The world reformed around Billionzaruto in a rush of color and sound. One moment he had been standing in the ruined courtyard with Lira at his side, listening to the distant roar of an approaching monster; the next, he was spiraling through a vortex of golden wind that tasted like lightning and memory.
The ground beneath him solidified abruptly. He stumbled, caught his balance, and blinked until the dizzy blur faded.
He didn't recognize the place.
They stood in a wide, circular valley surrounded by jagged cliffs that glowed faintly under a violet sky. The air hummed like a living thing, charged with a low vibration that seeped into the bones. Strange glowing patterns were carved into the rocks—shapes that pulsed rhythmically like breaths.
He turned slowly, taking it all in.
"This… isn't anywhere in our world," he whispered.
"No," Kaigos answered, leaning heavily on his staff. His breathing was labored, but the golden aura around him kept him upright. "This is the Stormheart Expanse. A place between worlds. A space your ancestors built."
Billionzaruto frowned. "My ancestors? You mean the Storm Lineage?"
Kaigos nodded. "This valley was created for one purpose only: to train the one who would inherit the full Stormfire power. A place to face trials that no ordinary warrior could survive."
The weight of those words pressed heavily against Billionzaruto's chest.
"So you brought me here to… what? Train? Now? While that monster is out there looking for me?"
Kaigos lifted his gaze, eyes sharp despite the exhaustion. "That creature will find you no matter where you go. But if you face it without mastering your power, you will die—and the world will follow."
Billionzaruto clenched his jaw. "Then tell me what to do."
Kaigos gestured toward the center of the valley.
A massive circular emblem burned faintly on the ground—an intricate symbol made of interlocking lines of lightning and fire. It stretched at least twenty meters across, glowing like it had a heartbeat of its own.
"The Stormheart Seal," Kaigos said. "Step inside it, and the trials will begin."
Billionzaruto eyed the circle warily. "What kind of trials?"
"The kind that don't care if you're scared. The kind that don't stop even if you scream."
Kaigos paused, voice soft but steady. "And the kind that show you exactly who you are."
Billionzaruto swallowed. "Great. Sounds fun."
But he didn't hesitate.
He walked toward the circle, each step making the air tremble.
When he crossed the glowing boundary, everything shifted sharply.
The sky darkened.
The cliffs vanished like smoke.
Heat rose from the ground in a sudden, suffocating wave.
Kaigos remained outside the seal, though his voice reached Billionzaruto clearly.
"The first trial," Kaigos said, "is the Trial of the Flame-Eye. Confront the fire that sleeps inside you… or be consumed by it."
Before Billionzaruto could ask what that meant, the ground split open beneath him.
Fire erupted upward—white-hot, swirling like a cyclone of living flame. It didn't burn him, not exactly. But it pushed inward, probing, searching, crawling under his skin.
He gasped, clutching his chest.
The fire was inside him.
Not metaphorically.
Not symbolically.
Literally.
He screamed as his eyes blazed open, twin suns bursting outward. He dropped to his knees as the flames behind his eyelids poured forward, flooding the space with a blazing red that swallowed the valley.
He wasn't standing anymore.
He was floating.
Suspended in a void made of fire.
His own fire.
Echoes rippled through the flames—blurred images forming and dissolving before he could understand them. He saw moments from his past, twisted by flame: the burning wreckage of the village attack that changed his life, the ashes of his childhood home, his mother's final warning.
"Never let the fire choose for you."
He reached toward the image of her, but the flames warped it into something monstrous—her face melting into fire, eyes hollow, voice turning cold.
"You are losing control, my son…"
"No," he whispered, backing away in the void. "No, I'm not."
But the fire surged, forming a humanoid shape—a burning silhouette with eyes just like his: molten, furious, unrestrained.
It was him.
A version he didn't want to become.
"You're weak," the fire-figure hissed. "Every time you hesitate, you let others suffer. You hold back—and that is why everyone you love will die."
Billionzaruto's hands trembled. "That's not true."
The fiery version of him laughed, a hollow, crackling sound.
"Oh? Then why did Kaigos bleed because of you?"
The void pulsed violently.
Images flashed again—Kaigos screaming as the lightning blast tore through him, Lira watching in horror, the ruins trembling beneath Billionzaruto's uncontrolled power.
He felt the guilt return like a punch to the ribs.
The fire-figure stepped closer, towering now, flames exploding outward.
"You don't need control. You need release. Let me take over. Let me burn the world until nothing can hurt you again."
"No," Billionzaruto whispered, shaking.
"Say it loud," the fiery figure demanded. "Say you want to destroy."
"I DON'T!" Billionzaruto roared, voice breaking. "I don't want to hurt people! I don't want to become a monster like you!"
The fire-figure paused. Its flaming head tilted.
A beat of silence.
Then it lunged at him.
The void shook with the impact. Billionzaruto was thrown backward, tumbling through waves of fire. Heat clawed at his lungs. His skin burned. His heartbeat thundered like a drum inside his skull.
But he didn't let go.
He forced himself up, teeth gritted, fists clenching.
"No more running," he growled. "If you're the part of me I'm afraid of… then I'm done being afraid."
