The changes in atmosphere was instantaneous and terrifying.
Fourteen competitors who had been fighting each other moments before suddenly found themselves united by a single, overwhelming purpose: prevent Kwan from holding the token for ten minutes. The math was simple and devastating one against fourteen, with no possibility of escape or reinforcement.
Kwan realized his predicament immediately. He clutched the wooden token against his chest, the only advantage he had was his foot technique but suddenly it became meaningless against the sheer weight of numbers. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he backed toward the edge of the central platform, searching desperately for an escape route that didn't exist.
"This isn't fair!" he shouted, with a voice which was cracking with panic.
From his distant platform, Moon's response was delivered with the calm of a master delivering a lecture: "You wanted to prove you were stronger than everyone else. Here's your chance."
The first wave hit Kwan like a tsunami.
Jin, despite his earlier rivalry with the boy, led the charge with a devastating tackle that sent both of them rolling across the platform. Sera followed up with precise strikes aimed at Kwan's pressure points, while two other competitors grabbed for his arms. The token went flying, spinning through the air like a golden leaf.
But Kwan's technique wasn't just for show. With a burst of strength, he threw off his attackers and dove for the token, snatching it mid-air just before it could fall from the platform. He rolled, came up in a crouch, and immediately had to dodge another coordinated assault.
Eight minutes and thirty seconds remaining.
"Come on!" Kwan snarled, his usual arrogance replaced by desperate fury. "You're all just doing his dirty work!"
He pointed accusingly at Moon, who had taken a seat on his platform's edge, legs dangling casually as he watched the carnage unfold. The image was surreal one boy sitting in perfect tranquility while fourteen others engaged in brutal combat just meters away.
"He's not even fighting!" Kwan continued, weaving between attackers. "He's making fools of all of you!"
"Maybe," Jin grunted, launching another assault. "But you're still the one we need to stop.. right ! "
Seven minutes remaining.
The crowd had fallen into stunned silence. Parents who had come to watch their children compete in a simple skill assessment found themselves witnessing something that bordered on psychological warfare. Elder Joo sat rigid in her chair, her weathered hands gripping the armrests as she watched a ten-year-old boy orchestrate the complete systematic destruction of his opponent's will.
"Instructor Yuna," she whispered. "What kind of student are you training?"
Yuna's response was barely audible: "I'm beginning to think I'm not training him at all i always felt like he is heading his skills "
Six minutes remaining.
Kwan's movements were becoming more erratic. His energy must have already depleted from the initial free-for-all, couldn't sustain much more strength. Sweat poured down his face as he clutched the token with increasingly desperate fingers. Every few seconds, he would glance toward Moon, hoping to see some sign of weakness, some indication that his tormentor might call off this systematic humiliation.
Instead, he saw Moon pull out a small piece of dried fruit and begin eating it with the leisurely pace of someone enjoying a afternoon snack.
"You bastard!" Kwan screamed, with a breaking Voice. "Fight me yourself..you basterd ! "
Moon swallowed thoughtfully before responding. "Why would I fight you when you're already fighting yourself?"
Moon words hit Kwan on his head. Because Moon was right in his desperation to hold the token, Kwan was burning through his remaining energy and stamina with a unsustainable rate. His movements were becoming wilder, more desperate, more wasteful. He was defeating himself while his opponent sat comfortably thirty feet away, eating fruit.
Five minutes remaining.
The pattern of attacks had shifted from chaotic to methodical. The other competitors had realized that pure aggression wasn't working on Kwan he was still too strong when cornered. Instead, they began employing the same strategy Moon had used against them: patience. They took turns attacking, wearing him down, forcing him to expend his stamina on defense while they preserved their own strength.
It was Moon's strategy, executed by fourteen unwitting proxies.
Four minutes remaining.
"I can't..." Kwan gasped, stumbling as another coordinated assault nearly dislodged the token. His legs shook from exhaustion, and his qi was running dangerously low. "This isn't how it's supposed to go!"
