The roar of the crowd still echoed in the Celestial Arena.
But Kaelen heard none of it.
Later — Medical Chambers
He sat alone on a stone bench, shirt stripped away to reveal bruised ribs, burned skin, and deep cuts stitched hastily by Valewind healers.
Selina sat across from him, silent, hands clenched tight in her lap.
Even she — who had seen Kaelen survive the impossible — looked shaken.
"You should rest," she whispered.
"You can't fight them all alone."
Kaelen flexed his fingers experimentally.
Pain lanced up his arm.
Good.
It meant he was alive.
He met Selina's worried gaze and smiled faintly.
"I'm not alone," he said.
"I have all of you."
And soon… the world.
Meanwhile — Astralis Private Chambers
Lucan Damaris lay unconscious, his armor shattered, his pride in tatters.
Around him, noble instructors whispered furiously.
Some demanded Kaelen's disqualification.
Some called for Kaelen's assassination before the next stage.
But none dared move openly — not yet.
Because the people had seen it.
The world had seen it.
A Sovereign rising.
Later — A Secret Meeting
Under the Grand Arena, deep in a wine cellar abandoned decades ago, Kaelen met Commander Ardyn.
No lights.
Only the faint glow of a single mana torch.
Ardyn tossed a parchment at Kaelen's feet.
"That's the first contract for your head, boy."
"Fifty thousand royal crowns, dead or alive."
"Issued by House Drakonis."
Kaelen picked up the parchment slowly.
The seal was unmistakable — a silver dragon coiled around a bloody sun.
Dragonbloods.
Legacy Families.
Ardyn crossed his arms.
"You're moving faster than they expected."
"Now they panic."
"They'll send their heirs to face you before you grow strong enough to end their lineages."
Kaelen's hand tightened on the parchment until it crumpled.
Good.
Let them come.
He would forge his Sovereign path on their broken crowns.
Elsewhere — A Faraway Temple
Deep in the Ember Isles, beneath the ruins of the First Flame Palace, a boy stood before an ancient mirror.
Scaled wings folded against his back.
Golden blood burning through his veins.
A Dragonblood Heir.
First Son of House Drakonis.
Chosen Slayer of the Sovereign Candidate.
He smiled — cruel, eager.
"Kaelen Drayce."
"I'll enjoy burning your little rebellion to ash."
The Legacy Clans were awakening.
And they were sending their monsters into the light.
Back at Valewind
The Pathbreakers gathered quietly in the old library tower — a place abandoned by most students, left to rot and dust.
Kaelen stood before them, battered but unbowed.
Eren, Mira, Damon, Lyra, Selina — and a few new faces who had proven themselves in the Gauntlet.
Their faces were grim.
Determined.
Kaelen spoke, voice low but clear:
"They will not give us our place."
"They will not honor our victories."
"They will hunt us, betray us, slander us, and try to break us."
He paused.
"Let them try."
The cracked-crown sigil on his chest glowed faintly in the torchlight.
"We are the Pathbreakers."
"We will not kneel."
"We will not shatter."
"We will forge a new world from the ruins of the old."
Around him, the Pathbreakers bowed their heads — pledging not just loyalty, but their dreams to Kaelen's vision.
System Chime:
[Guild Loyalty: Core Members — Unbreakable.]
[Pathbreakers Proto-Guild: Evolving to Full Independent Guild. Registration Pending.]
Kaelen closed his eyes for a moment.
He could feel it now.
The momentum.
The world turning.
Not in favor of the nobles.
Not in favor of the Legacy Families.
In favor of something new.
Of those who would carve their own paths through fate itself.
High Above — Legacy Summit Chambers
In a crystalline hall hidden beyond the mortal world, ancient sovereigns of Dragonkin, Phoenixblood, Leviathanborn, and Titanblood gathered.
An urgent meeting.
A single name repeated like a thunderclap across the marble pillars:
"Kaelen Drayce."
An old dragonlord, his scales tarnished but his eyes burning bright, spoke:
"He must be tested."
"If he is worthy, he must be chained."
"If he resists… he must be erased."
And so they summoned their first Heir.
The Slayer.
The Dragonblood Spear.
He would travel to Elyndor.
And he would either break Kaelen Drayce —
Or be broken himself.