My arms stretched outward.
Perfectly aligned.
Two fingers pointed in opposite directions.
Still.
Precise.
On my left—
A dense mass of crimson energy gathered at my fingertip.
Compressed.
Condensed to its absolute limit.
It pulsed like a living heart.
Heavy.
Suffocating.
On my right—
Red lightning converged violently.
Forced into a single point.
It crackled.
Screamed.
Resisted.
Two forces.
Two natures.
Opposed.
Slowly—
I brought my hands together.
The moment they aligned—
The air distorted.
A low hum spread outward.
Heavy.
Unnatural.
Both energies fused.
A rotating sphere formed between my palms.
Unstable.
Violent.
Alive.
I spread my hands slightly, holding it in place.
Then—
I bent my knees.
Grounded myself.
An electromagnetic field erupted outward.
Lightning spiraled across the battlefield, forming a cage around me.
No.
Not a cage.
A domain.
The violent clash within the sphere stabilized.
Not because the energies became peaceful.
Because I forced them to obey.
I pressed my palms inward.
The sphere shrank.
Denser.
Heavier.
More dangerous.
Space bent around it.
Light warped.
Even gravity seemed to hesitate.
Preparation complete.
I lifted my gaze.
Across from me—
The avatar moved.
Its stance lowered.
Legs spread.
Arms extended.
One hand below.
One above.
Like the jaws of a beast preparing to devour the world.
Behind it—
A phantom emerged.
A massive white tiger.
Majestic.
Ancient.
Terrifying.
Its claws mirrored the avatar's hands.
Energy gathered.
Compressed.
Forced together through raw power.
The avatar's body trembled.
Its veins bulged.
Slowly—
It drew its hands toward its waist.
Between its palms—
A sphere formed.
Larger than mine.
Wild.
Unstable.
Blue lightning exploded outward, raging violently as the avatar struggled to compress it further.
Then—
Its voice shook the training ground.
"BEAST ROAR!!!"
It thrust both hands forward.
The phantom tiger roared.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!"
The attack surged toward me.
A massive blue tiger head tore through space.
Ten meters.
Five.
Three—
I moved.
One final compression.
Then—
I pushed forward.
BOOM!!!
The two attacks collided.
But—
There was no explosion.
No clash.
No resistance.
My sphere simply passed through the attack.
Like a collapsing star passing through mist.
Crimson lightning erupted.
Shredding.
Tearing.
Devouring.
The electromagnetic field pulsed violently.
Everything around the sphere was dragged inward.
Feeding.
Growing.
The avatar roared.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!"
It poured in more power.
More force.
More will.
But it didn't matter.
The more it gave—
The stronger my attack became.
Faster.
Hungrier.
I stood still.
Arms crossing.
Watching.
Letting it feed.
For the first time—
The avatar hesitated.
Then—
It stopped.
Its attack vanished.
Its stance changed instantly.
One hand forward.
The other bracing it.
Energy condensed.
Not outside.
Within.
Its arm trembled violently.
Its entire body screamed.
Veins bulged.
Its breathing shattered.
Its form flickered.
Human.
Tiger.
Human.
Tiger.
"VOID…"
Its voice became strained.
"…FINGER!!!"
Then—
"ROOOAAARRR!!!"
Everything it had—
Poured into a single point.
A needle-thin beam shot forward.
Compressed beyond reason.
Piercing.
Absolute.
Its body began to fade.
The energy sustaining it—
Burning away.
The beam struck my sphere.
For a moment—
Silence.
Then—
CRACKLING—!!!
The sphere reacted.
Violently.
The core destabilized.
The crimson energy twisted.
Compressed.
Collapsed.
Then—
It evolved.
The crimson vanished.
Replaced by pure lightning.
Wild.
Endless.
The sphere disappeared.
In its place—
A storm.
No.
An abyss.
A devouring abyss.
Everything bent toward it.
Pulled.
Consumed.
The beam resisted.
For a second.
Then—
It began to disappear.
Erased.
Devoured completely.
Like light falling into a black hole.
The avatar pushed more power.
More.
And more.
But half its body had already faded.
It didn't matter.
Nothing did.
The storm surged forward.
Faster.
Hungrier.
Unstoppable.
The avatar's remaining energy was being consumed with every passing moment.
I looked at it.
For the first time—
There was no rage in me.
No irritation.
No trembling.
No struggle.
Only clarity.
"…Goodbye."
I smiled.
Calm.
Clear.
Back to myself.
"Thanks for the fight."
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!
The Devouring Thunder Core struck.
And everything—
Disappeared.
The explosion didn't expand.
It erased.
Space folded inward.
Then tore apart.
The training ground shattered like glass.
Walls vanished.
Metal melted.
Lightning devoured everything in its path.
For a split second—
Even silence seemed to be destroyed.
Then—
Caelion moved.
Not fast.
Not rushed.
Absolute.
His hand rose slightly.
Space itself bent.
A transparent barrier formed before the spectators.
Not blocking the destruction.
Redirecting reality itself.
The explosion curved.
Split.
Then was forced away from the trainees.
The remaining shockwave swept through the chamber.
The trainees collapsed.
Some screamed.
Some froze.
Some couldn't even move.
But—
They were alive.
Barely.
Without Caelion—
They would have been erased.
At the center of the destruction—
The avatar was gone.
Completely.
Only fragments of blue lightning remained.
They flickered weakly.
Then—
Faded.
A single spark separated from the remains.
It flew toward Caelion.
He caught it.
The spark entered his hand.
Weak.
Less than a fraction of the energy that had once formed the avatar.
The rest—
Consumed.
Gone.
The aftermath came slowly.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The training ground was gone.
The walls had been blown open, revealing the outside world.
Smoke drifted through the ruined chamber.
Lightning crawled across the broken ground.
Everything was destroyed.
Except two places.
Where I stood.
And where Caelion stood, protecting the others.
I exhaled slowly.
The final traces of lightning faded from my body.
Calm.
Still.
Across from me—
Caelion looked at me.
He wasn't smiling.
He wasn't amused.
For the first time—
His expression was complicated.
Interest.
Shock.
Calculation.
And something deeper.
His eyes remained fixed on me.
"…You."
He paused.
As though carefully choosing his next words.
"…That wasn't just power."
Silence.
Heavy.
His gaze sharpened.
"…That was authority."
I said nothing.
Behind him—
The trainees stared at me.
Wide-eyed.
Shaking.
They had just witnessed something they couldn't understand.
And barely survived it.
I lowered my gaze.
My hand was still trembling slightly.
I flexed my fingers.
Once.
Twice.
That power…
Still lingered.
Faint.
Waiting.
But beneath it—
Something else answered.
Something deep within my blood.
Something ancient.
Something hungry.
And this time—
It wasn't rage.
It was recognition.