Everyone in Amazonia looked up. The sky, once a canopy of green, was now an abyss spitting monsters and prodigies. Some watched in shock, others with a cold terror seeping into their bones. A few—the most reckless, those marked by fury or faith—clenched their fists, ready for the impossible.
Aelius, with his grave and resigned voice, broke the silence:
"This isn't an exam… it's an execution."
And then, a colossal shadow crossed the sky, billowing like lightning through the firmament's cracks. An ancestral roar shook the earth: Quetzalcoatl had arrived. On its back, three figures: Tezca, Aurora, and Kyran, rode the wind as if defying fate itself.
"Iansito, you're so fast!" she shouted, her voice sparking between nervous laughter. "Sorry Tezkita, I was in a hurry!" Ian responded. But as soon as Tezca, Kyran, and Aurora raised their gazes and saw what floated above—the seraphim, the monarch captains, the army of chaos—the air tensed.
"Uuuuh… This doesn't look good!" Tezca murmured, humor evaporating from her lips.
They descended with the others, Quetzalcoatl's wings fanning leaves and earth, raising whirlwinds in their wake.
Ian and Aurora's gazes met; a strange flash crossed between them, barely a second, but it sufficed. Makia felt it. In her chest, something tightened. She didn't understand what or why, but in that instant she knew something had changed in Ian's heart.
Aurora looked up, despair carved in every line of her face.
"It's terrible… how are we supposed to face this? They're just figures of high power, living legends, and we're only aspirants."
Kyran, jaw clenched, replied:
"The only option is to survive until the high command arrives… two weeks. Something almost impossible."
Aelius nodded, his jaw muscles tense:
"It's true. We must devise a plan. Wait for support from the other aspirants. Resist."
But then…
A dull thud on the earth.
Another.
Another.
Another.
The ground trembled as if the jungle itself held its breath. From behind the group, without warning, four figures fell from the sky like divine spears, impacting with such force that the earth cracked beneath their feet. The air filled with dust and raw energy. When the smoke cleared, there they were:
Baltorein, Kaupolkhan, Acassia, and Zetz.
Four of the Eternal Lances.
In an instant, the group ceased being just a handful of aspirants and allies. The true elite had just arrived.
Meanwhile, the bazooka's roar rumbled across the entire plain, an explosion of light and fire that shook the air. Smoke devoured everything, thick as a veil of death. Eldar, gasping, barely had time to smile before the fog dissipated.
Above him, Godric like a demon from the abyss: barely a few scratches marked his skin, the armor vibrated with a sinister glow.
"Shit! It didn't do anyth—!" Eldar shouted, eyes wide with panic.
He had no chance to react. The sword emerged in a metallic flash, a lethal edge made of nano-particles joining like lightning. Godric moved like a shadow, and the steel penetrated Eldar's chest.
Eldar's scream cut the air.
Godric disappeared, vanishing like smoke in the wind.
"Brenda, watch out!" Eldar roared, voice broken by pain.
Brenda turned, pure instinct, searching through the chaos. Her heartbeats rumbled in her ears. And then, before her, Godric appeared. Cold. Precise. A figure of pure death, aimed straight at her heart.
Brenda closed her eyes. Time seemed to suspend. A sigh. A void. A final heartbeat.
But the stab didn't come.
When Brenda opened her eyes, the first thing she saw were strands of black hair swaying in the wind. A figure standing before her, firm, powerful. And those eyes… violet eyes, just like hers.
The woman barely turned, a warm and fierce smile on her lips.
"Are you okay, little sister?" Sofia asked, with a voice that wove love and war in the same phrase.
Brenda felt something inside her break and rebuild at the same time. Her lips trembled before drawing a barely perceptible smile, warm, moved.
Sofia thought:
"Aelius and Ian arrived in time to save Makia… thank goodness. I wouldn't have made it. But still, I arrived just in time… to protect Brenda."
On the other side, Godric let out a harsh laugh, a sound that seemed to drag stones from the ground. His eyes, once cold, now burned with overflowing hatred.
"Look who we have here!" he roared, spitting each word like venom. "The filthy bastard! I'll kill you both!"
The surrounding air vibrated, shadows seemed to shudder. Sofia remained upright, and Brenda, for the first time in battle, felt that perhaps, just perhaps… there was still hope.
The air tensed, as if the earth itself held its breath. Godric advanced with his sword raised, a shadow of steel cutting the light.
But Sofia didn't move. She closed her eyes for barely an instant.
And then, the world trembled.
