"Hey, geek. Should we start now?" G6 called, pushing herself up from the ground.
The rest period Edmund had imposed had done enough to settle the worst of the trembling in her limbs. Her muscles still carried the deep fatigue of the morning's experiments, particularly through her shoulders and thighs, but the weakness was no longer severe enough to interfere with ordinary movement.
Good enough.
Lord Earl looked toward her from where he had been standing near the lower stone benches. Without answering immediately, he removed his coat and folded it with excessive care before placing it beside his glasses and watch. Then he rolled his sleeves neatly above his forearms and began a sequence of precise warm-up stretches.
"Cease calling me 'geek,' you ill-mannered woman. I am older than you."
"Yeah, that much is obvious."
The agreement was delivered with such flat sincerity that Lord Earl stopped halfway through stretching one shoulder.
Lord Keith barked a laugh from the bench.
"Reise, that is a good one!"
G6 ignored him completely and began walking toward the open center of the Training Arena.
Behind her, Tina, Lilia, and Edmund settled back onto the lower stone seating with the remnants of breakfast and training supplies arranged beside them. Prince Dio remained closer to the edge of the sandy floor, one shoulder resting lightly against the lower stone tier while he watched.
Tina cupped her hands around her mouth.
"After this, you take a break for lunch, Lady Reise."
G6 did not bother turning.
"Shut up, Mom."
Prince Dio's brow lifted.
She refers to her servant as 'Mom'? Prince Dio thought, watching Tina close her eyes as though gathering patience from some higher plane. Her manners really changed drastically along with her personality.
Tina, apparently deciding the insult contained enough affection to be tolerated, did not argue.
Lord Earl finished his stretches and approached G6.
"Listen, Reise."
She looked at him.
"You have never exercised fine mana control, not even as a child."
G6's expression did not change.
What? Was the original a slacker?
"So?"
Lord Earl folded his arms.
"House Worthon direct descendants always carry a vast mana reserve. But since you rarely exercise it, your body will react to that foreign activity."
That caught her attention.
"But a vast mana reserve does not mean instant mastery," Lord Earl continued. "Your practical application is still embarrassingly crude. Output, reserve, and control are not interchangeable."
G6 stared at him.
"Are you here to nag or teach?"
Lord Earl's mouth tightened.
"Very well. Observe."
He stepped several paces away and lifted one hand toward a clear portion of sand.
"Earth Golem."
Mana traveled from Lord Earl's core and answered the spoken spell.
The earth beneath the packed sand shifted first, drawing denser material upward in carefully regulated streams rather than erupting with unnecessary force. Granules gathered around a central shape and compressed steadily until a squat torso formed, followed by short limbs and a crude rounded head.
Within moments, a small earth golem stood between them, barely taller than Lilia.
The spell itself was complete, but Lord Earl did not immediately follow it with another. The ordinary recovery interval imposed upon his mana pathways still existed even at his level. Roughly four seconds would have to pass before another conventional spell could be cast, and he used that time simply to let G6 study what he had made.
G6 stared at the golem.
Then at Lord Earl.
"Am I a joke to you?"
Her voice dropped low enough that Lilia quietly leaned toward Tina.
"Do not worry," Tina whispered. "That is merely her kindly asking voice."
Lord Earl looked entirely unimpressed by the threat.
"Temper your ire. I crafted it thusly to demonstrate control."
He lowered his hand, and the little golem loosened, its compact body breaking apart until the material settled back into the sand.
"The spell could have been considerably larger. I had the mana available. That does not mean using all of it would have improved the demonstration."
Lord Earl pointed toward the spot where the golem had stood.
"Control is the ability to determine precisely how much power is required and release no more than that amount."
G6 listened.
Lord Earl's tone shifted from irritation into something much more familiar to him—technical instruction.
"If I require a golem capable of lifting a crate, creating one large enough to demolish a building is not impressive. It is wasteful. If I need a stone barrier two paces wide, producing twenty paces of earth only tells everyone that I cannot regulate myself."
His gaze settled deliberately on her.
"A mage who possesses overwhelming power without control is merely a hazard with excellent reserves."
G6's eyes narrowed.
She understood perfectly well that the final sentence had been directed at her.
Lord Earl continued before she could insult him.
"Now show me your most common offensive technique."
He gestured toward the reinforced target zone farther across the arena.
"A Wind Blade."
G6 looked toward the training backstop.
Ah, I can control air for drying hair.
But an offensive spell?
That polyalthia tree already proved I am not lacking.
She lifted one hand.
