THE GRAND TOURNAMENT
The Academy of Stars was transformed.
For one week, the kingdom celebrated the Moon’s Transition, marking the end of one celestial cycle and the beginning of another. The highlight of the festival?
The Grand Tournament of Houses.
This was not just a competition—it was a spectacle. The event was held in the heart of the capital city, within the grand coliseum, where nobles and commoners alike gathered to witness the battles.
The King’s Court, high-ranking officials, and prestigious academy alumni watched from the royal balcony, while banners of each house draped over the stone walls. This was a proving ground where students displayed the pride of their Houses, their magic, their discipline, and their strength.
The massive battlefield was divided into zones, each House fighting to capture territory.
From the moment the match began, Aries surged forward like an unstoppable wave, crushing anyone in their path. Darius Stormwind, their champion, led the charge, his fiery aura radiating raw power.
Sagittarius snipers perched themselves on high ground, their enchanted arrows striking from impossible distances.
Taurus formed defensive barriers, creating impenetrable zones that Aries warriors struggled to break through.
Gemini teams used illusions, making it nearly impossible to tell real fighters from fake ones.
Virgo… lagged behind.
Their students scrambled to maintain formations, focusing on crafting equipment rather than combat. They tried reinforcing their allies’ gear, but under the pressure of war, their enchantments lacked immediate impact.
By the halfway point, Virgo was one of the weakest-ranked Houses.
From the sidelines, Ethan observed the battlefield, his mind analyzing the chaos.
The other Houses had momentum, but Virgo lacked presence. They had the tools, but they weren’t using them at the right time or in the right way.
It was like watching a team that knew how to build weapons… but didn’t know how to fight.
This isn’t working.
Ethan clenched his fists.
Virgo wasn’t just losing.
They were being ignored.
Something inside him snapped.
Not this time.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for just a moment.
Let’s rewrite the rules.
Instead of reinforcing his teammates after they needed help, Ethan did something radical.
He ran into the battlefield.
The moment his feet touched the stone, he activated his Leo sight—the golden glow flickering beneath his Virgo energy.
The battlefield transformed before his eyes.
Everything became lines of code.
? The ground beneath him was too uneven—he could reinforce it for stability.
? His teammates’ armor was heavy and inefficient—he could optimize it for movement.
? The enemy’s arrows were hitting too hard—he could adjust his allies’ defenses.
No more reacting.
He was going to rewrite the fight itself.
His hands flashed green as he ran his fingers over his teammates’ weapons and gear.
? Boots became lighter, faster.
? Armor absorbed impact differently, reducing damage.
? Weapons carried extra weight only when they struck, making every hit feel heavier.
One by one, Virgo’s fighters adapted.
They weren’t just supporting anymore.
They were competing.
Callan, armed with Ethan’s enhanced gauntlets, blocked a powerful Aries warrior’s strike and countered with an impact twice as strong.
Orion, moving with his new speed-enhanced boots, dodged Sagittarius arrows that should have been impossible to avoid.
Lysandra, wielding an amplified Virgo staff, redirected enemy attacks by modifying the flow of energy mid-air.
The audience noticed.
Virgo was no longer just lagging behind .
They were fighting.
Across the battlefield, Darius Stormwind of Aries stopped mid-fight.
His golden eyes narrowed as he watched Virgo’s sudden shift in power.
Something had changed.
His warriors, who had been dominating, were suddenly losing ground.
And at the center of it all—
Ethan.
Darius clenched his fists, his aura flaring red.
“That guy… is dangerous.”
?House Gemini vs. House Scorpio
Match Type: Ambush Battle – Deception vs. Assassination
The battlefield darkened.
House Gemini’s twins, Ardyn and Kael, stood on one platform, their figures shifting like mirages.
Across from them, Scorpio’s shadows—Raiya and Sorn—were nowhere to be seen.
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The match had barely begun, and already, Scorpio had disappeared.
The announcer signaled the start.
Silence.
The Gemini twins immediately activated their illusions, splitting into dozens of identical copies, spreading across the battlefield.
The crowd held its breath.
Where were the Scorpio fighters?
Then—a flicker of movement.
SHKKT!
A dagger flew through three illusions—all fakes.
Ardyn smirked. “Found you.”
He turned—just as Sorn appeared behind him.
A knife at his throat.
The audience gasped.
But then—Ardyn faded.
It was another illusion.
From above, the real Ardyn dropped down, slamming his foot into Sorn’s back, sending him crashing into the ground.
Raiya, still hidden, whispered a spell—poisonous mist spread through the air.
