The morning arrived quickly, and the air in the training hall carried a sharp, metallic tang, like the world itself already knew what was coming. My body still ached from Kane's drills and Adrian's last "warm-up," but there was no room for hesitation today. Not after the night I'd had. Not after the Oath.
Lyra stood at my side, adjusting the straps on her daggers. Her expression was calm, too calm, masking the same nervous anticipation that burned in my chest. She caught me looking and smirked. "You better not choke out there. I don't feel like carrying you again."
"Funny," I muttered, rolling my shoulders to loosen them. "I was about to say the same thing."
Adrian was already waiting in the center of the floor. He stood relaxed, his white training jacket unzipped just enough to show the lean muscle underneath, arms folded like this was going to be a light jog instead of a battle. His hair caught the overhead lights, faint arcs of static dancing lazily across his shoulders.
Kane leaned against the wall, arms crossed. His gaze swept over us, unreadable as ever. "You asked for another round. Let's see if you've learned anything."
Adrian cracked his knuckles, and the sound echoed across the training hall like thunder. "Don't hold back this time. I'll be insulted if you make me yawn."
The room was silent for a breath. My pulse pounded in my ears.
Then Kane's voice cut through the air: "Begin."
Lyra vanished first, space twisting with a sharp snap as she reappeared behind Adrian, daggers flashing for his spine. At the same instant, I lunged forward, blades low, driving toward his centerline.
Adrian didn't even turn. Ice shimmered across the floor, jagged spikes erupting where Lyra's feet should have landed. She blinked out again, reappearing ten meters to the side. My twin blades cut for his ribs, but his hand blurred, crackling with lightning, and my strike skidded off its path like I'd just swung into a wall.
The shock rattled my bones.
"Better," Adrian said, his tone casual, mocking. "But your timing's still sloppy."
I bit down on a curse and circled fast, slipping into Coiling Fang stance. Lyra darted in again, her teleport shorter this time, sharper, one dagger arcing for his thigh, the other for his shoulder.
Adrian stepped forward. Just one step. The ground froze solid, a sheen of frost racing outward like wildfire. My footing slipped. Lyra's blades scraped ice as Adrian swayed aside, letting her momentum carry her past.
A jolt of lightning cracked against my guard. My blades vibrated, teeth clenching as sparks snapped against my cheek.
He was toying with us. I knew it. And still, every strike of his felt like it could end me in an instant.
I forced my breath slow, steady, waking up my sleeping Oath. Not the full weight of it, just the first phase.
And suddenly the world sharpened.
Lyra's movements painted threads of intent through the air. Adrian's stance shifted, subtle twitches in his muscles telling me where his next strike would fall before it even began. The crackle of his lightning hummed against my skin like a warning.
I lunged in perfect sync with Lyra, her space-step placing her exactly where I knew Adrian would pivot. My blades carved for his chest, hers stabbed low for his kidney.
For a heartbeat, it almost worked.
Then frost surged from Adrian's palm, a jagged wall forcing me back. Lyra's dagger struck, but it cut only a shimmer of ice armor, chipping away frost instead of flesh.
Adrian's smile widened. "Not bad." He flicked his wrist, and a whip of lightning cracked across the room. Lyra barely blinked away in time, the bolt searing the air where she'd stood.
He stopped holding back.
The floor transformed beneath us, sheets of ice spreading like glass, turning every step into a gamble. At the same time, lightning arced across the ceiling, thin tendrils reaching down at random, forcing us into constant motion.
Lyra blurred in and out, short teleports chained one after another, daggers flashing in a dance too fast for normal eyes to follow. I wove through the storm, Oath's awareness flaring each time Adrian twitched or shifted weight, letting me parry strikes I shouldn't have seen coming.
But every move cost my mental strength. Every dodge chipped away at stamina. And Adrian wasn't even breathing hard.
A spear of ice jutted up where I'd been standing a half-second earlier. I slid across the frost, slashing low at Adrian's knees, only to have him vault over me, lightning bursting from his heels. Lyra reappeared above him, blades diving for his throat—
—he caught her by the wrist, ice locking around her arm mid-strike, and hurled her across the room like a ragdoll.
"Lyra!" My shout echoed as she blinked at the last moment, rolling across the ground, breath ragged but alive.