Wind affinity itself was simple enough in concept.
Move air. Compress it. Direct it.
G6 closed her eyes and reached for the sensation she had associated with magic since first experimenting with it.
Mana answered.
Unfortunately, so did everything around it.
She had not yet learned how to cleanly separate the natural mana she could sense throughout the palace grounds from the power she intended to regulate through Reise's own core. Her internal reserve remained its own thing; the problem was that her awareness did not stop at the boundary of her body.
Her concentration spread outward.
The ambient mana surrounding the open arena responded almost eagerly.
One current bent toward her, then another, as natural energy suspended through the air began converging around the point of focus near her raised hand.
To G6, it felt almost instinctive.
To Edmund, it looked horrifying.
He had been watching from the lower bench when the air around G6's fingers began to distort. Loose sand nearest her boots shifted inward, and the space above her forearm warped faintly beneath the growing density of power collecting around her.
Edmund's posture changed at once.
That was far too much for a simple Wind Blade.
He left the bench before Tina had even realized he was moving, crossing the sandy floor at a run. One hand rose as he approached, though he knew better than to seize G6 without warning.
"LADY REISE!"
G6's eyes snapped open.
The unstable concentration broke immediately. The distorted air collapsed outward in a harmless gust, scattering sand around her boots and ruffling Lord Earl's rolled sleeves.
"What?"
Lord Earl stared between them.
Edmund reached G6 and lowered his voice at once.
"Your mana flow—it is all wrong!"
G6's expression sharpened.
Edmund leaned closer so only she could hear.
"You are pulling from outside. The surrounding natural mana is converging on you along with your own output. If you release a spell that way, the amount could become catastrophic."
Her irritation vanished.
Information took its place.
Edmund cast a brief glance toward Lord Earl and Prince Dio.
"It could sell you out."
G6 understood.
Not Akira.
Not the Reaper.
But something about Reise's magic was already abnormal enough without casually demonstrating an instinctive pull on environmental mana in front of people who had no business knowing how strange her current condition really was.
"What should I do?" she whispered back.
"The usual thing. The small thing you have absolute control over."
G6 frowned.
Edmund pointed subtly toward her hair.
Her eyes narrowed before understanding arrived.
Right.
The tiny current of air she used to dry and smooth her hair.
Controlled. Repeatable. Safe.
G6 nodded once.
Edmund stepped back.
Lord Earl was still staring.
"What was that about?"
G6 ignored the question and turned toward him.
"Well, I can only do this."
She raised one index finger.
Lord Earl's brow furrowed.
G6 pointed directly at his forehead and released the smallest current of air she could manage.
It crossed the short distance without any dramatic display and lifted several strands from the front of his carefully styled hair.
They fell back out of place.
Lord Earl stood frozen.
"…Are you kidding me?"
Disbelief dripped from every word.
G6 shrugged.
"You said it yourself. I am bad."
From the stone seating, Lord Keith's grin spread slowly across his face.
Prince Dio frowned.
"What in the world is she doing?"
"I do not know," Lord Keith said cheerfully, "but I love it. Wager on how long before Earl cracks? Ten gold says under a minute."
Prince Dio did not look away from the arena.
"Twenty, you shut up."
Lord Keith's face fell.
"Boring."
At the center of the arena, Lord Earl inhaled slowly through his nose.
"Reise."
G6 looked at him.
"I said perform a Wind Blade. Not this… frivolous puff."
"I am shy. My control is weak."
Her expression was so perfectly serious that Lord Earl's patience visibly strained.
"How can I instruct you if you refuse to demonstrate?"
G6 tilted her head.
Then Lord Earl made the mistake.
"Do not tell me you are all talk and no action."
Something in G6's face changed.
Not dramatically.
Her grey eyes simply sharpened.
Tina saw it from the bench.
"Oh, no."
Lord Earl barely had time to register the warning.
Wind Blade!
G6's hand cut laterally through the air.
There was no spoken chant.
Her intent moved directly into the spell, mana compressing along the path of her palm before anyone around her could prepare for what was coming.
The pressure edge tore away from her hand at once, flattening the sand beneath its trajectory as it crossed the arena.
The other abnormality came afterward.
Where a conventional mage's pathways would have fallen into the mandatory interval after completing the spell, G6 felt no such lock. There was no enforced recovery period separating what she had just cast from whatever conventional spell she might choose to attempt next.
Chantless.
Zero interval.
Separate violations of the rules everyone else lived under.
The Wind Blade struck the reinforced impact structure behind the target zone.
—CRACK!