Kael coughed, his illusions flickering as the toxins disrupted their aura.
Scorpio thrived in the dark.
The twins barely had time to react as Raiya appeared, blades coated in venom, striking with perfect precision.
The duel escalated into pure chaos as the illusions and assassins clashed in a deadly game of deception.
?House Capricorn vs. House Aquarius
Match Type: Endurance vs. Elemental Control
A new battlefield was created—massive, rotating stone blocks floating in a pool of water.
Capricorn’s Riven Tormund stood tall—an unshakable force of will, his aura reinforcing his entire body.
Facing him—Aquarius’ Liora Ravenscroft.
The match began.
Riven charged forward, his footsteps cracking the stone beneath him.
Liora smirked—she didn’t need to fight directly.
She flicked her fingers, and the water beneath them surged, twisting into a massive tidal wave.
BOOM!
The wave crashed onto Riven, attempting to sweep him away.
But Capricorn’s endurance was unmatched.
Riven didn’t move.
He planted his feet, his aura anchoring him like an immovable mountain.
Liora narrowed her eyes.
Fine.
She raised both hands, forming spears of hardened ice, launching them with precision.
CRACK!
Riven punched straight through the ice, shattering it like glass.
The crowd roared.
Capricorn was unstoppable.
Liora clicked her tongue. “Alright, let’s get serious.”
She closed her eyes, summoning a cyclone of pure energy-infused water.
A massive whirlpool formed, pulling Riven toward its center.
For the first time—Riven’s feet shifted.
Could Aquarius actually overpower Capricorn?
-CHAOS BREAKS LOOSE –
While the crowd cheered, something terrifying was happening behind the scenes.
Two students who had secretly joined the dark cult—ones who drank the forbidden liquid—were participating in the Aries vs. Cancer battle.
Everything was normal—until one of them was struck by an Aries fighter.
A simple attack.
A standard hit.
And yet—
The student screamed.
Their veins turned black.
Their eyes darkened.
A deep, guttural growl escaped their throat as dark energy erupted from their body.
The crowd fell silent.
The examiners panicked.
“Something is wrong,” one muttered.
The announcer hesitated, ready to call off the match.
But then—
“Let them fight.”
The voice came from Lord Feris Stormwind, the Aries House Leader.
The officials froze.
“This is a grand event. The kingdom is watching,” Feris continued. “Do you want to disappoint them?”
The crowd—unaware of the danger—began cheering even louder.
And so, the battle continued.
The corrupted student attacked wildly, his aura swelling beyond human limits.
An Aries student, Jerran, tried to block—
But he was too slow.
The corrupted student’s fist connected with his chest.
CRACK!
Jerran flew back, blood spilling from his lips.
He was seconds away from death.
And then—
Ethan moved.
Time slowed.
Ethan saw the corrupted student’s code unraveling.
The dark energy was a malicious script, rewriting the student’s natural form.
But Ethan could rewrite it.
He reached out—his aura flowing through Jerran’s armor.
He overwrote the code.
The moment the next attack landed—
Jerran’s body turned into pure wind, slipping through the monster’s grip.
The crowd gasped.
The monster stumbled.
Ethan’s eyes burned golden.
He could see it now.
The corruption was not unbreakable.
It was a code written in darkness.
And he was going to rewrite it.
The crowd held its breath.
And the battle began.
?The Final Stage
The Moon Transition Tournament had taken a dark turn, but the Academy refused to halt the event. Spectators still cheered, entertained by the chaos that unfolded during the Aries vs. Cancer match, unaware of the true danger lurking behind the scenes.
Despite the unsettling display, five houses remained in the competition, advancing to the final stage:
? House Aries – Powerhouses of raw combat, having barely scraped through against the corruption-induced outbreak in the previous match.
? House Virgo – The underdogs, initially struggling but now holding their ground due to their strategic adaptability.
? House Aquarius – The tacticians, manipulating the battlefield with finesse, controlling the flow of combat.
? House Gemini – The illusionists, unpredictable and dangerous, known for their trickery in battle.
? House Scorpio – The assassins, silent but deadly, striking when least expected.
The final stage of the tournament was a battlefield-style free-for-all, where all remaining houses would enter at the same time. The objective was not just to defeat the other teams but to capture the Celestial Relic, a legendary artifact placed at the center of the arena. The house that secured the relic for five minutes would be declared the winner.
Instead of fighting directly, Ethan focused his aura, activating his Virgo vision.
The world shifted. He saw the code.
