The silence shattered.
Veyron surged forward, his fist cloaked in a blaze that roared like a starving beast. Each strike left trails of fire that carved molten grooves in the stone. The heat was unbearable, pushing the crowd back as if the fight itself had chosen its audience.
Kael met him, shadows unfurling like wings of night. Every time flame struck, silence pushed back — a clash of elements no one had ever seen. Sound vanished where Kael's aura touched, leaving bursts of absolute stillness that made the hair on every neck rise.
But Kael's control was slipping.
One moment the silence was a shield, the next it rippled outward in jagged bursts, swallowing voices, swallowing even the beat of hearts. His allies clutched their chests as if the air itself had been stolen from their lungs.
"Damn it, Kael!" Darius shouted, but the words died before leaving his lips, smothered into nothing by the abyss. He staggered back, pale with fear.
Veyron only pressed harder.
"Don't hold it back! Fight me for real!"
He unleashed a sweeping arc of fire, a crescent wave that tore across the ground like a living inferno. Kael raised his hand, shadows convulsing. The flame met void — and collapsed. The fire didn't fade. It ceased. Gone as if it had never been.
The audience gasped. Not in awe, but in dread.
Jorek scribbled furiously, sweat dripping from his brow.
"He devours resonance itself…"
Rynna's eyes narrowed. "That's not power. That's corruption."
But Veyron only grinned wider, teeth bared like a predator. His own aura swelled hotter, brighter, until the air cracked like glass under the weight of it.
"If your silence devours… then let's see if it can devour the sun!"
He roared, and his body ignited. Not flame as before — but pure radiance, a blaze that made shadows cower. The courtyard became daylight, stone beneath him glowing red-hot. His resonance burned so bright the air itself screamed.
Kael's knees nearly buckled under the pressure. The silence within him clawed to be unleashed, whispering, begging. Vox's words echoed in his skull: "Do not tame it. Shape it."
Kael spread his hands.
And the abyss answered.
It exploded outward, swallowing not just sound but light. The courtyard darkened, flame bent and flickered, pulled toward the void that poured from Kael's body. Veyron's radiance fought back, sun against nothingness, fire against oblivion.
The two forces collided, and the world itself seemed to split.
One half blinding fire.
One half consuming shadow.
The shockwave tore stone from the ground, cracked the courtyard walls, and sent trainees sprawling. Overseers shouted from the balconies, but even their voices couldn't pierce the stillness Kael had unleashed.
At the center of it all — Kael and Veyron locked eyes, straining against each other. Sweat burned down Veyron's temple. Blood streaked Kael's chin.
And somewhere in that chaos, both of them smiled.
This wasn't hatred. This was recognition.