The sky above the training grounds of Veyl Academy was quiet, but Ceyla Nox was not.
She stood alone in the far quadrant—where Echo dummies lined up in neat, soulless rows. Their blank faces watched her silently. Mocking her. Echo sparks fizzled along the lines carved into the stone tiles beneath her feet. Her breath came hard, uneven.
"You are from the Nox family, yet your emotion is full of hate."
"How can you use the Storm…? Ah—I know! Your Storm Affinity must be hate also!!"
"Monster."
The voice of her brother echoed again and again in her mind, like thunder bouncing off the walls of a cage she couldn't escape.
"Tsk…"
Her hand twitched, Shinrei rising on instinct. Storm energy coiled around her knuckles, crackling with pressure and sharp static scent.
She stepped forward.
CRACK!
