The central arena of the city had never held this many awakeners at once.
A circular platform of reinforced stone stretched nearly half a kilometer across, its edges lined with towering mana barriers. Above it, floating crystal screens projected every angle of the battlefield to the surrounding stands, where nobles, scouts, and guild officials gathered in layered rows.
Thousands of awakeners stood on the stage.
Some in armor.
Some in robes.
Some gripping weapons with white knuckles.
Zane stood near the middle of the platform, hands relaxed at his sides, eyes half-lidded.
Far from him, close to the outer edge of the arena, another young man stood quietly among a cluster of nervous-looking candidates.
Zael.
No mask.
No clone.
No reputation.
Just an ordinary awakener in plain gear.
To the spectators, he was forgettable.
To the system, he was anything but.
Zael lowered his presence deliberately, suppressing his mana flow until it barely registered. His posture was loose, almost lazy, but his eyes moved constantly, tracking formations, escape routes, and threats.
Two entries.
Two identities.
Same destination.
If Zane was the banner…
Then Zael would be the shadow slipping through the crowd.
---
A sudden hush fell.
A figure rose into the air at the center of the arena, lifted by a mana platform.
The mayor.
His voice boomed across the arena, reinforced by amplification arrays.
"Awakeners of the city," he declared, "today marks the beginning of the City-Level Selection."
Light flared behind him, forming two massive glowing words:
STAGE ONE — TOTAL RUMBLE
"This stage will test adaptability, survival, and restraint. All candidates will fight simultaneously."
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
"Any candidate knocked off the arena platform will be eliminated immediately."
"The stage will only end when one hundred candidates remain."
The glow shifted.
STAGE TWO — DUEL ELIMINATION
"Those one hundred will be randomly paired into one-on-one battles."
"One defeat disqualifies you."
"Only the top ten advance to the provincial trials."
"This is not a school test," the mayor said.
"This is competition."
He raised his hand.
"Begin."
---
The barrier vanished.
Chaos erupted.
Spells detonated.
Blades clashed.
Summoned beasts roared.
Wings burst into existence.
Zane didn't move at first.
He watched.
Zael didn't move either.
But for a different reason.
He was already surrounded by weaklings.
Three candidates rushed him together.
A short spear user.
A wind caster.
A shield bearer.
Zael stepped sideways and let the spear overextend.
He tapped the shield bearer's knee.
Not hard.
Just right.
The man lost balance and fell backward off the platform.
ELIMINATED
The wind caster panicked.
Zael kicked the ground and slid into him, using his own momentum to shove him toward the edge.
ELIMINATED
The spear user froze.
Zael leaned close. "Jump."
The man swallowed and leapt.
Zael exhaled.
No skills.
No flashy movement.
No attention.
Just positioning and timing.
---
Elsewhere, Zane began moving.
Phantom Step blurred his form.
He cut through clustered opponents like a blade through cloth, never lingering, never overcommitting.
Strike.
Disengage.
Relocate.
While Zane drew eyes…
Zael slipped between blind spots.
When explosions shook the arena, Zael used the chaos to redirect people.
When flyers descended, Zael stayed low.
When heavy fighters charged, Zael stepped aside and let them crash into others.
Observers leaned forward.
"That one's efficient…"
"No—look at that one instead!"
"The swordsman!"
No one noticed the boy near the edge.
Which was exactly how Zael wanted it.
---
"Two hundred remaining!"
The announcement echoed.
The battlefield thinned.
More desperate now.
Zael had blood on his sleeve — not his own.
Zane had not been touched.
Two approaches.
Same result.
Then—
"ONE HUNDRED REMAINING."
A gong rang.
The barrier flared back into existence.
Combat froze.
Breathing was heavy.
The stone floor was cracked and stained.
Zane stood tall among the survivors.
Zael stood near the edge, unnoticed.
Both had passed.
---
Floating crystals descended.
"Stage Two pairings will be announced shortly."
Names formed in light.
Zane's appeared first.
Opponent: Jarek Thorn — Iron Brawler
Far below that…
Zael's name appeared quietly.
Opponent: Mira Voss — Chain Adept
Zael glanced at it and smiled faintly.
So even I have to duel…
Good.
Let them see a little.
But not too much.
High above, officials leaned forward.
The city-level trial had entered its true phase.
Two candidates with the same origin.
One blazing like a star.
One hidden in plain sight.
Both walking toward the same university.
Unnoticed.
Unseparated.
Unavoidable.
----
Lythrien City
Auralis
The arena in Lythrien City was smaller than the capital's, but it was no less violent.
Auralis Valendre stood near the inner ring of the platform, white hair bound neatly behind her, her expression calm enough to be mistaken for indifference. Around her, awakeners clashed in waves of steel and spellfire, the mana barrier humming faintly at the edges of the field.
To the crowd, she looked like what she was known to be.
