The detention drills began at dawn and were meant to teach discipline.
They taught something else entirely.
Instructor Harlan stood in the training yard, arms crossed, watching the duo with the weary expression of a man who had already accepted defeat.
"Again," he barked. "Mask your Aura. Controlled footwork. Strike the joint, not the whole damn dummy."
The training dummies were life-sized figures of carved oak and iron, reinforced with layered Ether barriers to withstand cadet punishment.
They stood in a neat row, faceless and silent, waiting to be hit.
Jade bounced on her toes, green Aura crackling wildly.
She lunged at the first dummy, trying the prescribed pattern—three measured steps, a focused burst to the shoulder joint.
Her control slipped.
The Aura detonated.
The dummy exploded into kindling.
Harlan ducked flying splinters.
"Controlled, Voss! Controlled!"
Jade grinned, wiping sweat.
"Got the joint, didn't I?"
Harlan turned to Kael.
"Silpatra. Demonstrate properly this time."
Kael had been staring at the row of dummies for the last ten minutes.
Not at their joints.
Not at their stance.
At their midsections.
They were wrapped in thick leather padding for impact absorption—dark, cured hide that gleamed faintly with oil.
To most cadets, it was armor.
To Kael, it smelled like smoked meat.
His stomach growled.
Harlan didn't notice.
"Pattern three. Mask, advance, strike."
Kael walked forward.
Slowly.
The nearest dummy shifted on its Ether track, simulating a defensive weave.
Kael ignored the movement.
He stopped in front of it.
Reached out.
And bit.
Teeth sank into the leather-wrapped shoulder with a thick, leathery crunch.
The class went dead silent.
Harlan's mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
"Silpatra… what in the nine hells are you doing?"
Kael tore free a strip of padding.
Chewed once.
Frowned.
Not meat.
But close enough when hungry.
He bit again.
The dummy's Ether barrier flickered in protest, but barriers were designed for blades and Aura, not teeth backed by the strength of forty gorillas.
Leather ripped.
Wood splintered.
Kael gnawed steadily, like a wolf working a tough hide, strips disappearing down his throat.
Jade stared for three full seconds.
Then doubled over laughing.
"He's eating it! He's actually eating the dummy!"
The watching cadets erupted—some in horror, some in hysterical laughter.
Harlan strode forward, voice rising.
"Stop! That's academy property! Spit it out!"
Kael paused mid-bite, gray eyes turning to Harlan.
Chewed once more.
Swallowed.
Then, politely, offered the half-gnawed dummy to the instructor.
Harlan backed up a step.
Jade wiped tears from her eyes.
"Best detention ever."
Harlan recovered his composure with visible effort.
"Fine. Live cull. Restricted zone. Ironhide boars. Now. Maybe real monsters will teach you respect."
The duo didn't need telling twice.
They bolted for the gates, Jade still wheezing with laughter.
In the restricted zone, the mischief only grew.
They found the ironhide herd faster than any cadet team ever had—mostly because Kael followed his nose straight to them.
Jade charged first, whooping, swords flashing green.
Kael followed.
But not to fight.
To feast.
The alpha boar lowered its tusks and thundered toward him.
Kael met it head-on.
Caught the tusks.
Lifted.
Slammed it to the ground with gorilla-crushing force.
Then, while it was stunned, he knelt and bit into the thick hide at its neck.
Teeth met iron-hard skin.
Skin lost.
Blood—hot, rich—filled his mouth.
The boar squealed.
Kael's eyes reddened fully.
"Meat."
Jade, mid-fight with two others, glanced over.
"You're eating it alive?!"
Kael didn't answer.
He tore.
The boar stopped squealing.
Jade blinked.
Then shrugged.
"Save me some!"
The rest of the herd panicked and charged.
Kael moved through them like a nightmare.
Cheetah speed to close distance.
Wolf-pack agility to twist between charges.
Fly reflexes to catch tusks mid-gore.
Gorilla strength to hurl beasts aside—or pin them and bite.
In minutes, the clearing looked like a butcher's yard.
Jade sat on a fallen log, panting, watching Kael devour a haunch raw.
"You're disgusting," she said fondly.
"And awesome."
Kael looked up, blood on his chin.
Offered her a strip.
Jade took it without hesitation.
They ate in companionable silence while the forest smoked around them.
When they returned—dragging three full carcasses and a pile of tusks—Harlan was waiting.
He took one look at the blood-soaked duo, the half-eaten boar slung over Kael's shoulder, and the satisfied expressions.
"Detention extended," he said faintly.
"Indefinitely."
Jade saluted with a greasy hand.
"Worth it."
That night, in the basement, they roasted what they could salvage.
The rest of the academy whispered about the prince who ate training dummies.
And wondered, quietly, what would happen when he got truly hungry.
In the shadows, the hidden observer wrote:
Subject consumes barriers as readily as flesh. No distinction between tool and food when hunger rises. Escalation inevitable.
Above them, the moon hung full and red.
And Kael slept deeply, stomach full, body already growing stronger.