Compressed air tore through its outer stone face. A jagged split opened across one section as fragments broke loose and scattered harmlessly behind the target stands.
The strike penetrated deeply enough to carve a visible diagonal wound into the hardened backstop without threatening the surrounding arena structure.
Dust drifted into the open air.
G6 slowly lowered her hand.
Lord Keith stared.
"What was that?"
Prince Dio had straightened away from the stone tier.
"A Wind Blade."
His gaze remained fixed on G6.
"But I am sure I did not see her lips move to chant it," Prince Dio added quietly, almost to himself.
G6 blinked.
Oh.
She looked at her hand.
I did it? Need to bookmark this feeling.
That attempt had been completely different from the first.
No uncontrolled reach into the surrounding natural mana.
No growing convergence.
Just intent, compression, and release.
Her fingers began trembling faintly.
She curled them once.
Lord Earl noticed.
His earlier irritation had disappeared.
"Your control is not weak anymore…"
He stared at the split backstop before looking at her again.
"It has become completely unchecked."
A note of alarm entered his voice.
"And the no chant is…"
He stopped.
"Odd."
G6 looked directly at him.
"What?"
For a moment, Lord Earl said nothing.
There was no theatrical menace in her expression. She simply watched him with uncomfortable concentration, waiting to see precisely what conclusion he had reached and how much he intended to say in front of everyone else.
Lord Earl seemed to recognize the weight of that stare.
He also recognized that he did not have enough information to answer it.
His gaze snapped toward the damaged training structure.
"You ruined the wall!"
G6 followed his gaze.
"Well, you made me do it. Why don't you fix it?"
Lord Earl looked back at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Your affinity is Earth. Make a new wall. Consider it an exchange."
She gestured toward the cracked reinforced backstop.
Lord Earl stared at her.
"Reise, you impossible little brat."
Exasperation mixed with unwilling admiration in his tone.
G6 ignored him.
Her hand was still trembling, and she lowered it subtly toward her side.
Lord Earl caught the movement.
His gaze sharpened.
Without asking first, he stepped closer and took her hand.
G6's body tensed on instinct. Her fingers nearly turned around his wrist in preparation to break the hold—
Then the signet ring on Lord Earl's hand began to glow.
Soft blue light spread from the metal.
A cooling sensation entered her skin almost immediately, easing the sharp nerve fatigue left behind by the violent release. The tremor in her fingers began to settle.
G6 stopped herself.
Prince Dio noticed.
Yesterday, Miss Eliza had moved one hand toward Reise's forehead and found a sharpened hairpin beneath her jaw.
Lord Earl had just taken Reise's hand without permission.
And she was allowing it.
The contradiction caught Prince Dio's attention immediately.
Lord Keith, predictably, interpreted the situation with considerably less restraint.
"What does that geek think he is doing?"
Tina did not even turn toward him.
G6's attention remained fixed on the faint blue glow around Lord Earl's ring.
I knew it.
Recognition clicked into place.
It was the same as the Queen's.
She watched how the enchantment interacted with her hand.
But this one is more… potent.
"The Boss has a ring like that."
Lord Earl looked at her.
"The Boss?"
"The Queen."
He stared.
"'The Boss'?"
G6's expression suggested he had heard correctly the first time.
Lord Earl released a slow breath.
"Yes, well, this is a high-grade magical tool. The ring contains its own stored mana, so activating the enchantment does not draw directly upon the wearer's reserve."
The tremor in G6's hand had almost completely disappeared.
Lord Earl released her.
She flexed her fingers.
"That is convenient. Can you get me one?"
Practical interest replaced everything else.
Lord Earl narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Hmm… you are in dire need."
He considered her for a moment.
"Very well. I shall arrange a device suited to your… specific requirements."
G6 waited.
A sly look crossed his face.
"But—you must address me with proper respect."
This nerd is asking for too much.
"Fine. Earl. How is that?"
The false sweetness with which she said his name nearly made Lord Keith choke.
Lord Earl straightened.
"A marginal improvement. Maintain that courtesy, and your ring will be forthcoming."
Lord Keith shot to his feet.
"EARL DID NOT GET HEADBUTTED? REISE NEARLY DISLOCATED MY JAW FOR GETTING TOO CLOSE!"
"It was the ring, Lord Keith," Tina said calmly.
She remained seated, apparently completely unsurprised.
"Lady Reise would never permit a liberty that did not offer her a distinct benefit or satisfy a curiosity. In my observation, at least."
Prince Dio's gaze shifted toward Tina.
