When Ren Kagu formed his mana core at the age of five, the world noticed. A prodigy, a force of nature wrapped in the form of a child—triple affinity, God's Eyes, and an innate mastery of fist arts. It was the kind of talent that sent shockwaves through the superpowers of the world, the kind that made kings and emperors take pause.
Because the prophecy had spoken.
A Second Hero would be born.
And so, the great powers turned their eyes to their own children, scrutinizing, testing, measuring. Each of them—Rachel, Cecilia, Ian, Jin, Seraphina—showed brilliance that outstripped even their Radiant-rank parents. But no matter how high they reached, no matter how bright they burned, one name always stood above the rest.
Arden Windward had suspected his son was special. He had seen the signs, the effortless grace of his swordplay, the unnatural control over mana. But nothing could have prepared him for the day Lucifer awakened his Gift.
Black and white mana swirled around the boy, but Arden knew—this was not dark mana, nor was it light. It was something else entirely. A supernatural anomaly. Chaos and order, bound together in perfect opposition.
In that moment, Arden understood.
His son wasn't just a genius. He was an impossibility made real.
A born swordsman, with unparalleled spellcasting talent. A force destined to stand at the peak.
And now, standing on the stage of the Sovereign's Tournament, Lucifer let that truth be known. His verdant eyes gleamed as he finally stopped holding back.
Black and white mana surged, spiraling into existence like twin forces of nature, warping the very space around him. Chaos and order, creation and destruction—his Gift in full bloom.
This was the power of the Yin-Yang Body.
Lucifer wasn't arrogant. He acknowledged Arthur's talent. After all, Arthur had done the impossible—he had defeated Ren.
But in the end, talent alone wasn't enough.
Arthur could not win.
Because they were born different.
Lucifer stepped forward, ready to prove it.
And then—Arthur smiled.
Not a smirk. Not a bluff. But something genuine.
"That's it, Lucifer," he said, his voice tinged with something close to glee.
Lucifer frowned. Why was he smiling? Why was he—
Then, without hesitation, Arthur released Lucent Harmony.
The space around them—once distorted, warped by the sheer force of Lucifer's chaos and order—began to calm. The raging storm of black and white mana met resistance, not through brute force, but through something deeper. A tranquility that radiated from Arthur, neutralizing the chaos.
Lucifer's expression sharpened.
Arthur Nightingale was not breaking under his power.
No—he was thriving in it.
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The clash between us was a storm of light and shadow, force and finesse.
Lucifer's sword streaked toward me, the edge of his white mana humming with raw power. I twisted, sidestepping as his blade cut through the air where my ribs had been a moment before. He was fast—absurdly fast—but I had seen his style, studied the way he moved. The tempo of his swings, the way his weight shifted ever so slightly before an attack.
I countered in the next breath, my sword darting forward, wrapped in a thin veil of white mana, a mimicry of his power. Lucent Harmony thrummed in my veins, perfecting the balance between my body and mind, making each movement fluid, controlled.
Our blades met, sparks of conflicting mana bursting in the air. White and black energy crackled against each other, sending violent ripples through the arena floor. The very air around us trembled from the sheer force of our strikes.
Lucifer's lips curled into a grin, his verdant eyes glinting with exhilaration. His sword surged forward again, but this time he shifted mid-strike, switching from a straightforward thrust into a feint that twisted his entire stance.
I saw it before he even finished executing it.
With a slight pivot, I redirected his blade with the flat of mine, stepping into his guard. My fist struck out, a precise jab into his ribs, reinforced with my Tempest Dance technique.
Lucifer barely managed to shift, absorbing some of the impact, but I felt the breath rush out of him as he staggered.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face, then vanished. He exhaled, shaking off the hit, and his stance deepened.
Then, his mana changed.
The white mana around him darkened, the pure energy bleeding into a deeper shade.
My instincts screamed at me as a wave of pressure slammed into me, forcing my muscles to tense. My feet dug into the cracked floor, refusing to yield.
Lucifer's Yin-Yang Body Gift had finally revealed its true nature.
I barely had time to brace before he lunged again.
He was faster now. Faster than before.
I met him head-on, my sword intercepting his in a shower of mana-infused sparks. Each clash sent shockwaves through the arena, the floor beneath us shattering under the force of our fight. He pushed forward, his strikes heavier, more aggressive, his black mana coating his blade in a vicious aura.
I parried one, two, three attacks—then ducked as a sweeping horizontal slash nearly took my head off.
Tempest Dance surged through me, my footwork becoming an intricate weave of movement, each successful dodge and counter fueling the next. Speed, momentum, power—each one compounding, layering, until my strikes became a relentless storm.
Lucifer scowled, forced onto the defensive as my blade rained upon him. My attacks came faster, sharper, striking his sword at angles that disrupted his balance.
He gritted his teeth and retaliated, twisting his body and driving his knee toward my gut.
I spun, narrowly avoiding it, and retaliated with a downward slash aimed at his shoulder. He caught it at the last second, but the sheer force of my momentum sent him skidding backward.
A hush fell over the arena.
Lucifer Windward—the prince of the North, the Child of Prophecy—was being pushed back at full power.
His breathing was heavier now, his expression less composed.
I wasn't just keeping up with him.
Lucifer exhaled sharply, shaking his head as if trying to clear the disbelief from his mind. His grip on his sword tightened.
"You really are ridiculous," he muttered.
Then, his black mana flared, the ground beneath him cracking under the sheer weight of his power.
The real fight had just begun.
He took a deep breath and shifted into stance, his entire demeanor hardening.
I knew what was coming.
The movement he had used to counter my God Flash.
Third movement of the Myth of the Northern Peak: Frozen Zenith.
It was an impressive moment, no doubt. As the name implied, Frozen Zenith focused on channeling all ice energy to a singular, devastating point of impact. But Lucifer, ever the prodigy, had taken it a step further. He modified the movement, drawing not just on ice, but on every element at his disposal.
It wasn't flawless—ice remained the dominant force, as the technique was inherently an ice movement. But that was the true ability of his Yin-Yang Body: the seamless blending of opposing elements.
'I want to do that,' I silently asked Luna.
She didn't respond, but the sigils on my skin flared in response, almost as if to acknowledge my intent.
God Flash: Absolute—it was an evolution of my original technique, superior in every sense. Faster, stronger, and deadlier. But there was a reason I classified it as a separate variant.
To execute God Flash: Absolute, I needed the full activation of Lucent Harmony, pushing both my body and mana reserves to their absolute limit.
If Lucifer was going to unleash his full power, I would meet him with something far greater.