frame. He could still see the way each opponent's center of balance shifted before a strike. The tension in the wrists. The flicker in their gaze as they decided their next move before their body could catch up. He remembered their surprise when he was already there, countering before their technique had even reached him.
Then came Junren.
Kevin's smirk thinned at the memory. Junren's aura had hit him like a sudden drop in air pressure... a weight in his chest, the instinctive bristle of something dangerous nearby. His stance had been confident, but not sloppy. Power wrapped around him in layers, not leaking, but contained.
Junren hadn't just been strong. He'd been measured. Controlled.
And Kevin knew... if they had fought it wouldn't have been a game of traps and baiting. Junren wouldn't have been thrown off by rhythm changes or feints. He'd force Kevin into the deep water, where raw output mattered.
Kevin clenched his fists slowly, feeling the faint burn of strain in his forearms.
"Still not there yet…" he murmured under his breath. The words tasted like both frustration and hunger.
That was the truth.
He'd been relying too much on feel, on the way his instincts lined up like puzzle pieces in mid-combat. It was working… now. But the Trials tomorrow? Instinct alone wasn't going to carry him through a gauntlet built for Tenshi. He needed to start thinking one step ahead... not just of the fighter in front of him, but of the Trial itself.
The Ascension Trials wouldn't be polite duels.
They'd be chaos wrapped in beauty, danger hidden in ceremony. Every move would have a cost, every hesitation an opening for someone else to take. He'd need to blend what he had... speed, unpredictability, timing with sharper execution. Cleaner angles. Faster recovery.
He dropped to one knee, pressing his palm flat against the stone tile.
Cool. Smooth. Solid.
His reflection flickered in the polished surface.
Not the reflection of the boy who arrived here scared, aching, lost.
This one had sharper eyes. Eyes that didn't just watch… they calculated.
Kevin straightened, rolling his shoulders once. His body still hummed with the residue of combat. His mind… sharper now, quieter.
It wasn't about wanting to win. That was too small.
It was about proving he is capable...
even if half of them saw him as a mortal.
Especially if they doubted him.
He took one last glance at the training circle before walking toward the shadowed edge of the courtyard. The sun had almost dipped behind the horizon, and the first breath of night air whispered across his skin.
"Tomorrow," he said softly to no one. "Tomorrow, they'll see."