The ground beneath her feet began to crack, and from those cracks emanated a black fire, thick as liquid ink, that serpentined over the earth. From those flames, silent and supernatural, figures began to emerge.
Specters.
First they were only silhouettes. Then, whole bodies, corroded armor, torn capes, broken swords… and their entire being wrapped in that black fire, as if burning without being consumed. Their eyes also shone the same tone, deep, abysmal.
Sofia extended her arms, and with a soft voice, like a funereal chant laden with power, commanded:
"Dance with me, specters."
The specters obeyed. Their steps were ethereal, but their presences crushed the air, surrounding her in a spiral, dancing to the rhythm of an inaudible melody, ready to defend her.
Godric let out a savage roar, cutting one of them. The specter exploded in a whirlwind of liquid black fire, vanishing… but two more emerged from the cracks, rising between flames and ashes as if the earth birthed them in an eternal cycle.
Eldar, still on his knees, clutched his bleeding chest. A crimson flash crossed his pupils.
"Hah… I must help somehow…" he gasped.
His body began to mutate. Not scales, not plates: dark and thick fur sprouted from his skin, covering him like natural armor. His nails lengthened into sharp claws, muscles tensed, ears sharpened backward. A savage smile formed on his now lupine face, while fangs emerged between his lips.
With an almost animal roar, Eldar launched toward a flank, zigzagging with bestial agility. He leaped, and his claws tore through Godric's armor, leaving deep lines before agilely pulling away.
Brenda, on the other side, clenched her fists. She closed her eyes. Nanoparticles began to materialize around her, spinning like a swarm of golden sparks, mixed with a purple glow of energy and primary flow. The figure of a weapon took shape, growing from the air itself: an enormous, brutal rifle, with elegant lines, vibrating with raw and ancient power.
"Ready…" Brenda whispered, raising it firmly. "Sofia, cover yourself!"
Sofia barely tilted her head. Brenda fired. A beam of pure light pierced through the smoke like a spear, impacting Godric's shoulder, burning part of his armor.
But even among the flames, Godric's laugh rumbled, inhuman, an echo of madness and rage.
Suddenly, he shot out from the smoke, moving like a human projectile. A slash crossed the air straight toward Sofia.
She raised a hand.
The specters responded instantly, interweaving before her, forming an undulating barrier of black energy. The impact shook the ground, but the sword barely grazed the summoner's flesh. Sofia stepped back, mouth curved in a half-smile.
"I don't fight alone, Godric." Her violet eyes shone, cold, beautiful, lethal. "I fight with all those who gave me their name."
Eldar, at the side, with bloodied claws, released a war growl. Brenda, with the still-smoking rifle, reloaded with a click, aiming again.
Together, the three formed an improvised front. And for the first time, Godric… seemed irritated.
He charged again.
The true battle was just beginning.
The field trembled.
Godric charged straight toward Sofia, a shadow of unleashed fury. Each of his steps was thunder, each breath, a contained roar.
At her side, Brenda gritted her teeth and reloaded her rifle, nanoparticles crackling, spinning like swarms of purple fire. The weapon vibrated in her hands.
"Come on… come on…!" she murmured.
She fired.
The shots cut the air like lightning. Electric cracks vibrated with each shot, purple energy roaring in each projectile. Brenda didn't stop firing, pressing, loading, releasing relentless bursts.
Between Brenda and Godric opened irregular terrain: fragments of collapsed columns, smoking embers and cracks still spitting steam. Eldar slid among those shadows, moving from stone to stone, each step bringing him closer to Godric's flank while dodging his sword's flashes.
But Godric dodged, agile, almost impossible, zigzagging between bullets, getting closer and closer. He wasn't just going for Sofia. Also for Brenda. Also for Eldar. For everyone.
Eldar saw the opportunity. His body, still covered in dark fur, ran in beast mode, crouched, fast, brutal. Claws ready. He took advantage of the distraction from the shots, closing distance toward Godric like a hunting wolf.
Sofia watched him come, and suddenly shouted, with a voice that tore the sky:
"Tell me, Godric! What hurts more…?" her gaze burned, a mixture of defiance and venom. "That I'm a bastard… or that a bastard like me has the purest eyes of the lineage, the violet eyes… of the Fitzgeralds?"
Godric's face contorted with pure hatred. A tremor ran through his muscles, a murderous gleam filled his gaze.
"Damn cockroach!" he roared. "I'm going to crush you! I'm going to kill you slowly!"
Sofia didn't look at him, but knew what was coming.
