Chapter 45: Break Before Bloom
The training ground cracked with flame and shadow.
Without warning, Rose lunged. Her flame-armored figure moved like lightning wrapped in discipline. The sword of fire in her grip sang through the air, aiming squarely for Karen's side.
Karen barely brought up her petal-forged blade in time. The impact sent a tremor up her arm. Her feet dug in, but the ground beneath her cracked.
"You hesitate," Rose said coldly, stepping back without breaking flow, already preparing the next strike. "You think too much. In combat, that's death."
Karen panted, sweat streaking down her brow. Her shadow armor flickered, the shaped constructs quivering under pressure. She tried to re-anchor her will, but the moment she did—Rose struck again.
CLASH.
CRACK.
Her blade shattered, her gauntlet fractured, and she was on the ground before she could blink.
"I wasn't even using full domain pressure," Rose muttered, stepping over her. "Just Sixth Cycle projection."
Karen growled, pushing herself up. "I'm trying. This is harder than anything I've done—"
"Good," Rose said, sharp as flame. "You think strength comes from ease? You're shaping shadows born of your soul. Every weak emotion fractures the mold."
Another strike.
Karen dodged—but not fast enough. Her shoulder was clipped, sending her tumbling.
She gasped and rolled to her knees, biting her lip. The petals of her domain fluttered chaotically around her like a dying bloom.
"Again," Rose said.
This time, she didn't even speak before launching forward. Her sword glowed with a dimmer light—restrained flame, disciplined inferno. Karen screamed inwardly, reshaped the scythe—failed. The blade warped. The armor slipped.
Impact. She hit the dirt again.
The sixth attempt.
The seventh.
By the tenth, she could barely summon her domain. Her knees buckled.
But she stood. Again.
And Rose, looming above her like a fire goddess, simply stared, unreadable.
Then she finally spoke:
"You are not weak, Karen. But you've never been forced to shatter. That ends now. If you want to wield shaped domain against High Soulbornes—or worse—you must first learn what it means to be broken."
Karen raised her head, breathing like a beast, arms trembling.
Rose turned slightly away.
"Tomorrow," she said, her voice like embered steel, "you'll learn to reshape your soul while under domain suppression. That means fighting me under a pseudo-soul seal. If your spirit falters, the domain will eat you alive."
Karen wiped her mouth. Blood. Dirt. Determination.
"I'll survive."
Rose's flames pulsed.
"Don't survive," she said softly. "Master it."
The night swallowed the field as the storm of shadow and flame calmed—just for now.