NOVEL NEXT Chapter 206: Come later
The crowd had gone quieter, the air tight with anticipation.
Professors leaned forward.
Nobles held their breaths.
Even the Headmaster's gaze was locked on the field.
"Participants, take your positions."
Kai stood at the cliff's edge, his dark cloak fluttering in the wind. His daggers were sheathed, but his posture was lethal. Beside him, Vex crouched low, his feline eyes gleaming violet.
Aria was across from him, standing at the edge of the obsidian field, her Ironfang Panther already summoned and prowling. Her expression was unreadable, cool and battle-ready.
Opposite them stood their opponents.
Caelum—silver-haired, expression smug, arms folded. Behind him, a floating construct of gears and runes pulsed—his Arcengine Familiar, "Aetherion."
Beside him, Veira—a graceful girl with moon-pale skin, clad in flowing black and white robes. She summoned a pair of twin Spectral Falcons, their wings shimmering with time-distorting mana.
"This'll be over quick," Caelum said lazily. "I'll even give you ten seconds to run."
Kai didn't reply.
He simply tilted his head.
Then vanished.
❖ Instant Chaos
Vex - Phantom Steps.He moved before the signal even finished, slipping through shadow and wind.
Aria dashed forward at the same time, Ironfang leaping ahead in sync.
"Begin!"
Veira's eyes snapped open.
"Chrono Bloom – Tempus Dilation!"
The field around them distorted. Time slowed for a fraction of a second—but not for Kai.
"What the—!?" Caelum stumbled as a senbon nicked his shoulder, a sliver of paralytic poison already coursing in.
"He's immune to the dilation field?" Veira gasped.
"No," Caelum snarled. "He's adapting to it—mid-move."
❖ Kai's Shadow Assault
Kai darted through the aetherwood, his body a blur of motion.
"Vex—Phantom Slash."
The lynx lunged from shadow, claws coated in flickering purple light.
Aetherion responded, forming a barrier—but the lynx phased right through it, appearing on the other side and raking Caelum's flank.
"Tch—enough!"
Caelum slammed his palm into the ground.
"Engage: Aether Shock Protocol."
The terrain under Kai cracked. Mana circuits flared and exploded upward.
Kai flipped back midair—but not fast enough.
A spear of mana grazed his shoulder.
"Still too slow," Caelum grinned.
But as he turned to finish, his expression froze.
A shadow was behind him.
"Wrong target," Kai whispered.
Twin Daggers – Crescent Bloom.A cross-slash burst from behind, carving through Caelum's layered defenses and throwing him back into the grove wall.
❖ Aria Unleashed
While Caelum was being hunted, Aria clashed directly with Veira.
Her Ironfang Panther roared, launching into the air at one of Veira's falcons.
"Valken—Thunder Snap!"
A burst of thunder stunned the falcon. Aria was already moving—
"Second beast—Gravevine Striker!"
A bony, vine-laced wolf burst from the ground, leaping toward Veira.
"You dare?" Veira muttered, spinning with a glyph-etched dagger.
"Chrono Displace!"
She teleported ten feet away—but too late.
The Gravevine Striker left a delayed bite—a time-anchored strike that connected a moment after she vanished, raking her side.
Veira winced. "You're sharper than they said."
"You have no idea," Aria replied.
The panther and wolf circled. Veira's falcons regrouped, one wounded.
The pressure was mounting.
❖ Coordinated Killzone
Kai regrouped with Aria at the center ruin.
Their opponents staggered into view, battered.
"Teamwork?" Aria muttered.
"You lead, I'll finish," Kai said, calmly tightening his grip.
"Deal."
Veira's falcons lunged in a V-formation, but Aria timed it—
"Panther, back left! Gravevine—upper right!"
The beasts intercepted the birds mid-flight. Aetherion moved to blast them—but Kai intercepted with a wall of shadow needles.
"Senbon Storm – Piercing Veins."
They tore through the field, pushing Veira and Caelum toward the ruin's heart.
Too late, they realized.
"Trap trigger," Kai whispered.
Veins of poison magic flared around them in a runic pattern. A shadow cage rose from the ruin floor, sealing them in.
"No escape," Aria said.
"Vex," Kai called softly.
The Phantom Lynx growled low, then launched with its ultimate technique.
"Shadowfall Fang."
It struck as the poison veins detonated.
Veira and Caelum's barrier shattered.
Smoke.
Silence.
Then—
"MATCH OVER!"
"KAI & ARIA — VICTORIOUS!"
❖ Aftermath
The arena went wild. Students cheered. Nobles looked stunned.
Some professors clapped. Some… whispered quietly among themselves.
In the observation balcony, a noble from House Caelum crushed his wine glass in fury.
Meanwhile, down in the arena, Kai simply turned and walked away.
Aria called after him. "Hey. You're bleeding."
He didn't stop walking.
"It'll clot."
