Kenzo stood motionless in the center of his spirit domain—an endless plain of steel, ash, and swirling stardust. Above, the heavens churned, and two constellations glimmered faintly: one shaped like a shield flanked by gears, the other a burning blade spread with ember wings.
His breathing was steady, but his soul core pulsed erratically. The second star in Ferrion's sigil had been claimed, but now the trial had shifted. The atmosphere grew hotter. Thicker. His armor weighed heavier on his limbs.
"Two war constellations," echoed a voice—deep, heavy, like iron grinding against stone. "You are not meant to bear both."
Kenzo turned. The echo of Ferrion loomed before him: a giant forged of starlight and steel, eyes like molten silver. Behind him, a mirage of crimson flame hovered, whispering heat into Kenzo's spine. The Echo of Valtrix hadn't taken full form, but its presence now licked at the edge of his spirit.
"I didn't choose this path," Kenzo said. "But I'll walk it."
Ferrion's Echo stepped aside. "Then prove you can endure both. The next wave comes now."
The battlefield around him twisted—walls of a fortress rising from the earth, towers built from his will, shields braced against the unseen. A bell tolled.
Then, they came.
Dozens of Siege Reapers, malformed astral beasts made of shattered armor and black flame, charged through the silver mist. Their movements were chaotic, like broken puppets jerking forward with hate.
Kenzo inhaled, and Steelveil Skin snapped over his body in glinting plates of light. His steps shook the ground—Anchor Core fully activated. No force could move him now.
He raised his arms, braced for the crash.
The first Reaper slammed into him. He didn't budge.
A ripple of energy burst from his armor—Bulwark Pulse—hurling the beast back into the swarm. Kenzo grunted as three more clawed at his sides, but the adaptive plating on his armor shimmered, adjusting against their fire-tinged strikes.
"I'm not just steel," Kenzo muttered. "I burn too."
From within, another pulse stirred. Something wild. Something hot.
He reached for the second sigil—the half-formed one shaped like Valtrix's burning sword—and passed a strand of Astral Energy through it.
The first star flared to life.
🔥 Burning Step.
Heat flooded his limbs. Each step he took left smoldering prints, and the next dash sent him rocketing forward, fire trailing behind him.
He moved like a comet through the chaos.
Spinning, he kicked upward, his armored foot bursting into flame and cracking a Reaper's jaw. His momentum carried him into a roll, igniting another line of flame behind him.
The battlefield ignited.
A voice echoed again—Valtrix now, deep and furious.
"Fire without control is destruction. But rage harnessed is justice."
Kenzo grinned. The balance between Ferrion and Valtrix was unstable, but he could feel it. Not harmony. Not yet. But rhythm.
Iron held the line. Fire broke it.
He fought for minutes—maybe hours—driven by instinct, training, and raw celestial force. Each blow taught him something new: about the way fire curved through motion, or how armor could absorb recoil to strike again harder.
When the last Reaper collapsed into fading stardust, the realm went still.
Kenzo dropped to one knee, exhausted. His armor dimmed, his flames flickered low. But his soul core blazed—pushed to its edge, yet not cracked.
Ferrion's Echo returned.
"You endured the next wave. You wield flame and steel. Still, the burden of two gods may break you."
Kenzo stood slowly. "Then I'll break first. But not before I prove them wrong."
Valtrix's presence pulsed behind him, brighter now.
One star of flame. Two stars of steel.
He hadn't mastered either. But he had claimed what few ever could: dual war alignment. And he wasn't done.
Suddenly, the world around him began to crack—not collapse, but shift.
He looked up. His constellations above him had moved closer. Stars orbiting closer to his soul.
A sign of recognition.
And then…
Trial Complete. Status: Celestial Attuned.
Kenzo gasped as a surge of astral energy rushed into him. His Astral Core expanded, swelling with more refined power. The starlight surrounding him condensed into his back like twin sigils pressing into flesh and soul.
The ground beneath him calmed. The fortress vanished. The stars faded into quiet watchfulness.
And then he heard it.
A voice—not divine.
Human.
"Kenzo," it whispered, urgent and faint. "Wake up. You're not alone anymore."
His eyes snapped open.