Back in the Stadium…
Keel Kun watched the battlefield through the massive projection screens, his hands folded neatly behind his back, posture straight and composed.
To the audience, he looked calm. Professional. Neutral.
Inside, he was anything but.
Shzekcl's a shadow…
The realization hit him like a blade between the ribs.
Damn it. That complicates everything.
His expression didn't change—not even a twitch. Years of experience had trained him well. A commentator's role wasn't to react. It was to control perception.
Thankfully, most of the people in the stadium didn't understand what they were seeing.
To them, the shifting darkness around Shzekcl was just another exotic transformation—another flashy ability in a tournament already overflowing with spectacle. They cheered, shouted, argued, completely unaware of what a shadow truly meant.
Good.
Very good.
As long as ignorance held, this situation could still be managed.
Keel Kun leaned forward slightly, voice booming with practiced excitement.
"WHAT A SHOW WE'RE WITNESSING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Itekan Lie and the Ace of Rangers Academy, Shzekcl, are entering what looks like the FINAL STAGE of their battle! Two elites! Two prodigies! But only ONE can walk away victorious!"
The crowd roared at his words, their attention pulled firmly back to the fight instead of the unsettling question lurking beneath their minds.
What… are those things?
Keel Kun smiled inwardly.
Hooked.
As the audience drowned in noise, he slowly stepped backward from the commentator's box. One step. Then another. Until the lights and cameras no longer framed him.
The roar of the crowd dulled.
Darkness embraced him.
"X," Keel Kun said quietly, his voice carrying no echo. "Has Master arrived?"
From the shadows above, a presence shifted.
"Yes, Senior," a voice replied calmly. "He returned just before the Lie boy's engagement."
A figure dropped silently from the ceiling, landing without a sound. The man—known only as X—was dressed in muted stealth gear, face half-hidden, posture respectful.
"Good." Keel Kun exhaled. "Take over my position. Announce whatever keeps the crowd loud."
X bowed slightly. "Understood."
Keel Kun raised one hand.
A golden halo formed above his head, humming softly with authority.
In the next instant, he vanished.
---
Itekan's Mindseye…
The world within Itekan's spiritual sea was in chaos.
The sky—if it could be called that—cracked and writhed like broken glass. Waves of shadow surged across the landscape, crashing against unseen boundaries.
At the center of it all, something ancient stirred.
Odieum.
The primordial presence snarled, his fury shaking the Mindseye itself. He had been bound here ever since the foolish reading of forbidden words from a dead man's diary—words never meant to be spoken by mortal tongues.
He had waited.
Watched.
Judged.
Because Carpathia and Kime had both brushed against this vessel's fate, Odieum had restrained himself. Kings were involved. Greater games were in motion.
But Shzekcl's words—
Those hollow provocations…
They grated against something deep and old.
Odieum growled, shadows coiling around his massive, unseen form.
A four-flicked shadow dares speak to my vessel like that…
Even the smallest fraction of Odieum's true power would erase Shzekcl from existence. The difference between them was not one of skill—but of era.
Still…
He would not interfere.
Not yet.
Then—Itekan responded.
Not with fear.
Not with hesitation.
But with resolve.
Odieum stilled.
A shiver ran through him—an emotion he hadn't felt since the Hyzor period, before time itself learned how to flow properly.
That presence…
The same defiance.
The same refusal to kneel.
The same feeling that had once drawn his loyalty to the Shadow King.
Odieum laughed quietly.
So be it.
If the others were already moving… then giving a gift wouldn't break the rules too badly.
Just a fragment.
Just enough.
---
Back on the Battlefield…
Itekan felt it instantly.
Power flooded his body—violent, intoxicating, overwhelming. His veins burned as something hateful yet exhilarating surged through him.
It wasn't gentle.
It wasn't kind.
But it was real.
Itekan moved.
In less than a quarter of a second, he crossed the distance between them.
Shzekcl's instincts screamed.
He's faster—no… much faster!
He barely managed to react, leaping backward as Itekan tore past where he had been standing.
Was he holding back before? No… that wasn't it.
Then where did this come from?
Shzekcl didn't retreat further.
He couldn't.
He didn't know how.
Darkness rippled along his arms as he snarled, finally unleashing his own technique.
"Shadow Whip!"
His hands distorted, stretching into writhing tendrils of darkness—eerily similar to Itekan's own.
Itekan tilted his head, disappointment heavy in his voice.
"What is this?" he asked. "A fake?"
The insult landed.
From Itekan's sides, two massive shadow tentacles erupted, lashing forward.
They collided.
BOOM!!
The shockwave shattered nearby trees, bark and branches exploding outward.
In raw force alone, Shzekcl matched him.
But force wasn't everything.
Quality mattered.
Itekan's shadows—heir-born, refined by the blood of Carpathia—overpowered Shzekcl's technique with brutal inevitability.
THWAT!!
Shzekcl was hurled backward, smashing through multiple trees before crashing to a stop.
For the first time since the fight began, he acknowledged it.
This opponent was not normal.
Itekan stepped forward slowly, shadows writhing behind him like a living crown.
His eyes locked onto Shzekcl.
A faint smile curved his lips.
"What do you think now?"
His voice was calm. Deadly.
"Still boring for you?"
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Spiritual Energy (SE)
Spiritual Sea (SS)
Spiritual Signature (SST)