The explanation aligned disturbingly well with what he had already seen.
The cupcake.
Lord Earl's Omnia offer.
The royal armory relic.
Now the enchanted ring.
Reise no longer appeared to respond to rank, attention, or familiarity in the manner he had spent years expecting from her.
She responded to usefulness. Information. Novelty. Benefit.
For the first time, Tina had given him something resembling a pattern.
Prince Dio stored it away.
Lord Earl returned his attention to G6.
"We will work on your control, Reise, but I fear this arena will be reduced to rubble if we continue today."
His eyes moved toward the damaged backstop.
"In addition to the ring, I will procure an item capable of artificially regulating your mana output. Until you learn to limit the amount yourself, it should prevent another release of that scale."
G6 studied him.
"Who would have thought I would find a useful training partner?"
Lord Earl's mouth twitched.
"I will appreciate it. Thanks."
"Now, we are done. I will send a team from the Omnia to repair the wall. I shall take my leave."
Lord Earl gave a curt nod.
Lord Keith stared.
"It is over?"
"For today, yes."
Prince Dio finally stepped away from the lower stone tier and approached.
His eyes remained on G6.
"Am I deaf, or did you not chant that spell?"
G6 met his stare without hesitation.
"I whispered it, Prince."
The lie arrived smoothly.
Lord Earl looked at her.
G6 looked back.
For the briefest moment, neither spoke.
Lord Earl had witnessed enough to know that no whisper had occurred, and G6 knew perfectly well that he knew it.
Neither of them intended to say so aloud.
Lord Earl retrieved his belongings from the bench.
"Then I shall take my leave. Reise, prepare yourself for tomorrow."
With one final nod, he turned toward the internal arena stairs and departed.
Lord Keith watched him go.
Then immediately turned back toward G6.
"Reise!"
He crossed the sand with wounded outrage.
"Why does Earl get to hold your hand, but I cannot even hang out in your office?"
G6 lowered herself onto the edge of the stone bench.
"Ask your mother."
Lord Keith's mouth fell open.
G6 had already lost interest.
Her gaze shifted toward Prince Dio.
A new thought entered her head.
Yesterday, she had watched Lord Keith spar.
Today, Prince Dio was standing directly in front of her.
Useful opportunity.
"Hey, Snow White. Show me another one of your fancy sword techniques."
Prince Dio's brows lifted.
"Snow White?" he asked, confusion written plainly across his face.
Then his expression sharpened.
"Are you truly that interested?"
"I would not ask if I was not, smartass."
Lord Keith laughed.
Prince Dio's expression tightened before slowly relaxing again.
"Very well."
His gaze shifted toward his cousin.
"Keith. Prepare yourself. You will spar with me."
Lord Keith stopped laughing.
"What?"
The realization struck.
"No! Edmund is my partner! Right, Edmund?!"
Edmund looked toward G6.
"I am at my lady's disposal."
"Nah, you can have Prince Dio."
G6 waved dismissively.
Lord Keith looked betrayed.
G6 leaned back against the bench.
Sell yourselves to me.
Her eyes moved between them.
I at least have to know what could be the defense of people I will have to…
A pause.
Get rid.
Prince Dio removed his long black coat.
"Then it is settled."
The smugness returned to his face with irritating ease.
"It seems my fiancée is finally taking an interest in my capabilities."
"Gross."
G6 said it without hesitation.
Prince Dio ignored her.
He removed his watch and crest pin and placed them beside his coat, leaving him in a fitted white dueling shirt designed for unrestricted movement while still retaining the polished appearance expected of royalty.
The pale fabric emphasized the contrast of his silver-white hair and amber-orange eyes.
Objectively, Prince Dio was an exceptionally striking man.
G6 assessed him for approximately one second.
Yeah, he looks like a bag of premium cement ready to be mixed.
Evaluation complete.
Prince Dio and Lord Keith walked toward the center of the sandy arena. The easy familiarity between them gradually disappeared as they increased the distance between themselves and the spectators.
Their rivalry was obvious, but familiarity did not make either man careless.
Prince Dio stopped first.
"Let us use real swords."
Lord Keith's familiar grin returned.
"Eager to show off for an audience, Your Highness?"
Prince Dio gave him a dismissive glance before touching one finger against the elegant silver stud in his ear.
A faint sigil illuminated beneath the metal.
"Dimensional Vault."
Space distorted beside his hand and opened into a small shimmering portal. Prince Dio reached through it and withdrew a sword, the weapon emerging hilt first before the polished blade caught the daylight.
