Dawn broke blood-red over the Grand Arena.
The fires of battle still smoldered in the lower courts.
Broken weapons littered the grounds.
The stench of failed assassins lingered like bitter smoke.
But within the Heartland Pavilion,
there was no fear.
Only purpose.
Kaelen stood at the center of the cleared tent,
his companions gathered around him.
Around them, captured assassins knelt — bound by Sovereign-etched chains.
And though they bowed their heads low,
Kaelen could see it in their trembling:
They had not expected to survive.
They had been sent as sacrifices,
not soldiers.
The Interrogation
Mira approached the first prisoner — a gaunt man with a spider-web of scars down his neck.
Her dagger gleamed coldly under the rising sun.
"Names," she said simply.
The man shuddered.
"We serve… no flag…" he gasped.
"Only coin.
Only fear."
Kaelen tilted his head slightly.
"Fear of who?"
The man clenched his jaw.
Riven stepped forward, flames flickering along his knuckles.
The man broke almost immediately.
"Royal Houses…
Hidden Guilds…
Legacy Bloodlines…"
"They fear what you are becoming."
Kaelen's eyes narrowed slightly.
"They should."
He turned away.
There was no need for further cruelty.
They were not enemies.
They were warnings.
Proof that the old world was willing to burn the present
to delay the future.
The System Hums
As Kaelen stepped into the open morning air,
the Sovereign System pulsed softly at the edge of his mind.
[System Notification]
[System Evolution Progress: 65%.]
[New Sovereign Features Preparing for Unlock:
Realm Sovereign Domains.
Worldbreaker Challenges.
Nation-Creation Trials.]
[Pending Completion: Upon Tournament's End or Major Sovereign Victory.]
Kaelen smiled faintly.
The storm was building.
And so was he.
In Aria's Camp: New Resolve
Across the field, Aria tightened the straps of her armor.
Her next match had been drawn —
against a favored heir of a Royal House.
A political maneuver, no doubt.
A trap.
A message.
"Break her," the royals whispered.
"Show the world that Heartland's allies are weak."
But Aria was not afraid.
Last night, she had watched Kaelen stand against assassins without drawing a blade.
She had seen the Sovereign Will that defied death itself.
And inside her,
something had shifted.
Crystallized.
She would not falter.
Not today.
Not ever again.
Seren's Thoughts
Seren watched Aria quietly, arms folded.
Even she had to admit:
Something was changing.
Not just in Kaelen.
In Aria too.
The girl Seren had sworn to protect
was becoming a Sovereign in her own right.
And Seren would follow her.
Through fire.
Through storm.
Through the end of kings.
Wherever this path led,
Seren would not turn away.
Vaelen's Instincts Stir
Vaelen chuckled as he sharpened his beast-horn dagger.
"Fools," he thought, watching the other Delegations prepare to ambush Heartland and First Crown at every opportunity.
"They think they can cage storms."
"They're about to drown."
He cracked his knuckles.
Ready for the blood and thunder to come.
A Secret Invitation
As Kaelen finished preparing his squad for the next matches,
a runner approached — panting, half-collapsing.
He held out a sealed scroll — edged with black sovereign wax.
Mira took it instantly, scanning it for poison, runes, traps.
None.
Kaelen accepted the scroll.
Unfolded it slowly.
Inside, only a single sentence:
"Meet us beneath the Hollow Stone.
If you wish to shape the next Age.
Come alone."
No signature.
No insignia.
Just Sovereign Script —
the kind only ancient bloodlines and forgotten powers once used.
Kaelen's Reflection
He tucked the scroll into his cloak without comment.
He knew.
The old forces were stirring now.
Not just guilds.
Not just kings.
The true ancients.
Those who had hidden in the ashes of the last Sovereign Age,
waiting to see if anyone worthy would rise again.
And now they had noticed him.
"Good," Kaelen murmured.
"Let them notice.
Let them watch.
Let them kneel.
Or let them burn."
The cracked-crown banners snapped high in the wind.
The Sovereigns were rising.
And this time,
no throne would survive untouched.