Gilded Ashes-Chapter 31: Welcome to the Lotus

The arena didn’t pretend to be fair. It pretended to be unforgettable.

For the first time in too long, Raizen could see the sky.

Not a clean sky - Neoshima never had one - but it was real. Thick clouds, gray layers, and a thin wash of sunlight leaking through. He hadn’t noticed how much he missed it until it was above again.

The Underworks had a ceiling too, technically. You just couldn’t see it. Down there, "up" didn’t mean anything except for the Tangle.

Up here, it did.

The arena was packed.

Rows of seats climbed in rings around the bowl, full on every level. Students in matching jackets leaned over rails. Old people sat like judges with thermoses and folded arms. Vendors moved through the aisles with trays and loud voices, selling snacks like this was a festival instead of an exam.

Drones floated above everything, lenses blinking as they filmed faces and pushed them onto the giant screens. The crowd was a living noise - gossip, laughter, arguments, cheers - all stacked together.

It wasn’t serious yet.

Not until the gates opened.

Raizen stood in the candidate line behind a row of metal bars. His exam suit fit close, dark, with thin cables running through it. Everything converged at a small node near his spine. He could feel it, faintly, like a quiet pulse.

He brushed two fingers along the hilt at his hip. Habit. Nerves too, but controlled.

Beyond the bars, the arena waited. It wasn’t a smooth floor, though. It was a broken district built inside the bowl - leaning buildings, collapsed stairs, tilted towers. Narrow bridges and cables hung between structures like someone had tried to sow a city.

There were lanes.

Left side had low ceilings and tight alleys. Straight ahead looked more open, with stacked cover and long sightlines. Right side went vertical - ropes, half-broken platforms, big drops. A place where one slip could ruin everything. It looked like the Tangle, if the Tangle had been rebuilt by someone who wanted to watch people struggle.

Raizen kept his eyes moving, slow and calm. He wasn’t memorizing every detail. He was just trying to take in the problem.

To his left, a boy planted his feet too wide and lifted his chin too high, trying to look confident. He adjusted his grip like his weapon might run away.

To Raizen’s right, a girl checked her glowing Luminite mace again and again, then laughed to herself like she’d already won. She looked excited. She also looked like she might get too reckless.

Farther down the line, two friends whispered about splitting up, then changed their minds at the same time.

And at the far end of the row, Hikari stood quiet.

Hair tied back. Face calm. Weapon shiny. Her posture didn’t scream for attention, but it didn’t shrink either. A drone drifted toward her, floated close, caught her eyes, and backed off.

Raizen didn’t stare. He just noted her position.

He didn’t need to see her to know she was ready.

The speakers overhead coughed. One squealed. Another clicked, then steadied.

Then the host’s voice slammed into the arena.

"GOOD MORNING, NEOSHIMAA!"

The crowd roared back like it had been waiting for permission.

"Allow me to be your host" the voice continued, cheerful and loud, "your favorite uncle, your least favorite reality check, and your official warning that if I mispronounce your name today, you can laugh. If I butcher it completely, you’re welcome. Free character development, if you ask me."

Laughter rolled through the seats.

Raizen didn’t react. A calm face made it harder for the arena to get inside his head.

"Now!" the host continued. "Ground rules. You’re wearing special suits. They monitor your vitals, your movement, and a few other things that only make our technicians feel important."

A screen above the gates lit up with a clean suit diagram. Red bands highlighted joints. The spine node flashed. Then it cut to clips from past some simulations - candidates freezing mid-fall as their suits locked, before they hit something hard.

A caption popped up in bold letters:

YOU MAY FAIL AND STILL GO HOME. ALIVE.

A small heart blinked at the end like it was trying to be cute.

"Listen carefully" the host said. "If your vitals cross the red line, the suit locks and you get pulled out of the arena. Disqualified, not dead. Also, don’t fight the suit. It has a better lawyer than you."

The crowd laughed again. Some candidates didn’t.

Raizen felt the node on his back buzz faintly, like it agreed.

"In the arena today" the host continued, "you’ll meet Class One and Class Two Nyxes. Yes, real Nyxes. It was a pain to obtain them, No, you may not pet them. No, you may not try to tame them. Yes, I have to say this because someone actually tried."

The crowd booed and cheered at the same time.

Raizen kept his eyes on the course. He watched a shadow shift in a gap between two tilted walls. It didn’t move like a person. It didn’t move like an animal either. It moved like something that didn’t care about being seen. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Class One.

Weak, but wrong.

"Class One are called Shades" the host said. "Fast, thin, creepy little things. They like corners, jumping at ankles and surprising you. Class Two are Reavers: Bigger. Meaner. Still beginner-level compared to the nightmares out there, but don’t let that make you lower your guard."

That last line landed heavier than the jokes.

The crowd was loud, but quieter now. People still laughed, still shouted, but the tone shifted. Everyone remembered what this was.

Raizen inhaled slowly.

The Nyxes weren’t the biggest danger today.

The biggest danger was panic. Bad choices. Overconfidence.

And the fact that the whole city loved watching people fail.

