"How?" The word escaped from both of Brakhtar's mouths in perfect synchrony as he watched the impossible unfold before his eyes.

Black smoke poured from every inch of Adyr's body, wrapping around him until even his once-white wings turned into cursed clouds of darkness. His hair deepened to the color of night, blending seamlessly with the surrounding void, while the pure-sky hue of his eyes filled with something indescribably malevolent. The sight and the feeling it carried froze everyone in place.

"How can this be possible?"

It wasn't merely the physical manifestation of evil that stunned them, nor the suffocating, bone-deep dread that came from witnessing it. The true impossibility lay in who the power belonged to: Adyr, a Practitioner of the Astra Path, now radiating the aura of corruption itself.

They tried to make sense of it, to decide if what they saw was illusion or reality, but there was no doubt. It was real, taking form right before their eyes.

Moments ago, his Grace had been pure light, pure benevolence. Now, it had inverted completely, becoming darkness, raw, consuming, and absolute. The contrast alone was enough to gnaw at their sanity.

"You're following two Paths?" Thalira's silver eyes widened as she whispered, her gaze tracing every detail as though searching for truth in it.

Among them, she alone didn't appear horrified. Shocked, yes, but her surprise felt tempered, almost delighted, as if she had expected this and welcomed the sight instead of recoiling from it.

While all eyes were fixed on him, Adyr's were fixed on them.

For a long time, he had wondered what others would think if they ever learned he carried more than one Path. Now, at last, he had his answer, written across their faces.

They looked shaken and stunned, but not hateful. There was no fear of a monster or disgust toward an abomination. Their expressions held curiosity, even awe.

Especially Thalira's. She seemed almost calm, her composure revealing something else entirely.

She's familiar with this. Interesting, Adyr thought, carefully reading every twitch, every microexpression, every subtle movement. He decided he would speak with her privately after this.

"So you've seen it now," he said at last, his tone carrying a quiet sorrow as the black smoke continued to seep from his body. "This is my blessing and my curse."

Everyone watched him in silence, unable to find the words to reply, and Adyr did not wait for them to speak.

As he looked around, the space began to settle, a clear sign that the Serpent was about to complete its constructed dimension. They were only seconds away from being swallowed whole.

Wasting no time, he opened his stat panel to confirm everything was ready.

[Physique]: 188 → 1483

[Will]: 400

[Resilience]: 605

[Sense]: 525

[Energy]: 3018 → 4313 (Not current energy, but just max capacity, showing how much he can store in his body.)

[Free Stat Points]: 1295 → 0

For some time, he had been increasing his [Physique] in a steady, deliberate way, channeling every free stat point into that single attribute. He did it slowly but consistently, never breaking the pattern.

The effect was unmistakable. His muscles felt dense and ready, packed with contained power. Every movement hinted at stored force, like an atom bomb primed and held at the edge of detonation. It felt good on the surface, but the real value was what it meant for the fights ahead.

With these numbers, Adyr understood his position precisely.

He had already gone beyond the peak of Rank 3 and was standing right at the entrance of Rank 4.

That realization led him to a new question he had been wanting to test for a while: if he fought a non-titled Rank 4 Practitioner, how close would he be to winning?

The curiosity was strong, but the situation before him mattered more. There was a Rank 4 Spark here and now, and that had to be his focus.

He also kept a realistic view of his limits. Rank 4 Practitioners were not weak by any measure, and in raw statistics, he still had distance to cover before he could claim that level outright.

If he had to give a concrete estimate, his current pure power output was about half of a Rank 4 Practitioner.

This calculation was tied directly to why he chose to reveal his Malice to everyone.

He wanted to start using Malice, his strongest attack buff, freely now and, if possible, keep using it whenever needed in the future, without needing to hide it anymore.

Malice was not only a source of pure Fear that pressed on minds and instincts. It also provided a straightforward combat advantage: it applied a strengthening buff that multiplied the power of any of his attacks by at least 2. With that multiplier in place, his strikes could reach the effective force of a true Rank 4 Practitioner, even if, by base stats alone, he had not fully crossed that threshold yet.

"You might want to step back a little now." Adyr raised the Tower of Worth in his hand and turned it, as if testing its weight before the strike.

At the warning, everyone began to retreat on instinct. They were no longer curious about whether he could truly attack at the level of a Rank 4 Practitioner. They were careful not to be caught in the aftershocks.

Once they had moved to a safe distance, Adyr initiated his next buildup. He flooded his arm muscles with power using Burst Hop.

His biceps were already sharply defined, every line as clear as if drawn by hand, and under the skill's effect, they swelled further, storing kinetic energy within the fibers.

After savoring the weight of that power in his arms, he triggered his next skill.

This time, it was not the sound wave of Sonic Burst. It was the new Spark skill he had gained from the Tower of Worth's trials.

This attack will be my new peak, he thought, a faint smile tugging at his mouth as he focused on the outcome he was about to measure.

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