The Bone-Clad Mauler roared—a sound like mountains cracking—and charged.
Its hooves shattered the obsidian floor, its bony plates clacking like a thousand knives.
Aelric's breath slowed.
> [Phantom Step Boost Activated]
[Speed +15% | Duration: 90 seconds]
[Mana: 95 / 110]
His form blurred.
The Mauler's claw swept across the arena, faster than it should've been for something that size.
He ducked under it—just barely—and slashed at the creature's leg joint.
Clang!
The blade sparked. No cut.
> [System Alert: Armor Grade – High | Vulnerability: Lower Neck, Abdomen, Mouth]
The Mauler turned faster than expected, backhanding him with a bone-covered paw.
Crack!
Aelric flew across the arena and slammed into the wall. Pain flared. His ribs screamed.
> [Injury Detected: Minor Fracture – Rib 3]
He gritted his teeth, wiped blood from his mouth, and stood.
"Fine," he muttered. "Let's try real pain."
The cloaked figures said nothing. They only watched.
A voice—female, older, but commanding—broke the silence.
"He doesn't run. That's… unusual for someone his age."
One of the others nodded. "He carries the old blood. Even the pain doesn't scare him."
"Yet."
Back in the arena, Aelric exhaled slowly.
He had one chance. He'd seen the opening.
He circled the Mauler slowly, then darted left. The beast turned to follow—
Feint.
Aelric used Phantom Step to blink to its right flank and dove beneath the beast as it lunged forward.
There it was.
The soft, unguarded belly.
He drove his blade upward, activating everything he had.
> [Blade Intent + Phantom Core Surge Initiated]
[Mana Output: 142%]
[Custom Strike: Piercing Fang – Variant]
The blade sank into the Mauler's underbelly. It shrieked—an awful, rattling sound—then bucked wildly.
Aelric held on as blood sprayed around him.
Then, in one motion, he twisted the blade upward and toward the heart.
The beast spasmed.
Collapsed.
Dead.
> [Victory Achieved – Trial Beast Defeated]
[System Points: +30]
[Blade Seed Resonance Increased]
[New Trait Unlocked: Instinctual Timing]
[Fragment Awakened: "The Edge That Waits" – 12% Falling Star Slash]
The cloaked figures were silent.
Then one of them stepped forward.
Removed their hood.
A woman.
Pale eyes. A long scar down her cheek. Hair like frost and steel.
"You really are his son."
Aelric frowned. "Whose?"
"Ser Kaelen Vaelion. The Blade of Ten Kings. The man your house pretends died a common knight."
His heart stopped.
"No. My father… he was a border lord."
She smiled, bitter and dark.
"He was once the highest-ranking Swordmaster of the Empire of Solvaria. Until they betrayed him. Just like they will betray you."
Aelric's voice was hoarse. "You knew him?"
She stepped closer.
"I fought beside him. Bled beside him. And I watched the Emperors destroy everything he built."
She dropped a silver pendant at Aelric's feet.
Its crest: a sword rising through a crown—the old sigil of House Vaelion, long lost.
"Your father didn't just die," she said. "He was hunted. And if you keep walking this path… so will you."
Then she vanished—like smoke caught in a wind.
Aelric knelt there for a long time, staring at the pendant.
The System pulsed once, slowly.
> [New Quest Chain Unlocked: "Blood and Ash – The True Legacy of House Vaelion"]
[Step One: Investigate the Imperial Archives]
He closed his fist around the pendant.
"Then I'll find the truth."