Lord Keith performed the same motion with the more elaborate cuff decorating his own ear.
Another portal appeared.
Another weapon emerged.
G6 immediately leaned forward.
Her eyes widened.
"What is that? Edmund!"
She did not look away from the earrings.
Edmund moved closer to the bench.
"A Dimensional Vault, Lady Reise. A magical storage artifact crafted by Omnia artisans. Its focus may be set into rings, earrings, bracelets, or other durable objects, though earrings are especially fashionable among younger nobles."
G6 stared.
Oh.
The piercings suddenly made considerably more sense.
So the earrings are not just rebellion.
They have a function.
Alright. Badass.
"I want that."
No hesitation.
No room for discussion.
"You may acquire one by commissioning Lord Earl," Edmund explained. "Its capacity is dependent upon the reserve available to sustain the storage enchantment. Those with greater reserves are capable of maintaining considerably larger spaces."
G6's brows rose.
"Those with more limited reserves generally commission smaller vaults," Edmund continued. "They remain useful, but the amount that may be stored is naturally restricted."
That sounded less like an absolute division of class and more like another resource the wealthy had easier access to.
G6 was still offended on principle.
Tsk. Typical aristocracy. Even pocket space is a status symbol.
From the arena center, Lord Keith shouted.
"REISE! WATCH ME DROWN HIS FIRE!"
G6 did not even turn away from Prince Dio's earring.
"Whatever, clown."
Lord Keith looked personally wounded.
Prince Dio raised his sword.
"Cease your prattling and begin."
His eyes narrowed.
"Prepare to see your water boiled away, you waterlogged fool."
"You absolute jerk."
Lord Keith's grin widened as he stepped backward and settled into a ready stance.
G6 finally looked at them properly.
Now the interesting part.
Lord Keith raised his blade.
"Neptune's Fang!"
Water answered.
The Magic Coating took shape directly along the physical sword, his affinity gathering around the steel rather than creating a separate weapon of its own. Moisture condensed first along the blade before thickening into a dense rotating sheath, the current compressed tightly enough that it moved with the weapon instead of spilling away.
The technique was unmistakably elemental.
Water affinity applied to steel.
Magic Coating.
By the time Neptune's Fang stabilized, the sword appeared to carry a narrow strip of dark ocean around its edge.
Lord Keith adjusted his stance instead of immediately invoking another spell. His conventional casting had completed, which meant his mana pathways now entered their required recovery period.
Roughly four seconds separated him from the next conventional spell he could safely invoke.
Prince Dio lifted his own weapon.
"Cinder's Edge."
Fire rushed along the steel.
The flame wound upward from the guard in tight spirals, clinging to the metal rather than consuming it. Heat distorted the air around the weapon while the coating settled into a controlled, brilliant burn.
G6's eyes sharpened.
Oh? Coating your magic on a weapon?
She leaned forward slightly.
So fantastical, straight out of those shows or novels.
The visuals alone could have sold tickets back home.
Prince Dio's own spell had completed.
Unlike Lord Keith, his required interval was considerably shorter.
Two seconds.
He used them to adjust his footing and measure the distance between them.
Then—
"Speed."
Mana turned inward through the pathways of his body rather than leaving it as elemental fire. The Physical Enhancement spell settled through his legs, reinforcing the muscular response required for rapid acceleration.
Two more seconds had to pass before he could invoke another conventional spell.
Lord Keith's longer interval expired during that exchange.
"Aura of Alacrity."
The PhyEn technique settled through his body without the navy Water coating of Neptune's Fang. It was General Magic, not another expression of his elemental affinity; the effect was visible mostly in the sudden precision of his posture and the subtle lightness entering his stance as his reflexes and directional changes sharpened.
Prince Dio's second interval ended.
"Strength."
The enhancement settled through his body, but he did not flood himself with maximum force.
Ten percent.
Enough to reinforce his strikes and impact tolerance without sacrificing the fine control required for a sword duel.
G6 watched closely.
So their PhyEn spells need chants too?
Prince Dio's Speed was not the same thing as the Speed function inside Perfect Assassin Form.
One belonged to conventional General Magic and followed its laws; the other answered through whatever system had translated Akira's old abilities into this body.
Different mechanism.
Very different inconvenience.
My own skills answer mentally.
A trace of satisfaction followed.
Thanks to the devil, I do not have to be cringe.
The two men faced each other across several paces of pale sand.
Prince Dio initiated.
His rear foot drove hard into the ground, and the Speed spell amplified the acceleration through his legs. He closed the distance rapidly, but Lord Keith did not remain on the center line and wait for the stronger charge to arrive.
