The Boundless Continent was a place of opportunity—for those who seized it.

  For the strong, it was a kingdom waiting to be carved.

  For the weak, it was a grave.

  Selene had known this from the moment she had arrived. She had accepted it, shaped it, bent it to her will. Balance was inevitable. But balance did not mean inaction.

  Balance meant knowing when to tip the scales.

  And tonight, she felt the scales shift.

  Something was coming.

  Something beyond the simple games of men.

  ---

  She stood upon the highest balcony of the Verdant Nexus, watching as the night sky twisted, clouds forming unnatural patterns.

  The air was charged.

  Not with the whispers of the Watcher.

  Not with the unsettling, ancient stirrings of the thing that should have still been sleeping.

  This was something new.

  A fracture in the balance of the world.

  The Fae Lords had gathered below, sensing it as well.

  She saw Dominion standing at attention, his posture rigid, alert—unnerved, even.

  Sovereignty stood beside him, unreadable, but present.

  And at the edge of the gathered court, Foxes flicked his many tails, as if agitated.

  Something was happening.

  Something significant.

  ---

  Then, the System spoke.

  Not as a notification.

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  Not as a simple message.

  But as a presence that resonated through the very fabric of the world.

  ---

  《System Alert: The World Fractures》

  《The Veil has weakened. The Boundless Continent is no longer stable.》

  《Unseen forces have begun to stir. The Laws of Order must be upheld.》

  《A Trial of Kings is coming.》

  《Prepare.》

  ---

  The words settled over everything like a weight too large to be ignored.

  The Veil has weakened.

  That was not a simple change.

  That was a fundamental shift in reality.

  The Boundless Continent was no longer stable.

  Selene exhaled slowly.

  Her Fae Lords were silent.

  Even they knew that this was different.

  This was not just another battle.

  This was not just another kingdom rising.

  This was a rupture in the laws that governed the world itself.

  And it meant that whatever had been sleeping was waking up faster than expected.

  ---

  Strategy was the first to speak.

  "This was not meant to happen yet."

  Selene turned her gaze toward them. "You knew something like this would happen?"

  Strategy shook their head. "No. But I suspected that a shift in balance was inevitable. Something forced this event to accelerate."

  Selene nodded slowly.

  Something had indeed forced the shift.

  And she had a feeling she already knew what it was.

  ---

  The Watcher had told her that this iteration was different.

  That the Ancient One should not have stirred so soon.

  And yet, it had.

  Now the System itself had been forced to act.

  To stabilize the world.

  To stop it from tipping too far in one direction.

  A Trial of Kings.

  That was what the System had decided to implement.

  Selene had no doubt it would be a conflict of rulers.

  A game of elimination.

  A forced culling.

  To bring the world back into balance.

  But the System did not control Balance.

  She did.

  And she would not let herself be shaped by the trial.

  She would shape it.

  ---

  She turned to Oaths.

  "You understand the Laws of Order more than any of us," she said. "What does this mean?"

  Oaths was silent for a moment.

  Then, slowly, they spoke.

  "If the Veil has weakened, it means that something is seeping through."

  Selene’s gaze sharpened.

  "Seeping through from where?"

  Oaths’s glowing eyes flickered.

  "The spaces beyond."

  ---

  Selene did not react.

  But she understood the implication.

  The Boundless Continent was not alone.

  It was not the only reality.

  And something from outside of it was pressing in.

  Was it the Ancient One?

  Or was it something else?

  Selene had suspected that she had been watched ever since she arrived in this world.

  Now she had confirmation.

  ---

  She turned back toward the court.

  The Fae Lords were waiting. Watching.

  Even Duskwind and Fenric, standing at the back, looked unsettled.

  For once, they were not plotting.

  They were simply absorbing what had just happened.

  Good.

  That meant they would not interfere in what came next.

  Selene’s voice was steady.

  "The Trial of Kings is coming," she said. "We do not yet know what it entails."

  She turned her gaze to each of them.

  "But it does not matter."

  She lifted her chin slightly.

  "Because we do not react to balance shifts."

  She smiled, slow and dangerous.

  "We control them."

  The Fae Lords bowed.

  And the Boundless Continent trembled.

  Because Selene had already decided.

  She would not simply survive this Trial.

  She would claim it.