Chapter 15: Trial By Ash and Lightning

Chapter 15 : TRIAL BY ASH AND LIGHTNING

"Enough theory," the instructor said, his voice low but sharp as a blade. "You are not here to be coddled. The battlefield does not care for diagrams."

A silver command talisman flickered between his fingers, and in an instant, the vast hall trembled.

The banners rippled.

The walls expanded.

And the floor split open into a rising dueling platform, a circular arena forged of divine alloy, carved with runes that shimmered faintly — formation lines meant to prevent death. Only barely.

"Now," he continued, tone unreadable, "We will see who among you understands the price of potential."

He turned his masked gaze toward the crowd of students — all nobles, princes, daughters of sect masters, children of ancient bloodlines. The elite of the big universe.

"One hundred of you were chosen to train here. You are all Star Children. Each of you carries the fate of an empire, a race, and a future. So let's begin with one of our more… unique entrants."

His eyes flicked to Lux.

"The Outer Ring initiate."

The silence returned, heavier this time.

Lux rose without hesitation.

He walked to the platform, movements calm, eyes half-lidded, the golden insignia on his chest catching the light like a smoldering sun. The Codex of Fate pulsed inside him, whispering faint probabilities.

Five outcomes. Three with blood. One with death. One… unknown.

He stepped onto the platform. The crowd shifted, murmurs blooming again.

"Is he serious?"

"He's in the Initiate Realm —he'll be defeated."

"He shouldn't even be here."

And then—

A sound like distant thunder.

BOOM.

A girl landed across from him, her body wreathed in pale lightning.

Tall — at least two meters — with bronze-gold skin that flickered with electric veins. Her eyes glowed with crackling arcs, and her silver hair floated weightlessly in the charged air.

She cracked her neck, then her knuckles, and smiled with thin disdain.

"Did I draw the short stick?" she asked.

The instructor didn't answer. But the formation flared, sealing the duel.

Lux's golden eyes didn't blink.

A Titan.

A branch race of the Celestial Colossals — their infants could crush mountains. Their adult forms were rarely seen outside the Core Worlds. This one, Alyssa, had compressed her form to appear close to human. But her true size was likely near a hundred meters. Every movement she made sent faint tremors into the stone.

"You can still forfeit," she offered. "Wouldn't want your bones turning to dust on your first day."

Lux tilted his head and said quietly. "You talk too much."

Her smile vanished.

"BEGIN!" the instructor chimed.

And she vanished.

CRACK—

A bolt of lightning ripped across the field.

The audience barely registered it. One second, she was standing. The next, her foot was aimed at Lux's throat, the air screaming from the speed.

But Lux had already seen it.

One second ago

His Codex shimmered. His eye flickered with golden script.

He bent space.

A golden-black flame erupted beneath his feet — not fire that burned flesh, but fire that burned the laws around it.

[Fate Flame: Spatial Reversal]

Lux vanished, reappearing twenty meters behind her, his golden eyes calm.

Alyssa snarled, whirling mid-air. "You TELEPORTED?"

She slammed her fist into the floor — a pulse of divine lightning exploded outward in a ring.

Lux slid back, blocking with a gesture — a small halo of solar flame flared around him, neutralizing most of the force.

"You think parlor tricks will save you?" she barked, leaping again.

She punched — the air cracked.

She kicked — the stone beneath her feet shattered.

She moved faster than sound, arcs of lightning dancing across her skin as she delivered a storm of devastating blows. Each strike could crater a mountain. And each one missed by inches.

Lux weaved through it all.

His mind saw threads of time and fate — every future where her knuckles found his skull, every moment her lightning pierced his heart. He burned each of those outcomes to ash before they happened.

And in the still moments between—

He struck.

One blow. His palm, cloaked in fatefire, touched her chest.

"Wha—"

BOOM.

The flames erupted inward — not harming flesh, but disrupting the very concept of movement.

[Fate Flame: Temporal Stagnation]

Alyssa froze mid-motion, her eyes wide in confusion. Her body trembled, as if the seconds around her refused to flow.

And Lux…

Stepped forward.

Pressed two fingers to her forehead.

And whispered: "Fall."

The fate line severed.

She crumpled.

Not dead. Not wounded. Just… defeated.

The crowd erupted.

"What just happened?!"

"He BEAT a Titan?!"

"He beat a foundation realm cultivator,how?!"

"A flame that—what was that?!"

The instructor stared at Lux, unmoving. His eyes narrowed further.

Lux walked back toward the steps. Calm. Distant. The Codex inside him buzzed with silent data.

[Victory Confirmed — Divine Battle Codex Updating…]

[Opponent: Alyssa of the Stormforged Line — Status: Alive]

[Fate Level: Minor Scion]

[Absorbing Talent… Lightning Physique Fragment Acquired.]

[Assimilation Delayed — Fate Conversion Pending.]

He didn't smile.

Didn't celebrate.

He didn't step off the stage and return to his seat but stood there while the entire hall stared, stunned into silence.