ShadowBound: The Need For Power

Left alone in the training hall, the first thing Liam did was take in his surroundings.

The underground chamber beneath the royal palace was massive, clearly designed to withstand high-level magic. Stone walls lined with glowing runes absorbed excess energy, keeping the space stable no matter the force unleashed within. The floor was dark and polished, smooth enough for movement yet firm enough for impact. Suspended crystal lights floated above, casting a steady, ambient glow over the entire hall.

Sections of the space were fitted with training dummies, adjustable platforms, and reinforced metal targets for testing destructive power or precision. Despite being underground, the hall felt nothing like a dungeon—it had a grandeur to it. Royal banners hung high on the walls, and at the center of it all was the Tempest crest: a roaring lion's head wreathed in storm.

"This place is huge… way bigger than the academy's training hall," Liam muttered as he scanned the vast chamber.

"It's perfect. I can go all out here without holding back."

He made his way toward a spherical blue crystal resting on a dark green stand. When Lucy had brought him here, she'd taken a moment to explain how the crystal functioned—how it could manipulate the environment of the training hall.

Liam tapped the crystal just as she had shown him. In an instant, the room transformed. All the equipment vanished, leaving behind a massive, empty arena. Just him and silence.

"This should do. Don't need all the extras right now," he said quietly, turning away from the crystal.

He moved to the center of the hall, where the Tempest crest was etched into the floor. Sitting down cross-legged, he clasped his hands together, thumbs touching, and took in a calm, steady breath. Then he closed his eyes.

'Back in the room, I couldn't examine my body or core clearly...'

Liam activated Mystsense, sending his awareness inward to trace the flow of myst within him. Immediately, he noticed a profound difference. The energy moved with absolute freedom—his myst flowed from the core and through his body like blood through arteries, only to cycle back again. His core pulsed like a second heart.

Compared to before, the flow was far smoother, wider—as if narrow pathways had been expanded. The energy didn't just move faster; it moved better. More stable, more natural. He realized now that what once seemed "normal" had actually been restrictive. He'd simply lacked the perspective to see it.

Minutes passed before his eyes cracked open, the air around him still calm.

"There's more to this Ascension than I thought," he muttered. "The changes… they're vivid. Tangible."

His thoughts drifted to the last time he ascended—back in Nystra. He hadn't experienced this kind of shift then. Not even close.

'Is it because I jumped two levels instead of one?' he wondered. 'That has to be it. I skipped the mid-tier of Five-Star entirely and hit High-Tier directly. No wonder everything feels so different.'

He looked down at his hand, faint traces of myst flickering around it.

"This isn't just growth," he whispered. "It's evolution."

After a moment of silent reflection, Liam rose to his feet.

"Well, no point dwelling on it," he said to himself. "I came here to test this new strength."

He held out his hand.

"Let's start with the heat. Let's see how far my flames have come."

In an instant, fire erupted around him—intense and vivid, cloaking his entire body in a divine blaze. The air shimmered around him, his figure glowing like a being of legend. He could feel it—the heat radiating off him was far beyond anything he had produced before. And even then… he could tell this wasn't the limit.

With a mere thought, the flames surged brighter. Then again. And again. Each wave of increase pushed the heat higher, until the very air around him began to distort and crackle, like it was on the edge of vaporizing.

"How interesting," he murmured.

Then, in a swift motion, Liam clenched his right hand—and all the flames wrapping his body were sucked inward, spiraling into his palm.

The fire condensed into a glowing orb, suspended just above his skin. He exhaled slowly, watching it float there—dense, concentrated, alive.

He smirked.

"Wall," he commanded.

The crystal control core pulsed with light, and at the far end of the chamber, a thick, solid wall materialized from the floor.

Liam turned back to the orb. He held it forward and began compressing it further—shrinking it until it was no larger than a marble. Yet the heat didn't fade—it intensified, growing sharper, heavier, more potent. It felt like holding a miniature sun.

He narrowed his eyes, locking onto the wall in the distance. Then, with a thought, he released it.

The marble-sized orb shot forward like a bolt of pure energy, slicing across the air faster than sound. It struck the wall—no thunderous boom, no dramatic shockwave. Just a sharp flash of light.

And then the aftermath.

A clean, molten crater had been carved deep into the wall—its edges glowing, stone liquefied by the raw heat.

"…That could've killed a Titanborne with no impact or blast radius. Just heat," Liam muttered, a flicker of pride in his eyes.

"Not even an explosion… and it still did that."

He glanced down at his hands, watching as a faint shimmer of mystic fire danced across his skin. Clenching his fists, he smirked.

"Let's try something bigger."

Thrusting both arms forward, Liam summoned fire and shadow at once. From his left hand, a black mist bled into the air like smoke from a dying world. From his right, searing heat bloomed into flame, flickering wildly.

"Well… Queen Lucy said it's safe to use dark magic here," he muttered. "Might as well go all out."

He grit his teeth as he forced the two opposing forces to merge.

They resisted at first—fire and shadow grinding, chaotic and violent—but gradually, they began to twist and wrap around each other like serpents. What formed was a small, pulsating orb: a black sun, its surface rippling with molten darkness and inner light, as if shadow itself had caught fire.

It floated above his palm, humming like a storm cloud filled with rage.

Liam stared at it, captivated.

"I've never… done this before," he murmured, then smirked faintly.

"Umbra Star."

The words slipped out on their own, catching him off guard.

"Umbra Star? Is that what this thing's called?"

His brow furrowed. 'Is that bastard trying to name my spells now?' he thought, remembering Aesmirius with irritation.

"Tch. That's going to be a pain if he keeps slipping thoughts into my head like that… I need to find a way to put him in check," Liam muttered, casting a side glance at the swirling dark sun above his hand.

"Still... Umbra Star doesn't sound too bad. Not that I care about names."

He turned toward the far end of the hall.

"Enchanted dummies," he ordered.

Ten armored training dummies appeared—each clad in enchanted plating, armed with swords and shields, standing ready like real soldiers.

"I could get used to this luxury," Liam muttered as the black sun in his hand flickered ominously.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, he launched it.

There was no sound or flash.

Just silence.

And then—woosh—a sudden implosion of violent heat and shadow as the dark sun collapsed inward on itself, erasing all ten dummies and part of the reinforced wall behind them in an instant. Not even ash remained.

"…Okay. That's new," Liam said quietly, eyes locked on the destruction.

But what really caught his attention wasn't the crater. It was how he felt.

Or rather, how he didn't feel.

He felt no exhaustion. No drain. No loss of myst.

'Normally, an attack like that would've burned through half my reserves…' he thought, stunned. 'But now? I barely felt it. I still have so much left.'

"Ascension is… incredible," he said with a slow, satisfied grin.

Then, taking a breath, he centered himself and pulled myst into his legs. A burst of heat ignited beneath his feet—and in the next instant, he vanished in a streak of fire, reappearing at the far end of the chamber.

His boots skidded to a stop, the stone beneath him scorched black.

"Flame Dash… it feels completely effortless now," he said, looking down at the scorch marks.

"Hm. Guess it's time to revisit some of Professor Vale's teachings. Might finally pull off the stuff I couldn't before."