Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 371 - 370 - “He did it.”

The wind howled across the Ashen Expanse, carrying the scent of smoke and burnt stone.

A crater spread wide beneath the group, a scar of battle and memory.

At its center stood Omni—black, gleaming, alive—with violet veins pulsing like a beating heart all over the blade.

Crisaius stood at the edge, white hair fluttering, eyes glowing crimson under the gray light. For once, he wasn’t smirking.

He raised his hand, and the air trembled.

Raven folded his arms, already bracing for nonsense. "Here we go..."

Siris tilted her head from the side. "Seriously, shouldn’t we stop him? After all, even the black dragon couldn’t budge Omni."

"That comparison would just make the old man more eager," Clara sighed from the side.

And even Selena shook her head. "Not like he would stop if he asked him to."

Graye whispered, "I’m kind of hoping he explodes."

Jessy yawned. "Wake me up when gravity gives up."

Crisaius ignored them all. His aura began to radiate—brilliant and chaotic. Even the air felt heavier. Rocks trembled. The crater’s edges shimmered with cracks of golden light.

Then, with one fluid motion, he gestured toward Omni, as if expecting the sword to come flying to him.

After all, at his level, he could pull any weapon toward him if he wanted to.

The sword, however, didn’t move.

Not an inch. Not a flicker.

For a heartbeat, the world went silent.

Then Crisaius blinked, cleared his throat, and—like a politician after a bad speech—waved a hand dismissively.

"Ah, of course. That was merely a trial. A humble test of compatibility. I wouldn’t waste serious effort on a weapon that refuses to be impressed by me."

The woman beside him blinked, visibly unsure if she should applaud or leave the planet.

"That... makes sense?" She said weakly.

Jessy snorted. "Yeah. I bet Lia secretly being a divine empress also makes sense to you."

"Why me...?" Lia muttered from the side, feeling friendly fire.

Crisaius, on the other hand, smiled—the kind of smile that said, ’Watch this before you mock me again.’

He stepped forward, boots crunching on cracked ground.

His right hand glowed faintly gold as he extended it toward the sword’s hilt.

He grasped it with a confident flourish—and pulled.

Nothing.

His grin twitched.

He tried again, and this time with both hands, his stance wide and aura flaring.

Still nothing.

"...Huh."

Selena crossed her arms. "Well, I expected as much."

Clara tilted her head. "It’s... a bit like watching someone lose an argument with gravity."

Graye giggled. "Or with the gym equipment."

Crisaius, of course, wasn’t giving up.

He straightened, pretending to stretch. "You see, I was simply gauging its weight distribution. A true weapon must resonate with its wielder’s aura frequency. Very advanced, you wouldn’t understand."

Siris tilted her head, deadpan. "You mean it’s heavy?"

"Precisely!" Crisaius declared, ignoring the snickers. "A dense, spiritually rich heaviness!"

But Argon wasn’t laughing. His eyes narrowed.

The way the sword refused to move... it wasn’t arrogance. It was recognition. The blade was bound to Raven’s essence.

For Crisaius to fail this badly, despite his strength, was troubling.

After all, if Crisaius was failing this badly, then there was no way that Argon, who was equally strong, could fare better.

So, he glanced once at Raven, who met his gaze but said nothing.

Then, as everyone’s attention stayed on the old man, Argon quietly raised a finger.

The air shimmered. Space itself twisted.

Gravity around the crater thinned, just enough that even boulders began to drift slightly upward.

Crisaius’s eyes flicked to him—a flicker of acknowledgment. But he didn’t speak. Not now.

Because this was no longer a contest of pride.

This was an experiment—one that would try to see the limit of the sword.

Crisaius crouched again, hands gripping the hilt. The air cracked under his pressure, a corona of energy flaring around him.

The ground beneath his feet splintered, deep fissures spreading outward like veins of molten gold.

Still... Omni didn’t move.

The aura coating his hands flickered, unable to cling to the sword. It was like trying to paint on flowing water.

Crisaius frowned for real this time. He tried again—aura flaring brighter, eyes burning red, muscles straining.

The ground shattered, his boots sank inches into the stone, and the earth beneath him screamed.

The result, however, remained the same.

Even with Argon’s manipulation, the sword didn’t budge.

Argon’s own jaw clenched in disbelief. "Impossible..." he murmured.

Clara and Selena exchanged glances.

Jessy muttered, "Omni’s ego could power a kingdom."

Graye whispered, "It’s like the sword knows who’s trying."

Lia tilted her head, looking worried. "Maybe it likes Raven because he talks to it nicely?"

Raven sighed. "No. It likes me because I don’t try to talk nonsense with him."

Crisaius froze mid-pull, hearing that. "I do not talk nonsense with the swords!"

Selena raised a brow. "That’s literally the only thing that comes out of your mouth."

Siris nodded. "Once saw him talking to a mana crystal."

