The Arena of JudgmentIf you want to survive today, Ethan, you better forget that you ever had a soul.The scream of eighty thousand spectators hit Ethan Vance like a wall of solid ice. The grand Sky Reach Arena had been rebuilt in gleaming white marble, but beneath the golden banners, the air smelled of stale sweat, ozone, and hatred. Down the grand procession lane, thousands of eyes looked at him like he was rot on clean silk.Above his head floated the glowing purple banner forced into his hands by the academy council. It burned with two jagged words: Nameless Outcast.Look at me when I am speaking to you, boy! Instructor Vance growled from behind the heavy iron barrier, his fingers twitching over his beast capsule. Do not dare lift your chin! You walk under that banner because that is all you are! A mistake!Ethan did not turn his head. He kept his eyes fixed on the narrow stone tunnel ahead. His fingers gripped the smooth wood of the banner pole until his knuckles turned bone whi

Breaking the SkyLook at me, Julian, because I am the last thing your precious legacy will ever see.Ethan stood in the center of the silent void, his lungs screaming for oxygen. Blood ran in thin crimson rivulets from both his nostrils, dropping onto the trembling stone platform below. In his palms, Solis’s tiny body vibrated with a terrifying, absolute chill.What did you do? Julian shrieked, backing away until his heels hit the edge of the pillar. The wind, where is the wind? Zephyr, attack him! Why are you just standing there?The mutated Gale Swift hung suspended in midair, its gigantic charcoal wings beating furiously, yet it moved forward not a single inch. The air around its massive frame was distorting, rippling like heat over hot asphalt. The void pocket surrounding Solis was actively drinking the kinetic energy of the storm, pulling the monster into a localized gravitational sink.It cannot hear you, Ethan said, his voice flat and dangerously quiet. The space around your b

I am going to throw you into the lowest pit of this city, and nobody will ever hear you scream.Elder Vane’s voice hit the damp walls of the holding cell like a sledgehammer. The air smelled of rust, old blood, and damp stone. Heavy iron chains rattled against the floor as Ethan sat locked to a thick wooden chair, his wrists bruised and raw beneath heavy runic cuffs. Across the narrow room, three high elders stood in shadow, while Sophia Mercer leaned against the reinforced door with her arms crossed, her eyes burning like white flame.Look me in the eyes and tell me you did not order my murder, Ethan said, his voice deadpan despite the crimson blood drying beneath his nose.Shut your mouth, outcast! Vane snarled, stepping into the dim torchlight, his fingers trembling with suppressed rage. You are sitting in dark chains because you broke the fundamental laws of this arena! You used unsanctioned, illegal dark arts to cripple my son's beast!Your son fed his bird a black-market poison

If you do not stop right now, Ethan, your chest is going to burst wide open in front of these camera spheres.Sophia’s voice echoed like a panicked phantom inside Ethan’s ears, but he couldn't see her anymore. His vision was a terrifying blur of dark red and floating static. The paralyzing gas from the swamp floor was still fighting the void energy in his veins, but the sheer momentum of his rage carried him forward.I can still stand, Ethan rasped, his voice sounding like broken glass sliding across iron.The remaining two tamers of the Iron Vanguard were scrambling backward through the knee-deep mud, their heavy plate armor splashing loudly as they tried to reach the reinforced iron gate. The massive black toxic viper behind them hissed in sheer terror, its triangular head swaying wildly as it tried to locate the invisible threat.Where is he? the second tamer screamed, his iron chain dangling uselessly from his shaking hand. Where did he go?He is right in front of you! the third t

If you think I am going to let you blow us to pieces inside my father’s grave, you are dead wrong.Ethan did not drop the blueprint. He jammed the heavy, runic scroll beneath his arm, grabbed Sophia around her waist, and threw both of their bodies backward into the narrow drainage gap behind the anvil.Hold onto me! Ethan shouted, his voice cut short by a deafening, terrifying roar.The shadow leader’s body split open in a blinding flash of pure, corrupt mana. The violent shockwave ripped through the ancient stone foundation, blowing the rusted roof of the forge skyward in a rain of burning splintered wood and twisted iron. Dust and searing hot embers flooded the narrow stone gap, burying them in darkness as the entire building collapsed in on itself.Then, complete silence fell over the ruin, save for the heavy patter of rain returning to extinguish the scattered fires.Sophia? Ethan rasped, coughing violently as he shoved a pile of heavy wooden beams off his back. Sophia, answer me!