The sect had changed overnight. What was once lively had become... focused.

From the break of dawn, disciples filled every corner of the outer sect.

The training arenas echoed with the sounds of fists colliding, feet scraping, and bodies slamming into reinforced stone. Groups sparred relentlessly, sweat soaking their uniforms as they pushed past their limits, driven by the looming disciple evaluation. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Some trained alone.

A lone spear user moved like a phantom at the edge of the arena, thrusting again and again, each strike faster than the last, his breath ragged but controlled.

A pair of beast-kin clashed nearby, claws against hardened gauntlets, their movements raw, instinctual, brutal.

Others sat in meditation circles, eyes closed, trying to stabilize their energy, their auras flickering unevenly as they struggled to refine what they already had.

"Faster!"

"Again!"

"Don’t stop!"

Voices rang out across the sect, instructors shouting, disciples grunting, the air thick with determination. Even the usually relaxed areas were occupied: rooftops, courtyards, corridors. Everywhere, people prepared, because everyone understood one thing.

This evaluation would decide everything.

There were also those who trained differently, away from the noise, away from the crowd.

...

The stream flowed quietly, untouched and unbothered by the frenzy gripping the sect. Clear water slipped over smooth stones, reflecting the morning sun in shimmering fragments of light.

At its center, Bahamut sat. Only his underwear clung to his body, soaked and heavy, his bare chest exposed to the air. Droplets of water traced slow paths down his skin, but none remained for long.

Countless water particles hovered around him. His eyes were closed, his breathing slow, but his body tensed. Veins stood out faintly along his arms and neck, his muscles tightening as if resisting an invisible pressure.

Because he was.

...

Inside, he stood once more before the final core.

Water.

It shimmered softly, fluid and unstable. Unlike the others, it refused to hold a fixed shape. It shifted constantly, flowing, changing, adapting, and now... It resisted him.

The moment he reached toward it, it reacted.

The stream trembled as a ripple spread outward from where he sat. Then another. The water around him began to rise.

The moment his consciousness touched the core, it surged violently. It crashed into him like a tidal wave.

Bahamut’s body jerked, and his breathing broke for a split second.

"Tch!"

The pressure hit instantly: consuming, flowing into every part of him at once. Water didn’t resist like earth. It didn’t fight like fire, and it didn’t test like darkness. It overwhelmed. It adapted faster than he could react.

The core shifted again, its form expanding, contracting, splitting, and reforming. Every time he tried to grasp it, it slipped. Every time he tried to control it, it changed.

...

Outside, the stream rose higher. Water lifted from its surface, spiraling slowly around Bahamut’s body. Dozens of streams formed, then hundreds, wrapping around him like serpents made of liquid. His muscles strained as he clenched his teeth. A thin line of blood slipped from his nose.

...

Inside.

"Stay still...!"

He reached again, this time faster and harder. The water surged in response in a violent crash. Another wave, then another. His consciousness shook. His form destabilized. For a moment, he lost it, and the core slipped entirely from his grasp.

Outside, the water exploded outward. A massive surge erupted from the stream, crashing into the surrounding banks, uprooting grass and scattering stones. Bahamut’s body trembled violently.

Blood now slipped from his ears and from the corner of his mouth.

"No..."

His voice was low, rough, but steady. He inhaled, slowly and deeply. Then exhaled.

Inwardly, he changed his approach. He moved with it. The core surged, and he followed; it split, and he adjusted. It flowed, and he flowed with it.

Time passed. Minutes. Hours. The battle didn’t stop. It didn’t slow. It only deepened.

The sun climbed higher. Disciples in the distance began to notice. The stream was no longer calm. It spiraled and rotated, a vortex forming around a single point.

Around Bahamut.

Water rose into the air, forming a massive sphere around him, spinning slowly, shimmering under the sunlight.

Some stopped, watching.

"What is he doing?"

"That’s not normal..."

Inside, Bahamut’s will burned. The water surged again, one final time. A massive wave, the largest yet, crashed toward him from all directions, but he didn’t move, resist, or block. He accepted.

The wave swallowed him whole.

Silence, then... stillness.

The core stabilized. For the first time, it stopped shifting, stopped resisting. It aligned.

Outside, the vortex froze and collapsed. All the water suspended in the air fell at once.

CRASH!

The stream surged violently before settling. Ripples spread outward and faded. Bahamut’s body slumped slightly, his breathing heavy. Blood mixed with water as it ran down his skin, but he was smiling.

A faint screen appeared.

[STATUS UPDATE]

[Affinity Changes]

Water: 100%

Silence returned to the stream. Only the sound of flowing water remained. Bahamut exhaled slowly, his head tilting slightly upward.

"Finally."

All six.

Complete.

...

The word had barely left his lips.

"...Finally."

When something moved inside him. All six cores... Reacted.

Bahamut’s eyes snapped open.

"Huh?"

He didn’t touch them or do anything to call them, but...

Light flared. Fire roared. Wind spiraled. Earth trembled. Water surged. Darkness deepened.

All at once.

His pupils shrank.

"What..."

His body suddenly froze as the cores aligned perfectly inside him and spun.

Bahamut’s body lifted, slowly at first, barely noticeable. Water dripped from his skin as his seated form rose an inch above the stream.

"What’s happening...?"

His voice came out low and uncertain. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t understand.

The six cores rotated around a single point faster and faster. A center formed. His entire consciousness trembled, his soul vibrated, and his very existence shifted.

The sky dimmed. It was subtle at first, a passing shadow over the sun, but it didn’t stop. Clouds gathered, dark and heavy, rolling across the sky like a tide of ink.

The disciples training across the sect slowed and stopped, with their heads turned upward.

"What is that?"

"Did the weather change?"

"No... this isn’t normal..."

The air thickened, charged.

Back at the stream, Bahamut had risen several meters into the air. His body was now fully suspended, his arms slightly apart, and his head tilted back. His veins glowed faintly beneath his skin. Six different hues flickering in chaotic harmony.

"I didn’t..."

His voice cut as his breath hitched. He felt a pain, deeper and more fundamental. It felt like his body was being rewritten.

The spinning accelerated beyond control. The six cores blurred into streaks of light and force as their boundaries began to blur, and their essence began to merge.

"No... wait..."

Bahamut tried to move to stop it, to understand it, but he couldn’t. This wasn’t something he could control.

This was... Ascension.

The sky darkened completely. Day turned to dusk. Then to something deeper. A low rumble echoed far away, but it was approaching. The wind picked up violent and wild. Trees bent, leaves tore free. The stream below churned violently once more, reacting to the force gathering above.

In the arena, disciples stood frozen. Even the elders were watching silent.

Elder Hakar’s eyes narrowed.

"Someone is breaking through."

Another elder inhaled sharply.

"At this level...?"

A third spoke, voice low.

"No... this isn’t just a breakthrough..."

The rumble grew louder.

BOOOOOM!

The sky split. A thunderclap exploded across the heavens, so loud it shook the very ground beneath the sect. Buildings trembled, windows rattled. The air itself seemed to crack.

And then a flash.

BLINDING.

A bolt of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating everything in stark white for a single, frozen instant.

In that instant, they saw him floating and suspended at the center of it all.

Bahamut.

Those who knew recognized it.

"...Ascension..." someone whispered.

"...Tier 2..."

Bahamut’s body arched slightly as the power within him surged violently. Inside, the six cores collapsed inward.

Toward that singular point. Toward creation. Toward something new.

And Bahamut could only endure, as his very being crossed the line, from mortal foundation to something far greater.