The halls of Arcane Academy teemed with life—laughter echoing through corridors, elemental sparks flashing during duels, scholars debating incantations. Yet, for Rael Ramos, that world had narrowed to a single, unwavering purpose: mastering the Second Awakening.
The revelations from his investigation still clawed at his thoughts—the truth of the three Demon Kings, their allegiance to the Nameless God, and the realization that Eldoria teetered on the brink of a divine catastrophe. If Rael wanted to stand a chance—if he wanted to protect anyone—he needed power that could rival creation itself.
He had tasted the might of the Radiant Ascension, the Second Awakening of his bloodline. It was awe-inspiring, divine… and completely unstable. Each time he invoked it, it threatened to consume him whole.
A gift. A curse. A weapon with a wild soul.
---
The morning after his return, Headmistress Lira Moonshade summoned him to her office. Her chamber was always steeped in quiet authority, walls lined with ancient tomes, moonlight filtering through stained glass even in daylight.
"You want a place to train," she said, skipping pleasantries. Her violet eyes studied him—not the boy, but the burden he now bore.
Rael nodded, his tone restrained. "Somewhere I can lose control… without consequences."
A beat of silence passed. Then she stood.
"There is a place," she said. "Beneath this academy lies a chamber that once held relics too dangerous for the world above. Its wards still hold. No one enters. No one listens. If you fall, you fall alone."
"That's enough," he replied.
Her hand lingered on his shoulder as they stood before the hidden passage. "But be warned, Rael. That power… it shines like the sun, but it burns like it too. If you train in darkness, don't forget who you are."
Rael nodded once. "I won't."
---
The descent was silent.
Through winding stairs and forgotten gates, they arrived before a vast, ancient door of black iron. Arcane runes shimmered across its surface—glyphs that predated the academy itself. When Lira pressed her palm to the seal and whispered in tongues lost to most, the locks clicked open, one by one, until the heavy doors groaned inward.
A rush of cold, stagnant air met them.
Rael stepped inside.
The door sealed behind him with a final, deafening thud.
---
At first, the chamber felt like a tomb.
Stale air. Dust-choked silence. The only light came from his own mana, glowing dimly in his palm. But it was perfect.
He could unleash everything.
And so he did.
---
The First Week.
The first time he activated Radiant Ascension inside the sealed chamber, the result was cataclysmic.
Light erupted from his body like a solar flare, heat igniting the air. His hair turned to a luminous cascade of white-blue, and his aura burned so fiercely the chamber walls blackened with soot. Every breath shimmered with golden particles.
The transformation amplified his abilities a hundredfold. It made him godlike.
And completely unstable.
When he moved, the wind screamed. When he struck, molten craters formed on the reinforced ground. He shattered practice dummies with the gentlest nudge. Once, a single roar of frustration caused the chamber's ceiling to tremble.
Worst of all was the Time Stop.
He could halt the world for five seconds, entering a frozen realm where only he moved. It should've been his greatest advantage—but it wasn't. The moment his focus slipped, he suffered. Nausea. Disorientation. Echoes that warped his vision.
The thirty-second cooldown between uses felt like an eternity in a battlefield simulation.
So, he trained within that five-second world. He conjured traps, summoned illusory enemies, launched spells that would detonate mid-freeze. He wove between fireballs and shadow spikes, struck targets, placed runes, blinked behind foes—and misjudged, again and again.
He collapsed from mana depletion nearly every night. Scorch marks painted his skin. His body bore bruises, his hands trembled, and still he rose the next day, teeth gritted, eyes burning.
---
The Second Week.
Pain became routine.
Rael learned to balance power with control. He meditated for hours at a time, restoring mana not with rest, but with discipline. He forced himself to master micro-movements—how to strike without shattering stone, how to walk without shaking the ground.
He constructed holograms of past enemies—Sama Ja, the horned demon cloaked in chaos, and even a towering silhouette of the Nameless God. Against them, he honed both reflex and resolve.
More than once, he lost control—screaming as light exploded from within. But each outburst carved a new lesson into his bones. He studied every misstep, every overdrawn surge of power, until his aura no longer raged—it flowed.
What was once a volatile blaze had become a river of radiant force.
---
The Third Week.
Rael stood calmly now when he invoked Radiant Ascension.
No flare, no chaos—only harmony.
His long, gleaming hair drifted like a banner of light, and his sword glowed with refined solar magic. Each slash left controlled scorch marks, precise and symmetrical. His eyes glowed faintly, not from rage, but mastery.
And when he stopped time, there was no hesitation.
He moved within that suspended world like a specter—unseen, unstoppable. No longer did it disorient him. He had made that stillness his ally.
---
The Final Trial.
He stood alone in the center of the chamber.
Eyes closed. Sword drawn.
Radiant Ascension: Activated.
The chamber ignited, but this time with elegance. No explosion. Only brilliance.
Rael exhaled. Time Stop.
The world froze.
A flame paused mid-burst. Rubble hung in air like ash caught in amber. Stone spikes hovered inches from his body.
Rael moved through the frozen second like a sculptor through marble—carving his path, slashing through enemies, planting sigils, rotating behind imaginary foes. Precision. Grace. Devastation.
Then—release.
Time surged back. Everything detonated at once—sigils triggered, flames erupted, and stone burst outward.
In the eye of the storm, Rael stood motionless.
Unscathed.
---
A soft knock echoed from the iron door.
He opened it slowly, his form still aglow with inner light.
Headmistress Lira stood beyond. Her eyes widened faintly.
"You've changed," she whispered.
Rael inclined his head. "I've mastered it. Radiant Ascension is no longer a burden. It's part of me now."
Lira regarded him with a rare softness. "And what comes next?"
Rael looked past her, toward the stairwell that led back to the living world.
"Now, I prepare for war."
---
As he stepped into the sunlight, the world itself seemed dim by comparison.
But Rael Ramos no longer needed the sun to guide him.
He had become a solitary light.
And he would shine until the last of the Demon Kings fell.