An IGF officer marched down the line of participating students. He wore the crisp black uniform of the Federation’s enforcement branch.

In his hands: a case containing one hundred and fifty bracelets. Black metal, sleek design, glowing with a faint blue pulse that matched the rhythm of a heartbeat.

"Each participant will wear one." His voice was flat. "The bracelet tracks your vital signs, records your location relative to your academy’s designated portal, and updates a live leaderboard. You will be able to see your academy’s current ranking at all times. If your life signs drop to zero, you are automatically extracted and marked as eliminated."

He paused, letting the implication settle.

"If you remove the bracelet, you are disqualified. Also, no killing."

He reached Kael’s group and held out the case. Seven bracelets gleamed under the arena lights, each one engraved with the Heaven’s Gate sigil.

Kael took his.

The metal was cool against his skin—smooth, almost liquid, molding to his wrist before locking into place with a soft click. A holographic display flickered to life:

HEAVEN’S GATE ACADEMY

Round 1 Status: STANDBY

Participants Active: 7/7

Current Rank: —

"Secure them." The officer moved to the next group. "The moment you enter the transit portal, they activate. Do not lose them."

The commentator’s voice boomed through the colosseum, rattling the very foundations of the massive structure.

"PARTICIPANTS! TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!"

WHOOSH. WHOOSH. WHOOSH.

Fifteen portals erupted into existence on the arena floor—swirling vortices of blue-white energy, each one tall enough to accommodate a small group. They hummed with contained power, the air around them distortion-rippled and unstable. Academy sigils floated above them in glowing holographic text, identifying which portal belonged to which team.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The commentator’s voice reached a fever pitch. "IT IS TIME!"

CRACK. BOOM.

The portals flared brighter—light intense enough to make several students shield their eyes.

"May the best academy survive! GOOD LUCK!"

Kael stepped forward.

The vortex swallowed them whole.

WHUMP.

Kael’s boots struck solid ground, and the planet attacked.

A crushing gravity slammed down on him from above—three times standard, maybe four—accompanied by wind pressure so intense it felt like standing beneath a waterfall made of solid air. The gale screamed across the jagged landscape, carrying dust, debris, and the faint scent of ozone that burned the nostrils.

CRACK. BOOM. CRASH.

Lightning struck the mountains in the distance—constant, relentless, a barrage of electric destruction that painted the sky in shades of violent white and bruised purple. The bolts were thick as ancient trees, each one capable of reducing a Mana Heart cultivator to ash.

Kael didn’t move.

The gravity pressed against his Tier 4 body, and his muscles simply... refused to comply with the demand to buckle. Void Body Refinement had reinforced his cellular structure to levels that made environmental pressure more of an inconvenience than a threat. His gravity manipulation stirred automatically, creating a localized field that reduced the effective weight on his body by sixty percent.

The wind howled. His clothes whipped violently. His hair plastered against his face.

He stood firm.

Hhhhhhhh.

Kael exhaled slowly, letting his senses expand.

The landscape was horrid.

Dry, cracked earth stretched in every direction—parched terrain that hadn’t seen water in centuries, if ever. Massive mountains jutted from the ground like broken teeth, their peaks lost in the storm clouds above. Deep canyons carved through the terrain, their depths hidden by swirling mist and shadow. Rocks the size of buildings littered the plains, scattered by forces beyond natural weather patterns.

And the lightning—

CRACK!

A bolt struck a mountain peak three kilometers away. BOOM. The explosion sent a shockwave rolling across the plain, kicking up dust and debris that crashed against Kael’s gravity field like waves against a breakwater. He tracked it with his eyes, calculating trajectory, impact radius, probable follow-up strikes.

He raised his wrist.

HEAVEN’S GATE ACADEMY

Round 1 Status: ACTIVE

Participants Active: 7/7

Portal Distance: 47.3 km NE

Time Remaining: 2:58:54

Current Rank: 3rd

We are ranked already?

Kael tapped the bracelet twice. A communication channel opened—crackling with static, but functional.

"Check in."

Karacus’s voice came first, barely affected by the wind screaming in the background. "East. Mountains. Moving."

"South. Canyons." Mason’s voice was gruff, strained—fighting the environment with every word. "Having fun."

"Northwest." Zara voice calm and cold,"Flat terrain. Clear sightlines."

*Sage here." A pause. CRACK—lightning nearby, the sound sharp through the comm. "West. Some kind of ruins. Rue’s with me."

"Caelan." The swordsman’s voice was tight, clipped. "Southwest. Wind is a bitch."

Kael processed the information in seconds. Seven members spread across the starting zone, portal forty-seven kilometers northeast. The terrain between them and the exit was hostile—lightning, wind, unstable ground. And other academies would be converging on the same destination.

"Maintain current headings. Prioritize speed over combat. If you encounter resistance, assess before engaging."

