The Glitch Sovereign: Neural Forge

Chapter 6: The Aurelian Trials

The gates of the Aurelian Academy loomed before me. I wore a tattered cloak and a low hood.

"Name?" The registration officer barked.

"Vax," I replied.

"Vax? No family name?" He sneered, looking at my dusty boots. "You look like you crawled out of a sewer. Are you here for the manual labor slots?"

"I am here for the Open Enrollment trials," I said.

The officer laughed, his shoulders shaking. "Look at the line, kid. These are the sons of Sovereigns. They have Gold-Tier Soul-Codes. What do you have?"

"I have a pulse," I said. "Is that enough to sign the paper?"

"Fine," he spat, shoving a digital pad toward me. "Sign your death warrant. Go to Arena Four. Try not to bleed on the high-grade tiles."

I walked toward the arena. The air smelled of ozone and arrogance. Nyxra waited by the stone pillar, her hood pulled low.

"Vaxien, this is suicide," she whispered. "The scanners are everywhere. If Malakor's elite see your signature, you are dead."

"They won't see a signature," I said. "I am using the pseudonym. And I am keeping my output at zero percent."

"You have to use a skill to win the trial!" she hissed. "How can you win with zero output?"

"I will use their own momentum against them," I said. "Go to the stands. Don't look at me if things get loud."

I stepped into the sand of Arena Four. My opponent was already there. It was Jaxen, a mid-tier noble who used to mock me in the hallways. He wore polished blue armor that hummed with energy.

"A peasant?" Jaxen laughed, drawing a glowing saber. "The Academy is getting desperate. Did they find you in a trash heap, Vax?"

"Less talking," I said. "More fighting."

"You want to die that quickly?" Jaxen sneered. "I’ll humiliate you first. I’ll burn that cloak off your back."

"Begin!" The referee shouted.

Jaxen lunged. His sword left a trail of blue fire. "Blue Flame Slash!"

I didn't dodge. I didn't summon a shield. I took a half-step forward and tapped his wrist with my index finger.

"Agh!" Jaxen shrieked.

His sword flew into the air. He stumbled, his own momentum sending him face-first into the dirt.

"What was that?" A voice yelled from the stands.

"He just poked him!" Another student cried. "How did he disarm a Grade-3 swordsman with a poke?"

Jaxen scrambled up, his face red with fury. "You cheated! What kind of invisible skill was that?"

"It was a basic parry," I said. "Maybe you should have practiced more instead of buying fancy gear."

"I'll kill you!" Jaxen roared. "Grand Inferno!"

A massive wave of heat erupted from his palms. The crowd gasped. The fire was enough to melt steel.

I took a deep breath.

[Vacuum-Lung: Localized Intake.]

The fire didn't hit me. It swirled into a vortex and disappeared into the center of my chest.

"Where did the fire go?" Jaxen stammered, his eyes wide.

"You missed," I said.

I stepped in close. I gave him a simple palm-strike to the chest. It wasn't a skill. It was just raw, amplified physical force.

Jaxen launched backward like a cannonball. He smashed through the reinforced glass of the viewing booth. He didn't get back up.

"Winner: Vax!" The referee called out, his voice trembling.

I walked toward the exit. A tall figure blocked my path. It was Instructor Kael, one of the men who had watched me get thrown into the Wastes.

"Halt, boy," Kael said. "What Soul-Code are you using?"

"I don't have one," I said.

"Liar," Kael hissed. "No one moves like that without a Code. Who are you really?"

"I'm a candidate," I said. "Do I pass or not?"

"You pass," Kael said, his eyes narrowing. "But I will be watching you. If you are a spy from the Wastes, I will peel the skin from your bones."

"I’d like to see you try," I replied.

I walked past him and found Nyxra in the corridor.

"That was too much!" She whispered. "You broke the glass! Everyone is talking about the 'nameless freak' in Arena Four!"

"It doesn't matter," I said. "I'm inside the walls now. That's what counts."

"But the next round is against the Elites," she said. "Zeryth is in the bracket. He will recognize your style!"

"He won't recognize anything," I said. "Because I'm not going to use a style. I'm going to use a harvest."

"Vaxien, wait!" She grabbed my arm. "The Archon is here. He’s in the High Tower. He’s watching the trials personally!"

I looked up at the black spire in the center of the Academy. "Good. I want him to see what a glitch looks like when it grows."

"You're insane," she whispered.

"I'm hungry," I corrected her. "The Archon has the best skills in the world. I wonder how they taste."

Suddenly, the ground shook. A massive hologram appeared over the central plaza. It was Malakor's face.

"Attention, candidates," the voice boomed. "The final trial has been changed. To prove your worth, you will not fight each other."

"What is he doing?" Nyxra gasped.

"You will fight the Academy’s latest project," Malakor's image grinned. "Release the Chimera-Zero."

A heavy iron gate at the end of the hall shrieked open. A beast made of stitched-together monsters stepped out. It was covered in S-Rank armor plates.

"That's not a trial!" A student screamed. "That's an execution!"

The beast roared, and the shockwave shattered every window in the hallway.

"System," I whispered, my blood starting to boil. "Scan the Chimera."

[Target: Chimera-Zero. Warning: Multi-Core Skill-Set detected. High-Risk Harvest.]

"Perfect," I said.

The beast locked its eyes on me and lunged.