Ren had been on the road for hours, Crimson Tornado resting in his pocket, as he made his way along the dusty path toward the training gym. The wave he had felt at the stadium still hadn't let him rest since — and now that he'd heard the rumors about Kael's disappearance, he was more certain than ever that it wasn't a coincidence.
When he finally arrived, he found Orion alone in the empty gym, browsing the old bookshelf by the wall.
"Orion."
The man looked up, without surprise.
"Ren. I figured you'd show up here sooner or later."
"I heard Kael left. He's looking for the legendary Heirs."
"That's right."
Ren stepped forward, Crimson Tornado pulsing hot in his hand, as though it had sensed its owner's intent.
"I also heard you know about them. Teach me too, Orion. If this trial is really as dangerous as you say, I don't want to stand there unprepared."
Orion looked at the boy for a long moment, then nodded.
"You don't need to convince me. If you can feel the danger yourself, you've already half understood what I want to teach."
He sat Ren down at the old table, the same spot where Kael had once sat as well.
"Let's start from the beginning."
In the small village, in the stone-paved square behind Voltar's house, Kael had been training for three days now. The old man stood behind him, arms crossed, watching his every movement with a stern gaze.
"Once more," Voltar said. "And this time, don't listen to its power. Listen to its rhythm."
Kael nodded and took a deep breath. Iron Blaze no longer trembled in his hand the way it had those first days — as if it had learned that it didn't have to destroy everything at once to be strong.
"Iron Blaze."
The fire titan burst forth, but it moved differently now — not with wild, uncontrolled charging, but with measured, targeted strikes, as if it were finally truly listening to its master.
"Molten Ascension!"
The name came on its own, as though it had always been there, only waiting for Kael to be calm enough to speak it. The titan's cracked armor suddenly filled with glowing, liquid light, as if lava had come alive beneath its surface, then it spread its wings and rose into the air. When it struck down at the designated rock, it didn't simply shatter it — the impact melted the stone, glowing cracks spreading out from it in every direction, as though the earth itself bowed before the power.
Voltar's eyes widened, then he slowly smiled.
"That… I didn't teach you that."
"I know," Kael replied, breathing hard. "It just came."
"That's when the top and its master finally think as one," Voltar said quietly. "Few reach that point this quickly."
Not far away, on the other side of the square, Shiro and Akira were training too, though less formally — Voltar glanced over at them from time to time, offering the occasional piece of advice.
"Your Frost Phantom waits too much," the old man remarked to Shiro as he passed by. "You don't always need to wait for the perfect moment. Sometimes the imperfect moment is enough."
Shiro nodded thoughtfully, and launched the top again — faster, more instinctively this time. The icy wolf didn't wait this time, it simply struck, and the ice it left behind traced a sharper, cleaner pattern on the stones than ever before.
Akira's demon developed similarly — the many-eyed entity no longer just defended, it could now strike first, before a threat even got close.
By evening, all three sat exhausted but content around the campfire, while Voltar cleaned Mystic Phoenix with an old cloth.
"You leave tomorrow," he said, not as a question.
"Yes," Kael replied. "Thank you, Voltar. For everything."
The old man waved it off, but there was warmth in his eyes.
"Don't thank me. Thank yourself for being stubborn enough not to give up."
"Do you know anything about the others?" Akira asked. "Where can we find them?"
Voltar considered this.
"Valaris lives to the north, among the ruins of a mountain monastery. His top is Infernal Griffin. But be careful with him — he never believed that one person alone is strong enough for anything. Don't be surprised if he tests you not individually, but together."
"Together?" Shiro asked.
"Valaris always believed that the Heirs' power doesn't lie in what they achieve individually, but in what they can build together. When you go to him, don't try to prove yourselves one by one. Prove that you're truly a team."
Kael looked into the fire, the words slowly settling in him. Until now, every battle he'd fought had somehow been his own, even when Shiro and Akira stood beside him. Maybe it was time to think differently.
In the morning, as the first rays of sun filtered through the trees, the three young Heirs said their goodbyes to Voltar. The old man stood in the doorway of his house, Mystic Phoenix in hand, watching as they disappeared down the northern path.
"Take care of yourselves," he murmured, though he knew they could no longer hear him.
The road north grew colder and colder, the trees thinned, the landscape turned rocky and barren. Kael, Shiro, and Akira walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
"What do you think Valaris will be like?" Akira finally broke the silence.
"Voltar said he's different from him," Kael replied. "I'm curious what he meant by 'we need to prove it together.'"
Shiro smiled, though his gaze remained serious.
"Maybe it's time we found out."
Ahead of them, among the distant mountains, the ruins of an old monastery began to take shape through the fog, like a silent sentinel that had been waiting for arrivals for centuries.
To be continued in Chapter 21…