Chapter 137: Rite of Passage [8]

Everyone in the hall had already convinced themselves that Yves was going to be eliminated the moment they saw that his next opponent was his older brother, Josh.

Josh was one of the most skilled fighters in their generation.

Everyone expected him to overwhelm Yves.

Everyone except Ezio, of course.

But the moment the two brothers clashed and Yves didn’t get pushed back, the hall fell silent.

The absurdity of what was happening in front of them was enough to shut everyone up.

Yves attacked and defended against Josh’s attacks as if they were nothing, while Josh struggled to land a clean hit on him.

The power Yves displayed was nothing short of impressive.

He was fast.

He was precise.

And he was deadly.

Even the elders had begun changing their opinions about him.

They had all thought Yves spending two months at the Lands of Horror was complete bullshit.

Yet here he was, proving them wrong right in front of their eyes.

So what the hell had happened during those two months for Yves to become this strong?

Despite that, the majority still believed Josh would eventually come out on top.

And then Josh activated his Gift.

His dangerous technique struck Yves and brought him to his knees.

The elders and the other family members immediately thought it was over.

But then something unexpected happened.

The deep wound across Yves’ chest began healing itself.

Within seconds, the flesh had completely closed.

A few people raised their eyebrows.

What kind of healing speed is that?

The wound had been deep enough to severely injure him, yet it had disappeared as if it had never existed.

Then Yves finally revealed his abilities.

The crowd watched as dozens of dark spears formed behind him and flew toward Josh under his mental control.

That was what it looked like, at least.

Yves had also somehow figured out Josh’s ability, which was impressive in itself.

Josh cut through the first wave of spears with ease.

But Yves simply created more.

And more.

And more.

The spears came in greater numbers, changing direction whenever Josh moved.

No matter where he ran, they followed him.

The people watching quickly figured out what Yves was trying to do.

He wasn’t simply trying to overwhelm Josh with raw firepower.

He was trying to force Josh to continuously defend himself and build his Counter Edge stacks, only to break them afterward.

But Josh wasn’t so easy to hit.

He ran, dodged, blocked, and even parried the incoming spears.

One by one, his Counter Edge stacks accumulated.

Three.

Then four.

The purple aura surrounding his katana grew denser with every stack.

Everyone in the hall understood what that meant.

If Josh landed that attack on Yves, it would be over.

And so Josh made his final gamble.

He unleashed the accumulated power and charged toward Yves.

But just before his attack landed, Yves muttered something.

Then he disappeared.

A massive explosion erupted.

BOOOOOOM!

The blast destroyed a large portion of the forest.

When the dust finally cleared, Josh was kneeling in a pool of his own blood.

A long dark spear had pierced through his stomach and protruded from his back.

And standing before him was Yves.

Completely unscathed.

The hall went silent.

The elders, Shadow Guardians, and powerful members of the family all stared at the transmission with wide eyes.

Everyone except Van Der Vaal.

The Duke remained in the same position, his cheek still resting against his closed fist.

If anyone looked closely at Ezio, they might have noticed the corners of his lips twitching.

He was clearly fighting the urge to smile.

"Impossible," someone muttered.

"How does this make sense?" one of the elders asked.

Their shock wasn’t simply because Yves had defeated Josh.

That alone was enough to surprise them.

But what really shocked them was how Yves had avoided Josh’s final attack.

It had happened so quickly that anyone without exceptionally sharp eyes would have missed it.

But the hall was filled with powerful Awakeners.

They had all seen it.

At the very last second, just before Josh’s attack landed, Yves had muttered something.

Then he hadn’t simply disappeared.

He had sunk into his own shadow.

Josh’s attack had struck the ground instead.

Yves had emerged from his shadow afterward and impaled Josh with one of his dark spears.

"I am not mistaken, right?" Andromeda asked in disbelief. "That’s... Shadow Step, isn’t it?"

"No, you’re not, Sister."

Jean-Marc’s voice carried a hint of excitement.

"That was definitely Shadow Step."

The hall erupted.

"How is that possible?"

"Aren’t only the Schatten supposed to awaken Shadow Step?"

"How can that brat use it?"

The questions came one after another.

Their reactions were understandable.

The Schatten were famous for Shadow Step.

Their assassins trained with it from childhood, and the technique had always been considered something unique to their family.

Yet Yves had just used it.

And if he could use Shadow Step, then that meant he had awakened a Story related to shadows.

"So my nephew has shadow powers?"

A deep voice suddenly asked.

It belonged to a man with snow-white hair. A long bang covered his right eye, while his visible left eye was crimson.

"It seems like it."

Jean-Marc crossed his arms.

"The spear attack he used has a dark aura, and even his mana appears to be dark. So it’s possible."

He narrowed his eyes.

"But there’s something strange about it."

