Primordial Heir: Nine Stars

Inside one of Glory Academy’s specialized combat simulation chambers, a massive door groaned open, gears clicking into place. A long, dim corridor led into the core of the room where glowing arcane runes floated above the metal floor. A mechanical voice echoed softly, emotionless and ancient:

”Welcome, Blake Raven. Please select difficulty.”

Four modes illuminated on a floating screen — Easy, Normal, Hard, Hell.

Blake didn’t even flinch.

He scratched the back of his head, his jet-black hair falling messily over his forehead. A heavy yawn escaped his lips, and he rolled his purple eyes lazily at the choices.

”...Tch. Normal’s fine. I don’t feel like sweating today.”

With a single press, the room began to shift. Stone walls folded outward to reveal a large circular arena. Black energy sparked in the corners as ten golems spawned, each over two meters tall — five built like knights clad in enchanted armor, wielding large halberds or greatswords, while the other five floated with arcane runes circling their cores — mage-type golems, pulsing with prana.

”Mode: Normal. Enemy count: 10. Beginning combat trial in 5... 4...”

Blake slowly raised a single gloved hand, unfurling his fingers like a conductor preparing an orchestra.

”3... 2... 1... Engage.”

The room boomed.

The knight-type golems launched first, their feet cracking the tiles beneath them as they charged. The mage-type golems hovered behind, casting chains of lightning and summoning shards of ice to rain down.

Blake remained still, standing casually with one hand in his pocket, watching the incoming assault with a neutral expression.

”...Annoying.”

He lifted his right hand.

A circle of dark prana energy formed behind him. From it, shadows slithered out — twisting like smoke before solidifying into skeletal warriors. Each skeleton was cloaked in torn black robes, their bones etched with cursed glyphs. Some carried warped scythes. Others brandished long jagged blades. They didn’t make a sound. No screams, no roars — only silence and death.

”Command: Eliminate.”

With that one word, the skeletons surged forward, their movements fluid and inhumanly fast.

Two knight golems swung their massive swords downward to crush them—only for their blades to meet empty air. The skeletons melted into shadow, reappearing behind them, cleaving through their armor with cursed steel.

BOOM!

The knight golems exploded into fragments.

”Four seconds,” Blake muttered, disinterested. ”Too slow.”

The mage-type golems unleashed prana bolts, weaving deadly matrices in the air. One cast a meteor spell, invoking a crimson orb that descended like a comet.

Blake sighed.

He flicked his finger. A black magic circle bloomed beneath his feet. His body disappeared in a flash of darkness, reappearing behind the mages mid-air.

”Die.”

He extended his palm — a spear of pure darkness materialized, spiraling with destructive energy. With a lazy throw, it pierced through three mage golems in a single line.

CRACK!

Their floating cores shattered with a burst of arcane lightning.

The remaining knight golems grouped up and entered a defensive formation. Their armor glowed with reinforcement spells, boosting their defense.

Blake glanced at them as if staring at insects beneath him.

”...I’ll try something new.”

He reached into the air and began to weave his fingers in complex patterns. Dozens of black threads of mana followed his gestures, forming an enormous sigil in the air.

”Obsidian Swarm.”

The entire chamber dimmed. A vortex of black butterflies, each the size of a dagger, burst from the sigil and flew with impossible speed toward the golems.

At first, they simply fluttered past them.

Then... the golems staggered.

Where the butterflies touched, bits of armor began to corrode and melt. The magic reinforcement failed. One golem raised its sword to swing—

SHRRAAK!

Hundreds of butterflies swarmed its body, slicing into it like a rain of cursed blades.

In less than ten seconds, the final five golems were reduced to piles of scorched metal and shattered mana cores.

”Trial Cleared. Time: 1 minute 32 seconds.”

’’Huff!”

Blake exhaled slowly, brushing a bit of sweat off his brow.

”That was a little bit of a workout.”

He looked up at the hovering menu again.

”Would you like to proceed to the next level?”

”...Hard mode, huh?”

For a moment, he hesitated. His lazy façade cracked just a little.

Then he grinned, shadows curling around his feet like living smoke.

”Sure. Let’s see if that gets my blood pumping.”

[Hard Mode – Initiated]

The arena began to shift.

Walls rearranged themselves. The floor cracked open, releasing waves of pressure as a purple fog rolled in. The gravity increased slightly, and the temperature dropped.

Then they arrived.

Twenty golems.

Ten were knights — now double the size of the previous ones, wearing demonic-style armor with spiked helmets and glowing crimson cores.

The other ten were elite mages — floating silently, their heads wreathed in elemental halos. Fire, lightning, gravity magic hummed in their cores.

They radiated killing intent.

Blake’s grin faded.

”...Okay. That’s more like it.”

Before he could even speak, the mage golems fired.

A gravity spell warped the space around him. Lightning surged in from the left, and a firestorm exploded beneath his feet. The ground shattered.

BOOM!

When the smoke cleared, Blake was standing inside a barrier made from spinning shadows — like a sphere of writhing darkness that devoured the incoming spells.

He clicked his tongue.

”Ganging up already? Tsk. Fine.”

He slammed his foot into the ground. A massive black sigil bloomed across the entire arena floor.

”Forbidden Field: Domain of Hollow Kings.”

The room darkened.

Giant skeletal thrones emerged from the shadows, and seated upon them were monstrous undead warriors — warlords from ancient times, summoned by Blake’s will. Unlike the smaller skeletons from before, these creatures were ten feet tall, clad in spectral armor, and wielding weapons made from cursed stars.

The thrones exploded as the Hollow Kings charged.

One knight golem rushed Blake directly — a tower shield raised.

Blake stepped aside, grabbed its arm — and crushed it with shadow-forged tendrils.

