The Ialent Awakening Card shimmered with an otherworldly glow, crafted from a celestial material that seemed her metal nor crystal.

  Golden ruwisted and flowed across its surface, defying logic, shifting like a steltions written in an unknown tongue.

  The sheer presence of the card sent a tremor through his fiips, as if he were holding something beyond mortal prehension.

  His heartbeat quied.

  "How do I activate this? Maybe it's the same as the Sword Aura prehension Card?"

  There was only one way to find out.

  Taking a deep breath, he pressed the card against his forehead.

  The moment it touched his skin—

  BOOM!

  A detonation of energy erupted from the card, flooding his body like a tidal wave.

  His entire being trembled as an unseen force resonated deep within his soul.

  Dark wisps of energy coiled and twisted around him, spiraling toward the heavens. The surrounding air thied, suffused with a suffog presence.

  Reon's eyes widened. "Oh? It's reag… That means I'm not a waste!"

  His lips curled into an eager grin. "I wonder what ability I'll awaken—"

  His words died in his throat.

  The energy didn't settle—it intensified.

  The grouh him cracked. The surrounding trees groaned uhe force, their leaves shredded into nothingness.

  Reon's stomach twisted.

  "Wait… isn't this a bit too muergy?"

  Cloudia and Little Tiger, sensing the disturbance, let out low growls. They couldn't see the source of the energy, but instinct screamed at them—something very dangerous was about happen.

  They remained vigint, ready to protect their master.

  The swirling tempest of spiritual energy expanded outward, its shadows stretg across the heavens, casting a foreboding shroud over the Mystic Evergreen Forest.

  The sky darkened unnaturally, as if the very heavens themselves recoiled from the forow unravelih them.

  Within moments, an all-ing darkness desded upon the forest, swallowing it whole in an eerie, suffog gloom.

  A shiver ran down Reon's spine.

  "This... this feels just like when I awakened my Sword Aura... but why is the amount of energy and darkness spreading so wildly?"

  Soon, the swirling storm of spiritual energy devoured the sky above the Supreme Dao Sect.

  .

  .

  The sect's disciples, engrossed in their daily routiraining, sparring, gossiping, aing—all froze iheir as fotten. One by oheir gazes lifted skyward, eyes wide with bewilderment.

  "H-Hey, look! The sky… why is it turning bck?!"

  "It's like nightfall… but it was broad daylight just a moment ago!"

  "Could it be someone awakening a physique?"

  "Maybe, but no ordinary phenomenon should be able to devour the sky in darkness like this…"

  "Perhaps it's a Heavenly-Grade Physique, like the Peerless Sword Body," another chimed in. "After all, those physiques are mysterious, and their awakenings cause incredible phenomena."

  "Wow! If that's true, our Supreme Dao Sect is unbelievably lucky! Two Heavenly-Grade Physiques in a single month? That kind of fortune only happens on a thousand years!"

  "You're right! If both of them grow strong, our sect could surpass the other three Overlord Sects and bee the number o in the Sleeping Dragon ti!"

  "Ugh! I'm so jealous!" one disciple groaned. "If I could just awaken an Advanced-Grade Physique, my future would be set! But a Heavenly-Grade ohat's a dream beyond reach!"

  "Idiots! Stop rambling!" a sharp voice cut through their chatter. A young man poioward the sky, his expression tense.

  "Look! This isn't normal phenomena. The darkness is still spreading… and it's reag beyond the sect's borders. This feels like somethiirely different—something on another level than other Heavenly-Grade Physique."

  "Nah, Nah, no way!" someone scoffed. "Even if it's a Heavenly-Grade Physique, it 't be strohan the Heavenly Peerless Sword Body!"

  While the disciples argued, the elders of the sect exged uneasy gnces.

  Some immediately fell to their knees, g their hands in silent prayer to their aors, believing the sect had been blessed with yet another extraordinary genius.

  Others, however, acted swiftly, issuing orders. "Find the source of this phenomenon immediately! firm their location and eheir safety!"

  But as the darkness tio spread, it surged past the sect's borders, swallowing vilges, towns, cities and kingdoms before ing the entire Eastern Province.

  For the mortals, who cked knowledge of such awakenings, the event was terrifying.

  "M-Mother… w-what's happening to the sky?" a little girl stammered, ging tightly to her mother's robes.

  "I-It's nothing, my child…" the mother forced a reassuring smile, though her trembling hands betrayed her fear. "Maybe… maybe night is just ing early today. Let's hurry home."

  Elsewhere, the elderly mortals knew better—they had seen omens before.

  An old ma in the middle of a vilge, hands shaking as he muttered, "This is the end. The heavens have forsaken us. Prepare the s. We must beg for mercy…"

  But the darkness did not stop.

  It surged forward, relentless and untamed, stretg beyond the Eastern Province, c the entire Sleeping Dragon ti.

  Not only were the people of the Supreme Dao Sed the mortals uled by the stra, but even the mighty powerhouses of the Sleeping Dragon tiook notice of the mysterious phenomenon.

  And soon—

  The world was cloaked in pitch-bck darkness.