Everything—the ground, the air, the weapons in their hands, the armor they wore—it was all written in alchemical inscriptions.
With a flick of his fingers, he began rewriting it.
? Callan’s boots became weightless, doubling his speed.
? Orion’s gloves were reinforced with layered energy, stabilizing his strikes.
? Virgo weapons, once fragile, were altered to have the density of steel.
The battlefield shifted in Virgo’s favor.
They weren’t strong alone—but Ethan had made them stronger together.
As soon as the horn blew, the battlefield erupted into chaos.
?Aries vs. Scorpio – Power vs. Stealth
Darius and his Aries warriors charged toward the relic, flames crackling around their fists. They knew they had the advantage in pure combat.
But Scorpio never fought fair.
Before Aries could reach the center, smoke bombs detonated—thick clouds of black mist covered the battlefield, cutting off their vision.
“Ambush!” Gareth Ironwood, one of Aries’ strongest, roared as he swung his weapon blindly, but his blade met nothing but air.
From the smoke, Scorpio adepts emerged and disappeared in seconds. Dagger strikes landed on Aries warriors before they could react.
“Enough of this!” Darius growled, slamming his fists into the ground. A wave of fire burst outward,igniting the smoke and forcing the assassins into the open.
Scorpio students hissed in frustration, their stealth advantage burned away.
With a smirk, Darius charged forward.
?Aquarius vs. Gemini – A Battle of Control and Chaos
While Aries and Scorpio clashed, Aquarius and Gemini waged a battle of precision.
Liora Ravenscroft, leader of House Aquarius, stood in the distance, her eyes glowing blue. With a wave of her hand, she called forth massive waves of water, flooding portions of the battlefield and forcing Gemini’s illusionists into the open.
But Gemini adapted.
Their leader, a cunning trickster named Felix Marrow, cloned himself instantly—fifteen copies of him spread across the battlefield.
Each illusion attacked at once. Some threw knives, others created false shockwaves, while the real Felix moved through the chaos, hidden among them.
Liora narrowed her eyes.
She had anticipated this.
With a snap of her fingers, the mist she had formed in the air solidified—freezing each illusion in place.
Only one Felix kept moving.
“There,” she whispered, sending a concentrated blast of water at him.
The attack struck true, knocking Felix backward, breaking his illusion spell.
“Not bad,” Felix grinned as he flipped back onto his feet. “But can you handle this?”
With a flick of his wrist, he disappeared again—this time splitting into twice as many copies.
Compared to the other houses, Virgo was being overwhelmed.
They lacked the raw power of Aries, the speed of Gemini, the precision of Scorpio, or the battlefield dominance of Aquarius.
“Damn it, we’re getting nowhere,” Orion muttered as he barely dodged an attack from a stray Gemini illusion.
Callan gritted his teeth. “If we don’t do something soon, we’re out.”
Ethan watched everything.
His heart pounded. The match was moving too fast—Virgo students couldn’t keep up.
But then—his eyes flashed.
He wasn’t looking at the battle anymore.
He was seeing the code.
– Five Minutes Remain
With the final countdown ticking, the houses rushed for the Celestial Relic.
? Aries broke through Scorpio’s defenses, forcing them back.
? Aquarius finally cornered Felix, but Gemini’s illusions still flooded the battlefield.
? Virgo pushed forward with newfound strength.
Ethan rewrote the battlefield with every step.
? The ground softened under Aries, slowing them.
? Gemini’s illusion clones flickered as he subtly altered their projection fields.
? Aquarius’ water magic was redirected, giving Virgo space to advance.
The crowd roared.
Ethan and his teammates were just meters away from the relic when—
A massive explosion erupted.
The battlefield shook as a single figure descended from the sky.
A lone Aries warrior, wreathed in crimson energy, had forced his way through.
Darius.
His entire body radiated fire, his aura surging to its peak.
With one devastating punch, he broke through Virgo’s defenses, knocking Orion and Callan aside.
Ethan barely managed to avoid the attack, rolling to the side.
Darius locked eyes with him.
“This was fun, commoner,” he smirked. “But Aries always wins.”
Before Ethan could react, Darius snatched the relic.
The countdown hit zero.
The horn blared.
The match was over.
House Aries had claimed the Celestial Relic.
The arena erupted into cheers, spectators chanting Darius’ name.
But something was different.
Even though Virgo had lost—they had changed something.
For the first time in Academy history—Virgo was acknowledged as true competitors.
Ethan, still catching his breath, grinned.
This wasn’t the end.
It was just the beginning.
