"The preliminary contests will select the top ten competitors from each temple and send them to the finals." Garrick Yorne’s voice was unhurried, the voice of someone who had given this briefing before and knew which parts mattered. "Everyone who advances through the preliminaries earns the right to become a formal Demon Hunt Squad participant. Your ranking in the finals will determine both your grouping and your rewards in the hunts to come."
Leo listened with the focused stillness he had learned from Kessel. The kind of attention that doesn’t move, doesn’t react, just takes everything in.
"The finals will have sixty participants. Matchups are determined by draw." Yorne paused to let that land. "Which means luck plays a genuine role. A mage who draws an assassin, or a knight who draws an assassin, are very different propositions, and both outcomes are equally possible. The sixty finalists will be fully ranked at the end, and the higher your rank, the better your rewards." Another pause. "The top three may each select one partner before the Demon Hunt Roulette begins."
Mira’s eyebrows went up. "Teacher Yorne, what is the Demon Hunt Roulette?"
Yorne’s expression shifted toward something that might have been mild pleasure at the question. "The Selection, as the name implies, identifies the young talent best suited for the Demon Hunt Squads. Each Squad consists of one powerhouse from each of the Six Great Temples, six members per team. The Roulette is how those teams are formed. We let heaven decide the composition." He folded his hands. "Once all Squads are assembled, a grand competition determines which Squad is the best of that cycle. The rewards for that distinction are considerable."
Leo’s mind had already moved ahead of the explanation. Six temples. Six members per Squad. Sixty finalists. Ten from each temple’s preliminary round. The math was simple enough. The structure behind it was less so.
He stored it and kept listening.
"Teacher Yorne." His voice was quiet and direct. "What does a Demon Hunt Squad actually do? The Selection is this elaborate. The organization behind it must be significant."
"It is." Yorne didn’t hesitate. "Demon Hunt Squads are arguably our most important offensive force against the demon races. The Alliance assigns them missions, nearly all demon-related, naturally. A strong Squad can accomplish what thousands of soldiers cannot. They can reach places armies can’t go and eliminate targets armies can’t touch." A beat. "There are currently over a hundred active Squads operating as the Alliance’s primary strike force. They have killed Demon Gods."
The tent went quiet.
Not the quiet of shock. The quiet of people recalibrating the scale of what they were being asked to be part of.
Yorne continued. "I won’t describe specific mission types. You’ll learn those if you’re chosen. But I’ll tell you something that functions as a reward for qualifying." He looked at each face in turn. "Beyond the standard abilities taught by the Six Great Temples, there exist other skills. Secret techniques. They cannot be learned by ordinary Temple members, regardless of their cultivation level. They remain sealed away from everyone except those with specific authorization." His gaze moved briefly to Leo. "*Divine Obstruction*, for example, is one such Knight Temple secret."
Leo kept his expression neutral.
"There are two ways to access these techniques," Yorne said. "The first is an Inheritance Ring, given to powerhouses who have made exceptional contributions to the Alliance. They then have the right to pass it on and teach the sealed techniques to their personal disciples." He paused. "The second is contribution exchange. When a Demon Hunt Squad completes missions, they accumulate contribution points that can be traded for items the Alliance holds in reserve, including formidable equipment, secret techniques, and more."
Leo looked, briefly, at the black ring on his hand.
An Inheritance Ring. Obviously. That was why Corvin had never worried about Leo using Divine Obstruction in front of others. The ring provided the authorization. The explanation that had always been quietly present clicked into place.
He didn’t say anything.
What he thought about was the ring itself, and how much it contained beyond what he’d already found. All the Retribution Knight skills. The Guardian Knight progression. Things his father had sealed there long before Leo was old enough to understand what he was being given.
He let the thought go. There would be time for it later.
Yorne looked at the five of them, still tired, still injured, still visibly processing everything, and smiled with the mild amusement of a man who had seen this expression many times.
"Perhaps thinking about future rewards is slightly premature," he said. "But before I finish, there is one more thing you should know. One of the major prizes for the final stage of the competition is three Spiritual Stoves."
