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Location: Astraeus Academy – Skybound Dome
Applause echoed the moment Kairo stepped into the dome. Holo-screens flickered above, displaying his name in glowing fonts:
> [KAIRO BLAZE – TRIAL SPIRANT SURVIVOR] [DIVINE TRIAL: CLEARED. STATUS: UNPRECEDENTED.]
Confetti drones zipped overhead.
Kairo blinked. "I… what?"
"Don't freak out," Velra whispered beside him, grinning. "It's your 'Congratulations on not dying' party. You earned it."
"I was nearly erased by my own trauma," he muttered.
"Exactly," she said. "A true coming-of-age."
Students from various Houses mingled, but Kairo noticed the shift—eyes lingered longer on him. Some in awe, others in… calculation.
Even worse?
Faculty were watching.
From the far end, standing under a banner that read Trial Successor Mixer, approached a familiar figure draped in crimson-gold robes: Vicar Salen of House Veyra.
"Ah, the boy who bled," Salen said with a politician's smile. "Or should I say—the boy who made a god bleed?"
Kairo's jaw tightened.
Salen's eyes flicked to the faint crimson glow still ebbing in his irises. "Rumor is, you touched something in that spire. Something dangerous."
"Rumors like to exaggerate," Kairo said, deadpan.
Salen leaned closer, voice low. "We'd like to test that exaggeration. House Veyra believes in… investment."
Before Kairo could answer, a holographic sigil shimmered into the air. The Pantheon crest—seven-pointed, divine, untouchable.
> [You are hereby summoned to the Pantheon Council.] [Location: Celestial Throne.] [Time: Immediate.]
Everyone went quiet.
The message pulsed above his head like a halo made of trouble.
Velra whispered, "That… doesn't happen."
Kairo just groaned. "Can I at least have some cake first?"
From the crowd, Elyra—her cloak shimmering with starlight—watched him with an unreadable expression.
"The gods move fast," she said softly.
Serin nodded beside her. "Too fast. Something's coming."
Kairo sighed, stepping toward the sigil gate.
"I survived my own mind. How bad could a room full of gods be?"
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