Ren stood alone in the center of the circle, his breath steady but heart pounding. Across from him, the champion of shadows moved like a wraith slow at first, but with a purpose Ren could feel. Not just a skilled fighter.

A killer.

Kaede stood at the edge of the ring, fists clenched. She wasn’t allowed to interfere not even to shout advice. The moment Ren crossed into the dueling circle, it had become sacred ground. The law of the Trials was absolute.

The shadow champion raised his twin blades. One gleamed with a sheen of poisoned light. The other pulsed with heat like a forge left burning too long.

The bell rang.

Ren barely dodged the first strike a sweep aimed to take his legs. The second came from above, fast and brutal. Ren countered with his own blade, deflecting it, but the force staggered him back.

He wasn’t just fast. He was inhumanly fast.

Ren gritted his teeth. No time to hesitate.

He darted forward, striking low, then high a feint followed by a spinning slice toward the champion’s unarmored side. The strike should’ve landed. It would’ve landed if the champion didn’t bend his spine unnaturally and twist aside like smoke in wind.

Steel clanged.

Ren blocked a retaliating blow just in time, but the force rattled his bones.

Kaede could barely keep still. Every instinct screamed at her to move, to help but she knew that doing so would forfeit both their lives.

Ren slid to the side, panting. His opponent hadn’t said a word. His movements were precise, silent, purposeful. Not a warrior testing a student.

An executioner delivering sentence.

Then Ren remembered something Shiro had told them as children.

 “Your sword is not your strength. Your will is. Let it burn brighter than fear.”

Ren closed his eyes for a half-breath and stepped into the next attack.

The shadow-champion thrust forward only for Ren to pivot inside the strike, knocking the poisoned blade upward with the hilt of his own sword. In the same motion, he drove his elbow into the champion’s ribs. The man grunted, stumbling back.

First blood.

But then the champion laughed a sound like metal scraping bone and removed his mask.

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

His face was tattooed with the mark of the black crescent. His eyes were solid red.

Kaede’s breath caught.

He wasn’t just a champion. He was one of them. One of the cultists that haunted their dreams. One of the servants of the Eclipse.

Ren didn’t hesitate. He surged forward with renewed fury. Blade met blade in a flurry of sparks and blood. The duel was no longer a test. It was war.

With a cry, Ren unleashed a flurry of slashes, feints, and footwork overwhelming, chaotic, unpredictable. The cultist parried wildly, backing away. Ren’s final strike came from below rising, arcing upward in a savage uppercut.

Steel pierced through flesh and bone.

The champion’s body collapsed, his twin blades clattering to the stone.

Silence fell.

Then the arena erupted in thunderous cheers.

Lord Kanzuro stepped forward, his face unreadable.

“Victory to Ren Hoshizora.”

Kaede rushed into the circle as soon as it was allowed. Ren fell to his knees, blood running from a gash on his side, but grinning.

“You idiot,” she said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“Still breathing,” he muttered.

As they limped out of the arena, Lord Kanzuro turned his back to the crowd and whispered to his attendant.

“Prepare the second trial. Increase the danger. And notify the Inquisitor.”

The attendant bowed. “Yes, my lord.”

Lord Kanzuro watched the twins disappear into the gate.

“They are no longer just contestants,” he said softly. “They are the threat.”