The timer counted down with merciless precision.

00:03:00... 00:02:59... 00:02:58...

Kael stood at the edge of the Heaven’s Gate staging area, eyes fixed on the massive hologram hovering above the arena. Zara Moror’s screen still showed chaos—three-way battle raging, poison and water and claws creating a vortex of violence that made it hard to track individual movements.

00:02:00... 00:01:59... 00:01:58...

The tiger-kin from Primal Heart broke free of another hypnosis attempt and launched a flurry of claw strikes that forced Zara backward. The Empyreal water manipulator seized the opening, sending a pressurized jet that caught Zara in the ribs.

THWACK.

Zara stumbled but didn’t fall. Her snake abilities surged—shadow tendrils erupting from the ground, wrapping around the tiger-kin’s ankles, yanking him off-balance. The water manipulator tried to capitalize, but Zara’s tail whipped around and caught her across the face.

CRACK.

00:01:00... 00:00:59... 00:00:58...

"Move, Zara!" Rue’s hands were clenched, tails rigid with tension.

The three-way battle intensified—desperate, frantic, all three fighters knowing time was running out. Zara shed her skin again, damaged exterior peeling away to reveal fresh scales beneath. The tiger-kin’s movements were slowing—exhaustion, accumulated damage. The water manipulator’s streams were weakening—mana reserves depleting.

00:00:30... 00:00:29... 00:00:28...

Zara broke away from both opponents and ran.

Not toward them—toward the portal. The tiger-kin tried to pursue, but Zara’s shadow tendrils erupted behind her, creating a wall of darkness that bought her precious seconds. The water manipulator sent a final jet, but Zara dodged without looking back.

00:00:15... 00:00:14... 00:00:13...

The portal loomed ahead—blue-white light, Heaven’s Gate sigil, salvation.

00:00:08... 00:00:07... 00:00:06...

Zara dove through.

WHUMP.

00:00:05... 00:00:04... 00:00:03...

"TIME IS ALMOST UP, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Any students still on the planet when the clock hits zero will be automatically extracted!"

00:00:02... 00:00:01...

00:00:00.

FLASH.

The hologram flickered. Every screen showing students still on the horrid planet went static, then blank. One moment they were there—fighting, running, struggling. The next, they were gone.

The commentator’s voice dropped, becoming solemn.

"TIME. IS. UP."

A pause. The colosseum was silent.

"All remaining students have been teleported back to the staging areas. Let’s see who made it—and who didn’t."

The extraction wasn’t pretty.

Portals opened above each academy’s staging area, and students began falling through—some on their feet, some on their knees, some unconscious. IGF medical teams swarmed each landing zone, triaging injuries, stabilizing the critical, carting off the broken.

Kael watched the other academies’ zones with clinical detachment.

Scorched Earth’s extraction included three unconscious students—the ones he’d put to sleep with slaughter intent and shadow tendrils. They floated down on medical stretchers, limbs limp, faces slack. Their conscious teammates caught them, expressions a mixture of relief and fury.

New Dawn Academy’s extraction was similar—four unconscious students, all victims of Sage and Rue’s illusion games. But when their conscious teammates looked toward the Heaven’s Gate staging area, their expressions weren’t angry.

They were... appreciative.

One of them even waved at Sage, who waved back with a sweet smile.

Who could hate such beautiful ladies?

Therion War College’s extraction included their captain—Bakari—on a critical care stretcher. His Vajra Indestructible Body had saved his life, but the supernova had done damage that would take weeks to fully heal if not attended to. As he was carried past the Heaven’s Gate zone, his eyes found Mason.

The elephant-kin raised a weak fist.

Mason—arm in a sling, hand wrapped in bandages, chest still taped from his cracked ribs—nodded back.

They worshipped strength. Bakari had lost, but he acknowledged the victor. That was the Therion Way.

Behind Bakari, another Therion War College student—a massive figure with the same metallic skin, same tusked jaw—watched the exchange with narrowed eyes. The elder brother. Iron Nexus’s team member. Same Divine Elephant bloodline.

The hologram shifted, reformatting into a clean leaderboard display. The crowd’s murmur died as everyone focused on the results.

ROUND 1 RESULTS — QUALIFYING ACADEMIES

1st: Empyrean Celestial Academy — 6/7 qualified Six members qualified. One eliminated during transit.

2nd: Neon Abyss Academy — 7/7 qualified All seven members reached their portal before timeout.

3rd: Heaven’s Gate Academy — 6/7 qualified Five members reached portal. One extracted at timeout (Zara Moror).

4th: Astral Zenith Academy — 6/7 qualified Six members reached portal. Vice captain arrived last.

5th: Imperial Academy — 6/7 qualified Six members reached portal. One eliminated during transit.

6th: Sylvan Star Academy — 5/7 qualified Five elves reached portal. Two eliminated.

7th: Axis Mundi — 5/7 qualified Five monks reached portal. Two eliminated. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

8th: Blood Moon Academy — 6/7 qualified Six vampires reached portal. One eliminated.

9th: Iron Nexus — 5/7 qualified Five members reached portal. Two eliminated.

10th: Primal Heart Academy — 5/7 qualified Five members reached portal. Two eliminated.

ELIMINATED ACADEMIES

Scorched Earth Institute — 4/7 qualified Four members reached portal. Three unconscious on extraction. Insufficient qualified members.

Obsidian Edge Academy — 3/7 qualified Three members reached portal. Four eliminated.

