I Chose This Path, Now the Universe Will Know My Name

The cold had never truly bothered me. Eirali blood ran warm, even in the deepest frost. But this cold wasn't natural—it was ancient, otherworldly, the kind of chill that felt like it was trying to scrape your soul raw.

I trudged through the thick snow, each step a silent prayer against the howling wind that roared overhead. The storm had passed, but its scars remained: trees shattered like splinters, chunks of frozen stone scattered like shattered bones. And above, circling the Tree like a vulture, was the monster.

They called creatures like this Apex-Class—a term whispered across galaxies, not in reverence, but in fear. Rank 3: Ascended. The kind of entity that could crush cities beneath its shadow, whose existence warped mana and space around it.

And I was Rank 2.

Eminent.

Not nearly enough.

My boots crunched over a broken patch of ice, and I stopped for breath, my spear pulsing softly with radiant energy on my back. I'd drawn from the Eirali ancestral pool before this phase started, hoping to anchor myself for whatever trials would come. But nothing could've prepared me for that thing. The way its wings stretched—black and oil-slick under the moonlight, as if they had soaked up the starlight just to snuff it out.

I crouched behind a snowdrift and closed my eyes, focusing on my mana threads. I was trained for this. Breathe. Feel. The pulse of energy around me.

But even that rhythm felt broken now.

Something about Zavier had shifted me. It wasn't just the time we'd spent together—surviving the snowstorm, the bloodied fight against that first monstrosity, the death of Tairo. It was how he changed after it. The way his eyes burned—not with rage, but with purpose.

When I first saw him, I thought he was another clueless Earth child thrown into a war beyond his scale. But he surprised me. Not just in strength. In the way he grieved. In the way he stood up.

I don't know why I looked for him first after the trial gate split us apart.

Maybe I was tired of losing people.

Maybe I didn't want to watch another light go out.

A crack sounded to the east—sharp and metallic, like steel scraping bone. I flinched and turned my gaze toward it. The beast was near. Closer than before. Its aura was like a black tide, pressing down on every living thing in the area.

I adjusted the strap across my chest and started moving again, slower now, every sense on fire. There was a clearing ahead. A perfect ambush point. If it spotted me here, I wouldn't stand a chance. Even with all my ancestral enhancements, I was still just a second-rank fighter in a game built for gods.

The Tree loomed in the distance, its golden leaves glittering despite the frost that blanketed the land. It called to everyone, a beacon of power and promise. And it would be the final battlefield. Every participant knew it, even if no one said it aloud. The first to reach the Tree would have the chance to claim something—something not even Lunaria had fully explained.

And yet here I was, sneaking like a thief beneath a dying sky, terrified of a creature that could end me before I ever saw it coming.

I felt the mana shift just before the roar came.

A deep, guttural sound that rattled the bones of the earth and sent flocks of winged beasts scattering in panic. I dove behind a jagged ridge and peered around the edge.

There it was.

The Apex-Class.

A monster cloaked in scale and shadow, taller than the ruins of a titan-class mecha I'd once seen back on Vel'Sharan. Its wings spread wide, stirring the blizzard as it prowled the outskirts of the Tree's domain. Its head turned slightly—just enough to catch the glint of red in its four glowing eyes.

I froze. Completely.

Then its gaze passed over me.

Not recognizing. Not ignoring.

Assessing.

I could almost feel its thoughts: another insect. Not worth the breath to kill.

But I knew better. That beast wouldn't tolerate anything near the Tree. Eventually, it would make its move—strategic, calculating, not just as a beast, but as a fellow contender eyeing the same ultimate prize. Or perhaps it would wait. Watch. Plot. Like so many others playing this grand, multiversal game.

I ducked back behind the ridge and activated a concealment sigil, casting a blanket of null-mana over myself. It wouldn't hold long if the creature came looking. But it was enough for now.

My mind kept drifting back to Zavier.

I'd seen his name appear after the trial—he'd made it through. Barely. But something about that moment gnawed at me. Not everyone survived. Hell, most of them didn't. What drove a human boy, not even fully grown, to survive a beast that could shatter buildings with a swing?

He wasn't like the others.

And that scared me.

Because if he wasn't like the others, he might be something the multiverse hadn't seen in a very long time.

A flicker of movement in the corner of my vision snapped me out of it. The beast was moving again, slow but steady, like it had all the time in the world. Of course it did. It was a participant too.

This wasn't over.

And I'd be damned if I let Zavier—or anyone else—face this thing alone.

I pulled the spear from my back and began to run.

Toward the Tree.

Toward the monster.

Toward the unknown.