Sovereign Ascendent: Bloodline Unleashed

The sun had barely risen over Crimson Sky Academy when Su Mengtian was already up, standing atop the East Watchtower. The air here was thin and biting, swept by cold winds carrying faint traces of mana storms from the Outer Void. He stood alone, gazing out over the wide valley that held the academy—a fortress-city carved into mountain spires and arcane stone, where bloodline bearers learned to shape the future of humanity.

His cloak fluttered in the wind, and his eyes reflected the morning haze. His senses, sharpened by both his awakened bloodline and the instincts carried over from a lifetime of battle, remained attuned to every shift in the distant landscape. Birds circling erratically. Trees rustling against the wind's direction. He noted it all.

In his mind, the pieces continued to form.

He had observed over forty students from various divisions in the academy by now—categorizing them based on combat style, talent, tactical sense, emotional control, and hidden potential. Among them, only six had made his preliminary watchlist for future recruitment into the nine halls. It wasn't enough.

He needed specialists.

And today, his instincts told him, he would find one more.

The fourth week at Crimson Sky Academy marked the start of beast synchronization training—a risky, sacred ritual where students attempted temporary resonance with subdued magical beasts inside controlled arenas. The goal was to test compatibility, enhance bloodline awareness, and awaken latent instincts.

It was also a place where students died.

The resonance fields weren't perfect. Magical beasts—especially those with complex elemental natures—often rejected forced synchronization, lashing out with psychic, physical, or elemental backlash. It was as much a test of mental endurance as of magical compatibility.

Students whispered about those who'd walked in proud and emerged comatose. Or not at all.

But Su Mengtian felt no fear.

He was not just another academy hopeful. He was a man who had watched friends die in flames and lead armies in silence. His soul had tasted war and loss. He stepped forward not as a student—but as a veteran wearing a child's uniform.

"Initiate sequence," the instructor barked.

The arena was an ethereal dome built from reinforced spirit glass, containing layers of mana fields that simulated the inner world of beasts. At its center waited the Firecore Felinoid.

It looked like a panther sculpted from blue crystal and flame, with glowing eyes that followed his every move. A mythical creature of volatile temperament, typically used in elite combat units to clear waves of dimensional monsters.

"Initiate resonance protocol."

Mengtian stepped into the ring.

The glyphs beneath his feet pulsed, rising in luminance until the entire dome was soaked in blue-red light. The Felinoid growled, arching its back, flames licking across its crystalline fur.

Contact.

It began.

A shockwave of soul-force hit him like a hammer. He stumbled, briefly disoriented, as the beast's essence collided with his. The pain wasn't physical. It was deeper. A burning in his soul, as if ancient chains were rattling.

His blood surged. The dragon force within him stirred. Not entirely awakened, not yet, but pulsing like a dormant seaquake.

The Felinoid screamed—not in rage, but in challenge.

It was testing him.

The bond attempted to form. His vision blurred. Thoughts bled together. He saw fire, ice, endless plains. Felt claws, instincts, hunger, the thrill of the hunt. And loneliness.

He didn't fight back. He didn't push.

He stood his ground. Let the beast look deeper.

It saw a dragon. It saw a storm. It saw battlefields soaked in blood, and a commander walking alone.

And then—the flames stilled.

The beast lowered its head.

The resonance stabilized.

Gasps erupted beyond the arena.

"Impossible…"

"Is that full resonance?"

"It took me three tries to even survive partial sync!"

Instructor Qian was frozen.

"Synchronization... stable?" he muttered.

Su Mengtian opened his eyes. The Felinoid was at rest, purring quietly, as spectral blue flames floated around them in a gentle halo.

The dome's alarms ceased. The resonance held.

He hadn't just succeeded.

He had connected.

The news spread like wildfire across the academy.

Rumors twisted, exaggerated, reshaped by jealous lips and curious minds.

"Did you hear? Su Mengtian bonded with a Fire-core Felinoid."

"Not just bonded—full resonance!"

"He must be a noble's hidden heir."

"No, he's something else. His bloodline's not even recorded."

But even he couldn't answer what he truly was.

Because even now, as he lay in meditation under the ancient pine trees of the Spirit Garden, he felt a pulse deeper than the dragon blood he knew. Something older. Wilder.

It came in flashes—images of storms crackling across the sky, of beasts cloaked in lightning, watching empires crumble beneath their claws. He felt it in his bones, in his dreams, but the name of that force remained just beyond reach.

Unnamed.

Unspoken.

Let it sleep. For now.

He was not ready. The world was not ready.

That evening, as the sky turned molten red and gold, Su Mengtian wandered the outer courtyard of the academy's upper libraries. He sought solitude but instead found fate.

Yueying.

She stood beneath the central willow tree, the setting sun casting golden light against her silver combat braid. She wore her academy officer's uniform, marked with crimson accents of House Bai.

She hadn't change.

Except she had. There was more fire in her eyes now.

More burden in her posture. She was stronger—but lonelier.

She was speaking to someone, a senior ranked cadet. Mengtian stayed in the shadows, watching for only a moment.

She laughed once, briefly. It struck him harder than expected.

He turned to leave.

But in that moment, she looked up—instinctive, like two stars caught in gravity.

Their eyes met.

He said nothing. She said nothing.

But in that glance, memory returned. A battlefield soaked in blood. A tear that refused to fall. A promise whispered in the smoke of a dying world.

And just like that—

The fire was reignited.

She turned away first. Returned to her conversation.

But Mengtian's heart had already answered.

He would become stronger.

He would claim his legacy.

He would stand before her not as a ghost from a lost war—but as the man who would change the world.

The Commander.

Of a new reign.