The battlefield had been cleared.
Broken swords. Bloodstained cloaks.
Silent stone.
Only eighteen students remained from over five hundred.
They gathered now at the central plaza of Valewind Institute, battered but proud.
At their head — Kaelen Drayce.
The boy once laughed at as "Versatile Amateur."
Now the world began to see the Sovereign stirring in his bones.
Commander Ardyn stood atop the grand stairs, arms folded.
Beside him, a delegation of guild envoys — cloaked in fine armor and heavy insignias — watched Kaelen and the survivors like hawks.
"Congratulations," Ardyn said, voice like rolling thunder.
"You are the survivors of Valewind's Selection Rites."
The envoys stepped forward one by one.
"The Ironwall Guild offers Kaelen Drayce a recruitment contract — immediate D-Rank Commander status."
"The Crimson Blades offer special sponsorship to Kaelen Drayce — dungeon clearances, artifact access."
One after another, invitations rolled in — all directed at him.
The other students received offers too — but none like Kaelen.
He stood there, silent, accepting none.
Not yet.
Because he understood something they didn't.
He wasn't here to serve a guild.
He was here to forge his own path.
Later — Private Chambers
A messenger led Kaelen through hidden corridors deep beneath Valewind's library.
Torches flickered along the damp stone walls.
Finally, they arrived at a vault door — massive, black iron, sealed with a glowing rune circle.
The messenger bowed low.
"Only you may enter, Sovereign Candidate."
Kaelen frowned.
Sovereign Candidate?
But he said nothing.
He pressed his hand to the rune.
It flared gold.
The door rumbled open.
Inside the vault was a single pedestal.
Upon it rested a relic — a crown, cracked down the center, its metal blackened with age.
And beside it, a sword — no longer whole, but humming faintly with suppressed power.
As Kaelen stepped closer, a voice — ancient, broken, yet still filled with terrible majesty — filled the chamber.
"You who walk the Infinite Paths."
"You who are not bound by fate."
"Take up the blade. Remember the legacy lost. Forge a new dominion."
The crown shimmered, casting ghostly light across the walls — scenes of ancient battles, fallen kings, shattered worlds.
Kaelen's heart pounded.
This… this is from the Sovereigns of old.
The true rulers who once stood above kings and gods — those erased from history when the talent system was born.
The System roared to life:
[Hidden Sovereign Artifact Detected.]
[Do you accept inheritance?]
[Warning: Accepting may permanently alter destiny.]
Kaelen didn't hesitate.
"I accept."
The room exploded with light.
Power — raw, ancient, wild — flooded into Kaelen's soul.
Visions swirled through his mind:
A lone figure standing against armies.
A king throwing aside his crown and walking into exile.
A world begging for a new Sovereign to rise.
The cracked crown vanished into motes of silver light, sinking into Kaelen's chest.
The sword — reforged anew in shimmering energy — appeared in his hand.
[New Skill Unlocked: Sovereign's Mantle.]
[Artifact Gained: Sovereignblade - Astryn.]
Kaelen staggered, breathing hard.
He wasn't just walking a path anymore.
He was the path.
Meanwhile — Astralis Academy
Aria stood before the Council of the Nobles.
Dozens of lords and ladies in shimmering robes and polished armor.
They demanded her allegiance.
They demanded she bow, join their houses, surrender her future.
She smiled sweetly.
Then summoned a blast of pure, forbidden star-magic and shattered the marble floor beneath them.
The nobles shrieked, stumbling back.
Aria's voice rang out like a sword drawn from its sheath:
"I bow to no one."
"I walk with him — and when we meet again, the stars themselves will kneel."
Back at Valewind
Kaelen stood atop the tower, Sovereignblade resting across his back, the cracked-crown sigil faintly glowing at his chest.
The wind tugged at his cloak.
Far beyond the mountains, the banners of Astralis and Obsidian Hollow rose — preparing for the Grand Awakener Tournament.
Kaelen's eyes narrowed.
The world thought they were sending their champions to a game.
They're wrong.
They're sending them into a war.
A war against a boy no longer content to be forgotten.
A Sovereign reborn.