The mayor's daughter.
The eldest miss of House Valendre.
A gifted awakener with a mythical-grade talent.
What they did not see… was the world she was already watching die and be reborn every few seconds.
Her vision blurred.
For an instant, the present dissolved.
She saw a blade coming for her throat.
Two heartbeats later.
She stepped aside before the attack even began.
The sword passed through empty air.
The man who swung it widened his eyes just in time to be struck from the side by another candidate and sent tumbling over the barrier.
ELIMINATED.
Auralis exhaled slowly.
Again.
Her talent pulsed behind her eyes, silent and formless.
It had no name yet.
The system only called it:
[Talent: Eyes of the Future — Mythical Grade]
And that was all she knew.
When she first awakened, it had shown her something impossible.
Not seconds.
Not moments.
But a scene far beyond her understanding.
A masked man.
Swirling blue eyes.
A cube held loosely in his hands.
Corpses around him—beings whose pressure had made even her vision tremble.
It had been long.
Clear.
Terrifying.
Since then…
She could only see fragments.
Two seconds.
Three.
Sometimes five.
Never more.
And yet, even that was enough to make her untouchable.
---
A gust of wind tore across the platform.
Three candidates charged her at once.
Auralis' pupils contracted.
The world stuttered.
She saw the first man feint left.
The second throw a lightning spear.
The third leap high with a hammer.
All before they moved.
She shifted half a step.
The lightning spear missed her shoulder by inches and struck the leaping man instead.
He screamed as his spell backfired.
The hammer wielder landed where she had been and found only air.
Auralis extended her hand and released a narrow blade of condensed mana into his ankle.
Not enough to kill.
Enough to unbalance.
He stumbled backward and vanished over the edge of the arena.
ELIMINATED.
The last attacker froze.
Auralis looked at him calmly.
"You should retreat," she said.
He hesitated… then ran.
She didn't chase.
She didn't need to.
---
High above, in the noble stands, people were already whispering.
"She hasn't been touched."
"She's reading them before they move."
"As expected of the mayor's daughter…"
"My god, she's beautiful…"
Auralis felt their gazes like weight on her back.
She did not want this.
She had tried to stay unnoticed.
She had stayed near the center to avoid being pushed off by accident.
She had avoided using large spells.
She had refused to strike first.
But future sight did not allow clumsiness.
Every dodge looked deliberate.
Every counter looked perfect.
Her attempts at subtlety had only made her look… more frightening.
---
Another flicker of vision.
She saw a chain wrapping around her waist.
She jumped before it appeared.
The chain lashed empty space and instead tangled another fighter, dragging him screaming toward the edge.
ELIMINATED.
Auralis winced slightly.
I didn't mean for that…
Her talent was precise.
Her control… was not.
Not yet.
---
There was something else she never spoke of.
Something not even her sister knew.
Not her lazy, smiling twin.
Not her father.
Not her tutors.
On her status window, beneath her talent grade, there was a word that did not belong.
[Talent Grade: Mythical]
[Status: Upgradable]
She had seen it once.
Only once.
And had closed the window immediately.
She didn't know what it meant.
Talents weren't supposed to grow.
Grades weren't supposed to change.
But the word remained.
Waiting.
She had told no one.
Not even Aurelia.
Some secrets were too heavy to share.
---
"Two hundred remaining!" the announcer's voice boomed.
Auralis stood among broken stone and fallen weapons, her dress barely disturbed.
Another vision bloomed.
A fire spell exploding to her right.
She turned left before it formed.
Heat washed past her back.
The caster was knocked aside by the recoil and tumbled over the barrier.
ELIMINATED.
The crowd roared.
"She's untouchable!"
"She's not even trying!"
"That's the mayor's blood for you!"
Auralis clenched her fingers.
I am trying…
Trying not to be seen.
Trying not to stand out.
Trying not to let her eyes show the future every time she blinked.
---
Then the gong rang.
"ONE HUNDRED REMAINING!"
The barrier rose.
Combat halted mid-motion.
Breathing echoed across the arena.
Auralis lowered her hand.
She had not taken a single direct hit.
Not one.
Her name appeared among the survivors in glowing script.
She looked up briefly at the sky, where clouds drifted lazily across the blue.
He isn't here…
The thought came unbidden.
The man from her vision.
The one with the cube.
The one whose eyes swallowed the world.
She didn't know why she felt it.
Only that this battlefield… was not where he would be found.
Not yet.
Somewhere else, another city was holding another trial.
And somewhere among those countless awakeners…
The future she had seen was moving closer.
Even if she didn't know his name.
Even if she didn't know his face.
Yet.
---
Stage Two was about to begin.
One hundred would become ten.
And in this city, at least, one of those ten would be Auralis Valendre.
The girl who saw the future.
And did not yet understand what she had truly seen.