Blanche exhaled slowly.
It wasn't a sigh of frustration, nor one of exhaustion. It was the sound of clarity. Like someone who'd finally found the missing piece of a broken rhythm they'd been listening to for too long.
Yuxin was still catching her breath beside Vila, wiping blood from her lip, but Blanche wasn't looking at them anymore.
She was already calculating.
Aria was pacing again, spinning his katana lazily between his fingers, eyes tracking all four of them.
They had about fifteen seconds.
"Alright," Blanche said, her voice slicing through the air like a blade. Calm. Sharp. Commanding.
"I understand it now. This isn't about roles, it's about tempo."
Vila turned her head slightly. Yuxin raised a brow.
"We've been stepping over each other because we're trying to be soloists in a symphony. So—no more solos."
She pointed toward Vila and Yuxin, her fingers moving with that same composed grace she always carried.
"Frontline. Yuxin, you push. Vila, you shadow her."
Yuxin scoffed slightly.
"You giving me permission to go wild now?"
"Not wild," Blanche replied without missing a beat, "Precision. You're the blade, Vila's the echo."
"Cute metaphor," Yuxin muttered.
Vila gave a tiny nod. That was enough.
Blanche turned to Ruka.
"You. Buff Vila's speed and reinforce Yuxin's shadow control. I know you can do that."
Ruka blinked, wide-eyed, hugging her plushie tighter.
"O-okay! I can… I can do that."
"Good."
Then Blanche took one step forward.
Her aura shifted. Calm serenity twisted into something… colossal. The wind around her body bent slightly inward, pulled toward her center like gravity was starting to distort.
"Terranova. Guard the line."
A rumble. Deep, resonant, like the sound of mountains waking.
The ground cracked beneath Blanche's boots as the Spirit of Earth rose behind her—massive, stone-skinned, with glowing moss-runes blooming across its back. It towered above her like a living bastion.
Aria finally stopped pacing.
"Oh? You're done playing around?"
Blanche didn't answer.
She raised her hand—then brought it down sharply.
Start.
Yuxin launched first.
A burst of shadow shot from her feet as she quick-stepped forward. Her Erebus Tendrils lashed out, sweeping low to force Aria to lift off or trip—neither option ideal.
Behind her, Vila disappeared.
One with the wind.
Ruka, hands shaking but glowing with light, muttered under her breath. Buff seals shimmered from her plushie—Windflow for Vila, Void Focus for Yuxin.
Yuxin grinned as the boost hit her system. Her speed spiked—her shadow sharpened into whips so precise they carved the air.
"Heh. Now we're talking."
Aria parried the first strike. Then the second.
But he never saw the third.
Because Vila appeared behind him in the blink of an eye.
Her dagger grazed his shoulder—again.
The buff from Ruka had boosted her speed just enough to catch Aria's blind spot a heartbeat sooner than last time.
"Damn," Aria muttered.
He twirled, katana flashing in a wide arc—but Vila already vanished, slipping to his left.
Yuxin's shadows surged again. This time, instead of trying to hit him directly, she angled her tendrils to cut off his escape paths, boxing him in.
It wasn't perfect, but it was coordinated.
And that made all the difference.
Aria was forced into defense now, his swordwork growing tighter, more reactive. His confident grin faltered just slightly—replaced with focus.
Then came the quake.
Blanche, standing at the center of the field like a general in command, snapped her fingers.
"Fortify."
Terranova slammed its fists into the earth.
A wall of stone erupted in front of Blanche, curving outward to intercept any ranged retaliation Aria might try. Runes pulsed along the surface—Gaia's Shield, nearly unbreakable.
"Anyone touches my team," Blanche said, voice level, "they go through me first."
Aria tried to break right—toward Ruka.
A mistake.
Boom.
The wall intercepted him mid-dash, roots wrapping around his ankle. Yuxin's shadows shot upward in the same beat, catching his balance off.
"Gotcha," Yuxin growled.
Aria gritted his teeth and sliced free, breaking the roots—but not before Vila landed another dagger strike across his back.
It wasn't a wound.
It was a mark.
He was starting to bleed.
A sudden, mechanical chime echoed through the training hall.
The walls glowed faintly—pale gold lines running through the metallic structure like veins of magic—and the floating sigil at the center of the ceiling dimmed, flickering once before extinguishing.
Training Simulation: Terminated
Combat Parameters: Complete
The battle was over.
No one moved at first. No one cheered. No victory pose. No roar of triumph.
Just... silence.
Yuxin was the first to hit the ground—not by choice, but because her body finally gave out.
