THUNK!
"Huff… Huff… you got me good."
"Huff. Damn right," shot back Kiera.
The fight had just ended. Well—less of a fight, more of a friendly spar. This time, Kiera had taken the win.
Despite the vast improvement in his technique, Vael's blade still couldn't withstand the sheer force of Kiera's strikes.
He collapsed onto the floor, chest rising and falling with exhaustion. To keep up with her during the match, he'd been forced to deflect each attack at the exact moment of impact. One mistake, and her swords would've cut through his projection entirely. Perfect footwork was the only thing keeping him in the game.
Kiera had been training her own tricks too. Ever since the entrance exam, she'd been replaying the fall in her mind—the rush of air, the sharp whistle past her ears. But what haunted her wasn't the fear. It was the how of her survival.
She was experimenting with flight.
If she could truly master the way her mana flowed during that descent—if she could replicate it—her combat potential would skyrocket. A battle-mage capable of striking from the air, switching seamlessly between close and ranged combat.
Flight itself wasn't hard. Sustaining it was the problem—it demanded more focus than even she could spare in battle.
Kiera dropped to the ground beside him, breathing heavily. She lay on her back and closed her eyes, letting the crisp mountain air wash over her. Even if it was artificial, it felt real enough. A welcome break from the sterile monotony of the city.
Vael sat up, legs crossed. The spar was done, but his training wasn't.
Oculor slithered forward, coiling neatly on the floor in front of him—almost like a pet waiting for instruction.
Vael closed his eyes. The physical world faded, giving way to the unseen structure around him.
He no longer looked at the room as a man.
He felt it—every inch, every distortion, every ripple in the air.
He was reading space itself.
Spatial Awareness couldn't help him here. If Vael wanted to create his own pocket dimension, he'd need to go deeper—truly deeper. To understand, not just imitate. To see what lay beneath the folds of space itself.
Kiera watched him in silence, sensing the faint hum of mana in the air. They were both advancing, step by step. It wasn't the reckless kind of progress they'd once known in the wild—it was steadier now, controlled, deliberate. Real.
Yet her mind drifted elsewhere. Back to the topic from earlier.
Religion.
They hadn't learned much in that short hour, but her curiosity was hooked. Gods. How did they function? How powerful were they really? Were they beings of flesh and divinity—or something far beyond comprehension?
She didn't know. But she would. Whatever truths or lies the Church had buried, Kiera was determined to uncover them all.