The wind howled through the open dome of the Grand Airien Auditorium. Beneath the Celestial Emblem of Centron, thousands of students stood. Some, weary. Others, defiant. All—unchosen by circumstance, but chosen by conviction.
The Airien Knights walked forward. Cloaks flowing, eyes sharp like unspoken oaths.
Kainen, with his Mastery Affinity, stood in front. His aura hummed, carrying the silent sound of absolute control.
Kainen:
"We all stand here, not as the perfect, but as the progressing. Every scar on our mind, every shard of regret in our soul—it is Avia that did not leave us when we couldn't even look at ourselves."
Ractor, arms crossed, lightning dancing across his boots. Speed Affinity unshackled.
Ractor:
"They call us slow for choosing Avia. But Devia... it tempts you with a shortcut to the finish line. Avia makes you run through the terrain. Barefoot. But when you arrive, you arrive complete."
The air thickened. A shift. From behind them, the remaining students began to walk forward.
Some limping. Others still wiping tears.
And at the center—
Noan.
Eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights. Fingers still trembling from former breakdowns.
But his back?
Straight as a blade unsheathed.
Noan:
"I could've chosen Devia. I should have. After everything I suffered. But choosing Devia because I'm broken? That would be like choosing poison because you're thirsty. I didn't choose Avia because I was strong. I chose it because I was tired of pretending I wasn't weak."
The students stirred. Murmurs echoed.
From the corner, Kion, flipping a gold coin, grinned slyly.
Kion:
"You all know me. Trickster, slacker, prankster. I barely passed Initiate tier... and yet I'm still here. Wanna know why? Because I believe in one trick—Truth. If I lie to myself, even the best magic becomes a curse. But if I'm honest? Even my worst failure becomes a portal."
He winked, snapping his fingers. The coin disappeared. But so did the heaviness in some hearts.
Kainen turned to the whole gathering.
"You see these Knights? We didn't reach here by avoiding our pain. We embraced it. Turned our trauma into technique. Doubt into doctrine."
From above, the high balcony clanged. Boots stomped.
Next Gen stood at the edge.
Eyes like gods.
But hearts still human.
Cayso, stepping forward, pulled an orb of raw concept from his chest.
Cayso:
"We forged our affinities from the absurd. I took thoughts and made them into weapons. Yet I'm still confused about what I'm even fighting for."
Hersa, crossing arms. Her Boundary Forge Affinity drew lines around her feet.
Hersa:
"Even with all these walls, I can't protect my own mind from crumbling. I build boundaries, but every night, my doubts sneak through like shadows. And still—I show up."
Targor, his hands glowing with connection threads to everyone in the crowd.
Targor:
"I feel everything. Your pain. Your fear. And I've linked myself to too many people just to understand how little I understand."
Zekar whispered quietly, his voice cracking time into fragments.
Zekar:
"I've stitched time itself to hold my regrets in place. But time doesn't forget. It only delays. So I came here to learn to face."
Then stepped up Lia.
Shy, fragile, trembling. Her aura sculpting invisible futures.
Lia:
"I'm scared every day. But I still show up. Because my Affinity is Sculpturing...and I want to sculpt a version of me that isn't afraid to speak."
The crowd grew still.
Then came Frolo, arms crossed, smirking.
Frolo:
"I chain events together like links in a story. But lately, every story ends in me alone. The Event Chain doesn't lie. It just reveals what I'm too scared to see."
Miria stepped forward.
Miria:
"I created perfect clones to replace me… but even the best copy can't carry the truth of the original. So I'm here, raw and flawed."
Nova's lips shimmered. Her words glowed before they left her tongue.
Nova:
"I say things and they come true. For a while. But words lose meaning when you don't believe them yourself…"
Then, Obi, quiet as a void, whispered:
Obi:
"I erase concepts. But I can't erase the ache. Or the fear. Or the fact that no matter how powerful we become—we're still scared kids looking for peace."
Sylra smiled. Her Reality Mosaic Affinity surrounding her in fragmented versions of herself.
