Beside him, Seraphiel had gone very still. While everyone else had been watching the rankings climb from the bottom, she had been scanning the entire list from top to bottom, searching for one specific name. She had checked every position from last place to second.Harry Klein's name was not on the list.Which meant it could only be in one place.The screen resolved its final line.First Place: Harry Klein. 42,600 points. Potential Evaluation: SSS.The plaza did not erupt. It detonated.Noise crashed from every direction at once as hundreds of voices collided in shock and disbelief. Students grabbed each other's arms and pointed at the screen. Spectators who had been leaning against walls pushed forward to get a closer look. Someone near the front dropped their drink, and the glass shattered on the stone without anyone noticing."Forty two thousand?""That's five figures. That's a five figure score.""Count the digits again. Count them again!""Is that real? Is that actually real?""S

Red markers highlighted completed sections, forming an almost continuous line across the map. Almost."Every other section has been conquered. Military forces cleared them over the past decade at significant cost in lives and resources. But one section remains open." Cole enlarged a single point on the map, a pulsing gray marker surrounded by red. "This node sits at the most critical junction in the entire defense network. Without it, the barrier has a gap. And through that gap, Outer Domain demons enter our territory every single day."Harry studied the marker. "Why hasn't the military closed it?""Because the Land of Trial at this node is classified as Abyssal difficulty. The highest tier recognized." Cole's voice carried the weight of someone who had lost people to those words. "And because Abyssal Trials impose entry restrictions that no amount of military force can circumvent. Specifically, this one requires a team of exactly three Beast Masters, all at Awakening Tier Five or belo

The first was a young woman standing near the window with her arms crossed and her weight balanced on her back foot, the posture of someone who assessed threats before she assessed people. Sienna Reyes. Her hair was cut short, practical, and her eyes carried the patient stillness of deep water. Behind her, barely visible in the room's dim light, a shape shimmered, her contracted beast, a Frost Ice Phoenix called Frostwing, whose aura radiated cold so controlled that it never quite reached the furniture but made the air taste like winter.The second was a young man sprawled across two chairs with his boots on the table and his hands behind his head, radiating the kind of confidence that usually preceded a spectacular failure. Damon Ellery. Tall, broad shouldered, with the build of someone whose beast did most of the fighting while he did most of the talking. His War Treant stood behind him like a living fortress, bark skinned and massive, its root system curling across the stone floor.