Above the capital, a cataclysmic phenomenon erupted without warning.
A wave of fire spread, igniting the sky. Night ceased to exist; the heavens seemed pure combustion, and all the city's inhabitants froze in place, staring at the catastrophe as if they were witnessing the end of time itself.
The flames descended voraciously, obliterating clouds, staining the world crimson, poised to consume everything in their path. But before the fury reached the ground, it collided with a translucent barrier that contained the cataclysm.
And beneath the wall of fire, Selene appeared, in all her glory.
A shimmering pink aura rose around her, her platinum armor reflecting starlight, and seven silver orbs, the size of minor moons, floated behind her.
One of them shaped itself into a sword, which she wielded with natural ease. Her body ascended above the flames, disappearing from the citizens' view, who now trembled at the thought of a cataclysm hovering over demon territory.
High above, in all its glory and majesty, hovered a Phoenix.
Its body was vast as the entire capital, larger than mountains, made of pure fire. The beating of its wings echoed like a thousand storms.
When it opened its beak, the voice that came forth was not a sound—it was law, engraved in the very fabric of reality.
"Thieves… return the remnant of my lineage. Or all you see will turn to ash, and death will be a mercy compared to the pain you will know."
But Selene only smirked, unafraid.
Her aura erupted, expanding like collapsing constellations, and a ghostly figure enveloped her from behind—her already unimaginable power tripled, shaking the heavens of reality and tearing space itself.
"You have no claim over what we have achieved." A soft, majestic voice, without a trace of hesitation, resonated from Selene.
"Tell me, Ember… when was the last time you hatched an egg of your kind?"
The pride of the Phoenix was wounded, but the mention of its name made it hesitate.
The flame that devoured the sky flickered.
"You… know my name? You know me? Who are you?"
"The years have not been kind. Do you no longer recognize the heirs of the Aurea Noctis?"
The world trembled, mountain ranges swayed, and the air grew heavy.
In that instant, the clash of their auras reached its climax.
The Phoenix's eternal fire intertwined with the Queen's pink eternity, and the collision rang out like a cosmic bell.
The vibration spread far beyond demon territory, crossed into human lands, passed through the Elven forests, infiltrated the depths of the Dwarven mountains, shook the valleys and plains of orcs and beastfolk.
All of Atlas trembled in a single moment.
In Frostpeak Karak, Ragg Ironbeard lifted his mourning gaze, deep shadows marking his face, but at that moment a sinister shiver ran through him, and his heart pounded wildly.
In the depths of a stunning tower, whose floors were entirely composed of medicinal gardens and verdant plants, Kargath Stonehand rose, his animalistic and wild aura reaching the skies. Several orcs in the city fainted due to the uncontrolled power of their leader, whose competition flames expanded into a tangible aura.
In the heart of Sol'Varen, within a cathedral of black marble with red details, the three Cardinals of Destiny faced the Holy Mother Ruby Vaan Sol'Varen with fear and trembling. They were the closest to the mythic impact.
On the last branch of Anaryil, the elven queen Lissamel Quesset stared at the horizon with gray, opaque eyes, as if seeing a vision beyond reality, in a transient state. No one knew what she perceived, but it was certainly connected to the cataclysmic event in demon territory.
In an archipelago the size of a continent, at the heart of Feralthar, the three clan leaders' hair bristled. The sudden shock of such powerful auras echoing to their islands could not be good news.
"Damn… Drakk is there!" growled Voruna Miracleclaws.
Elsewhere, many similar phenomena were occurring.
In the buried heart of the Kythera Desert, trapped spirits lamented like broken chains.
In the abyssal depths of the Shattered Sea, a being so enormous that its end was impossible to perceive awoke, staring at the surface with malevolent eyes.
Meanwhile, before the Queen, Ember shrank, its flames quieting, until it reached Selene's height.
"You… are his daughter?"
"No, his granddaughter. Today, we fulfill a distant promise. The promise made to you."
"Impossible. There are no methods remaining since she ascended."
"Then calm your presence, do not dare touch my city, or cause trouble… and come see what your gray eyes can no longer perceive."
The space between them still burned; the entire world still vibrated with the memory of that encounter.
But for the first time in ages, a Phoenix fell silent.
**
Inside the pocket world, everything had turned completely white.
All seventeen competitors were staring at me with shocked expressions. I knew that hatching a Phoenix was an anomaly, but I had no idea how extreme that anomaly really was.
But that would be discovered later.
Before any murmurs could start, from the pristine white a black hole opened, drawing everyone's attention to the majestic figure passing through its darkness. It was none other than my magic master, one of the most respected and feared wizards in the world, Elian Cadmus Nox.
His presence spread like the sea embracing a coast—immense, inevitable, yet gentle. It was an aura that reminded us of our smallness without crushing us: like leaves that would never dare challenge the wind.
Elian wore luxurious mage robes, intricately adorned with stones that shimmered like stars, yet they could not conceal his surprisingly muscular build. His black beard was impeccably trimmed, hair combed back in a precise cut, and his tanned skin gave him the appearance of an indomitable warrior, though in truth we were facing an archmage.