Sylra:
"I built myself from broken pieces. And I still haven't figured out which version of me is real."
Anima, hands glowing with echo pulse, added:
Anima:
"I can ripple my attacks through dimensions. But I can't even ripple a conversation with my dad. So yeah. I'm strong. But not strong enough to fix myself alone."
---
The room fell into a profound silence.
Then Kainen raised his sword.
Kainen:
"If these elites can bleed… what does that say about your excuses?"
Noan:
"You're not too broken. You're not too late. Avia is not for the perfect. It's for the real. For those who want to be whole, not just powerful."
The crowd shifted.
Someone dropped their Devia emblem.
Another took a deep breath, finally willing to face themselves.
From behind the curtains, Liva, goddess of Destiny, whispered with a knowing smile...
> "Now begins the true forging... Not of powers... but of selves."
Airien Academy — Upper Sky Auditorium, atop floating crystal spires glistening with radiant Avia currents. The morning glow barely breaks through the cloud-blanketed firmament as students stand, hushed and uncertain.]
KAINEN (stepping forward, cloak swaying, sword holstered at his back — voice deep, solemn)
"Team Next Gen… assemble."
(The elites step forward: Cayso, Hersa, Zekar, Lia, Obi, Miria, Sylra, Frolo, Nova, Anima… each one showing subtle traces of exhaustion beneath their disciplined composure.)
KAINEN (pausing, taking a breath)
"I won't waste your time with sugar. I trained many of you myself… and I still failed one of you. Perhaps more."
(He grips his gauntlet tightly. The silence weighs heavier than his words.)
"Traxis… has gone rogue. And not just in action… but in essence. He's no longer moving with us. He's moving against us."
(A ripple of whispers — even Frolo clenches his fists. Nova looks downward.)
KAINEN
"I've seen wars before. Wars for survival, wars for truth, wars for power. But this? This is different. This is a war of identity itself."
(Steps forward.)
"Devia… as beautiful and boundless as it sounds... may now be singing with the voice of vengeance. Revenge—corrupted by clarity that came too late. It's no longer a power system. It's a statement. One that might erase us all."
(Lia shivers, Anima fidgets with her gloves. Cayso puts a hand on her shoulder.)
APREXION (enters beside Kainen, wearing armor crafted from dreamsteel and layered with dimensional threads)
"The balance we thought we understood? It's a lie, or at best, an incomplete story. Devia bends without breaking... but when it breaks? The fallout rewrites everything."
HERSA (softly)
"So what do we do? Wait? Prepare? Or act?"
KAINEN (nods grimly)
"Prepare. Act. Be ready to adapt... or be rewritten."
(He looks around — directly at each student.)
"You've all reached Ascended level. That used to mean you were untouchable. But even gods feel fear now."
(Glances to Zekar)
"Time's not on our side. Even your stitches, Chrono Sticher, can't keep this fabric from fraying forever."
ZEKAR (nodding with clenched jaw)
"I can slow unraveling, not halt entropy."
KAINEN
"The human-born students—Jack, Sonia, Henry, Yvonne, Charles, Kennedy, Osei Jerry—they're still on Earth. When they return… they may be changed. They may be more than we remember."
SYLRA (murmuring)
"Or less…"
KAINEN
"For now, we stay anchored. Not to tradition… not to comfort. But to purpose."
APREXION
"This isn't just about keeping your Affinities sharp. It's about knowing who you are when everything else fades. Devia and Avia are more than systems. They're selves. And selves can be corrupted or forged."
KAINEN (stepping forward one last time, voice rising)
"Some of you will doubt. Some of you, like Lia and Anima, feel unready. And that's okay. Because readiness was never the measure of worth. Truth is. Effort is. Choice is."
(He places a hand on Lia's shoulder, gently.)
KAINEN
"You sculpt potential, Lia… even when you're scared. That's real power."
(Turns to Anima)
KAINEN
"And you… your echoes ripple deeper than you know. Even a whisper from you can turn tides. Never forget that."