The lady beside him, however, seemed completely lost in awe. "He’s still trying... even though it resists him..." she whispered, impressed.

Crisaius smirked faintly. "Of course. A true master never quits—"

Then he stopped, as if noticing something.

Completely still.

Alex, whose head was a bed for Nibbles and his family, tilted his head, almost causing the squirrels to fall as he muttered. "...He gave up?"

Argon and Raven replied together. "No. He’s thinking."

For a heartbeat, the silence was eerie.

Then, without warning, Crisaius slammed his fist into the ground.

BOOM!

The earth erupted with a thunderous shockwave, a spiderweb of fissures racing out in all directions. Dust exploded upward, swirling around him like a storm.

And then, with a fluid, utterly ridiculous motion, he lifted the entire slab of ground beneath the sword.

The soil tore upward with a deafening crack, and Omni—still stuck in that chunk of rock—came rising with it.

The group froze.

Jessy’s jaw dropped. "He didn’t lift the sword..."

Selena finished, "...He lifted the ground."

Graye blinked in awe. "He did it. And it’s... kind of brilliant how he did."

Siris tilted her head. "It’s cheating."

Clara smiled faintly. "But it’s creative."

Crisaius straightened proudly, the massive piece of earth hovering in his aura. "See? Told you! It’s about perspective. The sword never said it couldn’t be lifted with something else."

Even Raven had to blink. "...You’ve got to be kidding me."

Argon sighed, pinching his nose. "That’s... technically impressive."

The woman beside Crisaius clapped sincerely. "Amazing! You’re so strong!"

He winked at her. "I know."

From the side, Alex whispered, "Bro just turned failure into performance art."

Nibbles held up a sign: ’Cheater Level: Legendary.’

Fluffy and her tiny squirrel soldiers saluted toward Omni, looking both terrified and deeply confused.

As the dust settled, Raven finally stepped forward. "Alright, Grandpa Showman. Put the mountain down before you break the planet."

Crisaius sighed dramatically, letting the earth float back into the crater with surprising gentleness. "Fine, fine. You mortals have no appreciation for flair."

Raven crossed his arms. "And you have no sense of restraint."

"Correction," Crisaius said proudly, "I have too much of it. I could have lifted the entire continent to make my point."

Jessy muttered, "Yeah, your point being that you’re insane."

But as laughter rippled through the group, Argon’s gaze lingered on the sword—still pulsing faintly, untouched by aura, unbent by divinity.

He could feel it now. That presence. That will.

It wasn’t a weapon in his eyes anymore.

It was a being.

Raven, on the other hand, looked at it too, his expression softening as he walked towards it.

He walked past Crisaius, dust still drifting in lazy spirals around the crater.

His boots crunched on the scorched stone as he reached the edge, eyes locked on Omni—half-buried in the ground, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat waiting to restart.

He exhaled softly. "Alright, buddy. Let’s go home."

One hand closed around the hilt. No flare of aura, no stance, no effort. The sword slid out of the ground like a hot knife through butter, dark light rippling across its surface.

Everyone stared.

Crisaius’s grin froze mid-smug. Argon’s expression didn’t change, but his eye twitched. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Graye whispered, "Okay, he probably shouldn’t have made it look so easy right after the old man’s struggle."

Jessy shrugged. "Poor old man, I was trying to stop him before because I knew this would happen."

Selena merely smiled, shaking her head.

The woman beside Crisaius, however, blinked, whispering, "He... made it look so easy."

This caused Crisaius’s ears to twitch. "Hey, you don’t go getting impressed by my great-grandson."

The woman merely shrugged at that, more interested in Raven now, as he was just as handsome as Crisaius was.

Raven, however, wasn’t listening to them. He wasn’t even smiling.

He held the sword upright, staring at it.

Usually, the moment his fingers touched the hilt, he’d hear that familiar, cocky voice cracking jokes or bragging.

Now—nothing.

He frowned, calling inwardly. ’Omni?’

Silence.

A pinch of worry creased his brow. ’Hey. You there?’

Still nothing.

Then, like a dam bursting, a loud, blubbering voice exploded inside his mind, "BOSS! YOU LEFT ME! YOU JUST—YOU LEFT ME TO DIE, MAN!"

Raven blinked. "...What?"

"I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA GET LOOTED! OR WORSE—POLISHED BY A STRANGER! YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW TRAUMATIZING THAT IS?!"

The group just watched Raven sigh, rubbing his temple as he muttered, "Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry, alright? I won’t leave you again."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Omni sniffled, and the sword pulsed faintly before dissolving into dark light, reforming as the tribal tattoo along Raven’s arm.

Raven turned to Argon. "Alright. Let’s go back."

Argon opened a silver portal without a word, though his tone was dry. "Next time, you fetch your own melodramatic weapon."

Raven smirked. "Yeah. I’m not leaving him anywhere from now on."