New Dawn Academy — 3/7 qualified Three members reached portal. Four unconscious on extraction.

Therion War College — 3/7 qualified Four members reached portal. Captain eliminated in combat. Two unconscious on extraction.

Aether Institute — 2/7 qualified Two members reached portal. Five eliminated.

The reactions were immediate.

Scorched Earth’s conscious students turned toward Heaven’s Gate as one. Their eyes found Kael—standing calm, arms crossed, expression unreadable. The hatred in their gaze was palpable. Three of their teammates had been put to sleep by a single MH Rank 1 cultivator. If those three had been conscious, Scorched Earth would have qualified easily.

Kael met their stares without flinching.

His smile was cold.

Therion War College’s remaining members were more measured. Their captain—still on a stretcher, still healing—had already acknowledged Mason’s victory. The elder brother on Iron Nexus’s team watched Mason with something between resentment and grudging respect. The Divine Elephant race valued strength above all else. Mason had earned that acknowledgment, even if it stung.

New Dawn Academy’s surviving students just... looked away from the Moonveil sisters. One of them was blushing. Another was smiling despite his injuries.

Yeah. No hatred there.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" The commentator’s voice boomed through the colosseum, snapping attention back to the center. "LET’S HEAR IT FOR OUR TEN QUALIFYING ACADEMIES!"

ROAR.

The crowd erupted—cheering, clapping, flags waving. Families of qualified students screamed their names. Academy banners unfurled. The energy was infectious, electric, the kind of atmosphere that made even the most stoic cultivators feel something.

Upstairs, in the VIP section, the real discussions were happening.

VP Dubois sat at the center of the Heaven’s Gate contingent, tea untouched before her, eyes fixed on the holographic display. Beside her, Instructor Victor leaned forward with apparent interest, while Master Finnick maintained his usual expression of bored irritation.

Across the aisle, other academies’ leadership were having similar conversations—whispered consultations, pointed gestures, occasional glances toward rival sections.

"This round was designed to cull the weak," Dubois murmured, too quiet for the microphones to catch. "The fact that we lost no one is... acceptable."

Dubois’s eyes found Kael’s figure on the staging area below. "Your captain’s performance was adequate."

"The next round will be different." Finnick’s grumpy voice cut through. "No environment to exploit. No running. Just combat."

"Obviously." Dubois sipped her tea. "That’s where it gets interesting."

Down on the arena floor, the commentator had gathered the team captains near the central platform.

"Captains! Gather round!"

Kael moved, joined by the other nine qualifying captains—Neon Abyss’s representative (a pale woman with hollow eyes), Empyreal’s (the silver-haired man Kael had seen at the portal zone), Astral Zenith’s ( a severe-looking woman with close-cropped hair), Imperial’s (Silas, Rooley’s sister), Sylvan Star’s (an ancient-seeming elf with eyes that had seen centuries), Axis Mundi’s (a monk so serene he seemed carved from stone), Blood Moon’s (a vampire), Iron Nexus’s (the Divine Elephant elder brother, expression unreadable), and Primal Heart’s (a tiger-kin with scars covering half his face).

"ROUND TWO!" The commentator’s voice reached fever pitch. "Let me explain the format!"

A new hologram appeared—a bracket diagram showing ten academy names arranged in a single-elimination structure.

"Each academy fields FIVE fighters. Single elimination brackets. You lose, and your academy is OUT of the running for first place—but your individual fighters can still compete for personal rankings in the consolation matches."

The bracket shifted, highlighting specific matchups.

"The top five seeds receive byes in the first round. The bottom four fight in preliminary matches to determine who joins them. Winners advance. Losers go to consolation."

Another shift—this time showing the final bracket structure.

"Only SIX academies will move on to Round Three—the final round. Five winners from the main bracket, plus ONE wild card selected from the five eliminated academies based on individual performance."

Kael filed the information away. Six academies in Round Three. Five from the main bracket, one wild card. The wild card selection meant that even eliminated academies had something to fight for—their individual performers could still earn their academy a second chance.

" matchups will be determined by RANDOM DRAW thirty minutes before Round Two begins!" The commentator grinned. "No seeding advantages beyond the bye system. Any academy can face any academy. Fortune favors the bold, ladies and gentlemen!"

The captains dispersed, each returning to their teams with the new information.

Kael gathered the Heaven’s Gate members in their designated rest area—a comfortable section of the arena’s lower levels, equipped with medical beds, recovery pods, and refreshment stations. Mason was already there, arm in a sling, chest wrapped, but conscious and alert.

"Twelve hours." Kael’s voice was calm, commanding. "That’s how long we have to rest and prepare before Round Two. Medical teams will handle your injuries. Use the recovery pods. Eat. Sleep."

He looked at each of them in turn.

"We don’t know who we’ll face in the draw. Could be anyone. Could be Empyreal, could be Neon Abyss in the finals. Doesn’t matter. We’re going to win regardless."

His eyes found Yenna and Aria—the two who hadn’t participated in Round One.

"You two especially. You’ve been resting while we fought. You should be at full strength. I expect you to be ready for anything."

Yenna nodded, frost crackling briefly around her fingers. Aria simply stared back, unreadable as always.

"Dismissed."

The group dispersed—some toward medical beds, others toward food, a few toward quiet corners to meditate. Cassian found a chair and produced a cup of tea from somewhere, sipping with that eternal indifferent expression.

Author’s note: Dude, leave the tea. Well, we will see him fighting soon.