Kael started moving.

Forty kilometers east, Karacus Drakemore ran with the explosive, ground-eating stride of a dragon-kin in his element. Each step cracked the parched earth beneath his feet, propelling him forward at speeds that would have made most Mana Heart cultivators jealous. The triple gravity pressed down on his shoulders like a physical weight, but his muscles simply... didn’t care. Dragons were built for pressure and dominance.

The mountains loomed ahead—jagged peaks stabbing into the storm clouds, their surfaces scarred by countless lightning strikes. The most direct path to the portal cut straight through them.

Karacus adjusted his heading and kept moving.

Then he felt it.

Karacus slowed to a stop.

The man stood on a boulder fifty meters ahead, arms crossed, a maniac grin stretching across a face that belonged on a wanted poster.

He was huge—nearly as tall as Karacus, but broader, thicker, muscles stacked on muscles like a living sculpture of violence. His clothing was torn in places, already showing the strain of the environment, but his eyes blazed with something that had nothing to do with survival.

Battle lust.

Karacus’s expression didn’t change, but his mind worked quickly. He’d seen this man before—in the IGF databases, in the intelligence briefings VP Dubois had provided.

Dean Hawthorne.

Vice Captain of Astral Zenith Academy.

Mana Heart Rank 3.

Density Manipulation.

Tier 4 Mid body cultivator.

Known for being absolutely fucking insane.

"Well, well." Dean’s voice carried across the distance, somehow audible over the howling wind. "A dragon. Didn’t think I’d get lucky this early."

He dropped from the boulder, landing with a THUD that cracked the ground beneath him.

"How about it, lizard? Want to play?"

Karacus sighed.

He really didn’t have time for this.

Dean attacked first.

He closed the fifty-meter gap in a single explosive lunge—density manipulation reinforcing every fiber of his being, making his body heavier, harder, more impactful than any normal Mana Heart Rank 3 had a right to be. His fist cocked back, muscles bulging, and he threw a punch that could have dented starship armor.

Karacus raised his own fist.

BOOM.

The collision sent a shockwave ripping outward in all directions. Dust exploded from the ground. The wind itself seemed to flinch, parting around the point of impact before rushing back in to fill the void. Cracks spider-webbed across the parched earth for twenty meters in every direction.

The Astral Zenith vice captain slid backward—three meters, four, five—before digging his heels in and stopping. His grin had widened.

"Heh. Not bad, lizard."

He launched forward again.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

They traded blows at a pace that would have been invisible to Foundation Establishment cultivators. Fist met fist, forearm met forearm, each collision producing a shockwave that sent debris flying. The environment around them suffered—rocks shattered, cracks spread, dust clouds billowed.

Evenly matched in raw physical strength. But Dean was being pushed back—fractionally, barely perceptibly—with each exchange. Dragon physiology was simply superior at this level.

Dean noticed too. His grin flickered. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Getting serious now."

His next punch came faster—and heavier. Density manipulation flared visibly, the air around his fist distorting as he increased its mass beyond normal limits. The punch connected with Karacus’s block, and this time the dragon-kin felt it—the force, the weight, enough to make his arm tingle.

BOOM.

They separated, both breathing slightly harder.

Dean rolled his shoulders, that maniac smile never wavering. "See? I can match you now."

He threw his arm forward. Compressed air exploded from his palm, a visible shockwave that slammed into Karacus’s chest and sent him sliding backward.

WHUMP.

Karacus’s feet carved trenches in the earth as he decelerated. Five meters. Six. Seven.

Dean laughed—a wild, unhinged sound that cut through the storm noise.

"What’s wrong, lizard? Feeling the pressure?"

Karacus stopped.

He looked at his hands—flexed his fingers, felt the power coiled in his muscles, the dragon blood singing in his veins.

He sighed again.

"Beast Form." The words came out quiet. "Partial Dragon Transformation."

ROOOOAAAAR.

A wave of aura exploded outward from Karacus. The pressure of a predator that had sat at the top of the food chain for millennia. The air itself seemed to thicken, to become respectful, to remember what dragons meant to the natural order.

Dean’s smile stretched wider.

There it is.

A tail burst from the base of Karacus’s spine—long, powerful, covered in white scales that gleamed like polished armor. It whipped through the air behind him, cracking with enough force to split stone. Two small horns pushed through his white hair, growing longer, curving backward like a crown. Scales rippled across his skin—arms, chest, neck—each one a miniature shield, dense enough to deflect mana-enhanced weapons.

His muscles bulged.

Not dramatically—dragons didn’t need size to be terrifying. But the density of his form shifted, compacted, became something that could shatter mountains through sheer physical presence alone.

Dean breathed in deep, drinking in the sight like fine wine.

"Now that’s what I wanted to see."

He cracked his knuckles.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

"Come on, dragon. Show me what you’ve got."