She dropped like a puppet with cut strings, her knees hitting the tile with a dull sound before she slumped sideways, her cheek pressing into the cool floor. Her breath came in short bursts. Her eyes half-lidded.
She was still conscious, but barely.
All the adrenaline that had kept her going—the constant rush of movement, the calculation, the fury—it all evaporated, leaving nothing but raw exhaustion in its place. She didn't even have the strength to swear.
Blanche, standing not far behind the stone barrier Terranova had built, slowly lowered her hand.
The radiant shimmer in her eyes faded. The energy lines that had been glowing down her arms vanished like ink evaporating from paper. She was soaked in sweat, her chest rising and falling steadily but heavily.
She closed her eyes and exhaled—long and deep.
"It's over…"
Her voice came out quieter than intended, but not weak. Just relieved.
Vila didn't say a word.
She was already moving.
The moment the system shut down, she had turned toward Ruka, who had frozen in place. The poor girl was trembling, her legs locked, barely able to stand. Her fingers were still half-clenched around her plushie, like her brain hadn't gotten the shutdown signal yet.
She looked like one push would knock her over.
But Vila didn't push.
She stepped in with precision, one arm slipping behind Ruka's back, her other hand gently taking Ruka's limp one. With a soft pull and a little anchoring twist of her foot, she brought Ruka back upright, steadying her.
"Hey. You're okay," Vila murmured, voice low and warm. "Breathe."
Ruka blinked quickly, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes but not falling.
"I… I couldn't feel my legs," she whispered.
"That's because they were trying to run away," Vila said, expression calm as ever. "I caught them for you."
A small, broken laugh escaped Ruka's throat. Her body relaxed, just a little.
And then came Aria.
He stood near the far end of the arena, katana still in hand, though it was sheathed now. His jacket was half-open, one shoulder showing a tiny rip where Vila had grazed him. A smear of dried blood traced the edge of his collarbone, but otherwise—he looked untouched.
He wasn't even sweating.
He looked at the four of them, scattered and battered, and chuckled.
Not in a mocking way.
More like a bartender watching four drunk patrons try to win a knife fight against a mirror.
"Whew. You guys look like shit," he said with a grin, resting the blade against his shoulder.
No one answered.
Yuxin groaned faintly into the floor.
Blanche finally glanced over at him.
"Don't pretend you weren't holding back."
"Me?" Aria blinked, mock offense in his voice. "I would never. I gave you exactly what you needed. Which, apparently, is a humiliating near-death experience."
He rolled his shoulder once, then leaned slightly toward them, eyes scanning the aftermath.
"Alright, real talk? You did good. Not great. Definitely not tournament champion level—but good."
He raised two fingers, wiggling them lazily.
"Call it a solid seven-point-five outta ten."
"You're rounding up," Blanche muttered, wiping her brow.
"I'm being generous," Aria replied with a smirk. "Because frankly? You didn't win. The system just ran outta patience watching you all die slower than expected."
He turned his gaze briefly to Yuxin, who hadn't moved an inch.
"Except her. She fought like she had something to prove. I respect that."
Yuxin made a vague grunting noise.
Might've been a "go to hell." Might've been "shut up."
Hard to tell.
Aria crouched slightly, hands on his knees as he looked over the whole team.
"But hey. You got lucky. You weren't fighting me, not really."
He winked.
"You were fighting Friendly Mode Aria. Big difference."
Then, with a crooked smile and absolutely no warning, he looked directly at Vila.
"You, by the way?" he said, eyes glinting. "Scary hot. In, like, a 'will-stab-me-in-my-sleep-but-I'll-thank-you-after' kinda way."
Blanche sighed. Ruka turned bright red. Vila blinked once, unamused.
Aria pointed a finger between them all.
"Point is: you've got something here. Not polish. Not power. But potential. And that's more than most squads walking into this tournament will have."
He turned away, beginning to stroll toward the door.
"You're not ready. Not yet. But… if you survive each other?"
A shrug.
"Maybe you'll make it."
Yuxin groaned again.
Blanche straightened herself, dusting off her sleeves. Her voice was sharp, clear, but quieter now.
"We'll get there."
Aria didn't look back.
"We'll see."
Then he was gone.
The training hall fell silent again, except for the quiet hum of the ceiling lights—and Yuxin still lying facedown on the tile.
"...Someone drag me," she mumbled.
Vila stepped forward, cracking her knuckles.
"Left leg or right?"
The silence after Aria's departure lingered, broken only by the soft, almost pathetic sound of Yuxin dragging in another breath through her clenched teeth.
She was still facedown. Still very much not moving.