The moment Prince Dio committed forward, Lord Keith shifted laterally and turned his leading shoulder away. Neptune's Fang angled across his body, positioning the Water-coated blade to meet the incoming Fire weapon obliquely rather than absorbing the entire force directly.
Their swords collided.
—CLANG!
Fire met Water.
The force traveled through both men's arms and forced their boots deeper into the packed sand. Cinder's Edge drove heat into the dense Water coating around Lord Keith's blade, producing an immediate burst of steam where the two weapons touched.
Lord Keith rotated his wrist instead of contesting Prince Dio's enhanced Strength head-on. The motion redirected the Fire blade several inches away from his center while his leading foot stepped outward, allowing him to slip partially away from the Prince's forward pressure.
Prince Dio recovered almost immediately.
His enhanced footwork let him alter his angle before Lord Keith could completely reset, and the second strike came from the opposite side.
Lord Keith caught it near the middle of Neptune's Fang.
Water hissed violently against Fire.
Yellowish-white flame flared, and another burst of steam rolled between them.
G6's boredom disappeared.
Her grey eyes tracked shoulders, hips, knees, feet, and weapon lines with far more interest than she had shown during any noble gathering.
The idiot moves differently than yesterday.
Lord Keith gave one measured step under Prince Dio's pressure, then changed direction sharply and returned with a diagonal counter aimed across the Prince's upper line.
Prince Dio turned his blade and caught it.
Faster. More precise.
Lord Keith had been skilled yesterday.
This was different.
He was holding back with Edmund.
No such restraint existed now.
Lord Keith knew Prince Dio could take the impact. Prince Dio likewise knew how dangerous Lord Keith's Water affinity could become if he allowed his cousin to dictate the pace of the exchange.
The result was considerably more entertaining.
Lord Keith used Aura of Alacrity to keep his footwork difficult to predict. He shifted right, drew Prince Dio's shoulders with him, then cut back left before the Prince could fully compress the distance again.
Each adjustment forced Prince Dio to rotate and re-center instead of relying upon Strength Enhancement to overwhelm Lord Keith directly.
Whenever Cinder's Edge came down with enough power to demand a block, Lord Keith used Neptune's Fang to redirect the blow rather than taking everything straight through his arms.
Water streamed along the bind as Fire burned through its outer layers. Steam gathered above the arena floor with every prolonged contact.
Prince Dio pressed forward again.
Lord Keith yielded half a pace.
Steel struck steel once, then again.
The second impact drove Lord Keith's boot backward through the sand, but instead of allowing the pressure to continue, he twisted at the waist and snapped Neptune's Fang outward, forcing Prince Dio to disengage or risk letting the Water-coated edge slide toward his wrist.
Prince Dio withdrew just far enough.
G6 leaned forward, forearms resting against her knees.
Now this is entertainment.
Prince Dio's next attack came high.
Lord Keith lifted Neptune's Fang to intercept above shoulder level, expecting another heavy exchange.
The blades met.
But Prince Dio did not try to overpower the guard.
He broke contact deliberately.
His center of gravity dropped.
Lord Keith caught the change a fraction before the movement followed.
Prince Dio drove low.
His leading foot slid across the sand while his sword remained angled upward to threaten Lord Keith's weapon line. At the same time, his lower body cut toward Lord Keith's legs, turning the attack into a sweeping entry rather than another straightforward sword strike.
Lord Keith reacted immediately.
Aura of Alacrity sharpened his response enough for him to spring upward before the sweep could take his feet.
But leaving the ground solved one problem and created another.
Lord Keith had committed himself to a predictable descent.
He compensated before reaching the apex of the jump, rotating his shoulders and bringing Neptune's Fang overhead in both hands. Gravity added weight to the downward arc as he came back toward Prince Dio.
Prince Dio looked up.
Cinder's Edge rose.
The swords collided as Lord Keith descended.
Fire struck Water hard enough to flash the outer layers of Neptune's Fang into steam.
HISSSSS—!
A thick white cloud erupted between them.
Lord Keith's boots struck the sand. His knees bent to absorb the landing, but for the brief moment required to recover his balance, he could no longer see Prince Dio clearly through the steam.
Prince Dio had already released the direct pressure of the block.
Rather than remaining in front of Lord Keith where the collision had placed him, he used the Speed Enhancement already running through his body to step sharply outside Lord Keith's expected line.
His leading foot shifted first, then the other carried his body through a controlled turn around Lord Keith's right side.
