The Sanctum of Ordeals didn't sleep. Not truly.
Even in the dead of night, its corridors thrummed with quiet energy — a low pulse, like the heartbeat of something ancient dreaming beneath the stone. Torches didn't flicker; they burned still, suspended in invisible fields of mana. No wind. No sound. Just silence so loud it pressed against the skull.
Lucifer Valtros stood before a set of blackened steel doors, his reflection warped in their curved surface. Behind them was the next trial. And unlike the last — this one wasn't open to spectators.
No fanfare. No waiting crowds. Just his name, engraved in faint red glyphs on the door.
"This one's personal," Judas had said the night before.
Lucifer didn't ask how the old butler knew. Judas had a way of knowing things he shouldn't. That was part of what made him valuable — and dangerous.
He placed his palm against the cold metal.
The door pulsed. Then opened.
---
Inside was not a room — it was a field. Wide. Wild. Moonlight poured from an invisible sky above, and he could smell wet grass, smoke, and blood.
A lone figure stood across from him, cloaked in white.
"State your name," the figure said, voice layered with something unnatural. It echoed too perfectly.
"Lucifer Valtros."
"Trial of Echoes begins."
A wave of force rippled through the field.
Suddenly, Lucifer wasn't standing in the Sanctum anymore. He was in a burning village. Familiar. Wrong. Screams echoed in the distance. And there — figures moved through the flame. Not soldiers. Not monsters.
Children.
Each one bore his face.
He staggered back, breath caught. The flames whispered his name.
He gritted his teeth. "This isn't real."
"No," said a voice behind him. He turned.
It was himself — but younger. Blood on his hands. Crown of ash on his head.
"But it's truth."
Lucifer clenched his fists. The younger version stepped closer, eyes hollow.
"You will build an empire on bones. You will wear their silence like armor. And you will call it justice."
He struck forward — the illusion shattered like glass.
---
When he blinked again, the field was gone. He stood alone in a stone chamber. No signs of fire. No cloaked figure.
Just a panel before him:
> Trial of Echoes: Complete Psychological Fortitude: High Emotional Interference: Contained
A new glyph appeared on his wrist, glowing faintly crimson.
He didn't remember agreeing to marks.
The door ahead opened without command.
---
Waiting outside was someone unexpected.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," said a voice — smooth, amused.
Lucifer turned. A girl leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Dark hair, silver eyes. Her uniform marked her as a noble from the House of Rellion — one of the central duchies.
"And you are?"
"Celeste Rellion. You've been making ripples, Valtros."
He didn't reply.
She walked beside him as he moved down the corridor.
"The Trial of Echoes is a nasty one. They say it pulls out the worst in you — memories, fears, lies you tell yourself."
Lucifer glanced at her. "And what did it show you?"
She smiled. "Nothing."
A lie. A practiced one.
He let it pass.
"Why are you talking to me?"
"Because no one else here interests me. Most of these brats were raised in palaces. You, on the other hand, were forged in ruin. That's a story worth watching."
He paused. "Watching, or controlling?"
She winked. "Same thing, isn't it?"
Before he could respond, a bell tolled — low and sharp. Announcement glyphs bloomed across the corridor walls.
> Next Trial: Four Hours Format: Combat Teams Survival Parameters: Variable Location: Arena Core Delta
Celeste tapped her chin. "Teams, hmm? Let's see if your bite matches the brooding."
She walked away without looking back.
Lucifer watched her go.
He didn't trust her.
But he might need her.
---
Later, in the candidate dorms, Lucifer stood alone at the training terrace. The stars above were dim — veiled by magical runes protecting the structure.
Judas appeared beside him, silent as always.
"She's probing," Judas said.
Lucifer nodded. "She's smart. But not yet dangerous."
"She will be."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed. "So will I."
---
In another room, Celeste sat by candlelight, reviewing a parchment filled with names.
She circled one.
Lucifer Valtros – Watch List
Beside it, she wrote:
> "Not awakened yet. But something ancient sleeps in him."
She dipped the quill again, hesitated — and drew a symbol.
Not of her house.
But of an older order. A broken circle with twelve thorns.
She stared at it for a long time.