---
The sun had set by the time I gathered enough strength to leave the room. Each step was heavy, the exhaustion still clinging to me, but I couldn't remain idle. Yami's words echoed in my head like a constant reminder. "Don't get too comfortable here. I'll be the one pushing you to your limits."
It would have been easy to stay in bed, let the soreness consume me, but that wasn't why I was here.
I wasn't here to rest. I was here to survive.
As I pushed the door open, the cool night air greeted me. The village felt still, almost as if the whole world was holding its breath. In the distance, I could see the soft flicker of lanterns—a place I knew well. The training area.
The path to the training area was quiet, save for the sound of my own footfalls. There were no familiar faces waiting for me. There was no one to hold my hand or make the journey easier. The night felt empty without them—without the rest of the squad.
But that was the point, wasn't it?
I wasn't part of the group yet. And even if I was, I wouldn't be able to rely on them. Not like this.
I reached the training area and paused, staring at the worn wooden posts, the dirt beneath my feet. The place was quiet—too quiet. No sounds of clashing magic or grunts of effort. It was just me.
I stepped forward, the weight of everything pressing on me. The battle with the Order wasn't over. It had only just begun.
I closed my eyes for a moment, focusing on the pulse of my magic inside me, the chaotic blend of freedom and control. The thing I could barely grasp. The thing I needed to master.
---
I stood in the center of the training area, letting the stillness of the night seep into my bones. The calm was almost unsettling, like the world was waiting for something to break the silence.
I reached out, feeling the air around me, trying to summon the magic I had barely understood. The power within me was a swirling storm—freedom, untamed, wild. It wanted to burst forth, to break free from my control, but I knew better than to let it loose without thought.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Focus.
The trick wasn't just to unleash the magic. It was to harness it—to hold it back, to create a balance between what I wanted and what I feared. Freedom was a dangerous thing. It could consume everything in its path if I wasn't careful. But control… Control was suffocating. It was like being locked in a cage, where every move was calculated, every breath restricted.
Both sides of me fought for dominance, both sides trying to take over. And I stood there, struggling to keep the balance, knowing that if I tipped too far to one side, I would lose everything.
I could feel the magic swelling within me. It was there, pulsing and raw. It wanted to tear through me, to explode out of my skin, to flood the world with its boundless energy. But I held on, gripping the reins of control, forcing myself to focus.
It was a struggle, but that's what training was. That's what Yami had meant. It wasn't about easy victories. It was about surviving, about pushing through the pain, about finding the center of it all.
A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead, and I gritted my teeth, forcing my magic to bend to my will. It writhed within me like a caged beast, but I held it there, trapped beneath my control.
For now, that was enough.
But I knew this was just the beginning.
---
The ground beneath me trembled slightly as I exhaled. A faint violet shimmer pulsed outward from my feet—wild, unstable. The kind of magic that didn't ask permission. The kind that made the air taste like lightning and ash.
"Still trying to figure out what you are?" came a voice—calm, sharp, unnervingly precise.
I didn't turn. I already knew it was Yuno.
He stood a few meters behind me, arms crossed, his mana pressure coiled tight. He hid it well, that latent power pulsing just beneath the surface. But I could feel it, like a blade still in its sheath—quiet, but waiting.
That stillness of his… it wasn't normal. Not for someone from a backwater village. He wasn't shaped by soil or prayer. No, there was something regal in the way he carried himself. Not arrogance—conviction. Like he already knew the world would try to crown him, and he'd already decided whether he'd accept it.
"I'm not trying," I murmured. "I know what I am."
"Do you?" he asked, stepping closer, boots crunching lightly on gravel. "Because that power doesn't look like it knows where it belongs."
I glanced down. The violet shimmer had splintered the ground beneath me—again. No control. Just instinct and tension, flaring in response to thought alone.
"Freedom," I said. "It doesn't obey rules. It doesn't need to."
Yuno looked at me, unreadable. "But the world runs on rules. Whether you like them or not."
"And yet," I said, finally turning toward him, "you're the last person who should be saying that."
He blinked once. Subtle. A flicker in his calm. I'd touched a nerve.