KAINEN (to the whole room)
"Be not afraid of doubt. Fear only apathy. Fear forgetting what made you pick Avia in the first place."
(Silence… and then a slow surge of nods, clenched fists, resolute stares.)
KAINEN (softly, almost to himself)
"Because this... this isn't just another mission."
(His voice becomes iron, rumbling like fate itself.)
"This is reconstruction. Of everything we are. Of everything we ever were."
The war briefing just ended. The academy's auditorium quiets down. Lia stands slightly apart from the group, her sculpture—unfinished—glowing faintly in her palm. It flickers like her courage.]
---
Lia (softly, almost to herself):
"I sculpted this war... before it was even born."
She looks at her hand trembling slightly.
"But now that it's here, I... I don't know if I can face it."
---
(Flashback flicker: A sculpture she made weeks ago—two massive forces colliding, a fractured sky, a falling star... A boy with lightning in his eyes.)
---
Lia (voice breaking a bit):
"There's... something coming. I felt it when Traxis first whispered into the wind.
But this... this isn't just Devia anymore.
Something deeper... hungrier... waiting behind the final strike."
She grips the sculpture tighter.
"It's like... an ending disguised as a choice."
---
[Anima steps beside her, resting a calm hand on Lia's shoulder. Her voice echoes gently, like sound bouncing off truth.]
Anima (smirking lightly):
"You always see things before they bloom...
But even the girl who sculpts futures deserves to live her own."
---
[Cayso appears on the other side, leaning casually, his aura blooming like a concept coming alive—gentle, but sharp.]
Cayso:
"You think too much. War's coming, yeah. But so is he."
He taps her sculpture playfully.
"Jack'll be back. He's just off... shrinking mountains with clarity or whatever poetic mess he's on."
He grins.
"When he sees you? You better not freeze up like last time."
---
Lia (smiling despite herself, but a tear forms):
"I was going to tell him... last time... I almost sculpted that moment.
But I was scared... that if I shaped it too soon, it'd break."
---
Anima (teasing):
"Then don't sculpt it. Live it."
---
Cayso (nodding):
"Exactly. The war will come. The end will come.
But if you pretend to be someone you're not...
Avia won't wait. It only dances with the real."
---
Lia (exhales deeply, whispering):
"No more pretending."
She lets the sculpture melt into light, and new marble begins forming in her hand... gentle, glowing… hopeful.
"I'll sculpt the moment I choose to be. Not the one I fear to face."
Next Gen Team Briefing – Post-Warning From Kainen and Aprexion]
(The room sits in a low, humming silence, thick with tension and the weight of what's coming. Each student feels the gravity in their own unique way. One by one, thoughts spark, Avias flicker, and feelings brew.)
---
Nova (hands held tightly together, voice soft):
"What if... what I say sides with Devia by accident? What if I speak and my words bring pain... again?"
(Her voice trembles like it's hiding behind curtains of hope. But her Avia glows—a soft, defiant blue flame that refuses to flicker.)
Aprexion (stepping forward with a warm but sharp tone):
"Then you speak anyway. Not because it's safe... but because it's true."
---
Zekar (staring into his stitched time-patch over his arm):
"Power can mend time... but identity? That's fabric you can't cheat through loopholes."
(He grips his own forearm, feeling the timelines tremble slightly.)
"I hope I'm enough."
---
Targor (linking his shadow to Frolo's with Avia synch energy):
"We've been training for every twist... every trap..."
Frolo (chaining two floating concepts together mid-air):
"But what if the Devia kids don't fight fair? What if they rewrite our meaning?"
Targor (grits teeth):
"Then we out-mean the meaning... and out-forge the forge."
(They bump fists, but both still wear silent unease.)
---
Hersa (draws a line in the ground with glowing fingers):
"This is my line. My self. No matter what trick Devia pulls—"
(Suddenly her Avia flickers like a candle caught in a breath of fear.)
