The sun dipped below the horizon, and Haden stood up from his spot.

He dismissed the red aura that was flooding the whole peak and looked at Rion.

Rion's whole body was being brightened by a glow that had no colour, and the same was true for his spear.

A few moments later, the glow dimmed down, and Rion opened his eyes.

His oceanic blue eyes had an ethereal glow in them, and just as he looked at Haden, he yelled in surprise, "What the hell?!"

In his vision, there was no ground or trees — only black outlines, it was as if the world had been turned into a blank sketch in which Haden was the only one who had a colour — red, and that also didn't fill him; instead, a gigantic red flame was burning at the place of his heart.

He rubbed his eyes from the surprise and asked with an expression between awe and confusion, "What is this?"

Haden stepped towards him, and his voice carried softly, "That is Weapon Sense. It changes your perception of the world into one that is best suited for your combat style."

'This looks like a manga panel,' Rion commented inwardly and suddenly words echoed in his head. The words had no gender, nor a tone; they simply were.

He felt a strange sense of familiarity with the ambiguous voice, and he followed it without a hint of doubt.

He swiftly turned his head to the left, and his gaze landed on Haden's incoming spear.

Unlike the sketch-like world, the spear and its path weren't black lines; instead, they had a dark glow that highlighted them. They were no different than a dark bull within the garden of white roses — simply impossible to ignore.

The ambiguous voice echoed once again, and he listened to it.

Clang!

Sparks flew as the spears struck each other, and unlike before, Rion wasn't even pushed back.

He blinked in surprise and asked curiously, "What was that voice?"

Haden pointed at his spear and answered evenly, "That's the final and the main boon of Weapon Sense. It allows you and your weapon to hear each other's thoughts. The more aligned you two are, the more masterful you will be."

Rion's grip tightened around the shaft of his spear, and he looked at it with a joyous gaze. Seeing that, Haden commented, "It is your life companion, you could even say that it's no different than a wife."

Rion's lips arched up into a smile, and his hand brushed the shaft of his spear as he remarked with a foolish grin on his face, "Are you trying to say that you were cheating on Mom with your spear?"

Haden didn't overreact and the sound of cracks echoed throughout the mountains.

"Why do you always act so foolishly?" He asked while the space around him cracked just from his raw will.

"...glup," Rion gulped, and a wry smile appeared on his face as his lips parted to answer, but before he could say anything—

THWACK!

—Something hard touched the back of his head, and his vision darkened.

Thud!

Haden stared at the unconscious Rion, who was lying face-first on the ground with serpentine cracks running outwards from his body, and a heavy, playful voice reached him, "He was kinda right, though."

Haden snorted as he turned towards Jura and said, "He isn't dead."

Jura crouched beside Rion and gripped the back of his neck.

Stone shards and dust fell down his face as Jura pulled him up from the ground and commented, "Yep, not dead... not yet, at least."

He turned his head towards Haden and asked, "So what do you think?"

Haden looked at Rion's sleeping face and said, "If he can make use of his full potential, he can reach the same level as me within the next five years."

Thud!

Rion's face once again crashed into the ground as Jura let go of his neck. He stood up and looked at Haden with a dumbfounded expression before he asked, while pointing his finger at Rion, "Are you sure?! You do know what you are saying, right?"

Haden nodded, and a smile took hold of his lips as he responded, "I know what I am saying."

Jura shifted his eyes between the two of them and muttered with a baffled chuckle, "Hah! One monster wasn't enough and now we have an even bigger monster."

Just as those words left him, another voice reached them. This voice was much heavier and bestial.

"But is that enough?" Varok stepped out from the forest and questioned while staring at Rion with various thoughts hidden behind his bestial yellow eyes.

Thuk! Crack!

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ground as Haden struck it with the end of his spear and muttered coldly, "Are you forgetting that he is Dhaevrak?"

Varok's eyes drifted towards him, and he growled, "The prophecy foretold the return of the p—"

"VAROK!" The mountains shook as Haden roared furiously.

Fury flashed in Varok's eyes, and Jura shouted, "Calm down, both of you! Why are you two still clashing over a prophecy that we don't even know the time of?"

Varok turned his head towards Jura and growled while pointing his claw-like finger at Haden, "Wasn't he the one who unearthed its existence?" His head turned towards Haden, and he added in an angry tone, "Wasn't he the one who told us about it?!"

Jura fell silent and shifted his eyes to Haden.

Haden's jaw tightened, and he muttered in a grim tone, "At that time, I didn't know the prophecy had also been cursed by them."

Hearing those words, Varok's face twisted furiously; he shot him an ugly look and spat, "You didn't know?! What do I even have left to care for when I already lost her because of it?"

Jura lowered his head and mumbled under his breath, "You still have your daughter..."

"My daughter...?" He mumbled under his breath and began to laugh like a madman, "Kwakwakwakwa!"

His laughter rumbled throughout the mountains like the howls of countless wolves, and seeing that, Jura and Haden's expressions darkened drastically.

His laugh only stopped after a few minutes, and he remarked with a neutral expression, "Have you forgotten that I lost that as well?"

His eyes rippled darkly.

"The only thing I live for now... is my revenge."

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