"You pretend to be one of them," I continued, eyes narrowing. "But you're not. You hide it well, Yuno… but I can feel it. You're not meant for this dirt. You're too polished. Too quiet. That power in you—it's not peasant-born."
His eyes didn't change, but his posture did. Straighter. Sharper.
"Whatever I am," he said coldly, "I earned it. That's all that matters."
I almost smiled.
So he knew.
Maybe not the full truth yet. Maybe not the throne waiting for him beyond the sea of blood and ambition—but he knew he wasn't like the others. And that made two of us.
---
We stood there, surrounded by the hush of early morning, the forest edge silent except for our breaths and the distant hum of awakening birdsong.
His grimoire floated beside him, pages still and unopened. Mine pulsed faintly at my side—no leaf, no cover, just runes that bled across the air like scars refusing to close.
"You said freedom," Yuno said at last. "But what does that mean, really? To break rules? To destroy them?"
"To exist outside of them," I replied, voice low. "True freedom isn't about rebellion. It's about not needing permission to be."
His brow furrowed, and for a moment I saw the mask crack—just a little.
"You sound like someone who's been chained for a long time."
I met his gaze. "And you sound like someone who never was, but pretends to be."
His silence was answer enough.
We were nothing alike. And yet, somehow… too similar.
But I was not him. And he would never be me. One of us was shaped to lead. The other? Shaped to survive what couldn't be led.
"I don't want a throne," I muttered, glancing skyward. "I want silence. I want the chains to stop clinking inside my mind."
"You'll never find silence with magic like that."
"I'm not looking for it in this world."
For a moment, we just breathed.
Then, Yuno turned to leave.
"You'll come to the exam, right?" he asked, not looking back.
I said nothing.
He didn't wait for an answer.
His silhouette disappeared between the trees, swallowed by morning light.
And I was alone again—with the silence, the power I didn't ask for, and a past that refused to rot quietly.
---
The sun was creeping up over the horizon, but a chill still clung to the air. I stood there, staring into the emptiness where Yuno had vanished, feeling like I was sinking—drowning in something deeper than the river that wound around the village.
The light was weak, but the magic within me felt as real as anything. I could feel it buzzing under my skin, like a storm about to break. I wasn't sure if I was trying to outrun it or embrace it. And that uncertainty—it gnawed at me.
I clenched my fists. The pain of my scars, the weight of my grimoire, it all collided within me in a dark swirl of desire and dread. I wanted to break free, to become something no one could touch, but every time I tried to see the path clearly, the weight of my own shadow crushed it.
"Kael."
The voice cut through the silence.
I turned sharply, already knowing who it was before I even saw them.
Sister Lily. Her figure stood out against the morning's fog, her eyes sharp as she stepped closer, her expression unreadable.
"I'm not here to play games with you, Kael," she said, her tone almost... chilling. The kindness that had once been her constant mask was gone, replaced with something else. Something darker.
My heart skipped a beat, but I didn't move.
"Why are you still here?" I finally asked, the words rasping in my throat.
Her lips curled into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Oh, Kael. You'll soon understand. I've been waiting for this moment... for so long."
The air shifted. Something dark was coiling, and I felt it, deep in the pit of my stomach.
The ground beneath my feet rumbled.
A roar split the sky.
In an instant, the world around us blurred—shadows creeping across the ground as if it were being torn apart at the seams. My grimoire reacted violently, the runes flashing red-hot.
"Kael!" Sister Lily's voice was strained, but there was no fear in it. Only a chilling calmness, as if she had been expecting this all along.
I looked at her one last time—and then I saw it.
From the blackness in the sky, something descended.
A figure cloaked in shadow, its wings wide and rippling with malicious intent.
A creature—no, a thing—that should never have existed, its eyes like burning voids, staring directly at me.
And in that moment, I realized:
I wasn't just a target anymore.
I was the final piece.
The beast's mouth opened, a howl of destruction tearing through the air. Sister Lily, her smile still etched across her face, didn't move.
I didn't know whether to run or fight.
But as the creature descended, I knew one thing:
I had no choice but to face it.
The world fell silent.
And then—
A flash of dark violet magic exploded from my body, the storm in my veins screaming as I released it.
---
The screen goes black.
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Yup done for the chapter, seeya guys in next chapter