The forest swallowed them the moment they crossed the threshold.
Dense canopy. Broken light. A silence that made you aware of your own breathing.
Ren moved without speaking.
Kaito kept pace on his left, wind magic faint at his fingertips. Mizuki stayed on his right, her attention shifting every few seconds.... tracking something only she could perceive.
Ren followed her cues without question.
They walked.
The mist appeared without warning.
A wall of it between the trees. Visibility collapsed within three steps. Sound warped inside it.... a branch snapping from above.... footsteps ahead that vanished the moment he focused.
Kaito glanced at his hand.
"Mana suppression," he said quietly.
"Partial," Mizuki replied. "Keep moving."
They pushed through.
On the other side, the forest opened slightly. The mist thinned behind them.
Then the distortion began.
Subtle. Gradual.
Not entirely visual.
A creeping wrongness. The ground felt different from how it looked. Shadows lagged behind reality by half a second.
Kaito stumbled on flat ground.
Mizuki stopped completely for three seconds.... then resumed walking as if nothing had happened.
Ren focused on anchors.
The weight of his bag. The rhythm of his steps. The shadow at the edge of his awareness.... steady.... untouched by whatever affected everything else.
Two minutes.
Then it passed.
Kaito exhaled. "I saw something back there."
"Don't think about it," Ren said.
"I'm trying not to."
They moved on.
Ten minutes later, Kaito stopped and crouched.
His palm pressed flat against the ground.
"Three ahead. Stationary."
Ren looked through the trees.
A territory mark pulsed gold between the roots of a wide trunk.
Three students formed a loose triangle around it.
One tall.... earth affinity, clear from the vibration underfoot.
One smaller. Younger.
And one on the right.
Still.
She had not moved since Ren started watching.
He studied her.
She was not watching the tree line.
She was watching the ground.
Her stillness was not passive.
"She's coming for me," Mizuki said quietly.
"Yes."
They circled wide.
The formation adjusted.
The girl on the right shifted twice.... both times toward Mizuki.
She had already identified the anchor.
Remove Mizuki.... and the team collapsed.
Logical.
"Kaito takes the earth user," Ren said. "I take the fire caster. Mizuki handles the hunter."
Kaito glanced at Mizuki.
Mizuki said nothing.
"She's very calm about that," Kaito muttered.
Ren was already moving.
They crossed the threshold.
The earth user advanced immediately. The ground rose beneath his steps, tremors spreading outward.
The fire caster pulled back, flame gathering slowly in his palm.
The hunter was gone.
She moved at an angle.... bypassing Ren and Kaito entirely.... heading straight for Mizuki with precise intent.
Target already chosen.
Ren closed on the fire caster.
The first attack came wide.
Too wide.
Ren stepped through the edge of it. Heat brushed his shoulder.
Slow.
He had faced Dorian's fire before.... controlled.... compressed.... refined through years.
This was raw.
The fire caster attacked again.
Ren read it before release.... shoulder rotation.... weight shift.... arm angle.
He sidestepped cleanly.
Uncertainty flashed in the caster's eyes.
Ren moved in.
The ground shifted.
Not under him.
Under Kaito.
The earth user cut across the field. A stone column erupted upward.... fast.
It caught Kaito across the chest.
The impact was heavy.... precise.... built to shut down speed before it could build.
Crack.
Kaito hit the ground.
His wrist mark flickered.
He did not get up.
Ren turned.
The earth user turned with him instantly.
The ground warped around Ren's feet.... pulling at his balance.... disrupting every stance he tried to take.
The fire caster repositioned.... sealing off escape angles.
Coordination.
Practice.
They had done this before.
Many times.
From the corner of his vision....
Mizuki slammed into a barrier of condensed lightning.
She hit the roots hard.
Lightning.
Not binding.
Offensive.
She has lightning magic.
Both teammates were down.
The fire caster raised his hand again.... this time with support.
Angles closed.
The hunter stood over Mizuki.... electricity still crackling along her arm.
The fire came.
Think.
Ren looked down.
Shadows stretched across the forest floor.... long.... dense.... threading between roots and trees.
He reached.
The shadow beneath him opened....
The flames struck empty air.
A minute later, they stood thirty meters deeper into the forest.
Mizuki pushed herself upright, one hand pressed to her side.
Kaito lay still.
Ren stood between the trees, staring at his hands.
I've only used it on myself before.
Stepping through shadow.
A trick.... an accident.... three days ago.
But this time....
I reached sideways.
Pulled them with me.
I didn't know if it would work.... until it did.
"What...." Mizuki looked at him. "You have teleportation magic?"
"Something like that."
She studied him for a moment....
Then let it go.
Kaito groaned.
His eyes opened.
"What happened?"
"We lost the territory," Ren said.
Kaito sat up slowly, hand pressed to his chest. His expression shifted.... frustration.... disbelief.... then settled somewhere in between.
"That earth user...."
"He's their strongest," Ren said. "And you rushed him."
"What was I supposed to do?"
"Not that."
A pause.
Kaito exhaled.... and let it go.
"We try again," Mizuki said. "With a plan."
"Yes."
They gathered at the base of a wide tree.
Ren picked up a stick and drew in the dirt.
Three points.
A triangle.
"Earth user here. Fire caster here." He tapped the third. "Hunter."
"Her name is Umma," Mizuki said.
Ren glanced at her.
He didn't ask.
He didn't need to.
"So.... Umma," he continued. "Lightning. Fast. Very fast. And locked onto you."
He looked at Mizuki.
"The fire caster is inexperienced. Slow. I've seen better."
A brief pause.
"But the earth user...."
He tapped the mark again.
"Wide range. High output. He's their core."
"My magic can't counter earth," Kaito said. "And they won't give me time to try."
"They won't," Ren agreed.
He pressed the stick deeper into the dirt.
"Which is why we remove him first."
A beat.
"Their formation collapses without him. Ten seconds."
"How?" Kaito asked. "They'll react the same way."
"They'll try," Ren said.
He looked at both of them.
"But they're expecting the same team."
A pause.
"They haven't seen what we can actually do."
He drew two crossing lines behind the earth user's position.
"Kaito.... pull the fire caster wide. Don't fight him. Just keep him occupied."
Kaito nodded slowly. "Keep him out of position."
"Mizuki.... Umma comes for you again."
"I know."
"Let her."
No hesitation.
"Alright."
Ren straightened.
"I take the earth user."
Kaito stared at him. "He dropped me in two seconds."
"You tried to match him," Ren said.
A pause.
"I won't."
Silence.
Kaito studied him.
Then extended his hand.
"I trust you."
Mizuki placed hers on top.
"Me too."
Ren looked at them.
Then added his hand.
"Let's win this."
They broke.