She stared after him, lips twitching. "Asshole."
But… smiling.
❖ Scene: Aftermath – Shifting Currents
The echoes of the crowd still thundered as the barrier dome lowered.
Kai stepped off the floating platform without fanfare, the shadow of his hood casting his expression in darkness. His wounds were superficial—but his presence was anything but.
Students stepped aside instinctively as he passed.
Some whispered.
"He beat Caelum like that?""Did you see how his lynx phased through a barrier?""He didn't even need a third beast…"
Aria followed at a slower pace, head held high, her battle calm still radiating. Her Ironfang Panther padded beside her, tail twitching with quiet pride.
She turned her head slightly toward Kai's retreating figure.
"Not even a 'good job'? Tch…"
❖ Observation Deck – Nobles & Professors
From the upper level of the coliseum, eyes observed with surgical interest.
Headmaster Eldric remained seated, fingers laced, his expression unreadable. The golden amulet on his chest pulsed once.
"Impressive," he murmured. "The boy doesn't rely on power… he calculates."
Beside him, Professor Ilyra, head of Beast Studies, tapped her quill furiously into her parchment, etching notes in violet ink.
"That lynx—no, all three of his beasts—are beyond average for a Great Core tamer. There's… refinement."
Across from them, a grim silence radiated from Lord Darion Caelum, Caelum's father. His hands gripped the edge of the balcony hard enough to whiten the knuckles.
"That bastard… House Valkros trains assassins, not gladiators. He shouldn't be allowed in public competition."
"Kai isn't registered under any noble house," Eldric replied smoothly. "He earned entry. You approved the rules."
Lord Caelum's jaw tightened. "Then I'll rewrite them."
He stormed off.
❖ Shadow Lounge – Selene & Shade
Elsewhere, in a private lounge behind enchantment curtains, Selene watched through an ethereal projection.
"That boy..." she murmured, lips curling into a satisfied smile. "He's blooming faster than I expected."
At her side, Shade, her shadow agent, lounged against a pillar in his clerical disguise.
"He's drawing too much attention. Nobles will start sniffing," he said.
"Let them," Selene said with a faint purr. "When lions circle, the serpent slithers beneath."
She turned her eyes toward the glowing projection again—this time focused on Aria.
"And her... Aria Lorne. Not a puppet, not a loyalist, not a fool... She's fire waiting to be fanned."
Shade frowned. "You want to use her too?"
"Eventually. But for now, let her grow."
❖ Dormitory Courtyard – That Night
Under the blue moons of Auralis, the Academy's dorm courtyard buzzed with students crowding around fire orbs and floating crystal feeds replaying today's matches.
Kai sat alone under a tree, one leg bent, staring at a blade he was cleaning.
Vex lay curled beside him, tail flicking.
"You're famous now," came a voice.
He didn't look up.
Raven dropped down from the nearby balcony, a bag of skewers in hand.
"You're not hiding very well for someone who just slapped the Caelum heir."
Kai accepted one of the skewers without a word.
"Aria's looking for you," Raven added. "She said she wants to talk."
Kai stayed silent.
Raven's smile faded slightly. "You good?"
Kai finally looked up, eyes colder than usual.
"They're watching."
"Who?"
"Everyone that matters."
❖ Elsewhere in the Forest — [UNKNOWN POV]
A figure knelt inside a rune-inscribed clearing, surrounded by old trees and flickering spirit lights.
Clad in robes stitched with bones and feathers, they dipped their fingers into a shallow bowl of black water.
Visions played.
A boy in a dark cloak.Twin daggers.A falcon with eyes like storms.A lynx made of shadows.A drake roaring into lightning.
The figure spoke.
"He's awakened. The signal bearer..."
From the shadows behind them, a voice rasped:
"Shall we send the Woken?"
"Not yet. Let him grow."
Lightning cracked in the distance.
The window was cracked open, moonlight washing over his desk. Kai sat alone, shirtless, tending to the mana burn along his ribs.
He stared at the quiet flicker of a rune stone on the table.
A voice echoed faintly from it—Selene's whisper, fading from earlier.
"Keep moving, my shadow. Soon, the gates will open."
His eyes narrowed.
"Soon isn't fast enough."
He stood, slipping into his coat.
Behind him, his beasts stirred as if sensing the coming storm.
Tomorrow…The final trial would begin.
And nothing would ever be the same again.
The window was cracked open, moonlight washing over his desk. Kai sat alone, shirtless, tending to the mana burn along his ribs.
He stared at the quiet flicker of a rune stone on the table.
A voice echoed faintly from it—Selene's whisper, fading from earlier.
"Keep moving, my shadow. Soon, the gates will open."
His eyes narrowed.
"Soon isn't fast enough."
He stood, slipping into his coat.
Behind him, his beasts stirred as if sensing the coming storm.
Tomorrow…The final trial would begin.
And nothing would ever be the same again.