The instant Ery's eyes t those of the Stellar Beast Emperor, he felt his breathing grow heavier, as though the air within the vast stone hall had subtly thickened.
Why now?
Why would the Star Devouring Beast stir at this precise mont?
The Beast Emperor did not speak. He simply observed, his gaze vast and imasurable.
One by one, the Supres who had escorted Ery took their seats along the sides of the hall. Alduin settled calmly, collected as ever. Blood Sea leaned back with asured indifference. Fenghuang folded her hands gracefully upon her lap. Dawnstone lowered his massive crystalline fra onto a reinforced platform, the stone beneath him bearing the weight without cracking. The dragon hybrid Supre stepped forward.
In his hand appeared a crystalline prism filled with shifting lines of light. Without preamble, he began to speak.
"You are Ery Ambrose of the Earth faction. Born in a lower-realm world. Selected into the Magus Academy and graduated in year 25,053 BH. Privileged class, honors distinction, third overall ranking."
Ery remained silent.
The recitation continued.
"Recipient of the dal of Distinguished Valor during your first mission. Recognized for rescuing captured Academy students. Significant contributor to the Silvermane Alpha Wolf incident."
The hybrid Supre did not rush. He detailed Ery's appointnt as Academy instructor, emphasizing his leadership of the half-blood class. He recounted his role in the Serpent bloodline crisis, the Karat internal conflict, the Tartarus expedition, and finally his clashes with the Astiel faction. Every achievent.
Every deviation from the ordinary.
The reading lasted nearly half an hour. No one interrupted. The silence of the hall magnified the weight of each accomplishnt.
When the crystal dimd, the dragon hybrid closed his hand around it.
"For soone not yet a century old, you have been exceptionally active," he concluded. "You have reached the Second Cosmos Realm. You have influenced multiple bloodlines and political fronts. Have you been inford why you were summoned?"
Ery inclined his head respectfully. "No, Elder"
The hybrid glanced toward Alduin.
The Zodiac King spoke evenly.
"You are called here because you have been recomnded for selection as one of the Beast Union's top geniuses"
He proceeded without embellishnt. Every a decade or so, the Beast Union- an alliance ford between half-blood and hybrid bloodlines-selected a small number of exceptional individuals for special nurturing and protection. Those chosen would receive resources, guidance, and political backing far beyond what ordinary grand magus could access..
The purpose was clear: to ensure that half-bloods and hybrids remained competitive with the dominant human factions and, in ti, to cultivate future Supre figures.
Ery grasped the underlying reality almost imdiately. The tension between human cultivators and beast-lineage bloodlines had never truly disappeared. The Magus Alliance was formally unified, yet power distribution told a different story. The four Supre Gods who stood at the top of the Alliance hierarchy were all human. Among the twenty-four Supre Emperors, only two were half-blood and two were hybrid. Even worse, the total number of beast-lineage Supres compared to humans stood at roughly one to ten.
Such imbalance could not correct itself naturally.
The Beast Union existed precisely to counter that trajectory.
Without structured cultivation and protection of exceptional bloodline talents, the gap would only widen further. Over ti, influence would shift irreversibly. Alduin concluded, "Now that sufficient representatives of half-blood and hybrid Supres are present, we may begin the evaluation."
Evaluation.
The word echoed in Ery's mind.
Although he knew little about Beast Union politics and its internal selection chanisms, he was not stupid. Alduin must have been the one who put his na forward. That alone ant the Zodiac King believed the opportunity would benefit him.
The advantages were obvious. Recognition, protection, access to legacies, perhaps even direct ntorship under a Supre. The long-term value of such backing could not be overstated.
And yet-
He could not ignore the unease creeping into his thoughts.
He had not been inford beforehand.
No preparation.
Now he stood before multiple Supres, and a "test" was about to begin.
Blood Sea was the first to break the silence.
"He has already completed the fifth level of the Cosmic Bridge," the pale Supre uttered evenly. "Considering his age and his record of contributions, is another test truly necessary? We need not waste ti. Let the young man
pass."
His tone was not dismissive, but pragmatic.
Fenghuang, the Blazing Phoenix, offered no objection. Her silence carried
weight; she neither opposed nor insisted.
Dawnstone shifted his massive crystalline fra slightly and added his own support. "What he has accomplished at the Academy would already earn my vote"
For a brief mont, it seed the matter might conclude there.
The dragon hybrid, however, stepped forward, irritation flickering across his
scaled features.
"No," he said firmly. "A test is necessary."
The hall quieted once more.
Then the Stellar Beast Emperor spoke.
One word.
"Blood."
It was not loud. It was not emphasized. Yet it ended the debate instantly. Alduin began to lift his hand, intending to conduct the test himself, but the
dragon hybrid stopped him.
"I will perform it."
With a subtle flick of his finger, a droplet of blood separated from his fingertip
and rose into the air. It hovered steadily between them, glowing faintly with draconic essence.
Even in its suspended state, the power contained within that single drop was imnse. Ery could feel the intense vitality radiating from it, condensed and
pure.
It was not jus a drop of blood, its the supre blood essence.
The instructions were simple.
Ery was to release a drop of his own blood essence and allow it to confront
the Supre's. If his blood could endure one hundred seconds without disintegration, he would pass the test.
For half-blood cultivators, blood potency was the most fundantal asure. Techniques could deceive. Realms could fluctuate. But bloodline strength could not be falsified. This was the most direct evaluation possible.
Ery felt no reason to refuse. If anything, curiosity stirred within him.
He extended his finger calmly.
A dark droplet ford, swirling faintly with his life essence before lifting into
the air to et the dragon hybrid's blood.
The mont the two droplets touched, turbulence erupted.
Ery's blood flickered violently, rippling under the imnse pressure of
draconic supremacy.
Ten seconds passed.
Twenty.
The surrounding air humd softly as the two essences collided.
At forty seconds, the turbulence intensified. Ery's droplet trembled, its surface distorting as though compressed by invisible force.
Fifty seconds.
Despite the violent reaction, his blood remained intact.
Blood Sea's eyes narrowed faintly. "Against pure draconic blood... one minute
would already secure my vote."
Seventy seconds.
Eighty.
Alduin watched calmly, his expression unchanged.
One hundred seconds passed.
No one intervened.
One hundred twenty seconds.
One hundred fifty.
By the ti three minutes approached, the expressions within the hall subtly
shifted. Even Dawnstone leaned forward slightly, interest replacing casual
approval.
Two hundred seconds passed.
Then the Stellar Beast Emperor moved.
With a gentle flick of his finger, the dragon hybrid's droplet shattered into mist.
In its place, a darker drop appeared.
The Emperor's blood.
The difference was imdiate. The aura it emitted was deeper, denser,
carrying a gravitational quality that seed to tug at the air itself.
The mont it made contact with Ery's blood, the reaction escalated
violently.
Not ten seconds passed before fractures ford across Ery's droplet. Under
the weight of the Emperor's essence, it could not hold.
It shattered.
Silence followed.
The Emperor regarded the dissipating fragnts calmly.
Then, unexpectedly, a faint smile appeared on his face.
"He passes." The decision was final.
Then ca an unusual request "Leave us. I would like so privacy with him."
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