He did not vanish.
He simply moved while Lord Keith was still landing, visually obstructed and forced to relocate him through a dense curtain of steam.
Lord Keith heard the movement.
His shoulders turned toward the sound.
Too late.
By the time he began reorienting, Cinder's Edge had already completed the angle.
Prince Dio reduced the pressure of the burning coating as he closed the final distance, enough that the weapon could be held near Lord Keith without scorching him.
The steel tip stopped lightly against the back of Lord Keith's neck.
Lord Keith froze.
Steam drifted apart.
The final position became visible to everyone seated around the arena.
Checkmate.
G6 stared.
Damn.
Prince Dio's balance remained stable despite the rapid change in direction, and his sword sat exactly where a lethal strike would have landed if the fight had been real.
Got to admit it, Snow White has the skill.
Professional respect cut cleanly through her usual apathy.
G6 raised both hands and gave one slow clap.
Then another.
The sound carried over the arena as the remaining steam thinned.
"That is enough."
Both men looked toward her.
"Wrap it up before you summon a tsunami."
She gestured toward Lord Keith.
Prince Dio lowered Cinder's Edge.
"What is the matter?" he asked his cousin, a triumphant smirk appearing. "Still a sore loser?"
Lord Keith looked at him with pure distaste.
The Water coating around Neptune's Fang loosened and fell away in a controlled stream before dispersing into the sand. Prince Dio dismissed Cinder's Edge in turn, the yellowish-white flame shrinking along the blade until the last trace of heat faded.
Their maintained Physical Enhancement spells followed. Neither man needed a separate system command or activation window; they simply ceased sustaining the spells, allowing the reinforced speed, strength, and reflex effects to leave their bodies.
They began walking toward the lower benches.
Competitive tension remained between them, though neither appeared genuinely angry.
G6 looked from one to the other.
"Not bad."
Lord Keith immediately brightened.
"Reise! What did you think of my Neptune's Fang?"
Prince Dio sighed.
"Must you be so desperate for validation?"
Lord Keith ignored him.
"So hungry for a compliment? Fine."
G6's mouth curved faintly.
"I must admit, you both impressed me."
Both men looked at her.
G6 paused deliberately.
"…You passed the screening."
Prince Dio's brow furrowed.
Lord Keith stared.
G6 stood and brushed sand from the back of her trousers.
"Thanks for the demonstration. See you around."
She turned away.
Prince Dio watched her leave.
"We passed the screening?" he repeated.
The phrase sounded considerably less like praise and considerably more like the completion of some private assessment they had not realized was taking place.
Lord Keith, naturally, heard only one portion.
"Reise said she was impressed! With me!"
He snatched his coat and hurried after her.
"Wait up! What does that mean? What is the next test?"
G6 did not slow.
Prince Dio remained behind long enough to retrieve his watch, crest pin, and coat. His gaze drifted toward Reise's retreating figure while he fastened the pin back into place.
Screening? Prince Dio thought.
Yesterday she had watched Lord Keith fight.
Today she had demanded another demonstration.
She had not merely wanted entertainment.
She had been evaluating something.
Capabilities? Threat? Usefulness? Prince Dio wondered.
Another question.
Naturally.
And Reise Worthon continued collecting them faster than he could answer any.
「WEST VILLA — LATE NIGHT」
The West Villa had gone quiet hours ago.
Moonlight covered the private balcony outside G6's room, turning the pale stone almost silver. G6 sat directly on the floor in a simple white nightgown, one knee raised while the other leg stretched comfortably beside her.
Her black training clothes hung across the railing, still damp from being cleaned after the day's abuse.
Both of G6's hands were lifted toward them.
A gentle current of Wind moved from her palms, warm enough to draw moisture from the cloth without scorching or damaging it.
The control required was laughably small compared with the Wind Blade that had split the reinforced training backstop earlier.
That discrepancy irritated her.
"So, today I finally grasped the Perfect Assassin Form. But I am still nowhere with this world's magic. Tsk."
The garments shifted gently in the controlled breeze.
She increased the warmth only slightly and watched the fabric respond.
Easy.
Controlled.
Infuriatingly easy.
"Brenda must be confused why I did not store these back. It is just more convenient here. Hmm. Need to wake up early again tomorrow. New regimen."
"I was unaware you had developed a hobby of holding conversations with yourself in the dark."
G6 did not turn.
Tina stood just inside the balcony doors holding a cup of tea.
"The night wind is strong enough to dry them by morning."
"Nah."
G6 kept the warm current moving.
