The rest of the day unfolded with a strange swiftness, as though the academy itself had decided not to linger on the aftershock of Liam and Percy's duel. In all four grand training halls, first- and second-year students cycled through their sparring matches under the watchful eyes of instructors and upperclassmen. The air in each hall crackled with mystic residue and competitive tension, the echoes of clashing affinities ringing against reinforced stone as students demonstrated just how far they had come in a single month of relentless training.
For many of them, that month had been brutal.
And it showed.
