Shisui awoke gasping, drenched in sweat.
Kurou knelt nearby, expression unreadable.
"You faced your fear?"
Shisui nodded, wiping his eyes. "Myself."
Kurou hummed. "Good. Then we begin again. No shortcuts. No arrogance."
From that day forward, Shisui's training transformed.
Instead of forcing Arch Energy, he listened. Felt. Resonated.
Each breath brought clarity. Each motion, intention.
He redrew his first Flow Paths—cleaner, steadier. His Arch Nucleus no longer spasmed but hummed in sync with his thoughts. And where once he overreached, now he held control.
Kurou finally smiled.
"Time to teach you your first Arcana Technique."
Shisui blinked, heart leaping.
"What kind?"
Kurou raised a hand and drew three slow gestures through the air.
His palm lit up—and a trail of gold light curled around his fingers like flame woven with wind.
"Lantern Palm," Kurou said. "A soul-fire strike. Gentle enough to light a cave. Deadly enough to stop a beast's heart."
Shisui's eyes blazed.
The old him had tried to leap forward like a storm.
Now, he would move like a tide—relentless, but controlled.
And so the boy whose soul once bled in silence took his first true step…
toward mastering Arch Energy.