”Break.”

He pointed at its core — a jet-black spike formed mid-air and impaled it.

Meanwhile, his Hollow Kings were overwhelming the mage golems with coordinated strikes. One unleashed a Cursed Gravity Blade that cleaved space, collapsing three mages into a singularity.

Another Hollow King cast Eternal Dread, a spell that made the golems seize in fear, freezing their movements long enough to be cut down.

The enemy began adapting.

One mage golem counter-cast Wind Haste, rapidly accelerating its movements and bombarding Blake directly.

A storm of time-distorted prana bolts rained down.

Blake leapt backward, twirling mid-air.

”Too fast for the Hollow Kings... but not for me.”

He activated his personal technique:

”Shadow Clone: Raven Split.”

His body divided into three.

Two clones rushed forward, deflecting spells while the real Blake leapt high into the air, conjuring a massive shadow scythe.

”Die with the setting sun.”

He hurled the scythe — a spinning crescent of darkness that decapitated the last three mage golems in a single arc.

”Trial Cleared. Time: 3 minutes 41 seconds.”

The floor was littered with scorched stone, shattered cores, and melted armor.

Blake stood at the center, surrounded by his Hollow Kings who began vanishing, returning to the void.

He dropped to a knee, panting slightly.

”...Hard mode, huh? It wasn’t easy but,”

The simulation room was silent again. The glow of shattered cores had faded. The scorched arena still smoked with the aftermath of Hard Mode’s destruction. Yet the air felt... heavy, ominous.

The glowing menu hovered before him, still displaying the final trial.

”Would you like to proceed to the next level: Hell Mode?”

Blake Raven stood alone.

He stretched slowly, a faint groan leaving his lips. The black robes family hung loosely on Blake’s lean frame, fluttering slightly as the room’s prana fluctuated. His purple eyes, usually dull with laziness, were now alert. Focused.

”...Okay,” he said, voice calm but resolute.

”I’ll give it a try.”

He tapped the menu.

The entire room shook.

A low mechanical growl erupted from beneath the floor, followed by the grinding of dozens of metal gears. Walls began collapsing, folding outward like the maw of a beast opening wide. Strange black flames danced along the runes etched into the walls, and the temperature dropped dramatically.

”HELL MODE: ACTIVATED.”

”WARNING: Survival Rate – 2%.”

Blake raised an eyebrow at the system’s warning.

”Huh. Only 2%?”

He smirked.

”Sounds fun.”

The environment changed completely.

No longer just an arena, the room transformed into a vast black wasteland. Dead trees formed from obsidian. The sky overhead was a simulated blood-red vortex that churned like a living entity. In the center of this domain stood a massive platform, cracked and covered in arcane veins.

And from the shadows, they began to emerge.

Not ten.

Not twenty.

Fifty golems.

Towering beings of nightmare — over three meters tall, some shaped like beasts, others like armored kings. Their bodies were forged from cursed obsidian, their cores pulsing violently with unstable mana. Some of them possessed wings, others had multiple limbs, and a few were even fused with ancient relics.

They weren’t mindless constructs. Their eyes glowed with intelligence. Hunger.

Blake’s smirk faded.

”...Okay. That’s a bit much.”

The first wave struck like lightning.

Three golems vanished — teleportation magic. They reappeared directly above Blake and dropped like meteors. The entire platform shook as their weapons came crashing down.

Blake barely had time to react.

BOOM!

The impact cratered the ground.

Blake reappeared a few meters away, cloak torn at the shoulder.

”Fast. And coordinated.”

He extended both hands.

”Dark Summon: Hollow Kings — Rise!”

The Hollow Kings returned, five of them this time, but the moment they appeared, two of the golems cast anti-summon sigils mid-air.

The Kings froze — then shattered into fragments of shadow.

Blake’s eyes widened slightly.

”...They counter summoned creatures?”

He stepped back, then summoned his dark scythe and braced.

The second wave charged. These ones were faster, more brutal.

One golem let out a distorted roar and swung a flaming chain.

CLANG!

The chain wrapped around Blake’s leg mid-air, pulling him into a flurry of elemental strikes from three directions.

A jagged sword slashed across his side. A hammer cracked into his ribs.

CRACK!

He coughed blood, shadow armor shattering around his body. Rolling to the side, he flicked his fingers, conjuring dozens of black spikes that launched toward the attackers.

But they evaporated mid-flight — intercepted by a defense spell cast by the rear golems.

”Tch...”

Blake leapt back, panting. His ribs throbbed. Blood stained his side.

”Domain of Hollow Kings.”

He tried to cast it again — but a sealing sigil appeared beneath him.

”Nullification Field Active. Domain-class spells suppressed.”

”What?”

His eyes narrowed.

The Hell Mode golems had artificial intelligence. They adapted. They sealed. They countered. Some even supported others with buffs and heals.

Ten minutes passed.

Blake had destroyed only seven of the fifty golems.

But his left arm now hung uselessly by his side, bruised and burned. One eye was swollen shut. Blood dripped from his mouth and his knee shook under the pressure.

The golems didn’t stop. Their formation changed again, positioning themselves to box him in.

Behind him, three mage-class golems floated. They began channeling a massive spell — a collapsing singularity made of fire, void, and lightning.

In front, the melee-type golems advanced in a pincer formation.

The room darkened. The vortex above pulsed violently.

Blake stood in the middle of it all — his shadow broken, body burned, mana unstable.

But he was still smiling.

”...This is... intense.”

He staggered to his feet.

”...But I think I’ve had enough.”

He raised his hand.

”System. Terminate simulation.”

”Are you sure you wish to forfeit the Hell Mode Trial?”

”...Yeah. For now’’