The light was blinding.

  Not warm.

  Not holy.

  It hummed—low and constant—stretching from floor to ceiling like a living barrier. A wall of radiance that felt less like magic and more like judgment.

  Beyond it lay a maze.

  Stone corridors twisted and folded in on themselves, shadows stretching long and wrong beneath an unseen ceiling. And far, far beyond that—

  Six doors.

  Each carved differently.

  Each waiting.

  Alicia Helior did not hesitate.

  She stepped forward.

  The light parted for her as if it recognized its own.

  A ripple passed through the barrier, bending—not breaking—and Alicia walked through untouched.

  A murmur rippled through the crowd.

  Several contestants surged forward immediately.

  They hit the wall hard.

  One slammed chest-first into it and rebounded as if he had struck solid stone, collapsing to the floor gasping. Another managed to push half his body through before the light locked around him, freezing him mid-step.

  His skin glowed painfully.

  He screamed as the barrier expelled him violently back onto the arena floor.

  The wall was not mercy.

  It was permission.

  Valor Drakaryn stepped next.

  The mark burned across his skin, pulsing with his heartbeat. Sweat rolled down his temple as he pressed his hand against the light.

  It resisted.

  His teeth clenched.

  Inch by inch he forced himself through, every movement dragging agony behind it. The light scorched his arms, his shoulders, his back—

  But still he advanced.

  Pride would not allow retreat.

  Inside the maze, Alicia moved quickly.

  Left.

  Right.

  Down a narrow corridor that curved back on itself.

  She reached a dead end.

  Smooth stone. No markings.

  She turned and retraced her steps—

  Only to find another corridor branching where none had existed before.

  The maze shifted.

  It listened.

  Athena Skjaldryn approached the wall next.

  She planted her feet, wings folding tight against her back, and pushed.

  Nothing.

  She tried again.

  Harder.

  The light did not yield.

  Her jaw tightened.

  Leon moved past her quietly.

  He did not rush.

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  Did not hesitate.

  He simply walked forward.

  The barrier shimmered—

  And opened.

  Athena stared.

  Inside the maze, Leon caught sight of Valor still forcing his way through the last stretch of light, muscles trembling as every step fought the burning barrier.

  Leon didn’t slow.

  “Guess it didn’t like how you asked,” he muttered, before vanishing down a side corridor.

  Dialos Morvayne approached next.

  He extended a finger and tapped the light experimentally.

  It burned instantly.

  He jerked his hand back with a hiss, shaking his fingers.

  “Yeah. No. I’m screwed.”

  Behind him, the room continued to fill with contestants still attempting the barrier.

  Then—

  Lucien Noctyrr and Luna Sangrelle arrived.

  The light flared subtly at Lucien’s presence.

  Not opening.

  Not rejecting.

  Watching.

  Luna narrowed her eyes.

  “So it’s already started.”

  Ahead of them, contestants were scattered across the arena floor—some unconscious, others clutching burned limbs, others simply staring at the barrier in disbelief.

  Inside the maze, silhouettes already moved through the corridors like distant ghosts.

  Lucien felt it then.

  Not pressure.

  Expectation.

  Inside the maze, Alicia stood alone at a dead end, light dimmed faintly around her shoulders as she slowly turned in place.

  Every path she had taken now seemed wrong.

  Somewhere behind her, others were already advancing.

  The second stage was not about strength.

  It was about being allowed forward.

  And destiny, it seemed—

  Had already begun choosing.

  Dialos Morvayne tried again.

  Unlike Athena—whom the wall had refused entirely—his finger slipped through the light with ease.

  Too easily.

  He recoiled with a sharp hiss as the radiance seared far deeper than before. The burn crawled up his arm, biting into bone.

  My mother’s blood, he realized grimly.

  Priest-born.

  But his father had been a demon.

  And light like this was never meant to forgive demons.

  Dialos lowered himself into a runner’s stance.

  Nearby contestants stared.

  Some laughed.

  “A demon piercing light?” one scoffed. “That’s—”

  Dialos exhaled.

  Then ran.

  He struck the wall like a thrown spear.

  The light split around him—no resistance, no hesitation—accepting him as cleanly as it had Alicia.

  Pain detonated across his body the instant he crossed.

  Far worse than before.

  But he didn’t stop until he was clear.

  He collapsed onto the stone beyond, rolling as the burns flared white-hot across his skin.

  Moments later, Valor Drakaryn forced his way through the last resisting shimmer of light.

  He straightened, cracked his neck, and glanced back toward the start.

  His eyes landed on Lucien.

  “Good luck getting through that,” Valor snorted.

  Lucien didn’t answer.

  He only watched.

  Luna Sangrelle stepped forward next.

  She reached out—

  And recoiled instantly as the light scorched her palm.

  A sharp gasp escaped her lips.

  Several nearby commoners rushed forward, offering to help shield her.

  She looked at them with open disgust.

  Then turned.

  Lucien stood a few paces back.

  Still watching.

  Still waiting.

  She walked over and tapped his shoulder.

  “Any luck?” she asked lightly.

  Lucien blinked, pulled from his thoughts.

  “Nope.”

  A pause.

  Then, almost casually—

  “Guess I’ll try.”

  Inside the maze, Alicia Helior was close now.

  Very close.

  The corridors had narrowed, straightened. The air felt lighter somehow.

  One of the six doors stood just ahead.

  Its surface glowed faintly.

  Behind her, the maze groaned and shifted.

  Leon was still trapped within its logic, turning corners only for walls to slide shut ahead of him.

  Valor had given up on logic entirely.

  He was tearing through stone with brute strength.

  High above, Avalon Drakaryn laughed openly.

  Much of the crowd joined him.

  Alicia reached the final stretch.

  Then—

  She stopped.

  Slowly, she turned.

  Back toward the wall.

  At that exact moment—

  Lucien stepped forward.

  He raised a single hand.

  The light did not burn him.

  It did not resist.

  For a heartbeat—

  Nothing happened.

  Then—

  The wall shattered.

  Not cracked.

  Not bent.

  It exploded like glass struck by a god’s hammer.

  Shards of radiant light crashed across the arena in a storm of brilliance.

  Lucien staggered back, staring.

  Silence swallowed the coliseum.

  Astrid Skjaldryn rose to her feet first.

  She laughed.

  Full.

  Delighted.

  Unrestrained.

  Serena Noctyrr gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.

  Solaria Sangrelle slowly traced her tongue across her lip, crimson eyes gleaming.

  Lance Sangrelle took an involuntary step backward.

  Noxus Helior turned his head toward Sirus Sylvair.

  The elven king nodded once.

  Avalon stood.

  Then he began to clap.

  Slow.

  Deliberate.

  The crowd hesitated.

  Then joined him.

  Applause thundered across the arena.

  Elenor Sylvair chuckled softly from the stands.

  Inside the trial—

  Pain erupted.

  Every contestant who had not crossed the wall felt their mark ignite at once.

  Cries rang out beneath the applause as bodies buckled.

  Athena Skjaldryn swayed, vision spinning.

  Cold crawled up Luna’s spine.

  Neither of them stopped.

  Lucien was already moving.

  They ran—Lucien, Luna, Athena—into the maze as the others followed more slowly, wounded but determined.

  Ahead, Alicia turned back toward the door before her.

  She watched Lucien for one final moment.

  Then she reached out—

  And opened the first door of the third stage.