He opened his arms, and his voice echoed through the white world as if the space itself were his messenger:
"Congratulations. Not merely for standing, but for enduring a trial that would have destroyed most before it even began. The Tournament of Protection is not a spectacle, nor a mere opportunity for a blacksmith to assess talent. No, it is above all a gift from the empire—a battlefield forged for you, the new generation, to burn weaknesses away and awaken within yourselves the flame of something greater. To understand that carrying the future of our era is a responsibility demanding blood, pain, and transcendence. Today, you have proven worthy of hearing this."
"Not merely hearing this… but witnessing a spiritual bond with a creature of this magnitude is a gift that even the heirs of the Twelve Families cannot guarantee. Only the successor of the patriarchs would dare dream of such fortune," explained Elian, his voice echoing like restrained thunder.
The seventeen participants hugged their beasts a little tighter at his words.
"The world you live in is cruel. It is a place where dreams are shattered like stone ground to dust, where hopes are crushed beneath the feet of the strong, and where injustices do not vanish—they only fall silent before the weight of power. And there is only one thing capable of lifting you above all that: true power. Not the power inherited from your surnames. Not the power borrowed from your relatives. But the power you earn yourselves, the power that burns in your hands and cannot be taken by anyone."
He raised his arm, and the white world seemed to tremble with his words. Thousands of black holes appeared in the infinite white expanse of the pocket world, as if all space itself were about to be devoured.
"If you wish to escape the tribulations life will inevitably throw at you, you must raise within yourselves unshakable fortresses. You must grow until you can never be ignored… until you can crush under your feet anyone who dares to destroy you. And believe me: many will try, with insatiable hunger."
Absolute silence filled the space.
"Therefore, the empire has prepared one last gift for you. A rare, unique gift, which can only be received once in a lifetime… and only before reaching the rank of Master."
Tension hung in the air. Except for the heirs of the great families, no one there knew what awaited us. Not even I.
From behind Elian, the air distorted. The black hole that until then had served as a portal swallowed all others floating around it, expanding until it became so vast that our necks could not bend enough to take in its full scope. The entire space seemed to groan, as if about to split in two.
And then… it appeared.
Something began to emerge from the darkness—not a beast, not a weapon, but a colossal structure.
A celestial pagoda, golden as if forged from the very essence of the sun, rose before us. Its walls gleamed in a divine hue, radiating light that penetrated skin, flesh, and bone, touching our cores directly.
The instant I saw it, my mana core—which still cried out for spatial energy to saturate itself—exploded in desperation, like a starving beast on the brink of death. It roared, pleaded, begged for that energy, wanting to bite and devour every fragment escaping from the pagoda. But it wasn't alone: even my prana core, saturated and stabilized, bellowed like a beggar who, on the verge of succumbing to hunger, had found a celestial feast.
Everyone's breath caught simultaneously.
No competitor, however proud, could tear their eyes away from that wonder.
It was impossible not to feel—in every fiber of the body, in every drop of blood—that we were facing something that should never have fallen within the reach of mere mortals.
"The Celestial Pagoda… is not merely a relic. It is an artifact of such unimaginable class that few dare even speak its name aloud. Its origin traces back to the first demon emperor, who seized it in the heart of one of the greatest cataclysmic dungeons ever recorded in Atlas. Since then, it has remained one of the greatest treasures of our empire—and also one of its greatest curses."
"Know this: the pagoda grants both gifts and scars. Many who dared cross its doors were never the same. Some lost their sanity, others their very essence. But there were also those who emerged as absolute geniuses, breaking cultivation realms they would never have reached in a hundred lifetimes. Within it, dangers and rewards walk hand in hand—and no gift comes without tribulation. Some who entered the Pagoda returned with inheritances… seeds of power that later became the foundation of entire families. Not all are tied to mana or prana. Some are beyond, something unique."
"Among all the participants of this tournament, only you seventeen were deemed worthy to enter. This is the greatest gift the empire could offer—and perhaps also the hardest trial of your lives."
"But before you cross the gates, you must understand the possibilities that await you. The pagoda, in its unfathomable nature, shapes trials in two ways. Some will be individual, forged to measure the worth of each of you alone. Others, however… will be collective. And when that happens, remember well what I say now."
His voice, firm as steel, reverberated across the white world.
"If a group trial rises before you, abandon your disputes, forget your differences, and unite your forces. For no selfish desire, no personal ambition, can ever compare to the gifts the pagoda reserves for those who challenge it in unity."
"Therefore, march toward a glorious future."
Elian spread his arms as two massive golden doors opened, immediately drawing the seventeen competitors inside.
**
In a layer above the world where the seventeen competitors stood, two figures observed in silence.
Both of their gazes fell on just one: Glenn.
"It was his energy that broke the egg," whispered Ember, now reduced to just over three meters tall, yet still radiating an ancestral presence.
Selene did not respond immediately. She simply held her gaze, knowing the Phoenix did not speak in vain.
"What is he?" Ember asked, her voice tinged with distrust and something bordering on fascination.
"A demon," Selene replied simply, as if the word were enough.
But Ember narrowed her flashing eyes.
"Demon…? Mana and prana flowing in unison through the energy channels. Two cores. Three affinities. And…" The Phoenix tilted its head, locking onto Glenn's chest. "Something more."
"Something more?" Selene arched an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Yes. Those gray eyes do not lie." Ember's voice reverberated like restrained, acidic thunder.
"There is something in his heart… something that belongs neither to the flow of mana nor to prana."
The words hung heavy between them.
"So, Selene, tell me… what the hell is this demon of yours?"