Every ten years, the city of Lumis became the center of Nocturna.
The Festival of Celestials had arrived.
For three days, warriors, mages, heirs, mercenaries, and aspiring legends from across the realm would gather beneath the banners of the five great houses. Thousands would enter.
Only a handful would leave with their names remembered.
The Festival was divided into three stages.
The first was survival.
The second was unity.
The third was absolute skill.
On the opening day, every competitor would be thrown into the same battlefield—a vast, untamed region filled with cliffs, forests, ravines, and natural hazards. There were no teams. No alliances were guaranteed. No one could afford to trust anyone.
Only the last ten percent standing would advance.
The second day would force those survivors into teams of ten. Cooperation would become just as important as strength as the remaining competitors fought across a specially constructed battlefield designed to test their ability to adapt, strategize, and survive together.
Then came the final day.
Single combat.
One warrior against another.
No armies.
No teammates.
No one to hide behind.
Only the arena, the opponent standing across from you, and whatever strength you possessed.
For the people of Nocturna, however, the Festival was about more than victory.
It was tradition.
It was spectacle.
And for the five great houses, it was an opportunity to discover the next generation of warriors who might one day serve beneath their banners.
But for Elias Nova, none of that mattered.
Not yet.
---
The roar of the crowd shook the Grand Arena of Lumis.
Elias stood among hundreds of competitors at the edge of the enormous battlefield platform, his eyes slowly travelling across the colossal arena.
Thousands upon thousands of spectators filled the towering stands. Banners bearing the insignias of the five great houses hung from the highest balconies, moving gently beneath the enchanted winds.
The atmosphere was overwhelming.
Excitement.
Anticipation.
Bloodlust.
Everywhere Elias looked, warriors were preparing themselves.
Some prayed.
Some meditated.
Others boasted loudly about how many opponents they intended to defeat.
Elias ignored them.
His attention was drawn toward the enormous structure standing at the center of the arena.
A teleportation gate.
It was unlike anything he had seen before.
Ancient-looking runes covered its frame, glowing with pale blue and silver light. Energy flowed through the structure like liquid lightning, occasionally producing a low hum that Elias could feel vibrating through his bones.
Beyond that gate waited the battlefield.
And then—
Elias stopped.
Something had changed.
The noise of the arena seemed to fade into the background.
His eyes narrowed.
There was something nearby.
Something familiar.
Yet completely unfamiliar at the same time.
An aura.
It brushed against his senses like a distant memory.
For the briefest moment, Elias felt something strange twist inside his chest.
Anger.
Then comfort.
Then something dangerously close to belonging.
His hand instinctively tightened.
That aura...
Before he could investigate, a familiar voice echoed inside his mind.
"That's because it is similar to mine, you dimwit."
Elias nearly jumped.
"Vex?"
"Who else?"
Elias glanced around instinctively.
There was no sign of the mysterious Blackwood patriarch anywhere among the competitors.
Of course there wasn't.
Vex had made it very clear that he would remain hidden.
Still, hearing his voice brought Elias back to reality.
"What do you mean, similar to yours?" Elias asked silently.
"Exactly what I said."
Elias scanned the crowd.
"You mean..."
"Yes."
His eyes sharpened.
"There's another Blackwood here?"
For several seconds, Vex said nothing.
Then—
"In front of you. Black clothing. Near the eastern side of the platform."
Elias followed the direction.
There.
A young girl stood several dozen meters away.
Unlike many of the competitors around her, she wasn't trying to draw attention to herself.
She simply stood there.
Calm.
Still.
Watching.
Her clothing was almost entirely black, with subtle crimson markings running along the edges. A double-edged sword rested at her side.
But it wasn't the weapon that caught Elias's attention.
It was her presence.
Even from this distance, he could feel it.
That same strange aura.
Blackwood.
Elias stared at her.
"Her?"
"Her."
"How?"
"I don't know."
That answer immediately caught Elias off guard.
Vex always seemed to know more than he admitted.
"You're telling me you don't know who she is?"
"I said I don't know who she is, she might be my descended or she belongs to a branch clan even i don't know"
A pause.
"But I know what she is."
Elias frowned.
"What?
Vex's voice became quieter.
"She's one of the Black-Cloaked Guardians."
Elias's expression changed.
"Black-Cloaked Guardians?"
For the first time, there was something different in Vex's voice.
Not fear.
Not quite.
Recognition.
"I'll explain when you're out of the arena."
"Why not now?"
"Because you have more important things to worry about."
Elias looked toward the teleportation gate.
The runes had begun glowing brighter.
"Keep your distance from her"
"No."
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"Then what?"
"Keep your eyes on her."
The answer was enough to make Elias uneasy.
Vex continued.
"Don't approach her unless you have to. Don't reveal anything about yourself. And above all..."
A brief silence.
"Don't underestimate her."
Elias looked back toward the young lady.
She was still standing in the same place.
Then, almost as if she had felt his gaze, her head turned.
Their eyes met.
Elias froze.
For a moment, the arena disappeared.
Something about her gaze felt strangely familiar.
Not like someone he'd met before.
Like something he was supposed to remember.
The girl's eyes narrowed slightly.
Then she looked away.
The connection was broken.
"Interesting," Vex muttered.