Five voices.
One sound.
"*What?*"
The reaction was involuntary and simultaneous, and Yorne clearly expected it, because he didn’t move.
Leo had recovered faster than the others, but even he felt it: the sudden electric clarity of the words landing. Three Spiritual Stoves. Given away as prizes to the top performers in the final.
He knew better than anyone in the tent what a Spiritual Stove meant. His Lodestar Stove had saved Liora’s life, had redirected a fifth-rank demon’s killing intent, had been the invisible spine of their whole strategy against the Dark Green Dual-Bladed Demon. It ranked thirty-fourth out of thirty-six Knight-compatible Stoves. Thirty-fourth. And it had done all of that.
What the ones ranked higher could do, he couldn’t fully imagine yet.
For any vocation, a single Spiritual Stove was the difference between a capable fighter and a force of nature. Entire lives turned on them. Three being offered as prizes in one competition said a lot about how seriously the Alliance took this event.
Mira was breathing harder than she had during the fight.
Caden looked like someone had told him the sun was made of gold.
Liora’s expression had gone through three emotions in two seconds, and she’d settled on something that looked like determination.
Darius was the calmest of the four, but his grip on his knees had tightened.
"Every competitor has the same chance," Yorne said, looking around at them with something warmer than his usual composure. "But you’ll need to perform." He stood. "One more question before I go?"
"Yes." Leo straightened. "When we entered demon territory, we were cautious. We used Eagle Eye, we moved at night, we avoided obvious routes. They still found us. How?"
Yorne’s expression turned approving. The right question, asked at the right moment.
"The Demonic Shadow," he said. "A type of demon scout that can literally dissolve into a black shadow. Their concealment surpasses even the Dyke Clan’s. They are invisible to Eagle Eye and undetectable by most spiritual sensing methods. Only Priests above the fourth tier can identify them." He paused. "I’m certain a Demonic Shadow had been tracking your group from the moment you crossed the border. That’s why the response was so coordinated: Luke Clan ambush, Dyke Clan assassin, and then the Dark Green Dual-Bladed Demon in pursuit. Someone on their side was watching the whole time." He looked at Leo. "You adapted quickly. That’s worth something."
He stood.
"Rest tonight. Tomorrow morning we depart for the Temple Alliance. The grand competition awaits."
He left.
---
The tent was quiet for a moment after the door flap fell.
Then Caden lay back on the ground with the slow deliberateness of someone whose body had simply stopped cooperating.
Darius caught him by the collar before his head hit the ground. "Meditate first."
"I’m too tired to meditate."
"Then you’re too tired to compete." Leo’s voice was dry. "Combat meditation directly after a fight is when the growth sticks. Your body’s already been pushed. Push the spiritual energy while the channels are open. Sleep after."
Caden looked at him with the expression of someone who wanted to argue and had no argument.
Mira was already settling into a cross-legged position. "He’s right. If he can do it with internal organ damage, you can do it tired."
The Stone brothers looked at each other.
Then both of them sat up.
Liora moved quietly to her own space, her staff across her knees, her eyes closing without comment.
The tent went still. Five people in meditation posture, five different levels of exhaustion, one shared goal that had grown sharper in the last ten minutes.
Three Spiritual Stoves.
Leo let his breathing slow.
His internal organs still ached, a deep, persistent discomfort the Holy Mantle hadn’t fully cleared. The Dark Green Dual-Bladed Demon’s raw force had exceeded 3,500 spiritual energy units. He’d felt every one of them. Healing from this properly would take days, and he’d be competing in that condition.
He noted it, accepted it, and let his awareness sink inward.
Beside him, Veyra had coiled into a loose circle, both heads resting on her own tail. Through the Blood Contract, Leo could feel that slow, warm pulse moving through her body as she processed the magic crystal she’d swallowed.
Something was changing in there.
He didn’t know what yet.
He added it to the list of things to understand later and kept meditating.
The night passed quietly.
Morning came.
And the Temple Alliance was waiting.