2025-08-23 16:47:47
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Chapter 33: The Return Of Valeera
The night after the first round didn’t settle the way the academy hoped it would. They had lit lanterns along the courtyards, hung banners celebrating the victories of “promising duelists,” played music in the dining halls. But the whispers had drowned all of it out.The name people whispered wasn’t Lina’s.It wasn’t Cyrus’ either.It was Kai’s.“Ten seconds.”“Shadow magic—no, not shadow, something else.”“Rafe’s ghost walking.”Kai ignored most of it, walking with his hood pulled up. Lina walked beside him, carrying two meat buns she hadn’t touched yet. She was buzzing with energy after her win, but she kept sneaking glances at him like she was waiting for something to break through that silence of his.The night air smelled of smoke. It was sharp.Kai slowed. His eyes shifted toward the courtyard near the east wing.“Do you smell that?” Lina asked, nose wrinkling.He didn’t answer. He already knew.Someone was waiting.They reached the fountain before she appeared. Valeera.She st
Chapter 32: Scar Of Kindness
The dorm halls were quieter than usual that night, which was strange considering it was the first day of the tournament. Usually students buzzed until dawn after a spectacle like that. But the air felt… heavier. Thicker. Like too many whispers had been swallowed by the walls.Kai noticed it right away when he passed through the common hall. Eyes lingered too long on him. Conversations broke off mid-sentence. A few of the younger students lowered their gazes fast, like they’d been caught stealing.He ignored it. He always ignored it.But when he reached Lina’s corridor—where the women’s dormitory branched off—he slowed. Something was wrong. The faint glowstones along the wall flickered, shadows jerking across the plaster. And further down, he heard muffled voices. A laugh. The kind of laugh that cut, not amused.His jaw tightened.He didn’t rush. He walked, slow, steady, every step landing soft. By the time he turned the corner, the voices sharpened into words.“…what are you even doin
Chapter 31: First Round Chaos
The tournament grounds of Arcadia…Yeah, no, they weren’t anything like the training pits.The air felt different. Heavy, tense. The kind that crawled up your skin and made your stomach twist even if you weren’t the one stepping onto the field.Rows of tiered seating wrapped around the dueling field, climbing higher and higher, crammed full of bodies. Students, professors, alumni who came back just for this show, even outsiders from the city. Everyone wanted to see blood or glory—or both.The field itself was obsidian tile, glowing faintly with pulsing runes. Every tile carried a hum, like the whole floor was alive, waiting to drink in the fights. The academy crest hung above in polished banners, but scattered among the stands were other sigils too. Family crests. Personal emblems. This wasn’t just a school event anymore. It was politics, money, pride, all crammed into one stage.It wasn’t just a tournament. It was a showcase. A test of reputations.The opening bell rang. Low. Resonan
Chapter 30: Cyprus’ Warning
The courtyard was empty.Kai sat alone on a bench, his posture loose, almost careless, but his hands were clenched hard in his lap. The grimoire rested beside him, closed, though he knew closed never meant silent. Sometimes he swore it breathed.He told himself he was calm. That he was only sitting here because he didn’t feel like going back inside yet. That the ache in his chest—the one left from shaping the Heart-Shield for Lina—was already fading.But the truth was in his fingers. Trembling, stiff, like something in him still remembered the tearing sensation of carving away a piece of himself.He hadn’t meant to. Not exactly. The calculation had been cold and simple: if she lived, the plan continued. If she died, the plan unraveled. It should have been that simple.Except when he’d felt her pulse falter, when he’d seen the light fading from her eyes, the choice hadn’t felt calculated at all.He didn’t want her to die.And that thought—that weakness—was worse than any wound.The whi
Chapter 29: The Heart-Shield Spell
Kai didn’t sleep. Not even for a second.He sat there the whole night, stiff-backed on that damn bench in the courtyard, grimoire heavy across his lap. The air cut cold but he didn’t feel it, not really. What he felt was smoke. The battlefield wouldn’t let go of him—smoldering villages, corpses, voices. Every time he blinked, he kept hearing Rafe’s laugh behind them.By dawn, Kai was so exhausted. But he stood anyway. He had to.The training hall was quiet when he entered. Dust. Steel. The faint smell of torches burning low, still new, still weak in their flames. Shadows stretched long on the floor like old scars.And Lina. Of course she was already there.She had her training gear on, her braid loose against her shoulder. The moment she saw him, she tilted her head, lips pulling in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “You look worse than usual.”“I didn’t know that was possible,” Kai muttered. His voice scraped dry.“Did you even sleep?” she asked, walking toward the center.“No.” H
Chapter 28: Training With Ghosts
The book stared at him.It was just a book. Leather cracked, red veins faintly glowing. Sitting in his drawer like it belonged there.But it breathed. He swore it did.Kai sat on the bed with his head in his hands for a while. He could still feel Rafe’s laugh in his bones, the blood in his eyes, the throne. Every time he blinked, the smell of incense and iron lingered. He hated it. Hated how real it felt.And the damn grimoire was still waiting.He pulled it out anyway.The cover was colder than he remembered. His fingers numbed against it. He thought about throwing it into the fire. He didn’t.Because Lina’s face came back—her ridiculous stubbornness, standing there saying she’d enter the tournament too. She’d get herself killed.He needed more. More than this half-trained shadow magic. More than what he was now.Kai set his jaw and opened the book.The air dropped. His breath fogged in front of him. Pages fluttered, symbols writhing like insects, shifting before he could lock his ey
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