Rivers of the Night

—

[Rankings]

[1. Orin Zimone - 652]

[2. Theron Galethunder - 621]

[3. Rose Milone - 514]

[4. Ailon Trum - 509]

[5. Bertrum the III - 469]

[5. Lilac - 401]

[6. Violet - 400]

—

Theron's sudden leap of 100 points wasn't missed. He closed the gap on Orin so quickly it practically gave the spectators whiplash.

One hundred points. There was only one way to get that in one go.

Theron had killed an Ascended Cloud Realm Humanoid Ice Spirit Beast.

The realization crashed into the elders in waves, but the speculation and confusion only deepened.

He had to be cheating. There was simply no other way. The fact that they couldn't see what he was doing only made them speculate all the more.

It was something they simply couldn't wrap their heads around.

"…The Matriarch will make all the decisions about this," the First Elder said coldly, almost as though to reassure himself more than anyone else.

Lyrah didn't respond. Slowly, she was beginning to believe in Theron just a little bit more every time.

If he was this strong as a Silver Mancer, how strong would he be in Gold Mancy? Would he really be able to help her get the revenge she had sought after for so very long?

Would this be her chance to watch the Umbra Clan crumble for what they had cost her?

For a long while now, she had been able to hang on, pushing forward through Patriarch Nightingale's control because she never believed that he would be her undoing. She had been chasing after something far more the entire time.

Now, in an irony of ironies, one heartache had brought her the solution to another. And even in the worst of cases, where none of this worked out and she lost everything once more…

At least she had gotten to see her daughter again.

How could she turn her nose up at that?

She would forever be thankful to Theron, even if it was because of him that she was in a state where she was under his control.

As a woman who had been under the thumb of one person or another for the entirety of her life… it could be said that Theron was the best handler she had ever had.

**

While Lyrah was singing his praises, the man himself was frowning.

Once again, Theron had run into a forked path—this one with a very obvious choice to make. Though, it had always been like this for him.

The main problem now was that the winds were strong… too strong. Even Theron was beginning to feel the pressure of it.

He looked up and found that it was truly impossible to try and scale the walls now, not without revealing the fact he could fly as a mere Silver Mancer.

The walls of the valley were so thick with concentrated Ice Mana that being in contact with them for too long would be about as bad as if Theron tried to deploy his Third Eye right now. Maybe if he progressed his body further, he could manage it. But the gap between his Silver Mancy and the Cloud Resonance Mana of this valley was too large.

It was still possible to backtrack. With the number of points he had now, even if he didn't gain any more, he would still be able to maintain a top ten spot. Plus, more Ice Spirit Beasts would spawn on the way back, allowing him to keep up with ease.

But…

To Theron, finding a way to weasel into the Hall of Ice and Heart through Lyrah was secondary. His personal strength was the most important to him. And unless he pushed himself to the limits, he would never be able to break past what others expected of him.

As "difficult" as everything he had done so far was to everyone else, as far as Theron was concerned, these were greenhouse geniuses and their greenhouse elders trying to measure his success based on their greenhouse standards.

They didn't know what a real life-and-death struggle looked like, and he didn't feel like he had even broken a sweat.

Well… it was time to break a sweat.

Theron's confusion vanished, his eyes sharpening as he stepped into the howling winds.

He pulled on his Mandates, this time activating not just one but two at once. He pulled on the Heated Path and the Chilling Dark Path. Together, one formed heat and the other suppressed chill. Working in tandem, like a dance within his soul, a blazing blue flame appeared around Theron, the Ice Mana around him melting into Water Mana.

Layers upon layers of Water Mana took shape, forming [Water Bullets], [Water Scythes], and blades of the like. Each one blazed with the same blue flame.

The flame was almost illusory, wafting like fog in the air—it wisped about as though it was barely interacting with the true world.

But the heat…

The heat was very real.

Especially when it turned from blue to violet.

Theron thrust out his spear. He barely nicked the Ascended Ice Spirit Beast that charged for him, but the violet flame took hold of its body, ripping it apart from the inside out until it shattered into a rain.

Theron's points jumped by ten, and he took another step forward, his hair whipping in the air as he exhaled.

The power of his Mandates when used like this was beyond his expectations. It seemed that this Path was going to have to give him a little more if it expected to give him a challenge.

Theron took another step, the ground beneath him melting until a deep groove was formed for his foot.

Everything happened in a flash, so impossibly quick that Theron was already nothing more than an afterimage by the time it ended.

And yet, the groove of his foot became a crater of caved ice and smoking mist just seconds later.

Theron cut across every Ice Spirit Beast he came across, his point totals jumping by leaps and bounds—continuous and relentless—until he reclaimed his first spot.

That was when a howl that chilled his bones reached him.

His flames flickered out and vanished under the oppression.