"How is it supposed to go?" Moon asked conversationally, as if they were discussing the weather. "You get to bully everyone weaker than you, but the moment the situation isn't in your favor, the rules should change?"
Three minutes remaining.
The truth of those words seemed to break something inside Kwan. His attacks were becaming wilder and less focused. He was no longer fighting to win he was fighting to avoid the crushing humiliation of losing to someone who hadn't even tried to fight him.
Two minutes remaining.
Sera managed to land a solid hit to Kwan's solar plexus, and for a moment, his grip on the token loosened. Jin dove forward, fingers brushing the wooden surface
But Kwan's desperation gave him one final burst of strength. He twisted away, clutching the token against his chest like a drowning man clinging to driftwood.
One minute remaining.
The crowd began to count down, their voices creating a rhythmic chant that seemed to echo from the very walls of the arena. Kwan's eyes were wild now, darting between his attackers and the implacable figure of Moon, still sitting calmly on his distant platform.
"Thirty seconds!"
Kwan backed against the platform's edge, the token clutched so tightly his knuckles had gone white.
"Twenty seconds!"
His legs gave out, and he sank to one knee, using his free hand to ward off increasingly desperate attacks from his exhausted opponents.
"Ten seconds!"
He closed his eyes, certain that he had won, that he had endured the longest ten minutes of his life and emerged victorious.
"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"
Elder Joo's voice rang out across the arena "Time! The winner is... Kwan !"
A cheer went up from Kwan's supporters, but it sounded hollow, uncertain. Because everyone present competitors, spectators, judges had understood that what they had witnessed wasn't really Kwan's victory.
It was all leaded by Moon's masterpiece.
Kwan collapsed completely on floor, the token rolling from his nerveless fingers. He had won, technically, but at what cost? He lay gasping on the platform, utterly spent, while around him fourteen other competitors nursed their wounds and contemplated how thoroughly they had been manipulated.
And through it all, Moon sat on his platform, finishing the last piece of his dried fruit with the satisfied expression of someone who had just completed a particularly challenging puzzle.
"Congratulations," he called out to Kwan, his voice carrying clearly across the silent arena. "You won... Wow "
But everyone present, from the youngest child to Elder Joo herself, understood the real message
He won because moon let him win. And now everyone knows it
Kwan tried to stand, failed, tried again, and finally managed to get to his feet. His victory felt like defeat. His triumph tasted like ashes. He had gotten everything he wanted and somehow lost everything that mattered.
As the crowd began to disperse, Mira approached Moon's platform. She looked up at him with a amazement and something that might have been fear..
"That was..." she began, then trailed off, unable to find words.
"Cruel?" Moon suggested, hopping down from the platform with fluid grace..
"Brilliant...i ment to say and yes, probably cruel too."
Moon considered this as they walked away from the arena, leaving behind the wreckage of Kwan's pyrrhic victory.
"Sometimes," he said quietly, "the strongest victory is the one where you never have to fight at all."
Behind them, Elder Joo remained seated at the judges' table, staring at the empty arena with troubled eyes. In her long career even before the earth had changed, she had seen many promising young kids. She even had witnessed displays of raw power, incredible speed, and masterful technique.
But she had never seen anything like what Moon had just accomplished not for a kid at age 10
"Instructor Yuna," she said finally. "We need to talk About moon."
Yuna nodded slowly, her own expression was grave "Yes, Elder. I believe we do about his birthday "
Because what we had witnessed wasn't just tactical brilliance or psychological manipulation. It was something far more dangerous the birth of a mind that could turn any situation to its advantage, that could make enemies destroy themselves while never lifting a finger in anger...if he awaken the mark of uhazari with petals then he will be a being who will stand above human's
It was the mind of someone who understood that the greatest victories weren't won through strength or speed or skill, but through the simple, terrifying recognition that every person carried the seeds of their own defeat.
And Moon, at ten years old, had just proven he knew exactly how to water those
seeds...