Chapter 3:

Who Are You?

The Price of Freedom

The boy in the purple robe took his first step.

And vanished.

Lenkart barely had time to shift his stance before the stranger was already in front of him. A sword appeared in his hand as though it had materialized from nothing.

Even Tesi hadn’t seen the moment it appeared.

One second, the boy’s hand was empty.

The next, his fingers were wrapped around a long dark hilt, with a barely visible blade extending from it.

The weapon looked strange.

It reflected almost no light. Its outline constantly seemed to disappear, as though part of the sword existed somewhere other than here. At times, Tesi could make out a thin transparent edge.

Then he would blink—

and only empty air remained.

The boy in purple thrust forward.

Too fast.

Lenkart moved aside almost entirely on instinct.

The point missed his chest, but caught his left arm.

The fabric of his cloak split.

A thin red line appeared across the skin beneath it.

Lenkart retreated several meters and glanced at the blood.

Until now, he had been calm.

Almost relaxed.

Just like the other representatives of the main squads.

Now his expression changed.

He understood that the person standing before him was no ordinary participant.

The boy in the purple robe flashed past him, exposing his back for a single moment.

Lenkart took advantage of it immediately.

He raised one hand.

The air around the stranger trembled.

Thin golden hands began appearing one after another, floating in a circle like part of some enormous clockwork mechanism.

They turned simultaneously.

But the spell never finished.

A strange sound rolled across the arena.

It wasn’t an explosion.

It wasn’t metal striking metal.

It sounded more like a long, drawn-out crack—

as though something enormous and invisible were being slowly bent.

The golden hands disappeared.

All at once.

They didn’t shatter.

They didn’t dissolve into mana.

They simply ceased to exist.

Lenkart froze for a fraction of a second.

Did he cancel the spell?

That was probably the first thought that crossed his mind.

The boy in purple was already turning.

His sword traced a short arc.

The space in front of the blade stretched into a thin crescent-shaped cut.

It was almost invisible.

Only the sand beneath it parted as it moved, revealing its path.

Lenkart shot into the air.

The cut passed beneath his feet.

A wave of noise spread through the stands.

Tesi narrowed his eyes.

I see.

Lenkart hovered above the arena and spread his arms.

A circle began to appear over his head.

First, a thin golden line.

Then markings.

Numbers.

Hands.

The clock face rapidly expanded until it was almost as large as the entire arena.

The mana around it changed.

Even from the stands, it was possible to see the air beneath the enormous clock beginning to slow.

The boy in purple raised his head.

That same drawn-out sound came again.

Part of the clock face vanished.

Then another.

A moment later, nothing remained of the enormous spell.

Lenkart stayed suspended in the air.

But now he was looking down differently.

Fear.

Very slight.

Almost impossible to notice.

But Tesi saw it.

For someone who had relied on time magic his entire life, what was happening must have seemed completely absurd.

A heavy wave suddenly passed through the arena.

The conversations in the stands stopped.

Someone shot to their feet.

Another person clutched their chest.

Several participants standing near the exit instinctively backed away.

The air seemed to grow denser.

As though an invisible sphere had closed around the arena and told every body inside it the same thing without words.

Danger.

Tesi looked toward the boy in purple.

He still stood in the middle of the field.

Calm.

His sword lowered.

He wasn’t even looking around.

Lenkart thrust his hand forward.

Dozens of golden hands appeared around the boy.

Some above his head.

Some near the ground.

Others almost touching his body.

They all shot inward at once.

The boy didn’t move.

The air around him bent.

The hands began disappearing.

One by one.

Several at once.

Tesi watched closely.

No collision of magic.

No flash.

No normal dissipation.

Only that same strange sound—

and another part of the spell was simply gone.

What are you doing...?

Lenkart continued attacking.

Golden hands appeared from every direction.

At different angles.

With different rhythms.

Several times, he changed their trajectories while they were already moving, trying to find even one point where the stranger’s ability wouldn’t react in time.

It didn’t matter.

Every attack disappeared before reaching him.

And throughout it all, the boy in purple barely moved.

He simply watched.

And somehow, that was becoming more frightening to everyone around him than any explosion could have been.

Lenkart stopped.

For several seconds, nothing happened between them.