Lightning exploded from his body—pure blue and blinding. It clashed with the fire, sending shockwaves rippling through the void.
The fire-figure snarled.
"You think lightning can save you?"
"No," Billionzaruto said, stepping forward as his eyes blazed brighter. "But I can."
He thrust both hands forward.
Lightning surged, not wild this time but focused—controlled. It pierced through the fire-figure's chest, ripping the flames apart from the inside.
The fiery version of him screamed, collapsing into flickering embers.
But before it faded completely, it spoke one last time.
"You cannot destroy me… because I am you."
Billionzaruto didn't flinch. "Then stay a part of me. But I decide what I become."
The embers dimmed.
The void shattered.
And the Stormheart Expanse returned around him.
Billionzaruto dropped to one knee, gasping. His entire body felt bruised, but the fire behind his eyes was no longer wild. It was steady—like a flame held in cupped hands.
Kaigos approached slowly.
"You passed the first trial," he said, pride flickering in his tired voice. "You faced your fire instead of fearing it."
Billionzaruto wiped sweat from his brow. "I wasn't sure I'd make it."
"That uncertainty," Kaigos said, "is what keeps you human."
Before Billionzaruto could respond, the sky above them split open with a deep rumble.
The second trial was beginning.
Massive clouds spun into existence, swirling in a vortex of dark grays and electric blues. Lightning cracked across the sky, forming a giant, storm-shaped serpent whose eyes glowed with cold intelligence.
The creature coiled above them, easily the size of a mountain.
"The Trial of the Thunder-Spirit," Kaigos whispered. "Face the storm that is your birthright."
The thunder-serpent roared—a sound that shook the cliffs and made the air vibrate.
Billionzaruto felt his legs weaken. "You expect me to fight that?"
"No," Kaigos said. "I expect you to survive it."
Great.
No pressure.
The serpent dove like a spear of lightning.
Billionzaruto dodged instinctively, rolling across the ground as the serpent crashed, carving a crater where he'd stood a second earlier.
He pushed to his feet, lightning flaring from his arms.
He raised his hand—
And the serpent struck again.
This time he blocked, lightning erupting from his palms. But the force sent him flying backward, slamming against a rock wall.
His breath was punched out. Pain exploded across his back.
The serpent circled overhead, waiting.
Think.
Think.
Lightning is part of you now. Control it.
He pushed himself up, teeth gritted.
When the serpent dove a third time, Billionzaruto didn't dodge.
He ran toward it.
Electricity coursed through him, humming in his veins. He felt the storm inside him sync with the storm above.
Their energies aligned.
For a brief moment, he understood the serpent.
It wasn't attacking.
It was testing him.
So when the serpent opened its jaws, Billionzaruto leapt—straight into the heart of the storm-beast.
The world dissolved into lightning.
He didn't fight it.
He embraced it.
The serpent exploded into a thousand bolts of blue light that wrapped around him like living threads. They didn't burn. They strengthened him—fusing into his bones, his muscles, his heartbeat.
When the light faded, the serpent was gone.
And Billionzaruto stood taller, breathing hard, sparks dancing across his skin like obedient soldiers.
Kaigos exhaled slowly. "The storm accepts you."
Billionzaruto felt something new settle inside him—a calm hum of power, not violent or unstable, but balanced.
"What's the last trial?" he asked.
Kaigos's face darkened.
"The Trial of Truth."
Before Billionzaruto could ask what that meant, the ground cracked beneath him again.
But instead of fire or lightning, something colder rose—a ripple of shadow that felt like a whisper against the soul.
The world shifted.
He stood suddenly in a small clearing.
A place he knew.
A place from years ago.
His home village.
But untouched—whole.
And standing in the center was…
his younger self.
A small boy with hopeful eyes, dirty feet, and a bright grin.
Beside him stood a woman—his mother.
Alive.
She turned toward Billionzaruto, smiling gently. "You've grown so much."
His breath broke. "You're not real."
"Does that make this meaningless?" she asked softly.
He couldn't answer.
The younger version of him ran toward her, clutching her hand as if afraid she'd disappear.
"Are you strong now?" the boy asked, staring up at Billionzaruto. "Did you become the hero you wanted to be?"
Billionzaruto felt tears sting his eyes. "I… I'm trying."
His mother approached, placing a warm hand on his cheek. "Strength isn't what you're fighting for," she whispered. "It's what you're fighting to protect."
The clearing dissolved into wind.
His mother and younger self faded into shimmering light.
And Billionzaruto stood alone again in the Stormheart Expanse.
Kaigos approached with slow steps. "The final trial is acceptance. You have passed."
Billionzaruto wiped his eyes, inhaling deeply.
"What happens now?"
Kaigos looked toward the distant horizon, where clouds churned violently.
"Now," he said, "you face the creature hunting you. With your fire awakened. With your lightning mastered. With your truth accepted."
Billionzaruto nodded.
He no longer trembled.
He was ready.
Almost.
Kaigos closed his eyes. "The Expanse will return us."
Golden light rose around them—
And somewhere far away, in the physical world, the monster roared again.
Waiting.
Searching.
And now,
it would find a very different Billionzaruto than before.