The wind was wrong.
Kairo knew it the moment he stepped onto the sand-swept battlefield; it didn't carry the scent of rain or blood like the slums did.
It smelled like an illusion. Like someone had taken real danger, painted over it, and put it on display for an audience.
Above him, the sky was a dome of simulated azure; fake clouds drifting lazily across a conjured sun.
Around the perimeter, floating bleachers shimmered with light. Guild sponsors, realm observers, and highborn nobles watched from enchanted platforms, sipping elixirs and murmuring behind veil-charms.
This was no trial.
This was no stage.
And Kairo was meant to lose on it.
[PHASE TWO: COMBAT EVALUATION INITIATED]
Participants: 400 (Divided into 50 arena groups)
Objective: Eliminate or incapacitate all opponents in your arena group.
Time Limit: 20 minutes.
Top 2 from each group advance. External assistance prohibited.
[Note: Excessive force discouraged. Participants are responsible for their own injuries.]
The message burned in the air above them.
Kairo cracked his neck as he surveyed the others in his arena. Ten total. Nine of them wore armor that shimmered with defensive enchantments, mana flaring around some like a second skin.
One girl floated above the ground, cloak billowing as if the wind obeyed her will.
400 divided by 50 was supposed to mean 8 participants in each group, but from the number before him, Kairo confirmed that not all groups were equal.
He was the only one shirtless. The only one shoeless. And the only one with no aura.
A boy with red eyes and a jade half-mask scoffed. "What is this, charity round?"
Another laughed. "Maybe he's the example. Show the audience what happens when a musclehead tries to play with elites".
Kairo didn't speak.
He was listening.
The announcer's voice echoed across the dome.
"Begin".
Instantly, the masked boy moved, turning into a blur of green light.
WHOOSH!
He was fast. His body left a mirage trial as he dashed forward, blade humming with wind enchantments.
Kairo's vision narrowed; his stance dropped instinctively.
The blade came in a wide arc. And as it came, Kairo reacted, triggering [Muscle Lock] across his left forearm.
[Muscle Lock Activated – Location: Forearm]
[Duration Remaining: 3 minutes]
CLANG!
The sword struck flesh like steel.
The crowd gasped.
The masked boy's eyes widened as his blade bounced back with a jarring vibration.
Then… Kairo grabbed his wrist, and squeezed.
CRACK!
He crushed it.
The boy screamed as Kairo lifted him and threw him bodily into the barrier wall, where he crumpled with a wheeze.
Gasps rang out. The floating noble platforms leaned forward.
A system message pinged.
DING!
~----~
[Opponent Eliminated – 1]
Force Efficiency; 72%
Muscle Index: 2.6% ~ 2.8%
~----~
The rest of the group spread out, warier now.
Kairo didn't chase.
Instead, he adjusted.
He had learned from the Trial of Steel; charge in blind, and you die. So, he stayed patient and waited.
The second attacker was an elemental spearman, blue fire dancing along the shaft of his weapon.
He circled Kairo slowly. "I'll cook your nerves before I break your bones".
The fact that he was the only one being targeted at the moment told Kairo one truth. 'They see me as the weakest link'.
Flame shot toward him in a snake-like spiral as the boy attacked.
Kairo moved sideways, not back, and activated Hypermuscle Charge into his calves and hips, accelerating into a low sliding dash beneath the flame arc.
[Hypermuscle Charge Used – 1]
[Current Energy Remaining: 42%]
He rose mid-slide and shoulder-tackled the spearman with a mass-enhanced twist, a pivot that transferred all of his weight into a rotational slam.
BOOM!
The boy's body spun through the air before crashing into a rune pillar.
Kairo's victim was knocked unconscious after that rotational slam.
In the chaos behind him, two other contestants were already down; one wrapped in thorny vines from an explosive summon trap, the other limping away after an ice spike pierced his leg.
The system flared.
[Participants Remaining: 6]
Kairo didn't even glance back. His focus was ahead, on the ones who thought they were still in control.
A girl with floating stones around her and a boy with shadow wings.
The girl raised her hands. "Wait. You want to advance, right? We can both take him out".
Kairo said nothing.
She snapped her fingers. The stones launched toward him; not in a straight line, but from angled directions, bouncing off the ground mid-air like tracking bullets. It was disorienting.
Kairo didn't move.
Instead, he crouched… and flexed.
[Muscle Lock: Activated – Chest, Shoulders]
He tank-chested the first stone.
It cracked on impact.
The next hit his side. He turned with it, absorbing the blow and rolling forward, closing the distance.
The girl's eyes widened.
Too late.
He grabbed a stone from the air mid-trajectory and hurled it like a discus, striking her hard across the abdomen.
She folded. Crumpled.
DING!
~----~
[Opponent Eliminated – 3]
Impact Velocity: 47 m/s
Style bonus: +5
~----~
The final opponent was already in the air.
Black mist curled around his limbs.
"You're strong," he admitted, circling above like a hawk. "But brute strength only works against the weak".
Kairo clenched his fists. "Then come down here and test that theory".
The boy's wings pulsed. Dark feathers scattered like razors, slicing toward Kairo in a widening arc.
Kairo ran forward, straight into the storm.
Slicing pain tore across his back and thighs, but he didn't stop.
~----~
[Pain Surge Detected – Muscle Index +0.1%]
[Current Index: 2.9%]
~----~
He reached the center of the flurry just as the winged boy descended with a dagger of condensed voidlight aimed at Kairo's throat.
Kairo reacted instinctively, dropping low.
He flexed every fiber, and jumped vertically.
BAM!
His legs exploded with power.
The dagger missed.
Kairo's knee slammed into the boy's gut mid-air with terrifying velocity, knocking the air out of his lungs.
CRACK!
They crashed to the ground together. Dust flew.
Kairo stood first. The boy didn't stand up.
Looking across the field, he noticed that everyone else was already eliminated except one; a single girl stood trembling, hands raised in surrender. The system had marked her as passive; no eliminations yet, no impact.
The final tally registered.
DING!
~----~
[Arena Complete. All Active Combatants Eliminated or Disqualified.]
[Primary Victor: Kairo Vale]
Phase Rank: Top 3 Arena Finishers
Muscle Index: 3.0% Reached
Skill Evolution Threshold Detected
~----~
As Kairo stepped out of the arena, he saw it.
The nobles on their platforms… weren't laughing anymore. Some were glaring, some whispering, some intrigued.
One old man in a Flamebound cloak leaned toward his attendant. "Muscle Genesis, was it?"
Another, veiled in gold and red tapped a rune.
"Initiate background scan. Slum child? No backer? Curious".
Mira met him at the gates.
She grinned. "You really are making this hard for them".
Kairo's lips cracked in a tired smile. "Good".
She nudged him. "Word is, the next round's a team trial. They'll force you to work with nobility".
Kairo's grin faded.
"Let them".
"I'll show them what teamwork means when the only thing you trust is your own hands".