Andromeda glanced toward him.

"What do you mean?"

"From what I can see, it’s very different from normal shadows."

Jean-Marc frowned.

"It’s much darker. I don’t really know how to explain it."

"Me too."

Pedro’s father spoke up, his expression equally serious.

"I noticed that as well."

Dozens of questions began forming in everyone’s minds.

But there was one question that stood above all the others.

What the hell did Yves awaken?

No one had an answer.

But there was someone who might.

Someone who had been beside Yves for a long time.

One by one, everyone’s eyes turned toward Ezio.

Even the other Shadow Guardians looked at him.

Great.

Ezio sighed internally.

Now they’re all looking at me.

"Ezio."

Jean-Marc’s voice broke through the silence.

"What kind of Main Story—"

He stopped himself.

"Forget about that. What kind of Authority does he have?"

His voice was quiet, but everyone in the hall still heard him.

Jean-Marc had changed his question because asking about another Awakener’s Main Story was considered an invasion of privacy.

"Yes, Lord Jean-Marc."

Ezio bowed slightly.

"He has authority over darkness."

He paused.

"And from what he has told me and what I’ve personally seen, he can manipulate it however he wants."

Ezio glanced toward the screen.

"For example, those spears he created aren’t a Gift. They’re part of a technique that allows him to create darkness constructs based on whatever he can imagine."

Ezio deliberately stopped there.

He wasn’t about to reveal every secret Yves had entrusted to him.

"This is beyond crazy."

Jean-Marc leaned back with a smile.

"Now that makes sense. That’s why it didn’t feel like ordinary shadow manipulation."

The crowd began murmuring again.

"Darkness powers are extremely rare," Andromeda said. "Even within our family, only a handful of people have awakened abilities similar to that."

She smiled slightly.

"But none of them were capable of creating constructs on this scale."

The world of Estoria contained countless different powers.

Some were incredibly rare.

Light.

Darkness.

Life.

Death.

Mental abilities.

Matter manipulation.

And many others.

Some of these powers appeared only once every few centuries.

Others could go thousands of years without appearing.

And whenever someone awakened one of these rare powers, they often left a significant mark on the world.

Yves had apparently hit the jackpot.

The way everyone looked at him began changing rapidly.

He was no longer simply the useless son who had failed his awakening twice.

He was someone with extraordinary potential.

And the Laurents valued strength above almost everything else.

If someone in their family demonstrated exceptional potential, they would do everything they could to nurture it.

"Hah."

An elderly woman massaged the side of her forehead.

"Their generation really is full of wonders. The other families are producing terrifying talents as well."

"We still need to know the rank of his Story before assuming anything," Andromeda said.

Beside Van Der Vaal, the wives reacted differently.

Lucélia seemed genuinely happy to hear people praising Yves.

Viviana maintained her usual serious expression, though there was a hint of surprise in her eyes.

Antonia remained neutral, but her fingers had curled slightly.

And Yversa?

She wore the biggest smile of them all.

"Did he tell you the rank, Ezio?" Andromeda asked.

There was a slight edge of irritation in her voice.

Ezio couldn’t help but feel relieved that so many people were present.

Otherwise, he was fairly certain that woman would have already tried to interrogate him personally.

"No."

Ezio’s expression remained blank.

"He didn’t."

"We can test it later," Jean-Marc said.

Ezio glanced at the other Shadow Guardians.

Several of them were frowning.

Especially those who had bet on Josh.

"You guys better pay up when this is over."

He then turned his attention back toward the screen.

Yves was standing alone in the middle of the devastated forest.

...

I stood there, staring at the pool of blood with an aloof expression.

"That was a good fight."

I had won.

But I believed that if Josh had been at full strength, the fight would have been much more difficult.

The result would have been different.

But I would still have won.

That much was certain.

What Josh hadn’t accounted for was the fact that I possessed an ability that allowed me to escape his final attack.

And that was only possible because no one knew about my powers.

If they had known, they would have been much more cautious when fighting me.

I looked around.

The amount of devastation caused by that single attack was ridiculous.

It showed just how powerful Josh’s Gift really was.

If four stacks could already cause this much destruction, I couldn’t even imagine what five stacks would do.

"Time to look for the othe—"

A sudden sensation made my body tense.

The air screamed behind me.

My hand instantly shot toward the hilt of my katana.

Clang!

I swung the blade behind me just in time.

It collided with another katana.

The impact was so powerful that I was sent flying backward.

I twisted my body in midair, adjusted my balance, and landed on the ground with a calm thud.

I raised my head.

A boy stood near the pool of blood.

A katana was already in his hand.

White dreadlocks hung around his shoulders, and his crimson eyes stared directly at me.

I recognized him immediately.

Siegfried.

My second-oldest brother.