--- A few weeks later ---
The Rust Room had found its rhythm again.
Morning didn't pause for bad news anymore. Not here. Not after weeks of the Underworks breathing easier, without the Moirai.
Rigs clicked awake. Behind the thick glass, Mina's monitors lit one by one – graphs and numbers blinking like they'd been waiting to be needed.
Kori calmly stood at the center of the floor, chain-knives wrapped loose at her wrists again.
A handful of trainees drifted near the rail and pretended not to look.
They watched anyway.
Raizen and Hikari stepped onto the mat together.
Their real Luminite weapons pulsed faintly, responding to the room's light. Not showy. Just alive.
Kori's eyes moved over them. No smile. No praise. Just a small nod.
"You've gotten better" she said. "That's what it should look like."
Mina tapped a screen. "You're going at it again? They cleared high on every rig last week."
"Verification" Kori replied. "Not proving."
A quiet ripple moved through the trainees. High meant the machines stopped being fair.
Someone whispered, barely audible.
"That's them… The pair that ran all high clean…"
Kori didn't look at the rail.
The floor hummed and broke into segments. Panels rose and sank. Pillars slid out, then vanished. Targets snapped from the walls, flashed red, and disappeared before anyone could blink twice.
Kori lifted two fingers.
"Warmup."
Raizen's steps were the same ones he'd drilled for months, but the edges were sharper. He didn't waste space anymore. He didn't argue with balance. He owned it.
Targets popped.
Raizen's blades found them fast - short, clean cuts that ended exactly where they should.
Hikari's weapon hit too, but her timing was the strange part. She wasn't reacting late - she was arriving early, like she'd already seen where the target wanted to be.
Mina stared at her screen for a beat too long.
Kori spoke without turning her head.
"Numbers."
Mina exhaled. "Luminite amplification… Let me see… Eleven point eight. Eleven point nine. Spike - twelve point one. Twelve point two… Holding… Holding… back to twelve flat."
The rigs cranked up again.
Rods swung widely from every direction. Platforms shifted under their feet. Targets changed rhythm mid-sequence.
Raizen cut, pivoted, recovered, swung again.
Kori watched in silence, the chain-knives at her wrists barely moving with her breathing.
After a few more cycles, she lifted her hand.
"Enough."
The rigs slowed. Targets retreated back inside the walls immediately.
The trainees at the rail didn't move, like they were afraid the moment would break if they did.
Kori's gaze flicked from Raizen to Hikari.
"Now" she said. "Sparring."
She unwound one chain with a flick.
Then stopped.
Her head tilted a fraction, like she'd changed her mind mid-thought.
"Hmm… This time - not me."
Mina straightened in her chair.
Kori pointed at the two of them.
"Each other."
The whole room went very quiet.
After a small nod, Raizen and Hikari faced off.
Steel met steel and slid instead of clashing. Step out. Reset. Step back in.
More trainees drifted closer, careful not to crowd the mat.
People who'd spent months believing they were fast watched Raizen move with a pace they couldn't follow.
But Hikari started answering differently.
Always faster. Always ever so slightly better.
She made his rhythm work for her. Every time he tried to lock her into a pattern, she found the one counter that made him hesitate.
Kori didn't say much, for once.
Mina watched them with a half-smile that looked worried anyway.
"You're way too invested" she muttered at Kori.
Kori didn't look away from the mat. "You should be, too."
Raizen pressed in with a tight sequence - parry, step, cut, reset - trying to force rushed decisions. But Hikari didn't flinch.
She just kept answering.
Seven minutes passed in this tight duel.
Sweat ran into Raizen's eyebrow and made his left eye sting.
Hikari's breathing was faster, but quieter.
Then her staff pulsed.
Just once. A hint. A glint through metal.
She saw it - a tiny opening, a fraction of a second.
Her blade stopped milmeters from Raizen's throat.
Kori lifted her hand.
"Stop."
Mina pushed her chair back and read the monitors. "Average sustained multiplier - twelve point zero two" she said. "Maximum value twelve point five on Hikari. Twelve point four on Raizen. Minimal drift. No overload."
Then she glanced up. "Thanks for not blowing up my room."
Raizen lowered his blades. Hikari did too.
Kori walked in and handed Raizen a towel. He didn't even think. He passed it to Hikari first. Old habit.
She wiped her forehead and handed it back.
"You're at twelve" Kori said. "That's more than enough for what you're aiming at."
Raizen let out a breath. "Good enough for me."
"It's not the best you can do, obviously!" Kori added, flatly. "It just means your stones finally start to adapt to you."
Her eyes sharpened a little.
"Don't chase the next number like it'll fix your life. You'll get it the boring way. Same work. Again. Again."
Mina stood and crossed her arms.
"You're ready" she said, like she didn't want to admit it. "Both of you."
Kori didn't disagree. Coming from her, that was better than praise.
She looked toward the rail. "All right. Show's over."
Then she looked back at them. "Last adjustments" she said. "If there's anything you want to recalibrate, do it now. After this, you don't get me in your ear. You get strangers who don't care about your names."
Hikari slid her blade on her back and tied the strap.
"When is the exam's call?" she asked.
"Soon" Kori replied. "You'll hear it. It's loud, and it doesn't wait."
Mina pointed at Raizen without even looking.
"No hero training tonight. If I catch either of you back here, I'm going to make you duel me until you fall flat."
Raizen almost smiled. "All right, alright. We're done."
They left the Rust Room without ceremony.
One last time.
Raizen glanced back as the hidden door closed. Mina waved from behind the glass like she was shooing them into the future.
---
The Underworks greeted them with its usual noise - pipes hissing, carts squeaking, someone arguing about bread like it was life or death.
But the city felt lighter. Relieved, in a way.
They climbed to the Tangle, like Hikari requested.
The noise below blurred into distance. Lanterns dotted the city like a field of small stars.
Raizen leaned on the rail with both forearms.
Hikari stood beside him, close enough that their elbows touched.
They didn't talk at first.
Then Raizen broke the silence anyway.
"Well?" he asked quietly. "Everyone says we can do it."
Hikari's mouth curved. "Twelve percent should be enough."
"So… tomorrow?" Raizen asked.
"Or the day after" she replied. "Soon."
He glanced down at the blades at his side. The Luminite pulsed, steady, like it agreed. "We'll walk in and pass" he said. "No matter what."
Hikari looked at him with an amused expression. "We'll walk out too. Not sure who's getting smacked first."
Raizen nudged her lightly. "We'll see about that."
He turned back to the lights.
The Rust Room had done its job. It taught them what it could teach.
The rest would happen somewhere that only cares about how many you can bring down.
Hikari leaned into Raizen's shoulder a little.
Just a little.
"Do you think Takeshi…" Her voice went softer. "Would be proud of us?"
Raizen didn't look away from the lanterns.
"He already was."
The two kept watching the lanterns in silence.
Then the silence broke.
A deep horn rolled through the Underworks - one long, resonant note that made every pipe tremble. It felt like it came from everywhere at once.
The summons.
Lotus Academy's call.
Hikari smiled first. Raizen did too.
"Looks like tomorrow came early" he said.
They looked at each other - no fear in it. Just that clear, rising certainty.
Two sparks.
Ready to climb.
Ready for the world above.