Immediately after the countdown dropped to zero, the system gave the announcement.
"FINAL ZONE…CLEARED."
"What who cleared it?"
"Some people have already gotten there?"
"Damn it!"
So were the words coming out of the remaining contestants who were in a hurry to reach it.
Mean while, our bodies enveloped into blue holograms and swapped back towards the arena. We appeared back to the arena together with the remaining contestants which were only 500 left in numbers.
"No way don't tell me…?" A random Tier-five contestant asked himself in disbelief.
"The ones who cleared the final zone were just mere Tier-ones trashes?" Another asked.
"Don't be stupid," another hissed, crossing his arms. "They only won because they clung to Lady Sinata's coattails. A Tier-7 like her could carry a whole village of dead weight."
Luka Cinandra gave an unreadable look but inwardly he was surprised.
He rose from his seat, his movement so fluid it looked like a glitch in the frame, and appeared instantly on the arena floor.
"Congratulations to our newest survivors," Luka announced. His voice was smooth, but it carried the weight of a mountain. "You have qualified to serve as Vanguard Elites. However, let this be a warning to those disqualified or those who failed to secure a reasonable point threshold, the gates of the Vanguard remain closed to you. We have no room for the weak."Thank you." He concluded.
The crowds cheered with great triumph to congratulate us while some were speechless wondering how Tier-ones were at the peak of the leaderboard.
I glanced at my team. Ria was beaming, her hands trembling with pure joy. Kael remained a statue, his expression as unreadable as the magnetic fields he controlled. Sinata wore a proud, relieved smile, looking every bit the noble warrior. Then there was Kageno'nenji. He looked bored, leaning back with a side-eyed glare that suggested he found the entire ceremony an offensive waste of his time.
I scoffed softly and looked toward the VIP seats. Sherach was there, catching my eye with a firm thumbs-up and a look of unmistakable pride. I smirked back, but when I searched for Suki, her seat was empty. Even Wenta looked baffled, staring at the vacant spot beside her as if she hadn't even felt her companion leave.
...
In a darkened corridor far from the cheering crowds, Ryan watched the closing ceremony through his enhanced left eye. A crimson iris that cut through the shadows. A black eyepatch remained fixed over his right, sealing away whatever power lay beneath.
"What an interesting set of peers," Ryan murmured, a small smirk playing on his lips.
He turned to leave, his boots clicking softly against the obsidian floor. He hadn't taken five steps when the air behind him chilled. Without breaking his stride, Ryan spoke into the gloom.
"What are you doing here, Luka?" He asked in a calm and whispering voice.
"Luka stepped from the shadows and gave a small smile taking out a cigarette already between his lips. He tapped his index finger against the tip, channeling a tiny, focused golden flame. A spark of divine power used for something as mundane as lighting a cigarette.
"You know Ryan…you're always too distant which I find disturbing…" Luka said, exhaling a thin cloud of grey smoke.
"just wanted to say hello before I head back to headquarters. Is it a crime to visit an old friend?"
Ryan stared at him with a cold side-eyed glance and then continued his pace.
"We've never been friends Luka. Stay in your own lane." Ryan said.
"That's a bit cold. Even for you." Luka moved with a relativistic flicker, appearing instantly at Ryan's side and resting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't walk away from me. You might actually find you need my help one day." Luka said trying to get his attention.
"I don't." Ryan replied flatly. Luka sighed, blowing a smoke ring into the air. "There that attitude comes again. Stop being so ahead of yourself Ryan, Alright If you don't really need anything, I will get straight to the point. Do you know anything concerning Oliver Veyron?" Luka asked.
Ryan twitched his right eyebrow upward under the patch.
"Sorry?"
"Silly I know, but at least you must have been observing him for some time. Anything strange about him?" Luka asked again.
Ryan reached up, calmly sliding Luka's hand off his shoulder. He resumed his pace toward the exit, stopping only at the threshold of the light.
"I'm not his keeper and bodyguard so don't bother asking me that question. Aren't you a demi-god? Find out yourself." Ryan concluded and continued his pace, exiting the room leaving Luka to his self thoughts.
…..
In a large room, which was less of a living space and more of a cathedral dedicated to silent wealth. Spanning nearly eighty feet in length, the floor was composed of seamless white moonstone, polished to such a high mirror-finish that the bruised violet sky outside reflected off the ground, a female figure was lying in her royal like sofa bed deep in thoughts.
"Why did I just leave just like that when I sighted him?"
She reached out her hands towards her chest and felt it thrubbing.
"I see. So this is the feeling."
The woman on the sofa was none other than Suki. Her breath was shallow, her fingers trembling slightly as they pressed against the silk of her bodice. "Why did I run?" she whispered to the empty, ornate room.
She could still see Oliver's amber eyes through the holographic display. The way they glowed with that terrifying, cold and calm heat with the way he stared at her. For the first time in her life, her usually calm self surged like a stormy sea just by being near his image.
"I see. So this is the feeling," she murmured, a faint, rare blush creeping up her neck.
She closed her eyes, trying to suppress the thrumming in her chest, but the image of Oliver's smirk remained burned into her mind.
-----
Twenty-four hours later, the adrenaline of the exam had faded, replaced by the crushing weight of the future.