"Adding heat keeps out the musty smell."
Tina crossed the balcony and placed the tea beside her.
"I have brought a tea Alistair prepared. He claims it will aid your rest."
"Thanks."
Tina unfolded a soft blanket and draped it over G6's shoulders.
"Drink it now while it is warm. It cools quickly."
"Ugh, so naggy."
Despite the complaint, G6 stopped channeling the Wind.
The artificial breeze faded.
She picked up the tea and took a cautious sip.
Tina remained beside her.
For a while, neither spoke.
The gardens below stretched beneath the moonlight, quiet enough that the distant water from one of the fountains could be heard across the grounds.
Eventually, Tina spoke.
"I will confess, I do not understand you these past days, Lady Reise."
G6 glanced toward her.
Tina's gaze remained on the gardens.
"But I will not press for answers."
Her voice had become quieter, carrying less of the formal distance expected between servant and noble and more of the familiarity built across years.
"I would far rather navigate this… chaotic vigor of yours than witness you slowly fading away within these four walls again, as you were before."
G6 became still.
The teacup remained halfway to her mouth.
Fading away?
Tina did not seem to notice the slight change in her posture.
G6's gaze moved toward the dark reflection of the room in the balcony glass.
That wasn't in the book.
The novel had described Reise's obsession.
Her jealousy.
Her eventual breakdown.
But it had never spent much time on the years of quiet deterioration before the dramatic parts became useful to the romance plot.
Apparently, there had been more.
A great deal more.
So, the book skipped things.
That was not especially surprising. It had been a romance novel. Private deterioration rarely became a chapter unless it intersected with the love story.
Still, it was another gap.
Another portion of Reise Worthon's real life that G6 knew nothing about.
She looked down at the tea.
I might have been so caught up on the strangeness of this world that I overlooked some clues.
Her expression hardened again.
But it does not matter. This life is mine now; she abandoned it.
Tina finally looked toward her.
"Please do not stay up too late. You will need rest for tomorrow."
Her voice returned to its usual practical warmth.
"I will take my rest as well. Good night, Lady Reise."
She gave a slight bow and turned toward the room.
"Good night."
The answer came almost as a whisper.
Tina stopped at the doorway.
For a moment, a genuine, relieved smile touched her face.
Then she slipped inside and closed the balcony door behind her.
G6 remained beneath the blanket with the tea warming both hands while her training clothes moved gently in the natural night breeze.
「05:15 A.M」
The West Villa rested beneath pre-dawn darkness.
Servants' routines would not properly begin for another hour, and most of the corridors remained unlit except for a handful of low magical lamps positioned near staircases and major intersections.
G6 moved through them without disturbing a single person.
She used none of the supernatural abilities she had spent the previous day testing. Eclipse-Step remained inactive, as did Perfect Assassin Form and its Silence function.
There was no reason to waste them when Akira Gemstone had learned how to move unseen long before anyone called her the Reaper.
Her feet landed where old flooring was least likely to complain, her weight transferring gradually rather than striking the stone. Doors opened only as far as necessary and returned to their original position without allowing hinges or latches to announce her passage.
Years of ordinary training handled the rest.
The practical black clothing she had adopted for her morning regimen helped considerably. Compared with the excessive gowns of noble fashion, the fitted high-collared top, flexible trousers, harness-style belt, and sturdy boots allowed her to move without layers of skirts, ribbons, or unnecessary fabric catching against furniture.
Her rose-gold hair was the only bright element in the dark corridor. Its full waist-length mass had been gathered and secured into the familiar training knot behind her head, keeping it safely out of the way without changing its actual length.
G6 descended the West Villa's main staircase.
The house remained silent.
She crossed the lower hall and headed toward the rear exit opening onto the garden route that eventually led toward the remotely situated Royal Collegium.
The door gave only a faint click as she eased it closed behind her.
Cool air touched her face.
G6 stepped onto the paved garden path.
Then stopped.
Someone was already there.
Several paces ahead, beneath the dim pre-dawn sky, a man stood waiting.
He had clearly been there for some time.
His posture was relaxed enough to suggest patience rather than ambush, but nothing about his position along the route seemed accidental.
Silver-white hair caught what little light existed.
Recognition was immediate.
Prince Dio.
He was dressed more practically than usual, prepared for movement rather than formal duties.
G6's eyes swept over him once.
No visible weapon in hand.
No entourage.
No servants.
Apparently, Snow White had decided to become part of her morning.
She stopped several paces away and tilted her head.
"Why are you up so early… Snow White?"
—To Be Continued…—