Hannas's **10% aura** crashed down like a collapsing world.
The arena trembled, the very air distorted under the patriarch's overwhelming dominance. Stone tiles cracked as if crushed by an invisible hammer; dust shook loose from the marble arches. For most, even breathing became a challenge—like their lungs had been chained down by mountains.
Yet amidst that suffocating storm—**Ryner's body shone.**
At first, faint **wisps of aura** leaked from his skin. Not the trained aura of an elder, nor the polished shine of a genius honed through years of cultivation. No—this was *innate.* Raw. Untamed. His very life force condensed into sharp, silver streams, flowing outward like blades forged from his existence.
At the same time, his **mana core throbbed**—a resonant beat deep in his chest, bursting with a surge of raw blue light. The mana swirled, fierce yet precise, answering his body's will as though it had been waiting for this very moment to awaken.
The impossible had happened.
The crowd gasped, disbelief crashing across the stands.
"Wait… did he just… awaken both?"
"Aura and mana… together?!"
"Impossible. At his age… and at the same time?"
"That's—That's not human!"
Even the judges leaned forward, stunned. Some rubbed their eyes, as though hoping they had been tricked by illusions.
But there was no trick.
Hannas's pupils shrank. His lips pressed into a thin line.
*Aura and mana… together? This boy…!*
---
### The Sword's Resonance
Ryner lifted his sword.
The **Obsidian Sword** hummed in resonance, as though it recognized his awakening. A low vibration rang through the arena, sharp enough to make teeth rattle. The blade drank both forces greedily—mana sharpened its edge into a gleaming crescent, while aura amplified its weight until it carried the density of a mountain.
And in the very core of his heart, **Temporal Darkness** pulsed—twisting, bending, fusing them all together.
It was not aura. It was not mana. It was not darkness.
It was all three—woven into a singular harmony, like strings of different instruments merging into one symphony.
Ryner's eyes glowed faintly, half-silver, half-blue, shadow threading between the two.
"This is…" he whispered, steady, unyielding.
"…my strike."
---
### The Birth of Dawn Breaker
He moved.
The technique that had been a fragile imitation before—the **New Moon Slash**—now **blazed with true life.**
No longer just shadow.
No longer just technique.
The slash evolved.
It became **New Moon: Dawn Breaker**—a crescent of fused aura, mana, and temporal darkness, radiant and terrible.
The air warped in its path. The arena lights dimmed as if the moon itself had descended, replacing day with its own reign.
When it met Hannas's **10% aura storm**, the world split apart.
---
### Breaking the Patriarch's Aura
For a moment, there was silence—like the pause before a bell is struck. Then—
**SHRRAAAANG!**
The Dawn Breaker cleaved through Hannas's aura storm like a crescent light tearing open night. The patriarch's oppressive weight faltered, then cracked, then *shattered*.
The ground split into a jagged scar stretching across the arena. Stone and dust erupted into the air as the energy dome collapsed in glittering shards of light.
Ryner stood firm amidst the storm, his blade lowered, his body calm and unshaken. His chest rose and fell steadily, his eyes clear and resolute.
The arena had become a graveyard of silence.
---
### Stunned Reactions
The juniors watching could only stare, eyes wide, mouths open but no words forming. Finally, the silence fractured.
"He… broke the Patriarch's aura…"
"At fourteen…!"
"This is… this is impossible!"
Some of the elders leaned forward, their breathing ragged. One muttered:
"Even at twenty, I could not have done such a thing…"
Even Hannas's wives and favored sons, usually so confident in their security, looked pale. Their knuckles were white, their eyes trembling as they watched the boy they had dismissed as mediocre stand tall against the patriarch's might.
A few of Ryner's rivals quietly clenched their fists in envy, blood drawing from their palms where nails dug deep.
Alia, watching from the sidelines, pressed a hand against her mouth to hide the smile that threatened to bloom. Her eyes glistened with something between awe and pride.
---
### Hannas's Reaction
Hannas Alostrio—Patriarch of the Alostrio clan—stood motionless.
His 10% aura had been broken. By a boy. By *his son.*
A storm of emotions churned behind his unreadable eyes. Anger. Intrigue. Fear. And—though he would never admit it—a faint flicker of something dangerously close to respect.
He exhaled slowly, his voice calm but heavy.
"So… this is your answer."
Ryner's gaze did not waver. "Yes, Father. This is mine."
Hannas's aura began to retract, folding back into him like a tide retreating from the shore. Yet the weight of his presence still lingered, oppressive but restrained.
---
### The Higher Realm's Witness
In the highest seats, veiled by formations that shielded mortal eyes, two presences observed.
One, a figure draped in starlight, watching with silent curiosity.
The other, a childish voice that chuckled, echoing like silver bells.
Luis Crown Waydon's voice.
"See, Rune? He's already painting his own moon."
Rune's presence shifted faintly, unreadable. No words followed—but the silence itself carried acknowledgment.
---
### The Patriarch's Verdict
Hannas finally spoke again, his tone deliberate.
"The trial… ends here."
Gasps spread like wildfire. The trial was over? Just like that?
Some expected Hannas to strike Ryner down, to punish him for daring to forge something foreign from the clan's foundation. Others thought he would exalt him, declare him a genius beyond compare.
But Hannas did neither.
Instead, his gaze locked onto Ryner with a gravity that weighed heavier than any aura he had unleashed.
"Remember this, Ryner. Aura, mana, and darkness together… such a fusion invites the gaze of many. A shadow can protect you, yes. But it also draws fear." His eyes sharpened, cutting like knives. "And fear… will bring the entire world against you."
Ryner bowed slightly, never breaking eye contact.
"I will remember, Patriarch."
But inside, his thoughts burned quietly:
*Fear is fine. Let them fear. Fear is the truest respect.*
---
### Aftermath
That night, the Alostrio estate buzzed like a hive torn open.
Servants whispered in the corners. Elders debated fiercely behind closed doors. The younger generation drowned in jealousy, bitterness, and awe.
"Did you see? He shattered the Patriarch's aura!"
"No one in our history awakened both at once!"
"He's not the same Ryner anymore…"
The name **Ryner Alostrio** no longer carried scorn.
It carried *weight.*
But Ryner himself sat alone in his chambers, his blade resting across his knees. Moonlight spilled through the window, brushing across his face.
His fingers traced the Obsidian Sword's hilt slowly, thoughtfully.
The **Dawn Breaker** was only the beginning.
"A mask is useful…" he whispered to himself, lips curling into a faint smile. "…until it isn't."
He lifted his gaze to the crescent moon outside, glowing faint against the black sky.
Tonight, he had painted a new crescent.
But soon, the world would face what followed when light was consumed entirely.
Not a moon. Not a shadow.
But **the void itself.**
And on that day—
the Alostrio clan would learn the true weight of the son they once called *average.*
**(Chapter End)**