In the stands of the Celestial Stadium, the public was silent. Thousands of faces, petrified. No one knew what to say. Only a murmur ran through the boxes:
"…that technique… the girl… is not just a bastard…"
Sofia barely smiled, as if hearing that rumor floating among the stars. And she raised her voice, with ancestral force:
"Or does it hurt more… that I have the same technique… as the most powerful in the Fitzgeralds' history?"
In the Celestial Stadium, the Fitzgeralds remained motionless before the gigantic screen projecting the battle. Beatriz frowned, her concern for Brenda palpable, barely murmuring: "Please let nothing happen to her." Catherine, with eyes sparking with rage, clenched her fists and released through her teeth: "Damn bastard brat! How dare she?" Edward, in silence, felt a deep pain seeing his children face each other this way; his gaze swept the scene with helplessness and a knot in his chest seeing his children fight and hate each other to death.
The air in Amazonia stopped.
"The Dance of the Specters."
The earth cracked beneath her feet. Black flames resurged, spinning around her, swirling in a dark spiral. Specters wrapped in black fire emerged one after another, raising weapons, screaming in ancient echoes, dancing with her.
Godric screamed, torn by fury:
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
But Sofia hadn't finished. Her voice became even more cutting:
"Or maybe… is it Brenda who also has violet eyes?" her finger pointed to her sister, who kept firing ceaselessly. "That your little sister Brenda has the other technique…? That of the most powerful man. It bothers you that your sister and a bastard each have one of the two techniques of the most powerful man in your lineage's history, and both have violet eyes, and you don't, not being the Fitzgerald house heir."
Godric stopped for an instant. The hatred on his face transformed into a shadow of doubt.
Sofia lowered her hand. She closed her eyes. The black fire grew, the specters knelt as if waiting for someone greater.
"But I also have it somehow."
The black fire concentrated, twisting, like a nascent black hole. And then… a figure emerged from the flames.
It wasn't just a specter. It was him.
Garreth Fitzgerald.
The legendary Garreth Fitzgerald. The creator of the Spectral Dance. Creator of energy weapons assembled through nanotechnology and primary flow. The legend from two centuries ago, walking among the shadows, with his violet eyes shining among the black fire.
The entire stadium went mute. No one could believe it.
Not Brenda.
Not Godric.
Before them…
stood the legend. Garreth Fitzgerald.
The entire stadium held its breath. Before them, Garreth, wrapped in black fire, advanced slowly, leaving a trail of spectral ash after each step.
In the imperial balcony, astonishment became absolute silence. No one could believe what they saw: an aspirant, a young woman with no apparent rank, had managed to summon Garreth Fitzgerald, the legend himself. The nobles' faces paled; the murmur of disbelief ran through the stadium, while the act's power imposed itself as an undeniable fact. Among them, the Fitzgeralds in the Celestial Stadium remained petrified, their eyes fixed on Sofia and Garreth's figure emerging from the flames. Edward could barely contain the mixture of astonishment and fear, feeling his family's history was being rewritten before his own eyes. Beatriz, Catherine, and the others shared the same fixed gaze, unable to look away from the scene that defied all expectation.
Godric half-stopped. His body, still trembling with fury, anchored to the ground. Something… something inside him screamed not to continue.
And as he watched, a frozen sensation ran down his spine.
He wasn't looking at anyone else. He was coming straight for him. To hunt him.
Godric swallowed, for the first time without words. His steps retreated half a meter.
And then, Sofia looked at him.
A small, implacable smile bloomed from her lips.
As if she already knew the ending.
As if the sentence were already written.
The black fire roared louder.
Garreth. Walked toward him with solemn step, each footfall resonating like a war drum in the stadium's abysmal silence.
From his hands began to sprout ethereal threads, an interweaving of nanoparticles and primary flow, weaving in the air like living serpents, dancing around his fingers. With each step, the strands multiplied, spinning in spirals that condensed into liquid metal and mysterious glow.
Godric watched him, motionless, trapped between fear and disbelief. It was impossible. That shouldn't exist. But there it was.
The entire stadium held its breath. No whisper, no tremor: only the unbearable weight of absolute silence.
The nanoparticles culminated their dance, solidifying into two long-barreled revolvers, dark and majestic, so ancient and yet impossibly advanced. Garreth raised them slowly, aiming straight at Godric's heart.
Behind, Sofia extended her arms, her gaze lit with determination and power.
And then, as if their voices were one, Garreth and Sofia proclaimed in unison:
"Dance with me, specters!"