CHAPTER 201: A LITTLE WAKE-UP CALL [4]

Reo hit the ground hard.

The impact rattled through him. Sending a jolt up his spine as his body skidded across the virtual terrain.

Dirt clung to his clothes, his skin, the grit pressing into his palms as he tried, and failed, to push himself up.

His chest heaved, each breath sharp and ragged. Like his lungs were lined with broken glass.

The simulation dulled the worst of the pain. But the exhaustion? That was real. His muscles burned, trembling under the strain. His vision swimming as sweat stung his eyes.

He blinked it away. His gaze flickering toward the blurred figure standing over him.

’How many times has it been now?’

Ten? Twenty? He’d lost count. Every time he thought he’d found an opening, every time he lunged, every time he almost landed a hit.

Kyle was already gone. Already stepping aside. Already driving a fist into his ribs. A knee into his gut. The tachi piercing into his throat.

’This isn’t training.’

This is a massacre.

A groan cut through the ringing in his ears. Luna. She lay a few feet away, sprawled on her back, her silver hair tangled with dirt.

Her fingers twitched, broken moments ago, reset by the simulation. But the phantom pain lingered. He’d seen her fight.

Ice spells sharp as razors, movements precise, lethal. None of it had mattered.

Kyle hadn’t even tried.

That was what made it worse.

The bastard wasn’t breathing hard. Wasn’t tense. His tachi rested lazily against his shoulder. His stance loose, like he’d been out for a stroll rather than dismantling them both.

His blue eyes glowed faintly in the artificial sunlight, cold and distant.

"Get up."

Reo’s jaw clenched. His fingers dug into the dirt, nails scraping against the packed earth.

His spear lay discarded a few feet away. The once-gleaming metal dulled with dust. He wanted to snarl. Wanted to demand what the hell Kyle was trying to prove.

But the words died before they reached his lips.

Because he already knew.

This wasn’t about proving anything.

This was a wake-up call.

———

[Luna’s POV]

’He’s different.’

Luna’s arms trembled as she pushed herself up from the ground. Her knees digging into the ice on the training ground.

The last strike had been brutal. Kyle’s ice spears piercing through her defenses like they were nothing.

The pain had faded. But the ghost of it still lingered in her muscles. A phantom reminder of how easily he had dismantled her.

’This isn’t the same Kyle.’

The boy she remembered from the entrance exams. The one who’d hesitated mid-strike during their first spar, was gone.

That Kyle had been strong, sure, but he’d still made mistakes. He’d second-guessed himself.

This Kyle?

This Kyle moved like something else entirely.

Every step was deliberate. Every strike was final. There was no hesitation, no wasted motion.

He fought like a man who’d stared death in the face and decided it didn’t scare him anymore.

’What the hell happened to you in that dungeon?’

Her gaze flicked to Reo. His jaw was clenched. His usual smirk replaced by something darker, something raw. He felt it too. The gap between them and Kyle wasn’t just growing.

It was a goddamn canyon.

And if they didn’t close it soon?

They’d be left behind.

———

[Reo’s POV]

’This isn’t working.’

Reo’s fingers tightened around his spear. His usual grin was long gone, swallowed up by frustration.

He’d always been the reckless one. The one who charged in first, trusting his instincts to pull him through.

But instincts weren’t enough anymore. Not against this.

’Demons don’t hesitate.’

The realization hit him like a kick to the ribs.

That’s what this was about, wasn’t it?

Kyle wasn’t just training them.

He was preparing them.

For something worse.

Something beyond the academy’s polished walls.

Reo’s knuckles whitened.

’I can’t keep losing like this.’

———

Kyle didn’t move. He didn’t need to.

The air hummed with tension. Thick enough to choke on. Reo struck first.

His spear a streak of silver. The wind around it screaming as it cut through space. A feint to the left, then a vicious thrust straight for Kyle’s heart.

Kyle stepped aside. Not fast and dramatic. Just enough.

His tachi flicked out. A single precise motion. The blade kissed Reo’s wrist, parting skin and tendon. Fingers loosened.

The spear clattered to the ground.

Before shock could even register. Kyle’s elbow cracked against Reo’s temple. The boy staggered, vision swimming, before the simulation’s safety protocols flared. Flesh knitting back together in an instant.

Luna didn’t wait. Ice exploded from the floor, jagged teeth lunging for Kyle’s legs. He didn’t dodge. He walked through them.

His tachi flashing once. A clean, effortless cut, and the ice shattered mid-air like glass.

Then he was in front of her.

Luna barely raised her swords in time. Kyle’s blade punched through her chest, steel sliding between ribs with a wet click.

Blood bubbled up her throat, spilling over her lips as she crumpled. The simulation reset her wounds before she even hit the ground.

Her fingers dug into the floor.

’Again.’

Reo was already coming, spear forgotten, fists swinging wild. No technique. Just raw, desperate force.

Kyle caught his wrist. Twisted.

A sickening snap.

The simulation erased the damage instantly. But Reo still hissed through his teeth, phantom pain flaring.

Kyle didn’t release him.

"You’re dead," he said, voice flat. "Again."

—

Reo’s breath came in ragged gasps.

Each inhale burned like fire in his lungs. His muscles screamed. His ribs ached, and the metallic taste of blood lingered on his tongue. But, the anger wasn’t the only thing driving him.

He was listening.

He’s right.

Out there, past the academy’s polished halls. Beyond the rankings and the controlled safety of simulations. here were things that wouldn’t care if he was exhausted. Things that wouldn’t pull their punches.

Things that would kill him without hesitation.

And there would be no second chances.

Luna felt it too. The weight behind Kyle’s silence. The warning hidden in every brutal strike. The way he moved. Like this wasn’t just a lesson.

But a preview.

Kyle stood there, waiting.

Reo spat blood onto the ground, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Luna adjusted her grip on her swords, fingers tightening.

No words. None were needed.

They attacked.

Together.

This time. Reo didn’t rush in blindly. His eyes stayed locked on Kyle, watching, calculating. He forced himself to think instead of just swinging.

Luna didn’t just rely on her ice. She shifted, adapted, forced herself to react instead of just following patterns.

It still wasn’t enough.

Kyle dismantled them anyway.

But this time. It took him three moves instead of one.

And when they hit the ground. They didn’t stay down.

Reo pushed himself up first, knuckles white against the floor. Luna followed, breath uneven but resolve unbroken.

"Again," Reo growled.

"Again," Luna echoed.

For the first time since the fight began. Kyle’s lips curled.

Just slightly.

Satisfied.

———