Siron laughed loudly, his voice filled with arrogance.
"Come on," he said.
"Show me what you're capable of."
Everyone froze, waiting for his next move. No one attacked. No one spoke. The air itself felt tense, as if the battlefield was holding its breath.
Then a voice appeared.
Not from outside.
From inside Ryan.
"Ryan."
He stiffened.
His eyes moved quickly around him. No one had spoken.
The voice came again, clearer this time."I am the staff."
Ryan turned immediately, searching for it."I'm here," the voice said.
Ryan looked down.
The staff lay on the ground, faint violet energy pulsing through it like a heartbeat. The magic was transparent, but alive.
He stepped toward it slowly. One step… then another.
Everyone was watching him.
Sera frowned sharply.
"Boy, where are you going? Siron is about to attack. We need to focus our power!"
Ryan didn't answer.
He knelt down and touched the staff.
The moment his hand made contact, a powerful surge of violet magic erupted outward. The ground shook beneath them. A heavy wave of pressure spread through the air. Birds scattered wildly across the sky as the magical force pushed outward.
Sera and Eileen were forced to brace themselves against the sudden pressure.
From afar, the mysterious sorcerer watched calmly.
"So," he murmured, "you are finally beginning to understand what your staff truly is… ambitious boy."
The voice returned again, closer now. Deeper. No longer only inside Ryan's mind, but surrounding his awareness itself.
"I am your magical reservoir," the staff said.
"Every energy that has passed through you… every technique you have learned… I preserved it."
The staff trembled in Ryan's hands. The violet energy changed direction. Instead of spreading outward, it began to coil around him, forming a closed ring of power.
Ryan felt heat run through his arm. It wasn't pain. It was weight — as if the staff was testing how much he could endure.
"What is happening to me?" Ryan asked quietly.
"Why is this energy changing?"
The answer came immediately.
"Because your body grows tired," the staff replied calmly."And I do not."
Ryan took a slow breath, struggling against the pressure building around him. The ground trembled beneath his knees.
"If you are magic," he said, "then what do you want from me?"
There was a brief silence, as if the staff had been waiting for that question.
"Awaken me completely," it answered.
"Make me your extension."
Ryan hesitated.
He looked toward Siron, whose energy continued to gather. He glanced at Sera, watching him carefully, ready for anything. Then at Eileen, blue energy still flowing from her in unnatural calm.
Finally, he looked back at the staff.
"How?" he asked.
The staff shook violently. Another burst of violet energy forced everyone nearby to step back.
"Speak my name," it said.
"For a name… is the key."
Ryan tightened his grip. Something inside him aligned. Not a full transformation — but the beginning of one.
He lifted his head, voice steady despite the storm around him.
"Tell me your name."
The answer came without hesitation.
"My name… is Ambition."
For a moment, everything stopped.
Then violet energy surged upward in a massive pillar of light. It contained no darkness, no chaos — only raw, overwhelming ambition.
The earth shook violently.
For the first time, Siron stepped back half a step, disbelief visible in his eyes.
"…Impossible," he muttered.
In the distance, the mysterious sorcerer smiled faintly.
"So it isn't an ordinary staff," he said quietly.
"It is a vessel for his ambition."
High above, the Shadow tightened his grip on the tree branch, watching closely.
"This has gone beyond calculation," he murmured.
Ryan stood at the center of the violet light.
The staff in his hands was no longer just a weapon.It was a promise.