Three days after his trial, a message was left outside Kaelion's door.
No courier. No magic. Just a folded envelope pressed under a stone, the seal of the Council Chair burned into the paper.
Kael opened it without ceremony.
> To Kaelion Draythorne,
You are summoned to the Blooded Gate.
Trial: One-on-One Combat Evaluation.
Location: Outer Spire Combat Ring.
Time: Tonight.
Opponent: Cassian Rivenhart, Second Blade of the White Silver Lineage.
You accepted the path of the Elite. Now show why you belong on it.
– Council Chair Soral Valen
Kaelion crushed the paper in one hand.
Rivenhart.
So they were done testing him from the shadows.
Now they were coming in full daylight.
Perfect.
---
That evening…
The Outer Spire Combat Ring was carved into a cliff overlooking the storm-lit sea. Lightning forked in the distance. Salt wind blew across the arena floor.
And already, dozens were gathered along the upper rails. Not the usual students. Not just spectators.
These were the real players.
Legacy heirs.
Council aides.
Noble envoys.
They'd all come to see the nobody from the forgotten line face a true heir of the Rivenhart blood.
And standing in the center of the ring—cloaked in steel-threaded robes, blade unsheathed—was Cassian.
His silver-white hair was bound back. His face calm, but his eyes sharp with restrained contempt.
"You should've stayed in your little training arena," Cassian said, rolling his shoulders. "Or better, stayed forgotten."
Kaelion stepped into the circle, his cloak snapping in the wind.
"I don't care what you think I should've done."
He said no more.
He drew no weapon.
The arena rumbled.
A voice echoed from overhead:
> "Combat begins on confirmation."
"Fighters ready?"
Cassian nodded, sword leveled.
Kaelion said nothing—but lifted his hand, palm open.
The system pulsed once.
> [Combat Trial Confirmed. No intervention permitted.]
[Begin.]
---
Cassian struck first.
A flash of steel—so fast the untrained eye wouldn't follow. A precise stab meant to finish the match in seconds.
Kaelion shifted one step.
Not blink. Not vanish.
He simply stepped wrong—so wrong that it moved him just outside the natural path of Cassian's blade.
The sword grazed his sleeve.
Kaelion's left hand flicked out—two fingers striking Cassian's wrist.
Not enough to injure.
Enough to shift his rhythm.
Cassian's footing stuttered. He turned to recover—but Kael was already inside his guard.
A clean strike to the ribs.
Then he spun low and swept Cassian's ankle with a sharp kick.
The heir stumbled—but didn't fall.
Instead, Cassian's blade gleamed.
> [Rivenhart Technique: Mirror Bloom Blade – First Form]
He moved in an elegant blur, his sword carving two mirrored arcs in the air that converged on Kael's neck from opposite sides.
Kael vanished.
Echo Trace. Void Pulse Step.
He reappeared midair behind Cassian, flipped, and landed with both feet on the stone rail of the ring—completely calm.
Cassian turned, breathing harder.
"I know that movement," he hissed.
Kael's eyes were still, unreadable.
Cassian's hand clenched tighter around the blade.
"You were the one in the South Garden. You broke protocol."
"No," Kaelion said. "You broke the rule first."
---
Now Cassian didn't hold back.
He unleashed his bloodline power—Silver Core Pressure—a storm of slashing light that swept across the ring.
Kaelion let the light pass through him.
Or around him.
Or nowhere near him.
His movement became something unreadable.
Like water that refused to flow in a straight line.
He ducked beneath the storm, slid across the stone, and leapt into a roll that shouldn't have been possible without enhancing runes.
But Kael's Core didn't glow.
It hummed.
He reached Cassian and struck once—cleanly—in the center of his chest.
Not brutal. But decisive.
Cassian flew back.
Rolled.
Did not rise.
---
The arena went quiet.
Then…
> [Trial Complete. Winner: Kaelion Draythorne.]
[Recommendation for Elite Track Advancement: Approved.]
---
In the stands, silence gave way to stunned murmurs.
One noble dropped her fan. Another whispered into a sigil stone.
At the far end of the ring, Velra Aurelian leaned against a column and grinned.
"Now the Academy gets interesting."