"Before we begin," Adrian extended his hand to the side and withdrew what seemed to be a sheet of folded paper.

"Sign this."

He tossed it to Darius who immediately caught and read through the thing.

Stated there was just an absolute loyalty contract, one that only took effect when Darius successfully awakened the Dragon flames.

Although another clause in the contract stated that Darius had to become the next Grand Duke after the current, he didn’t hesitate to sign it.

As long as he became stronger enough to not feel as he did back then, nothing else mattered.

Adrian smiled as he looked at the black mist rise from the paper into Darius’ chest.

[That’s one Grand Duke in your palm, my lady,] he mentally said as he looked at Renelle with a smile.

Renelle looked at him for a while before sighing, how her butler was certain that the red haired idiot would awaken or that he would end up becoming a grand duke.

But she could feel his confidence and couldn’t help but trust in him.

[Hmm,] she nodded before adding, [what would my Butler like as a reward?]

Adrian froze a bit at her words, but he soon recovered and replied, [I’ll think about it.]

Renelle smiled lightly, as she looked at his smile subtly get wider.

But before anything else could be said, Darius suddenly interrupted as he asked, "what now?"

"Now?" Adrian calmly looked at him for a second as he said, "you try your hardest to survive."

The moment those words left his mouth, a heavy pressure envelope the entire platform they stood on, freezing Darius completely in place.

Adrian might not realize it, but from the moment he used ’that’, his mana had been subtly preparing itself for his full awakening.

That meant, his pressure was a lot heavier and terrifying than a normal C-ranker’s.

But even if he knew about this, did that mean he would restrain it a bit?

....

Not in the least bit.

Since Darius never naturally awakened in the manhwa, his only choice was possibly awakening it through the hard way.

Fortunately, the chances of Darius awakening was high since those things favored a personality like his, Unfortunately for him, this was not going to be a fun for him. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

BOOM!

Before Darius had the chance to gain control of his limbs again, a fist made completely of shadows suddenly slammed into him, launching him into the barrier that surrounded them.

His body created a crack on the floor when he landed on it but Adrian was far from done.

A large [Shadow Spike] formed above him and without hesitation, launched exactly where he was laying.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Darius, who had finally managed to calm himself down, screamed as he barely escaped the shadow spike.

"Yes," Adrian simply said with a smile on his face, "it’s either you awaken or die trying."

Darius’ eyes widened at his words, but before he could say anything else, Adrian interrupted, "heads up."

Just above him was a completely black silhouette in the shape of a human. It looked so much like a shadow given form.

Because it was.

In the shadow’s hand was a throwing spear, and without hesitation it hurled it at Darius.

BOOM!

A large crater was created where the spear landed, fortunately though, Darius had managed to move out its way.

"Fine then," his red eyes started glowing and steam started rising from him, "come at me!"

Embers of flames could be seen coming from him, and the next second, he launched himself forward.

Flames beneath his feet boosted him forward and left a crater in his wake as he quickly approached Adrian who remained standing still.

He extended his fist that was now enveloped by flames, but just before it could reach his target, his very own shadow extended and wrapped around his legs, sending him off balance.

BANG!

Another shadow fist slammed into him again causing his body to be shot body shot backwards, slamming into the barrier again, but this time, hard enough to distort it.

"Damn it," Darius cursed as he tried getting up, but the moment he pushed himself off the ground, his arm gave out.

The pain caused him to look towards it, and sure enough, it was twisted in an unnatural angle.

"Argh," Darius let out, gritting his teeth, as the pain finally hit him in full force.

He looked up and noticed that Adrian was slowly walking toward him.

Step. Step. And another step.

There was no urgency in his movements.

He just calmly walked towards him without saying anything, but the expression on his face felt as if he expected all this to happen.

Darius tried to push himself up again, but the moment he placed weight on his broken arm,

CRACK!

"Argh—!"

He collapsed back down, his breathing turning ragged as started appearing on his forehead.

Adrian stopped right in front of him and then crouched, bringing himself down to Darius’ level.

For a moment, he said nothing and he simply looked at him.

There was neither anger nor disappointment in his gaze.

There was only a cold indifference.

"If this is all you can do," Adrian finally said, his voice quiet, "then you should forget about awakening it."

Darius’ pupils shrank slightly but Adrian’s expression didn’t change.

"You don’t have the body for it," he paused before adding, "or the will, after all, you’re too weak."

Those words hit harder than anything else so far, Darius’ fingers twitched as he let out, "..tch..."

"And I don’t waste my time on failures,"

Adrian added, already standing back up and then, he turned away.

"Get your arm treated," he said flatly, "we’re done here."

Renelle looked at the interaction between the two, but said nothing, after all, she understood exactly what he was doing.

Adrian was almost at the edge of the platform when a sudden heat way hit him, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Fine then," a low voice came from behind him and he turned around, "I’ll just show you that I’m not weak."

Adrian spotted Darius’ entire being enveloped by flames, but strangely, he wasn’t burning.

He grinned seeing this and muttered under his breath, "let’s get the awakening started, shall we?"

Darius was about to make his move in his seemingly powered up form only to freeze and look down.

Going through his chest was a black spike made of shadows.

Slowly he looked back up at Adrian and the last thing he heard was, "don’t disappoint me."

With that, everything faded to black.