FISTBOUND. I Ascend With Every New Upgrade.

The Rebirth System School was nothing like Levi expected. He'd imagined a grim fortress or a sterile government lab, but what greeted him was something between a monastery and a military complex—sprawling marble courtyards framed by reinforced steel walls, glass towers humming with energy, and combat fields etched into the very stone. Drones hovered overhead like silent watchers, and students moved in squads across open grounds.

But they weren't kids. They were weapons.

Each figure that passed wore a variation of the Rebirth combat uniform, black and silver with personalized sigils glowing faintly on their shoulders. Some had augmented limbs. Others moved with unnatural grace, almost gliding. Levi could feel it radiating from them—Power. System-bound power.

Jin led him past a biometric gate, where scanners flashed and pinged.

[ID VERIFIED: Levi Lupin - Juggernaut Initiate - Echelon Undefined]

A few eyes turned. A couple whispers stirred.

"Is that him?"

"That's the one who survived the Viktor Crucible."

"Juggernaut type, right? Broke Reign's face."

Levi kept his head down, jaw tight. The Core pulsed faintly.

[Core Sync: 52% - Network Assimilation Ongoing...]

Jin led him through the central atrium—a wide, open chamber with stairways carved into obsidian pillars. The ceiling arced high above, a projection dome displaying real-time simulations of off-world trials. In the center stood a statue carved from bone-metal: a fighter wrapped in chains, roaring at the sky.

"The First Unbroken," Jin explained. "She survived the original Core prototype. Died later. But her will imprinted into the architecture."

Levi frowned. "You guys worship her?"

"We remember what she endured. So we know what we're still lacking."

They entered a hallway lined with doors. Jin stopped at one marked INITIATE BARRACKS: UNIT 9C.

"This is you."

Levi stepped in. A compact room—metal bed, training gear locker, small embedded terminal.

[System Integration Chamber Synced: 9C - Juggernaut Path Active]

"You'll meet the others soon," Jin said. "Your first trial's in three days. Top of the Echelon ranks sets the rules. You want a voice? You climb. Or bleed."

"What kind of trial?"

She paused. "Orientation. Combat-based. You're thrown in with other fresh blood. Some die. Others ascend."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you go home. In a bag."

Jin turned to leave but glanced back. "And Levi? Don't trust anyone. Even me."

Levi spent his first night watching old trial footage on the terminal.

Fighters moving like lightning. Terrain shifting mid-battle. Spectators cheering from glass balconies. It wasn't just about strength. It was about control. Reading your enemy. Knowing when to strike and when to survive.

One clip showed a girl with a whip of fire—a Pyrekinetic. She lit the whole arena in flames but passed out before the timer. Her body couldn't handle the overload.

[Pain Echo Detected - User Trauma Link Active]

A sharp headache sliced through his skull.

[Memory Archive Unlocked: Fragment 03 - "The Fire and the Door"]

He blinked—and suddenly he was twelve. Outside a burning shelter. Lilith screaming inside.

He remembered the door wouldn't open. How his fingers bled clawing at it.

How he bashed it open with his body until the flames took his hair and skin.

How he carried her out.

[Resolve +1. Trait Unlocked: Pain Memory Resistance]

Levi gasped, clutching his chest as the fragment faded.

"What the hell is this place..."

Three days later.

The Arena for Initiate Trials was suspended over a gorge—a steel platform surrounded by energy fields and cameras. Above them, students watched from bleachers and towers. Below them, jagged blackstone waited like fangs.

Jin stood nearby, arms crossed. She was watching. So were others.

A voice boomed over the intercom:

"Welcome to the Echelon Entry Trials. Today, twenty-three new candidates will fight for entry into the ranks. Only twelve will ascend. The rest..."

A pause.

"...Will be escorted off the campus. Dead or breathing."

A gate opened.

Levi walked into the arena. Dirt and gravel beneath his boots. Heat rising from the field generators. The others followed—boys and girls his age and older, each with different eyes. Hollow. Focused. Hungry.

[Initiating Combat Simulation - Juggernaut Parameters Applied] [Limit Break Set: 30 Minutes - Damage Absorption Threshold Enabled]

Across the field, a tall boy cracked his knuckles. Twin hammers strapped to his back.

"Name's Rellin," he said. "I like to break shoulders. Yours look real breakable."

Levi didn't answer.

He watched. Waited.

The signal blared.

[BEGIN]

Rellin charged first, hammers raised. Another candidate came from the right with claws. Someone behind Levi was already throwing knives.

[Augment Tree Check - Path: Juggernaut - Branch: STONEHIDE] [Augment Ready: Gravelskin Reflex - Incoming Physical Damage Reduces Next Blow by 10%]

A hammer smashed into Levi's ribs.

The pain hit like lightning—but he held ground. Turned. Slammed his fist into Rellin's gut. The other boy coughed blood. Levi grabbed the handle of the hammer and tore it free.

Someone tackled him from behind.

[Surge Point Achieved - Strength +1 | Endurance +1]

He rolled with the force, driving his heel into the attacker's face.

Blood sprayed.

Knives flew again. One grazed his shoulder.

Levi caught the next one mid-air.

[Focus +1. Juggernaut Trait Unlocked: Momentum Lock]

He twisted, locked the blade between two fingers, and threw it back. The knife buried in the thrower's thigh.

People were dropping fast.

The timer hit 11 minutes.

Only nine remained.

Rellin staggered back to his feet, swinging both hammers now.

Levi cracked his neck.

"Let's finish this."

He rushed forward.

Fist met hammer. Hammer met jaw. The ring of metal echoed.

Then Levi jumped. Headbutted Rellin mid-air.

Rellin hit the ground and didn't rise.

[Opponent Downed: Final 6 Candidates Achieved]

Cheers erupted above.

Levi looked up.

Jin was gone.

Instead, a man stood in the box.

A tall man. Coat like black smoke. Silver mask. One eye burned red.

[System Alert: Authority Presence - Tier 1 Combatant: Instructor ARKAN]

The crowd hushed.

Arkan raised a hand.

"Bring them in. All six. Let's see if they're worth anything more than blood."

Levi stood tall, chest heaving but unbowed. The hammer still clutched in his hand felt like an extension of his will. His knuckles were raw. His breath was shallow. But his Core hummed, stronger than ever.

He knew this was only the beginning. If this was Echelon... then what lay beyond it was a battlefield unlike any he'd seen.

Whatever came next—he would meet it head on.