The Dome burned in my mind, every heartbeat of hers hammering against my senses. She was hurt, but still moving.
Good.
I tightened my grip and advanced again.
Adrian's storm swelled, lightning flickering faster than thought, shards of ice shredding the air. Every instinct screamed at me to back off, to wait for an opening, but I pressed forward.
And then I let the Oath deepen.
Time stretched. The whip-crack of lightning slowed to a crawling arc. The frost crawling over the floor seemed sluggish, like it was hesitant to reach me. Adrian's heartbeat thundered in my ears, steady, calm, too calm.
I moved.
Twin blades cut in a blur, Rushing Fang stance driving me faster, harder. Sparks erupted as steel met lightning, as ice shattered underfoot. Lyra's teleport snapped her back into position, her dagger carving for Adrian's ribs just as I slashed for his throat.
This time, this time, he wasn't fast enough.
A line of red bloomed across his shoulder, shallow but real. Lyra's dagger scored across his side, drawing another streak of blood.
For a split-second, we stood there, me panting, Lyra's daggers trembling, Adrian staring at the wounds with something like genuine surprise.
Then he laughed.
"Finally," he said, voice carrying a sharp edge now. "You made me bleed."
The temperature plummeted. My breath fogged instantly, frost creeping up the walls. Lightning howled louder, brighter, blinding in its intensity. Adrian's aura slammed down like a tidal wave, crushing the air from my lungs.
I staggered under the weight of it. Even Lyra's teleport faltered for half a second, her form flickering before she snapped back into place.
Adrian moved.
One instant, he was across the room. The next, he was in front of me, fist wreathed in lightning, driving into my guard with enough force to blast me off my feet. I hit the ground hard, ribs screaming, blades nearly slipping from my grasp.
Before I could rise, ice surged up around me, spiking toward my throat. I slashed frantically, shattering it, only to see Adrian already turning, blasting Lyra with a storm of bolts that lit the hall like a sun.
She blinked through them, barely, but not untouched. A burn streaked across her shoulder, smoke curling from her clothes.
We were drowning.
I dragged myself upright, Dome burning, Oath screaming in my blood. Every twitch, every flicker of Adrian's movement lit up in my mind, but even with foresight, he was too fast. Too strong.
Still, I refused to stop.
"Lyra!" I barked. She glanced back, eyes hard, and nodded once.
We charged together.
Her teleports blurred into a rhythm, disorienting even me as she appeared, vanished, struck, vanished again. I matched her, Twin Fangs flowing through Rushing Fang into Falling Fang, momentum building with every strike.
Adrian's ice shattered underfoot. His lightning burned the air raw. And still, for a heartbeat, we pushed him back.
My blade cut deep across his arm. Lyra's dagger nicked his thigh. For a moment, it looked like we could—
Then the storm swallowed us whole.
Lightning roared like the sky collapsing. Ice spears erupted in every direction. Adrian was everywhere at once, his strikes crashing against us faster than thought. My Dome shrieked warnings I couldn't keep up with. A bolt slammed into my chest, hurling me across the floor. I landed hard, vision blurring, the stink of ozone filling my nose.
Through the haze, I saw Lyra collapse, ice locking around her legs, her daggers skittering across the ground.
Adrian stood above us, bleeding, breathing a little harder now but still smiling.
"That's enough."
---
The storm receded. The ice melted into mist, the lightning fading into silence.
I forced myself onto one knee, chest heaving, every muscle trembling with exhaustion. My blades dangled loosely at my sides. Lyra groaned somewhere to my right, still alive, still stubborn.
Adrian wiped the blood from his shoulder, glanced at it, then looked back at us with something between approval and pity. "Not bad," he said simply. "For kids."
Kane's voice broke the silence, calm and sharp. "That's enough for today."
Adrian gave us a final smirk, then turned and walked off, electricity still faintly crackling at his heels.
I slumped back against the wall, exhaling long and slow. Lyra slid down beside me, her hair plastered to her face with sweat, her smile faint but real.
"We almost had him," she muttered.
I let out a dry laugh, shaking my head. "Yeah. Almost."
But inside, the fire burned hotter than ever.
Because we had drawn blood.
And this was just the beginning.