Stanter stood in front of the boulder.
The square was silent. Even the wind had died. All eyes were on him — the nobles on the platform, the assessors in gray, the participants in their lines.
He exhaled.
Then he took a stance.
Feet shoulder-width. Back straight. One fist pulled back to his hip, the other open at his side. Simple. Clean. No wasted movement.
He drove forward.
~THOOM.
The impact rolled across the square. Dust burst from the surface of the boulder.
The stone didn't break. But cracks raced across its face, thin lines splitting outward from where his fist had landed.
A sharp intake of breath moved through the crowd.
Even a few of the assessors shifted in their seats.
Since this test was put in place, only two people had ever managed to put a crack in the boulder. The strongest twins in the kingdom. Right now.
And in all of history, only one person had managed to break it at their age. Nova Glave. The man who was now regarded as the strongest in the kingdom.
The blue screen flickered. Runes raced, then settled.
[STANTER VEL ] — 9 POINTS
Nine.
The first in the assessment.
Stanter didn't react. He straightened from his stance, turned without looking at the score, and walked back to his line with the same calm he'd walked out with.
Halfway there, he turned his head.
His eyes found Jack in the crowd.
Confident. Unbothered.
Like he'd just set a wall no one could climb.
Sly fell in behind him without a word.
'Hmm...that was not bad from him, it looks he has also been training real hard since our last encounter and am sure... of it the energy I felt he also broke through' Jack thought to himself.
"You seem to be lost in thought on his performance, do you happen to know him in anyway. He looked your way the whole time my friend" Kevin's voice dragged him out of his thought.
'Dem i hate this guy'."Well that's kind of a novel to tell, hope you get it right" Jack said.
For a few seconds, the cracks remained. Then, slowly, the surface of the boulder seemed to breathe. The thin lines pulled inward, sealing themselves until the stone was smooth and black again.
A murmur moved through the crowd.
That was the specialty of a mystic stone. The same kind most blacksmiths used in sword making. For as long as it was not shattered completely, it would recover back to its original state.
The screen spun again and again.
The scores climbed.
A few broke into 7. Solid hits, strong enough to make the assessors nod.
Then 5 people broke 8. The crowd actually cheered for them. The boulder shook, but not a single crack stayed.
None of them left a mark. None of them came close to Stanter.
The assessors wrote without expression. The nobles watched without comment.
Then the screen slowed one more time.
[KEVIN SHERWIN]
Kevin stepped out with that same easy smile. He rolled his shoulders once and took a stance mirroring Stanter's.
He struck.
~THOOM.
The boulder shuddered. New cracks spiderwebbed across its surface.
The crowd murmured.
The blue screen flickered.
[KEVIN SHERWIN] — 9 POINTS
Nine.
The square went quiet again.
Kevin looked at the score, then at the cracks, and grinned. "Not bad," he muttered, before walking back.
Once more, the stone began to heal. The cracks faded, the surface pulling itself smooth until it looked untouched.
After him, the scores dropped again. No one broke 6.
For the first time that day, there were two names at the top.
Stanter and Kevin. The only 9s in the assessment.
Jack felt Minny shift beside him. She hadn't spoken since they arrived.
Finally, the screen spun one last time and slowed.
[JACK SHADES]
The name glowed pale blue.
The square turned.
All the practice, all five nights with Gordlock, all the weight in his dark core it came down to this one step.
Jack moved forward.
The name glowed pale blue. And the square turned.
All the practice, all five nights with Gordlock, all the weight in his dark core it came down to this one step.
Jack moved forward.
He stopped in front of the mystic stone. Smooth. Black. Untouched.
No stance. No show.
He exhaled and drew on his Qi.
Golden light flickered faintly along his arm, running down to his fist. Clean. Controlled. This was the energy he'd trained with. The energy he understood.
He pulled his arm back.
At the last second, something else moved.
Cold. Heavy. From deep in his chest.
The dark core surged without warning and slammed into his Qi.
Black and gold collided, twisted, and fused a breath before impact. Power he didn't call for. Power he didn't name. It just poured into his knuckles.
And he threw the punch.
~KRAKOOOOOM.
The sound wasn't an impact. It was a detonation.
Light flared. A shockwave burst outward, kicking up dust in a ring around the platform.
The mystic stone didn't crack.
It shattered.
Fragments exploded outward, black shards scattering across the stone floor. The stone tried to heal. It couldn't. There was nothing left to pull back together.
Silence.
For three full seconds, no one moved. No one breathed.
Then the blue screen spasmed. Runes glitched, raced, and finally locked into place.
[JACK SHADES] — 10 POINTS
Ten.
The number burned on the screen.
A gasp ripped through the crowd, then another, then a hundred. Nobles shot to their feet. Participants stumbled back a step.
The assessors in gray were on their feet too. Quills dropped from their hands.
And at the center of the platform, the leader of the assessors an old man with silver hair and a scar across his throat stood frozen. His eyes were wide. His mouth was open, but no words came out.
Because in the entire history of the assessment, no one had ever scored a 10.
Not the twins. Not Kevin.
And not even Nova Glave.Nova had only broken the boulder, but Jack erased it.
Stanter's calm cracked for the first time. His jaw tightened.
Kevin's grin vanished. He stared at the dust, then at Jack, like he was seeing him for the first time.
Sly just looked at the empty space where the boulder used to be.
From her stand, Minny didn't move. Her hands were tight at her sides.
That wasn't just Qi... what was that in him?
She watched Jack, and for the first time since they'd met, she couldn't read him.
Jack stared at his own fist.
It wasn't shaking.
But inside him, the dark core pulsed once. Quiet. Like it was satisfied.
He didn't answer anyone.
Because he didn't have an answer himself.