"Scoring is simple" the host said, almost happy about it. "Destroy or kill as many Nyxes as you can. We track contribution down to decimals. If your friend cuts both legs and you take the head, we know who did more. If you "accidentally" steal a kill, we know that too."

The main screens split into score grids. Names appeared with zeroes beside them. Every zero looked temporary.

"Support earns points" the host added. "Real support. Combat aid. Space control. Clean setups. You may work together. You may also choose chaos and go alone. Just remember - if you get eliminated, nobody cares about your cool plan anymore."

Raizen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

That was the truth, hidden in jokes.

He didn’t need to be the best show.

He needed to pass.

He needed to enter the Academy.

That thought sat solid in his chest. Heavy, but steady. Not revenge. Not rage.

Win.

"That gate is not a gift" Kori’s voice echoed in his memory. "It’s a door you earn."

Raizen let that settle. He’d earned it. Now he just had to prove it in front of everyone.

A staff walked down the line, stopping at each candidate. "When I tell you, palms on the bar. If your hand isn’t there when it should open, it doesn’t open for you."

Raizen stepped up when the line moved and placed his palm on the cold metal.

A buzz ran through his suit and gathered at the spine node. The suit recognized him. Logged him. Measured him.

"Lanes!" the host shouted. "You’ve got choices. Left lane - tight corners, low ceilings, close-quarter fights. Center - open space, almost no cover, long routes. Right lane - bridges, ropes, drops. Vertical trouble for weird guys. Seriously! I don’t even know how you could even pick that. So choose a lane that matches what you are, or pick a lane that punishes what you are. Both are educational."

Raizen studied the lanes again.

Left side was tempting. Tight spaces meant fewer angles for enemies to swarm. It also meant fewer angles for him to escape if he somehow got pinned, but he was alright with that.

Center lane offered room to move, room to build speed, room to control space. But it also offered room to get surrounded if he got careless.

Right lane looked like it would eat someone alive. One mistake and you’d lose time... Or altitude. Two mistakes and you’d lose the exam.

He didn’t decide yet. He saved the decision for the moment the gate opened.

The host’s voice returned to playful danger. "Quick reminder - don’t try to bribe a Nyx. Don’t try to talk to a Nyx. Don’t try to throw snacks at a Nyx. One guy from the arena tried bread. That was the first time I ever saw a disappointed Nyx. Probably true story."

A drone floated close to Raizen’s face, hunting for a reaction. Raizen gave it a small, calm nod.

The drone drifted away like it got bored.

Across the course, Raizen caught a glimpse of Arashi on another line.

Two pistols at his hips, real ones this time. Shiny steel, green Luminite cores pulsing. his expression was light, but his shoulders were set.

Raizen liked that. He liked real opponents.

Far down the candidate row, Hikari shifted her weight slightly. That was all. A tiny adjustment. But Raizen knew her. That meant she’d already decided what she was going to do.

She didn’t look at him, and he didn’t look at her. They both had the same goal in mind.

The crowd kept moving, kept breathing, kept making noise. But under it, something changed. A tension crept in, quietly. Even the loudest people leaned forward without noticing.

The show was still a show.

But the door was about to open.

"Candidates" the host said, and for a breath his voice lost the jokes. "You are being seen."

Raizen’s fingers flexed once against the bar.

He trained for too long to waste his first seconds on nerves.

He wasn’t here because he wanted attention.

He was here because he wanted the Academy.

"And since you are seen..." the host continued, the grin back in his voice, "Be worth the seeing!"

A horn sounded - one long, clean note that silenced the small noises for a moment.

The bars under Raizen’s palm clicked.

The gate didn’t rise yet, but something unlocked. The metal vibrated faintly, like a breath before a sprint.

Raizen tightened his grip on the twin sword hilts at his hips. His Luminite blades pulsed once, soft and steady.

Inside the arena, movement flickered again.

A Shade crawled along a wall, too smooth, too quick, then froze in a corner like it was pretending it wasn’t there, just waiting. Another Shade’s head twisted in a way that made Raizen’s skin want to crawl.

A few Reavers stood in the open, weight forward, claws flexing like they were bored. Two of them lifted their heads at the same time, staring toward the gates. Their jaws clicked once.

Impatient.

"Final reminders!" the host shouted. "If your suit flashes, don’t fight it. If you try to fight it, it will lock harder and you will just look stupid on camera."

Raizen’s eyes stayed forward.

He took one slow breath.

Then another.

He didn’t think about failing. He didn’t think about the crowd. He didn’t think about Takeshi. He didn’t think about anything except for his goal.

The Lotus Academy.

The gate began to rise.

Slow at first, just enough to drag suspense out for the cameras. Then faster. Past knees. Past waist. Past chest.

Raizen could now see the Nyxes waiting in the shadows.

The gate rose past his face.

Raizen stepped his weight into his stance. Elbows close. Grip low. Shoulders relaxed.

His blades pulsed again.

Somewhere, Hikari lifted her chin the smallest degree.

The host leaned into the microphones like he’d been waiting all year to do this.

Then he screamed, loud enough to shake the bowl.

"WELCOOME"

"TO THE LOTUS!"