The carriage rumbled along the mountain path, cutting through thick layers of early morning mist. Frost clung to the edges of the window.
Vesper sat motionless inside, eyes fixed on the glass.
He hadn't spoken since they left the estate. Neither had the driver, a silent knight bearing the crest of House von Stein. The silence suited him.
I wonder what the trial is about.
His thoughts were a mess.
The offer still echoed in his mind.
"You leave at dawn."
Why now? Why this place? The Frostgrave Hollow wasn't common knowledge, not even among the elite. And Quinn had sent him without hesitation as if the decision had already been made long before Vesper chose his sword.
That man is way more dangerous than he shows. I was hoping that if I got into the academy, I would be safe. But If it's him, he can do it.
The only way I have is getting stronger.
The road steepened. The temperature dropped rapidly. Outside, trees gave way to cliffs blanketed in endless snow.
Finally, the carriage stopped.
The driver said nothing. He merely stepped down and opened the door.
Vesper descended into the snow. His boots sank slightly into earth.
He looked ahead.
The entrance was barely visible.
An arch of jagged ice half-buried in snow, nestled between two blackened stone pillars. There was no gate, just a darkness.
The knight reached into the carriage and retrieved a small scroll, sealed in wax. Without a word, he handed it to Vesper and turned away.
The carriage left. Vesper stood alone.
That bastard…he didn't even acknowledge me.
Since Vesper didn't carry the von Stein name, most knights and elders didn't think highly of him.
After all, he wasn't Grand Duke Quinn's biological son. He had been adopted by the late duchess when he was five years old, and he didn't remember much from that time.
By royal rule, adopted children couldn't take on the family name of high-ranking nobles unless they were formally acknowledged by the royal family. Because of that, Vesper remained without the von Stein name, and because of that, even the branch families didn't respect him as one of the heirs.
The only people who were really good to him were Isolde, his older sister, and the late duchess who had died when he was ten.
With a deep sigh, Vesper opened the scroll. It was a simple authorization, his name, his affinity, and a sigil of House von Stein. At the bottom, Quinn's signature was scrawled in cold black ink.
He crushed the scroll and tucked it into his cloak. Then he turned toward the Hollow.
The moment he stepped in, the sound changed.
The howling wind outside vanished. Even the crunch of snow under his boots faded.
He'd expected tunnels. Ruins. Maybe some kind of ancient temple. But what lay beyond the arch was far stranger.
It was a field.
A vast expanse of white-blue mist covered the ground. Shattered spires of black ice jutted up like claws.
He walked forward slowly.
His Essence shivered inside him. The Primal Energy was harder to move like it resisted.
Vesper paused beside one of the ice spires. Deep within its core, he saw something.
He leaned closer.
A boy.
Frozen solid, arms outstretched in panic. His mouth agape in a scream that would never leave the ice.
Vesper stepped back.
So this will happen to me if I fail the trial. He frowned.
He kept walking. Eventually, a structure rose from the frost.
A circular platform of smooth ice, surrounded by a ring of twelve broken swords stabbed into the ground. They pulsed faintly with the same aurora that lit the dome above.
In the centre was a single pedestal, on which rested nothing.
As Father said, I should step on that.
The moment Vesper stepped onto the platform, the air rippled with an unseen pressure. The ground trembled beneath his feet. A faint crack ran through the centre of the pedestal.
Then the mist appeared.
It seeped upward from the frozen floor, blue and pale. Within seconds, it covered the field, swallowing everything.
Vesper reached for his sword, sliding it out with a quiet rasp. The silver blade shimmered faintly.
He swung lightly, releasing an arc of frost to clear his vision.
But nothing happened.
The mist swallowed the attack completely.
Is this the trial? He narrowed his eyes. Should I wait...or remove this mist?
As if in response, the air grew heavier.
The temperature dropped again. This time heavier. Vesper's breath hitched. A thin layer of frost settled along his eyelashes.
The very air felt sharp, cutting into his lungs with each breath.
Even the tips of his hair began to freeze.
Shit!
The dark stone's colour changed as a glacial layer spread across them.
Vesper's grip tightened around his sword.
The mist thickened.
It twisted and writhed, turning into three separate forms.
Vesper leapt back instinctively, putting distance between himself and whatever was coming.
The energy… it's Ice Affinity without a doubt, but…it's way more powerful and colder than mine.
As the mist solidified, three towering figures emerged.
They looked like knights.
Their forms were sculpted from pure ice. Their armor looked like it had been carved from glaciers, and helms that covered the whole face. Each wielded a colossal greatsword, nearly as tall as the knights themselves.