"...I have to believe that what I am... is enough."
(She shivers, then clenches her fist. The flicker steadies.)
---
Obi (sitting with knees hugged, staring into the ether):
"I could just erase the thought... wipe Devia from existence... but if I erase too much..."
(He glances at his reflection in the floor.)
"What's left of me?"
---
Cayso (laughing nervously, dream particles floating from his hair):
"Maybe if I bloom a new concept... dad'll finally say 'That's my boy' and not 'Just try harder, son.'"
(His Avia flickers, then does a little dance. He chuckles.)
"Even my Avia's trying to hype me up. Let's go, then."
(He winks at Lia who's still lost in her thoughts.)
---
Anima (looking at Lia):
"You still thinkin' of Jack, huh?"
(She nudges her shoulder with a knowing grin.)
Cayso (joins in, smirking):
"Girl, you gonna sculpt him a confession or say it for once?"
Lia (blushing, covering her face slightly):
"I just... I need him to know. Before it all goes chaotic... before we all lose something again."
(Her Avia stutters, then warms into a glowing sculpture of two hands reaching.)
---
Sylra (quietly from the corner):
"Don't forget... we're not just fighting Devia. We're fighting what we could become if we lose our way."
Miria (flicking a flame between her fingers):
"Then let's burn bright enough to never forget ourselves... even if we flicker."
(Her flame grows, as do the hopes behind every worried face.)
---
Kainen (watching all of them, eyes heavy with guilt but voice like steel):
"You all have doubts. That's good. Doubt means you're not faking it."
(pauses)
"But remember this—Devia doesn't win because it's strong... it wins when you believe you're not."
(He nods firmly.)
"And I don't train weaklings."
---
Aprexion (with a final word):
"This is the battle of identity itself... and you're the frontline poets of existence. So write your truth in battle."
(Avias shimmer. Flames grow. Dreams spark. The storm brews—and they're ready... even if they're afraid.)
The Champions gather in the Sky Atrium of Airious—a radiant nexus glowing with converged Avian threads. The silence is thick, not with fear... but knowing.]
Aminator (arms folded, his eyes flickering with ancient glyphs):
"The threads tremble again. Something's... coming. Something that doesn't just bend truth—it devours it."
Victoria (igniting a flame that dances in the air, but never burns):
"So… it's true. An apocalypse not of fire or storm… but of unraveling. Avia won't just flicker—it'll fracture if we're not careful."
Ronda (placing her hands on both their shoulders, grounding their tension):
"Then we hold it together. That's why we're here. Why we are. You don't become a Champion for power… you become it when power doesn't matter anymore."
Kate the Fox (appearing behind them in a flicker of layered illusions):
"Let them come. Let the Devia freaks twist reality. They'll never twist me. I know who I am. Even if I have to mirror myself a thousand times to remember it."
Jake Shwazz (loading his spatial revolver, flipping a coin mid-air—watching it hang unnaturally):
"Heh… odds of surviving this? Don't care. But the odds of lying to myself? Zero. I'm done gambling on false identities."
Elitor (his voice resonating like a tide in time):
"They'll try to invert us... turn our Avia against us. But remember: we are not our powers. We are what shaped them."
Cration (holding a sphere of condensed air, eyes closed):
"Balance… breath… belief. If my wind breaks, so be it. But I won't. Because I know what I stand for."
Vericane (drawing his frostblade slowly, mist clinging to every word):
"Then let's slice through the delusions. No fear. No doubt. Just... clarity. Cold, hard clarity."
Aminator (stepping forward, a golden glyph now swirling across his chest):
"This isn't just another battle. This is the Final Mirror. And when we look into it—we don't blink. We become what we truly are... no more, no less."
Ronda (softly, with a rare smile):
"Let's show the next generation… how truth fights back."
"Clash of Becoming" – Cayso vs Obi (Next Gen Flashback, Avian Compression)
---
Obi (grinning, voice calm but mischievous):
"You know… restraint used to be a courtesy. Now it's policy. Ain't that poetic?"
