The duels raged like wildfire.
The arena platforms floated in the air, each held up by radiant sigils and shimmering mana. Every fight sent tremors of power through the stone, sending ripples that shimmered like water across the viewing barriers. The sky above was stained crimson-orange by the Academy's artificial sun — a dome of power that reflected everything that happened below for the watching nobles, elders, and masters.
One student, ranked 17th, swung his spear in a burning arc that left trails of light; another, ranked 8th, summoned a flurry of ice that cracked the platform into a frozen tundra. The battles were fast, cruel, and dazzling — a showcase of everything young prodigies could do.
V watched it all with detached interest from his seat, one hand supporting his chin. "So much noise," he murmured, eyes shifting lazily from one duel to the next. "So much flair. And yet, none of them understand restraint."
He wasn't wrong. The fights were spectacular, but they lacked depth. Raw power without understanding was little more than fireworks.
Until now.
As the 2nd round came to a close and the crowd's voices reached a feverish peak, a name boomed across the entire coliseum — deep, resonant, commanding.
> "FINAL ROUND — THE TOP RANKED STUDENT, REN VOREN, VERSUS…"
A pause. Static hissed through the sound barrier before a new name was drawn.
"CAELUM VALE."
The crowd's noise stumbled — confusion first, then disbelief.
Whispers cascaded like falling sand.
Ren Voren, standing in the center of the platform, smirked. His crimson hair gleamed like fire under sunlight. He wore dark steel armor lined with faint blue veins of mana, and his halberd — a massive black polearm — pulsed with life, resonating with his heartbeat.
"Well, what do you know?" he drawled, his voice calm but cutting. "The academy's pet finally crawls out of his forest. Tell me, Vale… do you plan to nap your way through this one too?"
The crowd laughed.
Caelum didn't reply. He only stepped forward, silent, eyes faintly gleaming beneath his fringe. His steps were soft, his expression unreadable, and for a heartbeat the entire stage seemed to exhale — as if nature itself acknowledged the danger approaching.
---
"Begin!" V's voice echoed like thunder.
Ren Voren moved first — his halberd slicing forward with terrifying precision. A crimson arc of mana split the air, sharp enough to cut through the barrier layer before it closed again.
Caelum barely tilted his head. The slash brushed a strand of hair, slicing it midair. His hand flicked up lazily, but the air shivered. From the ground, thin vines erupted, twisting around the halberd's trajectory, trying to bind it mid-swing.
Ren Voren snarled and spun, the vines shredding under his next strike. "You think tricks will save you?"
Caelum stepped lightly to the side, bare feet barely touching the platform. His movements were fluid — almost too calm for battle. He raised his palm and whispered something no one caught. The next moment, the entire stage trembled.
Roots erupted from beneath the platform, forming jagged thorns that spread like a living net, chasing Ren Voren with lethal intent. The halberd wielder slammed his weapon into the ground, releasing a shockwave of burning mana that scorched the roots to ash.
But the roots grew back. Instantly.
"Oh?" Arden smiled now — a real smile, sharp and predatory. "Now this is interesting."
He surged forward again, halberd igniting in red flame. Every strike he threw cracked the air, sending sparks and molten dust flying. Caelum danced between the blows like mist, countering with lash after lash of vines — each covered in glowing runes that pulsed with unnatural life.
Their attacks clashed midair. Light exploded.
Thunder rolled through the stadium.
---
The audience could hardly breathe.
Every second felt like death's heartbeat — fast, sharp, and suffocating. Ren Voren's weapon rotated, deflecting the vines, then jabbing toward Caelum's throat — only for Caelum to vanish, reappearing at his back.
Snap.
A single vine curled around Ren Voren's ankle. He turned too late — the vine burst open, revealing a blooming flower that released black mist.
Ren Voren slammed his halberd down, cleaving the vine apart, but the mist already touched his armor — corroding it with hissing darkness.
"Poison?" he coughed.
Caelum smiled faintly, his gaze serene. "Close enough."
He raised his arm, and the shadow beneath him rippled. The forest's scent filled the air.
It was then that the audience saw something they'd never seen before — the faint outline of a moon behind Caelum's back, pale and inverted. The temperature dropped. The wind changed direction. Everything quieted as though holding its breath.
---
Domain: The Moon-Devouring Bloom
The entire coliseum went still.
The light dimmed, and suddenly it felt like night. The crowd's breath turned visible from the chill, and the moonlight that wasn't supposed to exist in daylight bled across the arena.
Roots, petals, and shadow merged beneath Caelum's feet. His eyes turned silver — wild, luminescent, and endless. Every tree-like shape that rose was his will. Every shadow that moved, his hunger.
"...Domain," V murmured, eyes glinting. "So he was hiding it."
Ren Voren's armor cracked with strain as he steadied his footing. "You're insane."
Caelum's voice was calm. "Then let us be mad together."
Ren Voren roared, body bursting with crimson energy, his halberd igniting like a falling star. He rushed through the lunar forest that bloomed midair — each strike destroying dozens of phantom vines and moonlit petals — but no matter how many he cut down, more kept growing.
Caelum's attacks weren't random. Every lash and thorn moved with intention, calculating angles and predicting counterattacks. He fought not like a beast but like something ancient that had learned patience from the earth itself.
Then the fight turned chaotic.
Ren Voren closed the gap. Caelum's defenses shattered. The halberd slashed across his chest — shallow, but blood spilled. Silver-white blood that shimmered unnaturally in the dark.
The scent drove him mad.
For a second, everything stopped. The hunger — that terrible, buried, beautiful hunger — rose from the pit of his being like an old god stirring.
He smiled — too wide.
When Arden raised his halberd for the next blow, Caelum caught the blade with his bare hand.
Metal screamed. Blood hissed. The veins in his arm turned black from the force.
Then — he laughed.
And lunged.
---
He didn't fight like a man anymore.
He fought like a starving predator. Every motion was instinct — claws, kicks, bites, vines, blood. His nails dug into Ren Voren's arm, ripping flesh even through mana-reinforced armor. Ren Voren staggered, swinging wildly, each blow met with unhinged counterattacks.
The vines around Caelum pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, forming jagged extensions of his rage. He slammed Ren Voren to the ground, teeth bared, aura wild and uncontained.
"STOP!" shouted one of the instructors. "He's going to kill—"
No one could stop it.
The moon's light pulsed once, twice—then exploded.
A silence followed. The next sound was a halberd clattering to the ground.
When the dust cleared, Caelum was kneeling, chest heaving, hair plastered to his bloodied face. Ren Voren lay on the ground before him, unconscious, armor shattered, but alive.
Caelum's eyes, half-lidded, gleamed with that strange mixture of peace and horror. He was smiling faintly, but the kind of smile that said he'd only barely found the edge of himself again.
The audience erupted.
"He beat Arden Ren Voren!"
"That— that wasn't human! But he looks like one!"
"What kind of domain was that?!"
V leaned forward, eyes narrowing slightly, but his lips curled in satisfaction. "He didn't disappoint," he murmured.
Caelum stood, wiped the blood from his chin, and glanced toward the crowd. His gaze swept across the faces staring at him in awe, fear, and fascination.
His voice, quiet but clear, broke the last of the silence:
"You wanted to see me awake. Now you have."