Chapter 256: The Starlight Banquet. (5)

The entire two-thousand-person ballroom went dead, suffocatingly quiet.

The Hope Candidate. The freshman who had spent twenty-four hours in Private Chamber Prime. The boy who had caught an early-Silver blizzard rapier between two bare fingers and physically repelled Instructor Varien with a single, silent thrust.

Creed stood in the exact center of the stone.

His navy-blue headband was tied tight, casting a sharp shadow over his dark blue eyes.

Beneath the cloth, the non-Euclidean geometric brand remained utterly silent, suppressed beneath the tectonic weight of his Profound Realm Path of the Mountain.

He didn’t channel his Force. He didn’t unleash his Stage 3 Spear Intent. He simply stood there, hands tucked loosely into the pockets of his tailored midnight coat, letting the academy’s machine do its work.

The Prismatic Resonator Stone began to cycle.

Whirrrrrr.

For a moment, the red of Hearts flickered—reacting to his Primordial Summoning talent, acknowledging his potential to act as a cosmic conduit.

Then the obsidian-purple of Spades flared violently—sensing the silent, lethal vectors of his Peak Realm Path of Killing and his Wings of Freedom.

Then the azure of Clubs surged—recognizing the immovable, continental density of his Path of the Mountain.

For five long seconds, all four elemental banners above the hall twitched, the machine hesitating as it attempted to categorize a monster that defied singular classification.

Up on the high dais, Victor Vance—the third-year House Captain of the Diamonds—rose slowly from his gilded throne, his cold, broadsword-sharp eyes narrowing as he leaned over the railing.

Creed felt the hesitation.

’Tch. Indecisive piece of rock,’ Creed thought, a faint, predatory smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

He didn’t unleash an Art. He simply allowed a microscopic sliver—less than one percent—of his Stage 3 Spear Intent to drop from his soul into his boots.

SHING.

The silent, conceptual sharpness struck the pedestal’s core.

The machine didn’t hesitate anymore.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

A pillar of pure, radiant, eye-searing white light erupted from the stone, blasting straight up into the vaulted ceiling with the force of an anti-orbital cannon!

The sheer intensity of the Diamond light blew the red, blue, and purple banners aside, illuminating the entire three-kilometer palace in blinding, diamond-faceted brilliance!

The holographic crest of the double-pointed jewel that appeared over Creed’s head was three times the size of any other student’s, spinning with the razor-sharp, terrifying authority of a sovereign weapon!

"CREED WALDEN!" the herald’s voice bellowed, the magical acoustic runes literally crackling under the strain. "HOUSE OF DIAMONDS!"

The spectator tiers exploded into a roar of cheers, gasps, and thunderous applause.

"Diamonds. Of course he’s in Diamonds!"

"The entire top three of the Pyramid are in the same house!"

"Four consecutive championships... House of Diamonds is going to completely dominate the inter-house games this year!"

Up on the eastern balcony, Victor Vance slowly nodded, his hardened features relaxing into a fierce, predatory grin.

The House Captain raised his golden goblet toward Creed, acknowledging the arrival of an apex predator into his pride.

Creed stepped off the platform, the brilliant white light dispersing from his silhouette as he rejoined Amara and Nicholas.

"Welcome to the lions’ den, Class Captain," Nicholas said smoothly, raising his glass with that maddeningly calm aristocratic smirk.

"Looks like we’re sharing houses again, Grey," Creed replied lazily, adjusting his collar. "Try not to leave your reflective wards lying around the common room. I trip easily."

"I shall keep that in mind," Nicholas chuckled. Before the applause could fade, however, Director Kaien raised both arms.

The ambient noise in the ballroom died instantly, snuffed out like a candle in a vacuum.

"The houses are sealed," Kaien’s voice thundered, dropping all pretense of ceremony as a terrifying, primordial gravity settled over the palace. "Your colors are claimed. And now... the reason you were brought to these heavens shall be unveiled."

Kaien turned ninety degrees, pointing his open palm toward the colossal, transparent glass wall that formed the entire eastern face of the Astral Grand Palace.

Beyond that glass lay the open sky—and beyond the sky, suspended five miles out in the empty void above the clouds, hovered a sight that made every single student’s breath freeze in their throats.

It was a tear in the cosmos.

A colossal, vertical rift spanning nearly ten miles in height, its jagged edges burning with cold, incandescent starlight.

It didn’t look like the chaotic, violent dimensional rifts that spawned beast tides on Earth; it looked ancient. Sacred.

A gateway forged from the frozen remnants of a shattered galaxy, sealed behind seven massive, rotating rings of celestial bronze that turned with the slow, terrifying momentum of planetary orbits.

The Starlight Realm.

"For three years, the seal has slept," Director Kaien proclaimed, his robes billowing as the air in the ballroom began to drop toward sub-zero temperatures.

"Beneath that starlight lies an ancient, primeval domain spanning hundreds of thousands of leagues. Untouched mineral fonts. Primeval beast territories. Forgotten relics of civilizations that died before our ancestors learned to carve stone. And the high-density cosmic essence required to shatter your cultivation bottlenecks."

Kaien lowered his arm, his eyes burning with cold, unyielding challenge.

"The Starlight Realm opens for fourteen days. Every house shall deploy. There are no safe zones. There are no instructors to pull you from the jaws of beasts. What you harvest with your blood, your weapons, and your wits... belongs to you alone."

The Director raised two fingers.

"UNSEAL THE GATES!"

CRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAACK!

An apocalyptic sound—like seven continental plates grinding together across the void—echoed through the glass!

The first bronze ring shattered its temporal lock, spinning backward with blinding speed!

A wave of dense, intoxicating, and unimaginably pure starlight energy surged out from the rift, washing over the floating academy like a physical shockwave!

The chandeliers swayed violently; the wine in the glasses rippled; and deep within Creed’s chest, the long-dormant evolutionary cocoons containing Lilith, Tierra, and Meredith suddenly gave a violent, synchronized, and ravenous pulse!

Thump.

Creed’s eyes widened beneath his headband.

Beneath his skin, the brand flared with cold, ecstatic hunger.

The gates were opening.

And the hunt of a lifetime was about to begin.