Cayso (spinning one of his destiny-blades):
"Poetic? Nah, it's tragic. But hey—limits make legends sharper."
Obi (stepping into his zone, a shimmer of oblivion warping around him):
"And gravity… fails here."
(Cayso stumbles as the environment shifts. His footing slips slightly—Obi grins.)
Obi (low voice):
"Float, Cayso. Float in my nothingness."
Cayso (smirking as a golden-blue cloak manifests around him):
"You forget… I become what I need to survive."
(The "Cloak of Becoming" wraps him—he stabilizes midair, feet inches above the ground, body adapting to the shifting pull.)
Obi (laughs):
"Of course you'd have a poetic counter."
Cayso:
"Destiny don't write itself. I carve it. Blade by blade."
(They both charge again—Obi with a palm glowing with warped pulses of forgotten force; Cayso with seven floating blades spinning like clock hands.)
Obi:
"Wanna rewrite the future?"
Cayso:
"Nah. I'm busy blooming into it."
(The battle becomes a dance—compression keeping their power at bay, but not their expression. Every move is them, fully.)
---
[Off-battle, Young Elly watching, to Lia]:
"They're not just fighting… they're becoming."
Lia (nodding, clutching her notebook):
"…And every flicker tells a truth."
The Arena of Echoing Intent – Deep within the Forged Valley, a battlefield where every expression echoes into eternity.]
Kainen (arms folded, his posture regal yet unbothered):
"They're pushing themselves... No one's slacking. Even the air feels like it's about to split."
Aprexion (eye twitching slightly, tapping his chin):
"The compression is working… barely. These kids are threading lines most Paragons can't even imagine. And Frolo… he's playing with Event logic? Dangerous."
---
ROUND TWO: Frolo vs Targor
Targor lunges forward, threads of light trailing his every motion.
Frolo calmly steps aside, fingers glowing with causal links.
Frolo:
"Trip, falter, and fail—past intentions ripple forward."
(Targor stumbles mid-air, as if a past misstep was stitched into the now.)
Targor (gritting his teeth):
"You think I didn't prepare for you? I linked to composure two minutes ago."
(He snaps upright mid-fall, landing clean. A shimmer of ethereal thread tightens around his chest.)
Frolo (smirking):
"Then let's see if your calm can outrun the inevitability of cause."
(He twists his hand—an event chain loops back to an earlier movement, creating a loop trap.)
---
ROUND THREE: Lia vs Sylra
Sylra (flicking fragments of glasslike reality into the air):
"You sculpt futures? I rewrite now."
(Her shards begin to hover, each representing a piece of possibility.)
Lia (nervous, but her hands move gracefully):
"I don't sculpt what's certain... I sculpt what could be."
(From her hands, a luminous statue begins to form—a future where she wins. The potential begins to overwrite doubt itself.)
Sylra (eyes glowing):
"Then let's see whose canvas is stronger."
(She flings a mosaic of 'impossible-now' at Lia, warping her footing. Lia carves midair, reshaping her trajectory into a possible dodge.)
---
ROUND FOUR: Hersa vs Anima
Hersa (lines of light pulsing from her limbs):
"Boundary: Pain. Boundary: Hope. Let's make them touch."
(She slams her hand down and invisible walls form. Anima's first echo blast hits the boundary and disperses.)
Anima (giggling):
"Cute... but echoes always come back."
(Her second echo pulse curves behind the wall like a boomerang, striking Hersa's side.)
Hersa (grinning despite the hit):
"Boundary... Feedback."
(The damage is looped into an offensive construct that flies back at Anima.)
Anima:
"You bounce, I ripple. Let's keep this rhythm alive!"
---
ROUND FIVE: Zekar vs Nova
Nova (voice ringing with poetry):
"Stand. Stumble. Submit."
(Reality twists within a 10-meter radius, every word reshaping physics itself.)
Zekar (calm, eyes blinking multiple times at once):
"Language is a product of time… But time is my loom."