"The hell…?" Vesper muttered, taking another slow step back.
The knights didn't move.
They just stood, shoulder to shoulder.
Their presence was suffocating.
Two radiated the unmistakable pressure of the 2nd Cycle. The one in the middle was stronger—3rd Cycle.
He exhaled slowly. "This is going to be hard."
Vesper took a defensive stance, sliding one foot back slightly, his blade raised. His senses extended. Calling the Primal Energy from his Essence, he layered his sword with silver frost.
Then, without warning, the two side knights charged.
Vesper barely dodged in time as their blades slashed into the ice, leaving deep cuts lined with frost.
He countered instinctively, unleashing a wide arc of his own. The silver frost trailed from his blade, but the knights didn't flinch. One of them deflected the strike with the flat of its sword while the other came in from the side.
The air rang with the sound of steel clashing against enchanted ice.
The knights were extremely fast.
One knight struck from above, the blade coming down heavily. Vesper dodged with a shoulder roll, his boot slipping slightly on the frozen floor. He barely regained his balance before the second knight surged forward with a blurring speed.
"Tch—!"
He ducked under a sweeping arc and slashed low, trying to unbalance it. His sword struck its knee joint. The ice cracked, but the knight didn't even flinch.
Instead, it grabbed him.
Its frozen gauntlet wrapped around his forearm with crushing force. A wave of biting cold surged up his arm.
"Aghh..."
For a moment, his vision blurred from the sheer cold.
He gritted his teeth and flared his Primal Energy.
Ice erupted from his body, coating the knight's hand. With a roar, Vesper twisted his blade in a tight arc and severed the knight's grip just below the wrist.
The frozen limb shattered, but the knight didn't stop. It came again, this time swinging vertically.
Vesper parried high, but the force sent him skidding back. The second knight didn't let up. He charged, appearing in front of Vesper.
He raised his palm mid-slide and forced his Ice Affinity outward.
A wide spike of jagged frost burst from the ground beneath the charging knight, slamming into its torso and launching it sideways.
"Finally…" Vesper muttered, panting. "A hit."
He advanced on the first knight, who was trying to re-engage. This time, he moved faster. He struck its shoulder with a precise slash and then spun to avoid its counter.
Momentum was finally shifting.
He ducked another swing and retaliated with a sharp upward arc, slicing across its chest and freezing the fracture instantly.
The knight staggered. A follow-up strike knocked its sword from its grip. With a snarl, Vesper drove his blade into its core and pumped a sharp wave of cold Primal Energy through it.
Cracks split across the knight's torso and it shattered.
Then, just as the second knight returned, Vesper spun to deal with it—
But the third one moved.
Without warning, the central knight lifted its sword and lunged. A massive downward strike cracked the ice platform and sent a shockwave through the air.
Vesper was sent flying.
His back crashed against the cold wall, driving out the air from his lungs.
The third knight towered above the other two, its movements slower but terrifyingly precise. He was in the same Cycle as Vesper, yet the pressure he radiated was far more intense.
Vesper scrambled to his feet just in time to block the second knight's next swing. He was now flanked and outnumbered.
Shit.
The third knight joined in.
A wide horizontal slash came from the right.
He dodged—but the second knight lunged forward again. Their coordination wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be.
Their overwhelming pressure alone kept Vesper on the defensive.
Ice exploded beneath his feet.
The third knight had slammed its greatsword into the ground. A surge of freezing energy rippled out, coating the platform in slick frost.
Vesper froze. What?
One knight slammed him in the side with the flat of its blade.
Pain shot through his ribs.
He rolled, breath ragged. His fingers trembled from the sheer cold.
Think, damn it. You're not beating them with brute force.
He slid back and flared his Ice Affinity again.
A wall of frost surged upward between him and the third knight.
The knight didn't stop, but Vesper was already moving.
He ducked under the blade of the knight and sent a concentrated spike of Energy through the ice beneath it.
They exploded upward, pinning the knight's foot to the ground.
The third knight broke through the frost wall like it was nothing.
Vesper twisted around and let his Primal Energy explode outward, forming a series of jagged spears mid-air.
He gritted his teeth and poured everything into the spears. The ice flared brighter, crackling with sharp tendrils of frost as he hurled them with all the force he could muster.
The first spear shattered against the knight's raised arm,but the second pierced.
With a sound like splintering glass, it pierced clean through the frozen visor of the second knight. A pulse of energy rippled through its body before the entire figure exploded, making the ground shake.
Panting heavily, Vesper smiled. "One more to go…"