Inside the private training chamber of the Veyron mansion, the air was unnaturally still. I sat in a perfect lotus position, suspended three inches off the floor by a thin film of compressed mana. My eyes were shut, and breathing so slow it was almost non-existent.
I was hunting for it—the Kaishi State.
'Fracture the second. Find the gap between moments,' I commanded himself.
In my mind's eye, I saw the world as a series of frozen frames and tried to reach out and "lgrab the space between those frames, to pull myself into that realm of infinite reaction time. But every time I touched the edge of the state, my heart Nebula heart would kick like a dying engine. The sapphire light behind my ribs flickered violently, and the mental image shattered like glass.
"Damn it," I hissed, dropping back to the floor with a heavy thud.
Sweat dripped from my chin. I had been at it for six hours. Despite all my meditations, the Kaishi State remained an elusive ghost. It required a level of mental synchronization that my current brute force method couldn't reach.
I suddenly stood up, wiping my face with a towel. The God-Sage System remained silent, offering no shortcuts this time. I already knew why. The System provided the power, but the control while the soul of the techniques had to be forged by me alone.
I walked out of the chamber, my boots echoing in the marble hallway. "Maria!"
The head maid appeared almost instantly, her expression a mix of professional poise and motherly concern. "Master Oliver. Your vitals were spiking again. Should I call a recovery medic?"
"No need," I said, my voice regaining its usual steel. "I'm heading out. The Vanguard results are official. I've been assigned to the elite lounge at the headquarters. I won't be around the mansion much for the next few months."
Maria bowed low, though her eyes lingered on the faint blue veins still pulsing in his neck. "I understand. The Velerion Star City council has already sent over your displacement orders. Your things are being packed as we speak."
"While I'm away, you're in charge of the estate," I said, stopping at the grand window that overlooked the city. "I will check back once in a while."
"As you wish, Master," Maria replied softly.
I nodded and headed back to my room recalling Sherach's words from the previous night. The transition was immediate. Being a Vanguardian elite wasn't just a title, it was a life of high-stakes warfare. They would be granted special privileges, access to the gravity-pulse training rooms, high-purity mana stones, and most importantly, missions outside the safety of the Star City's dome.
The weaker ranks were not going to be considered outcasts as long as the exam was passed.
The next morning, the sun rose over Velerion large terrains in a brilliant, cold gold. I stood at the edge of the mansion's private landing pad. Maria had done her work well. A single black tactical case stood beside me, containing his the Vanguard uniform and the remnants of training gears.
A low hum vibrated in the air. From the clouds, a sleek, needle-like ship descended. It was a V-Class Interceptor, coated in stealth-refractive plating that made it look like a ghost in the sky. It landed silently, the ramp hissing open.
I stepped inside, and within minutes, the mansion was a speck on the horizon.
The ship didn't head for the central academy. It headed for the North Spire, a massive, floating fortress that hovered at the very edge of the city's atmospheric shield. This was the elites' headquarters the 'nest.'
As the ship touched down on the North Spire's primary deck, I saw three figures already waiting near the docking bay.
Ria was leaning against a cargo crate. She looked up and beamed, waving enthusiastically. Beside her, Kael stood with his arms crossed, his eyes scanning the horizon with a newfound intensity. And then there was Kageno'nenji who was sitting on a railing, his back to the group, staring out at the clouds. His was wearing a black short jacket this time around which flickered in the wind, and that strange, geometric tartan shave on his temple seemed to pulse with a faint, dark light.
I stepped off the ramp, the black case clicking against the metal floor.
"Look who decided to show up," Ria teased, though her eyes were bright with relief. "I thought you'd be too busy being a celebrity to join us commoners."
"Celebrity life is boring," I replied, also adding to the joke and walked up to them. I nodded to Kael. "Ready for the real work?"
"My core is at 100%," Kael said, his voice steady. "The magnetic density in this Spire is insane. I feel like I could lift a mountain."
I turned my gaze to Kageno'nenji who didn't turn around, but his voice drifted back, cool and detached. "You're late again, Veyron. Efficient leaders don't keep their strike team waiting in the wind. My jacket is starting to collect sea salt."
I smirked. "If you're worried about the salt, Kageno, you're going to hate the missions outside the dome. I hear the Wastelands are quite dusty."
Kageno finally turned his head, giving me that sharp, side-eyed glare. "As long as the targets are worth the effort, I'll endure the dust. But if we're sent to clear Tier-four vermin, I'm quitting."
"Don't worry," I said, my eyes flashing. "Anyone in charge of raid missions wouldn't send us anywhere easy. Some of them might want us dead. They'll probably send us to the worst places on the maps."
"Good," Kageno whispered, his hand hovering over the hilt of his black blade. "I've been looking for a reason to get my blades dirty."
"Kageno you're scary. Ria exclaimed with a low voice.
Before they could continue, a massive, thunderous roar shook the deck. A secondary ship—a Vanguard Dreadnought descended from the upper levels of the Spire. It was five times the size of their interceptor, a floating fortress designed for long-range deployment.
The bay doors groaned open, revealing a dark, high-tech interior lit by sapphire floor-lights.
"That's our ride," I said, my voice dropping into a whispering tone.
Ria buckled herself up, looming over the group like a shadow.
"Let's go," I commanded.
The four of them walked into the dark maw of the Dreadnought, leaving the safety of the Star City behind.