*Knock. Knock. Knock.*
"Little brother, we’re leaving! Are you even dressed yet?"
Mira’s fist hit the door with zero patience and approximately twice the force it needed.
Leo opened it.
Mira went quiet for exactly two seconds.
Which, for Mira, was basically a record.
He was wearing a white warrior’s outfit — clean, sharp, fitted like it had been made with someone’s exact measurements in mind (because it had been). A silver dragon wound its way along both sides of the fabric and curled at the collar, catching the light when he moved. His long black hair fell loose over his shoulders. The gemstone set into his belt clasp pulsed faintly with holy energy, like a small, steady heartbeat.
His gold eyes looked back at her with mild confusion.
Mira opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"I take back every complaint about dragging you shopping."
Leo tugged at the collar, already uncomfortable. "Sister, did you really need to go this formal? I’m not used to—"
"White is your color." Mira pointed at him with absolute authority. "You’re a hundred percent stunning. Accept it and stop fighting it."
From behind Leo’s legs, two heads poked out at ankle height.
Veyra blinked her red and gold eyes up at Mira, sniffed the air once, then turned and nuzzled both snouts against Leo’s ankles with a soft *wuu-wuu*.
Leo crouched immediately, hands going to both heads at once. "Not tonight," he said, in the gentle-but-firm voice he reserved for when Veyra was about to be stubborn. "Guard duty. I’ll bring back dried fish on the way home — the five-spice kind."
Both heads snapped upright.
The red eyes went wide. The golden eyes went *wider.*
Veyra’s thick tail began wagging so hard it smacked the doorframe. Once. Twice.
Leo laughed — quiet, genuine — and pressed his palms against both foreheads for a moment. "Good girl. Back inside."
Veyra turned with surprising dignity, nudged the door shut behind her with the tip of her tail, and disappeared.
Mira stared at the closed door. "I’m slightly jealous of a two-headed lizard," she announced. "That’s where I am in life now."
---
The evening streets of Moonhaven City were cool and comfortable, the sky fading from orange to deep blue at the edges. Leo and Mira walked side by side, their footsteps easy.
After a while, Leo asked, "Sister, why exactly are we being summoned? Your father doesn’t usually call us both for dinner without a reason."
"The Demon Hunt Selection Competition starts soon," Mira said. "We’re being called so that the city’s important people can make speeches at us." She paused. "Possibly more than one speech. It’s a pre-mission tradition."
Leo processed this. "All five of them?"
"All five of them."
He thought about that for a moment. Moonhaven City wasn’t the largest city in the Alliance — it had branch halls from only three of the six Great Temples — but the five people who ran it handled everything between them. The Chief Minister managed military affairs. The City Consul handled administration. And the three Hall Masters kept their respective temples’ business in line.
For all five of them to sit down together over dinner for the sake of five young fighters meant this was more than a polite send-off.
They arrived at the Office Hall, climbed to the third floor, and were met by a staff member who led them to a reception room where the table was already set and nearly every seat was filled.
Leo scanned the room.
He recognized Rowan Voss first — hard to miss, loud laugh already starting somewhere behind his cup. He recognized Liora Frostvane — silver-white hair, pale blue eyes, sitting very still at her end of the table. Their gazes crossed for one instant. Both of them looked away at exactly the same moment, in exactly opposite directions.
Two other faces were new. Both young, both broad-shouldered, with the kind of solid build that said *years of hard training* rather than *recent growth spurt.* The older one caught Mira’s eye and stood politely.
"Big Sister Mira." His voice was steady and direct. "I’m Darius. Darius Stone."
The younger one grinned without any self-consciousness. "Caden Stone. His little brother."
Leo returned their nods. There was nothing complicated in the way they looked at him — no calculation, no rivalry, just straightforward curiosity. He decided immediately that he liked them.
At the head of the table sat a man carved from authority itself — sharp jaw, harder eyes, the posture of someone who hadn’t needed to raise his voice in a very long time. He spotted Mira the moment she stepped in.
"Mira." Flat. Measured. "We have guests."
Mira turned to the table with a model-daughter smile and bowed. "Uncle Elric, Uncle Rowan, Hall Master Baric, Hall Master Harven — good evening." Then, under her breath, only to Leo: "Witness how graceful I can be when I choose."
Leo kept his expression perfectly neutral.
He bowed to the table a half-step behind her, quietly and with genuine respect. "Good evening, everyone."
Two seats had been left open. Their seats.
---
The food was excellent, and the table relaxed into something almost easy.
*Almost.*
Darius and Caden Stone approached dinner the way they probably approached combat — with complete, undivided focus and no wasted movement. Dish after dish vanished. Even Mira, who had a reputation in Moonhaven Hall for eating her weight in anything fried, couldn’t quite match the pace.
Leo watched this with quiet amusement and said nothing. He was building a mental picture of his future teammates as the evening went on. Rowan Voss: cheerful, a little theatrical, genuinely warm underneath. Elric Frostvane: careful, economical, the kind of man who said exactly what he meant and nothing more. Hall Master Baric had a scholar’s stillness. Hall Master Harven watched his two students eat with the pride of a man who expected great things from them.
