The arena held its breath.
Darian's blue aura flared violently, wind spiraling around him in razor currents. The pressure alone forced nearby students to step back.
Rank E.
Elite tier.
Proven strength.
Across from him—
Kael stood motionless.
Too calm.
The faint black silhouette behind him flickered like a distorted shadow cast by no light.
Most of the audience saw nothing unusual.
But Seraphine did.
And Darian felt it crawling under his skin.
"Stop hiding," Darian said quietly. "Release it."
Kael exhaled.
Inside him, the two currents rotated faster.
Light.
Dark.
Opposites that should never coexist.
Mana theory was absolute.
One core.
One affinity.
Anything else was corruption.
Anything else was taboo.
If he released both—
The academy would never treat him as a student again.
But if he didn't—
He would fall here.
And dying twice was not an option.
Darian moved.
A burst step shattered the stone beneath him.
His blade descended in a vertical arc, amplified by compressed wind mana.
Kael twisted—
Not fast enough.
Steel sliced across his shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
The crowd gasped.
Darian pressed the advantage instantly.
Second strike.
Third.
Each faster.
Each heavier.
Kael blocked and redirected, but pain surged through his arms.
He couldn't win like this.
Darian's eyes hardened.
"This is your limit."
"No."
Kael stepped inside the blade's range.
Too close for a full swing.
Darian reacted instantly, driving his elbow forward—
Kael caught it.
And in that heartbeat—
He let go.
Not everything.
Just enough.
The air collapsed inward.
Dark mana erupted first.
Cold. Dense. Predatory.
It coiled around Kael's left arm like living smoke.
The audience froze.
"Dark affinity—?!"
Before the sentence finished—
Light followed.
A sharp burst of radiant energy ignited along his right arm.
Not canceling the darkness.
Not overpowering it.
Intertwining.
The arena floor fractured outward from Kael's feet.
Seraphine's eyes widened.
Simultaneous manifestation.
Impossible.
Kael drove his palm forward.
Not a spell.
Not a technique.
Pure resonance.
Light and shadow spiraling together.
The impact struck Darian's guard.
Blue wind shattered on contact.
A shockwave detonated across the arena, forcing the barrier to flare violently.
Darian was thrown backward, boots carving trenches in stone.
He stabbed his sword into the ground to stop himself.
Silence followed.
Dust drifted slowly downward.
At the center of the arena—
Kael stood.
Darkness coiled around one arm.
Light shimmered around the other.
Unstable.
Raw.
But undeniable.
Dual affinity.
The Ranking Board above the arena flickered violently.
Mana classification error.
Recalculating…
Recalculating…
Darian wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
His eyes were no longer cold.
They were sharp.
Excited.
"So that's your truth."
His aura condensed again—
But this time, it sharpened.
Wind compressed into thin, blade-like streams rotating around him.
The pressure increased.
Students stepped back instinctively.
"He's breaking through—!"
Darian vanished.
Faster than before.
Kael barely raised his arm in time.
Steel collided with swirling light and shadow.
The impact cratered the ground beneath them.
They exchanged blows in blinding succession.
Blue wind.
Black smoke.
White radiance.
The barrier screamed under the strain.
Kael felt it—
The instability inside him.
The two forces grinding against each other.
Too early.
His body wasn't prepared for prolonged output.
Another strike—
Darian slipped past his defense.
His blade stopped inches from Kael's throat.
At the same time—
Kael's palm hovered against Darian's chest, dual energy compressed to a lethal point.
One more movement—
And either could die.
The arena went silent.
Both breathing hard.
Both bleeding.
Seraphine's voice cut through the tension.
"Enough."
The barrier collapsed.
The duel was forcibly terminated.
Neither had fallen.
Neither had retreated.
A draw.
But no one saw it as equal.
The Ranking Board spasmed above them.
F-Class designation unstable.
Affinity classification unknown.
System conflict detected.
The red "Monitored Candidate" mark flickered—
Then turned deeper.
⚠ Priority Observation
Whispers erupted across the arena.
"Two affinities…?"
"That's forbidden."
"That's not possible."
Kael lowered his hand slowly.
Inside him, the light and darkness still spun violently.
But something else had awakened.
Far beyond the academy.
Far beyond the sky.
A presence shifted.
"He has revealed himself."
Another voice responded from the void.
"Then we advance the purge."
High above—
The crack in the sky reopened.
This time—
It widened.
Just slightly.
Only for a second.
But long enough for something to look back.
Kael felt it.
A gaze.
Ancient.
Hungry.
The timeline was no longer bending.
It was breaking.
And now—
The enemies that once waited years…
Would begin moving now.
Kael closed his eyes briefly.
Good.
Let them come early.
This time—
He was not the weakest.