in the evening session, Umbra taught combat drills as promised but the tension in the courtyard was suffocating.
Raziel was watching them from a distance but was cold and distant. Nyx fought with exhaustion and emotional turmoil, her shadow constructs were sloppy and weak. Umbra corrected her form maintaining distance. Nobody spoke unless necessary.
By the end of three hours, Nyx had improved her combat speed but was exhausted both physically and emotionally.
"That's all for today." Umbra said, dismissing his shadow weapons. "Tomorrow we'll focus on maintaining shadow constructs during extended combat. Final session the day after will be about comprehensive testing."
He started to dissolve, then paused.
"I'm sorry. The consciousness merge was necessary, but I should have warned you both about the intimacy it would create."
"Would that have changed anything?" Raziel asked, his first words during the whole session.