Then the boy in purple slowly raised his free hand.

Tesi noticed the movement first.

Not the spell itself.

The intention.

That was enough.

He vanished from where he stood.

The boy in purple made a short motion.

Tesi appeared beside Lenkart and shoved him away.

That same bending sound tore through the arena again.

Lenkart crashed into the sand.

For several moments, he simply lay there, as though he didn’t understand what had happened.

Then he looked at his right hand.

It was gone.

The hand wasn’t lying nearby.

It hadn’t been cut off.

It simply didn’t exist.

His arm ended just above the wrist so perfectly that it looked as though a hand had never been there in the first place.

Only then did blood pour from the wound.

Lenkart clenched his teeth.

A scream rolled through the stands.

Almost simultaneously, another piercing sound rang out.

Many people clutched their ears.

Several crouched down, unable to understand where the pressure was coming from.

Tesi glanced toward the edge of the arena.

The Astras were already moving.

He grabbed Lenkart by the shoulder and shifted to their position.

Several mages barely managed to catch the wounded man.

“Get him out of here.”

One of the Astras stared at Tesi for a second, as though about to ask who exactly was giving him orders.

Then he noticed Lenkart’s missing hand.

The question disappeared.

“Now!”

They carried Lenkart away immediately.

Tesi turned back toward the arena.

Everything had happened so quickly that most of the audience still didn’t fully understand what they had just seen.

Only moments ago, this had been a normal selection trial.

Now a representative of an ancient family had been severely wounded, and Astras were rising from their seats one after another.

The four participants who had entered with the boy in purple were still standing on the field.

None of them even attempted to interfere.

One had gone completely pale.

Another was slowly backing away.

The boy in purple looked only at Tesi.

Tesi returned his gaze.

This body is inconvenient.

The disguise was excellent for hiding.

Its capabilities were more than enough for an ordinary fight.

But not now.

Tesi sighed.

No choice.

His body trembled.

His white hair began changing color and length.

His facial features shifted.

His shoulders broadened.

His height increased.

The borrowed appearance peeled away layer by layer.

A few seconds later, sixteen-year-old Fati Lemoni was gone.

The real Tesi stood in his place.

A new wave of noise swept through the stands.

Several Astras froze.

Someone among the participants shouted something, but Tesi didn’t bother listening.

The boy in purple silently studied him.

Then he smiled.

“Well, well.”

He tilted his head slightly.

“In person. I’m honored.”

Tesi said nothing.

He looked toward the four participants.

They clearly didn’t belong here anymore.

The space around them trembled.

A moment later, all four disappeared from the arena and reappeared beside the exit near the Astras.

Now the field was empty.

Only two remained.

Tesi.

And the boy in the purple robe.

For several seconds, they stood opposite one another.

Tesi looked at him without any need to pretend anymore.

The stranger’s power was even easier to feel now.

But that wasn’t the important part.

The disappearing spells.

That strange sound.

The way mana behaved around him.

Something about it felt familiar.

Tesi vanished.

The sand beneath him rose only after he had already left.

A moment later, he was directly in front of the boy.

His fist was heading straight for his face.

It never reached him.

The boy was gone.

Not teleportation.

Not a portal.

Not a burst of speed.

One moment, he had been standing there.

The next—

there was nothing but empty air in front of Tesi.

Tesi stopped.

His eyes swept over the place where the boy had stood.

Nothing.

As though no one had ever been there at all.

Tesi slowly lowered his hand.

Several old memories surfaced in his mind.

I think I know who that was.

He started to turn around.

Only then did he notice how quickly the arena had emptied.

The Astras and city mages had reacted well.

People were being evacuated through every available passage.

Spatial mages were transporting entire groups at once.

Almost none of the participants remained.

Only a short while ago, the stands had been packed.

Now there were only distant voices and hurried footsteps.

Tesi looked at the marks the battle had left in the sand.

“Not bad.”

He turned toward the exit.

“Stop.”

Tesi stopped, but didn’t turn around.

He recognized the voice.

Sinilium.

For several seconds, the Fermag said nothing.

Tesi could feel his gaze on his back.

Sinilium was staring at a man who, only minutes earlier, had looked like a sixteen-year-old participant.