Elias frowned.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You don't get to say 'interesting' and then say nothing."
"Survive the first round."
Elias sighed.
"You're annoying."
"And you're alive because I'm annoying."
Before Elias could respond, the teleportation gate erupted with light.
A deep magical pulse travelled through the arena.
The crowd erupted.
The Festival had begun.
Elias stepped forward.
For one final moment, his eyes found the mysterious Black-Cloaked Guardian.
Then he entered the gate.
---
The world disappeared.
For several seconds, there was nothing.
No sound.
No ground.
No sky.
Only light.
Then—
BOOM!
Elias landed.
His boots struck hard-packed earth.
Dust rose around him.
He immediately dropped into a defensive stance.
Silence.
Then came the screams.
Hundreds of competitors appeared across the enormous battlefield as the teleportation gates activated one after another.
The battle had begun.
Elias slowly straightened.
The terrain stretched for kilometers in every direction.
Dense forests.
Rocky cliffs.
Open plains.
Deep ravines.
It was less an arena and more a wilderness designed to turn warriors against one another.
A horn sounded from somewhere above.
The rules were simple.
Survive.
Elias smiled faintly.
"Alright."
He disappeared into the trees.
---
The battlefield descended into chaos within minutes.
Explosions tore through the forest.
Blades clashed.
Spells illuminated the sky.
Warriors who had entered together as allies quickly turned on one another.
But amidst the hundreds of competitors, five individuals had already begun to separate themselves from the rest.
The heirs of the five great houses.
Aric — House Luminara
A radiant figure moved through the battlefield like a living flash of sunlight.
Every movement was precise.
Every strike carried overwhelming force.
Light gathered around his hands, forming blades and concentrated bursts of energy that sent opponents flying.
One warrior charged him from behind.
Aric didn't even turn.
A flash of light erupted.
The attacker was thrown across the battlefield.
Aric continued walking.
Lyra — House Celestia
Lyra fought differently.
She barely seemed to fight at all.
One moment she stood beneath a tree.
The next, there were three of her.
Then five.
Then ten.
Competitors attacked the illusions, only to realize too late that they had been fighting shadows.
The real Lyra watched from above, smiling faintly as another opponent fell into a trap of celestial magic.
Tarin — House Solaris
Where Lyra relied on deception, Tarin relied on destruction.
Flames exploded from his fists.
The ground beneath his feet blackened from the heat.
Every time another warrior approached, they were met by a wave of fire.
Tarin laughed as the battlefield around him became engulfed in flames.
Shade — House Umbra
Shade was almost impossible to see.
One moment, a competitor would be standing alone.
The next—
A shadow would move behind them.
A blade would flash.
And Shade would already be gone.
He didn't waste energy.
He didn't show off.
He simply appeared, struck, and vanished.
Gaia — House Creek
Then there was Gaia.
The battlefield itself seemed to answer her commands.
Stone walls erupted from the ground.
Roots wrapped around fleeing competitors.
Massive vines tore through the earth, forcing groups of warriors apart.
Where others fought against the environment, Gaia made the environment fight for her.
The five heirs had not formed an alliance.
They didn't need one.
Each was dominating their own section of the battlefield.
---
High above the chaos, Elias crouched on the branch of an enormous tree.
His eyes moved across the battlefield.
He wasn't fighting.
Not yet.
He was studying.
The five heirs.
The terrain.
The surviving competitors.
And her.
There.
The Black-Cloaked Guardian.
Elias watched as she moved through a group of opponents.
Her sword flashed.
One strike.
Two.
Three.
She turned beneath an incoming attack, redirected the blade, and drove her opponent to the ground.
Elias's eyes widened slightly.
That movement.
He knew it.
She shifted her stance.
Another familiar technique.
Then another.
His expression hardened.
"Vex..."
No answer.
Elias watched carefully.
The girl wasn't simply using the same style.
She was using his style.
The swordsmanship Vex had taught him.
Every step.
Every angle.
Every counter.
Even the subtle movements designed to bait an opponent into overextending.
Elias leaned forward.
"She's good."
He watched her disarm another competitor.
"Very good."
His eyes narrowed.
"But I know these techniques."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"If she comes for me..."
His fingers tightened around the branch.
"I'll know exactly how to stop her."
Then the girl suddenly stopped.
She slowly turned her head.
Straight toward Elias.
His smile disappeared.
Their eyes met across the battlefield.
She couldn't possibly have seen him.
Could she?
Elias remained perfectly still.
The girl's expression didn't change.
But her hand tightened around her sword.
Then she turned away.
Elias's eyes narrowed.
Interesting.
The battle continued below.
One by one, competitors disappeared.
Some were defeated.
Others fled.
And some simply vanished into the wilderness, hoping to survive until the elimination period ended.
Elias remained where he was.
Watching.
Waiting.
The Festival of Celestials had only just begun.
And already, Elias had discovered something he hadn't expected.
Another Blackwood.
A mysterious warrior carrying the same techniques that had been passed down to him.
And five heirs powerful enough to dominate an entire battlefield.
The first round wasn't going to be easy.
But Elias wasn't worried.
He had spent too long preparing for this moment.
Sooner or later, he would have to step onto the battlefield himself.
And when he did.
The Festival would learn his name.