Rivers of the Night

There was a violent swirl of Mana that rotated and churned through the region.

In the distance, the little boy and Kiedran were frozen in shock. Still hiding behind Kiedran's leg, the former hadn't even seen clearly what had happened. But when he peeked his head out, the reality laid out before him wasn't something that made sense in his little, immature mind.

"You little bastard!" Grenwin roared.

Theron hardly reacted at all, his lips only slightly parting.

"I've heard that Light Mancers are quite good at healing. Instead of yelling, I'd advise you hurry and get him to one of them. Otherwise, he really will be crippled. As for the rest of you, consider this a warning. Next time, I'll shatter his Core completely."

"You…"

Grenwin was suddenly caught between his fiery temper and the truth of Theron's words.

From what it seemed, Theron didn't shatter Kieran's Core completely and had instead caused several cracks and fissures in it.

Grenwin was too enraged to see through the genius of this. But later that day, when it well and truly set in what Theron had done, his heart would likely shiver.

Crippling someone was something only someone of much greater strength could do. A Core was a highly concentrated force of nature, compressing Mana to such a point that it was as though every cultivator in the world—even Bronze Mancers—were walking around with a bomb in their guts.

Just the act of targeting one in the first place was a dangerous affair.

But this wasn't what was so shocking about what Theron had done.

As had been said, a Core was highly concentrated. It was akin to a perfectly polished and pure ball of metal. It was beyond the strength of most people to shatter in the first place. But the power one would need to crack it versus shatter it completely could be considered to be very close on the spectrum.

That was to say one's Core was very strong, very hard—but also very brittle.

To control one's power just enough to crack it, but not enough to completely cripple…

Not only did this prove that Theron was far superior to Kieran in strength, it also proved that his control over that power was beyond the realms of reason.

If Theron had been a mid-tier Gold Mancer, it would make much more sense. In that case, the strength he would need would be a smaller fraction of his power, and it would be more natural for him to be able to control it.

But the power Theron had displayed just now should be at least 70 to 80% of what he was capable of. He was an Elemental Mancer, not a Flux Mancer, after all.

To control that much of your power so efficiently…

How?

These were all thoughts that were in Ott's mind, even though his younger brother couldn't seem to get with the program at all.

With a flash, Grenwin shot off into the distance, carrying Kieran with him at the fastest speed he could muster. The gaze of Theron and Ott met for a moment, but there wasn't much to be said between them. Any words exchanged wouldn't have much meaning at all.

Ott realized that he had still somehow underestimated Theron, while Theron knew that he still didn't have the full scope of information about what was going on.

It was akin to a battle between two powerhouses of the mind, and the Tyre Clan—one of the strongest powers on the whole continent—had somehow gotten caught between them.

Never in his wildest dreams did Ott ever think that he would be in such a battle with a child. He had long learned to suppress his family as he surpassed them one step after another. But now, a 14-year-old boy…

It felt almost ridiculous.

BANG!

Monet landed in a fiery heap, her Light Mana rippling off of her in waves that could almost remind one of the solar flares of the sun. Her fury was towering, her rapier already aimed up and right at Theron's head.

"Come down here!" she bellowed.

Theron continued to stand in the tree, entirely uninterested.

Monet didn't ask a second time, slashing at the tree.

Light Mana truly lived up to its status as a Variant Mana type. Maybe it was because the Nightingales were so weak, but Theron had never felt that there was anything particularly special about Dark Mana, which should—technically—be on the same level.

But he could feel all the shifts, variations, and changes in Light Mana, a complexity that underlied a path that was truly special.

Speed. Healing. Piercing strength.

If Theron had to describe the Mana simply, he'd say that these were its greatest three pillars. For one Mana to be so good at so many things naturally, it almost made Water Mana seem pitiful.

Almost.

Chi.

The Alpha suddenly appeared from nowhere, slashing out a claw that met Monet's blade and shattered the light.

The Light Mana shattered like glass, falling from the air in sparkling shards.

There was something quite beautiful about it, though to a Light Mana user, such a scene probably soon led to something tragic.

"Come down here, you coward!" she shrieked.

Monet seemed to completely ignore the presence of her uncle. The irony of it was that she could only do this because Ott had never truly overstepped his bounds. And yet, this entitled little girl seemed to think that such things were only natural.

"If you can't even defeat my beast, what right do you have to face me? I taught your brother a lesson because I gave him too many chances. If you push your luck, I'll teach you the same lesson."

Monet was taken aback by the change. Part of her realized that Kieran had indeed pushed things too far, but there was too much cognitive dissonance between this Theron and the one she had met not long ago.

In the end, anger won out, her red eyes flashing as she pulled out a badge.

Seeing it, there was a flicker in Ott's eyes.

At a point, causing trouble also required some level of skill. He wondered how far Theron would push this.