(He stitches a moment from 30 seconds ago when Nova was silent—bringing it into now, cancelling her word's effect momentarily.)
Nova (whispers):
"Undo."
(And her whisper travels through the stitched thread, unbinding his time-lock.)
Zekar (grinning):
"You're clever. But this fight ain't about who's louder—it's about who remembers."
(He weaves a memory from the future—her future regret—and for a second, Nova hesitates.)
---
[Cut to the Watchers]
Con (nodding slowly):
"Every one of them... expressing their truest self under compression. That's no small feat."
Hyrag (laughing):
"This ain't just a spar... This is the proof that the next wave of Champions ain't just strong... they're aware."
Hela (eyes soft):
"They don't know it yet... but every clash here is awakening a truth even the gods forgot."
Ractor (deep voice, barely audible):
"Let them awaken. The war waits for no one. And Devia's whispers grow louder."
---
[Back in the Arena]
Cayso (to Obi), watching the matches:
"You still think compression limits us?"
Obi (smirking):
"Nah... it makes us real. Only real stuff survives being compressed."
(They fist bump, eyes sharp—ready for their rematch.)
---
Narrator (voice over):
> And so, in the crucible of potential, destiny, and the honest chaos of youthful expression… the next chapter forged itself.
A chapter not written by gods or legends—but by those who dared to discover who they are under pressure...
...under truth.
The Clash of Grit and Silence
Arena dimly humming, Avian Compression locked at Level 3. The students watch in awe, knowing this round is different. Kairo and Avielo step into the circle. One builds. One ends.
---
Kairo (clenching fists, glowing with blue grid lines):
"Grindset: Charged. Buff stack ready. Synopsis active..."
(eyes narrow)
"You won't catch me slipping."
Avielo (adjusting the blade on his back, voice smooth like a calm storm):
"Sound doesn't ask. It enters... and ends."
(his boots vibrate subtly—resonating into the ground)
"I suggest... silence."
Ref echoes in the sky:
"Begin!"
Kairo sprints forward, aura burning with Momentum Surge. He throws a punch. Avielo sidesteps, sound distortions wrapping around his limbs like armor.
---
Avielo (as he dodges effortlessly):
"Your XP points don't count if you're unconscious."
He flicks a finger. A sharp note stabs the air—vibration strike.
Kairo blocks, but a delayed crack splits his forearm armor.
---
Kairo (gritting his teeth, grinning):
"You think that's enough?
Revival Root: Engaged. Let's rerun that..."
He backflips, summons a training dummy image behind him, punches it, and gains a second Power Up stack. His veins glow like level-up threads.
---
Avielo (sighs):
"You overtrain. I overwhelm."
He vanishes briefly, reappears behind him with a blade of condensed static—
"Echo Cut."
Kairo stumbles—then rewinds two seconds—Chrono Backup Triggered.
---
Kairo:
"Didn't expect that, huh?
Grindset Rule #7: Always have a plan B."
Avielo (smiling faintly):
"And Grindset Rule #∞...
Never hear what kills you."
He claps his hands silently—Pulse Fold. Kairo's muscles tense, overloaded by invisible sound walls. But just before he collapses...
---
Kairo (growling, aura exploding outward):
"LEVEL BREAK: Ultra Instinct – Grit Phase."
Every buff stacks into one fluid motion. His next punch doesn't miss—it understands.
The punch hits Avielo. A clean blow.
But there's no sound. Avielo grins.
---
Avielo (as he's knocked back):
"You finally made me shut up...
But that vibration is still in your spine.
This round's not over."
---
Crowd gasps. Judges lean forward. Even Aprexion mutters:
Aprexion:
"...These kids are flirting with Forger level... inside compression."
Hela:
"No... they're redefining it."
---
The bell hasn't rung.
But the truth is loud.
Both warriors stand... barely.
---
Final frame: Both staring, grinning.
Kairo:
"Next time... I'll grind smarter."
Avielo:
"Next time… I'll silence earlier."