And Liora Frostvane sat with her tea, mostly quiet.
Twice, Leo glanced her way.
Both times, she was already looking at him.
Both times, they both looked away.
---
When the food slowed and the table settled into that comfortable after-dinner stillness, Aldros Vale set down his cup.
The room went quiet without being asked.
"The Demon Hunt Selection Competition begins soon," he said, the warmth of the meal replaced by something steadier. "The five of you are Moonhaven City’s chosen representatives. This dinner exists to send you off properly — and to make sure you understand what you’re walking into."
Leo put down his chopsticks.
Elric Frostvane continued from there. "The Demon Hunt is six thousand years old. It wasn’t invented as a competition. It was born out of desperation — when the Ashmaw Horde and the demon races nearly erased humanity from this world. The Alliance has held its borders for two thousand years. The Demon Hunt is part of why." He looked at each of them in turn. "Every enemy you kill out there is a contribution to something larger than this city."
Hall Master Harven nodded at the Stone brothers. "Darius. Caden."
They rose together.
"Darius turns twenty-four this year — just under the age limit. Fourth-tier War Grandmaster. Shield specialist. Defensive, disciplined, and reliable under pressure."
Aldros Vale’s eyebrows went up with clear appreciation.
"Caden is two years younger. Berserker. Attack specialist." Harven’s voice warmed further. "They complement each other completely."
Hall Master Baric smiled across toward Liora. "Liora needs little introduction. Twenty-one, fourth-tier Grand Mage, ice-binding specialist. She’s been one of our Mage Temple’s standouts for years."
Elric Frostvane kept his expression neutral. His eyes, however, did something involuntary and proud.
Then Aldros Vale looked toward Mira and said — with unmistakable paternal affection — "And Liora will certainly become one of Moonhaven’s future pillars."
Mira’s chopsticks clinked against her plate.
"Father," she said, pleasantly, "please stop using someone else to talk down to your own daughter. Your daughter is a third-tier Grand Knight at three months younger, just so the table is aware."
Aldros Vale fixed her with a look.
Mira returned it serenely.
Elric Frostvane laughed under his breath. "You two. Even now." He shook his head. "Listen — in the Selection, you’ll need to work together. What matters out there isn’t who has the better record in this city. It’s whether you come back."
Mira and Liora both looked at each other.
Then both turned their heads in exactly opposite directions, with exactly the same force, at exactly the same time.
The table made a collective sound that wasn’t quite a sigh.
Rowan Voss, who had been grinning quietly for several minutes, finally leaned forward. "Mira’s specialty is Retribution Knight — everyone knows that. As for Leo—" He paused, clearly relishing it. "I’ll keep his cultivation level confidential for now. What I can share is his age." Another beat. "He’ll be fourteen this year. Guardian Knight specialization."
Silence.
"Fourteen?" Hall Master Baric said it first, soft and careful, like someone checking a number they’d misheard.
Elric Frostvane’s expression sharpened. "Hall Master Voss. The Selection requires each participant to personally eliminate five demon soldiers to qualify. You’re proposing we send a fourteen-year-old into demon territory?"
Rowan didn’t blink. "His master is Chief Instructor Kessel. The Iron Wall. You all know exactly what that man is. He doesn’t exaggerate, and he has never once put a student somewhere they couldn’t handle. He personally assessed Leo and cleared him." He spread his hands. "Our Knight Temple doesn’t gamble with prodigies."
Elric Frostvane’s brow stayed tight. He looked around the table — measuring, calculating.
Hall Master Baric spoke carefully. "Even so. If this boy falls behind, the group is at risk. All of them."
"He won’t fall behind." Rowan said it simply, with the confidence of someone who had already run the numbers in his head and liked the answer. "I’ll put it plainly: Leo Ashford will reach the finals of this Selection and bring glory to every one of the Great Temples."
The kind of statement that left no room for argument.
The table sat with it.
Then Liora Frostvane set down her teacup.
"Father. Uncles." Her pale eyes moved to Leo — not a glance this time, a real look, steady and direct. "I’ve fought Leo before. I believe what Hall Master Voss is saying. He’s strong."
Mira shifted her chair half an inch closer to Leo’s side.
Leo kept his expression perfectly calm.
Inside, he heard Kessel’s voice, clear as the morning he’d said it: *Don’t reveal your level before the Selection. Not in passing. Not if someone asks. Not for any reason.*
He folded his hands on the table and waited.
Aldros Vale nodded, satisfied. "I’ve heard from Mira as well. I believe he belongs in this group." He lifted his cup. "All five of you represent this hall and this city. We’re sending you off well. Come back the same way."
The five leaders rose and raised their cups.
The five young fighters rose and bowed.
The tea was warm. The night outside the windows was quiet and dark.
And somewhere beyond Moonhaven City’s walls, demon territory was already waiting for morning.