Ryan stood in the center of the clearing, his gaze locked on Eileen.
His voice cut through the silence—sharp, commanding.
"Today, we raise the level. I won't attack you… you'll attack me."
Eileen blinked, stunned.
"Me? Attack you? Why?"
He took a step forward. His calm carried something dangerous beneath it.
"Because I need to learn my limits," he said. "Not yours."
He lifted a finger slightly. "Don't argue. Do it."
Eileen hesitated, then raised her hands. A faint green pulse flickered between her palms, trembling like her breath.
"Ray…" Her voice came out low, uncertain—almost pleading.
"This doesn't feel like training. It feels like madness."
A thin, cold smile crossed his lips.
"Maybe," he murmured. "But power is born from madness—not comfort."
She swallowed hard and thrust the pulse forward.
The moment it touched him—Ryan's body shuddered.
Violet light burst out of him, wild and unrestrained. The green pulse shattered in midair like glass.
Eileen froze.
"Ray… what's happening to you?"
He didn't answer.
His hands trembled as if they no longer belonged to him. Veins of violet light spread beneath his skin, crawling up his arms like living fire.
When he finally spoke, his voice was fractured—too low, too hollow.
"Power… needs a real test."
Her breath caught.
"You're scaring me."
⸻
He lifted his arm.
A surge of violet energy slammed into her shield and sent her stumbling backward. The impact rang through the clearing like thunder.
"Ray! Stop!" she shouted, panic rising.
His eyes glowed brighter. His voice—stripped of awareness—answered her.
"Hit me back," he said. "Show me your true power."
"I don't want to hurt you!"
He moved closer, each step heavier than the last, as if the forest itself obeyed him.
"Then you'll die with me."
Eileen's shield flared again—green, shaking—while his blows came one after another.
Crack.
Crack.
Her barrier splintered under the pressure.
Tears welled in her eyes as she cried out—
"You're hurting me!"
Ryan roared, the sound tearing through the trees.
"FIGHT BACK!"
She threw a weak pulse at him. He deflected it effortlessly, as if it were nothing but wind.
In a blink, he was upon her.
He grabbed her arm and slammed her into a tree.
The air burst from her lungs. Pain flashed through her ribs.
"Stop…" she gasped. "This isn't training anymore!"
He didn't hear.
The violet aura around him darkened, swirling like smoke alive with hunger. His hand rose toward her throat—fingers blazing with violent light.
"Ray!" Her voice broke. "You're going to kill me!"
⸻
And then—
she screamed.
Not from fear.
From something deeper. Raw. Primal.
A wave of blue light exploded from her body and hurled him backward. The shockwave tore through the clearing, shaking leaves loose from the branches.
For a heartbeat—
Eileen hovered in the air, suspended in blue radiance.
Her eyes glowed like the sea.
Her shattered green shield reshaped into a brilliant blue aura—sharp, vibrating, alive.
Ryan hit the ground, shielding his face, staring as if reality itself had cracked open.
Eileen fell seconds later, trembling. Threads of blue light crawled across her skin like living veins.
Her voice came faint and broken.
"Why…?" she whispered.
"Why were you trying to kill me?"
Ryan took a step closer, guilt shaking his words.
"I thought I was in control," he said hoarsely. "But what came out… wasn't me."
She lifted her gaze, pain and confusion tangled in her eyes.
"I don't understand what's inside you…" she whispered.
"But what came from me… wasn't mine either."
Ryan froze.
That light.
That same blue glow—he had seen it once, in forbidden scrolls. In old diagrams drawn around symbols that resembled locks and living gates.
His lips parted, barely forming the words.
"A key…"
His breath caught.
"She's one of them."
He reached out slowly.
Eileen recoiled, fear still burning beneath her exhaustion.
Ryan stopped—hands half-raised, voice suddenly softer, heavy with wreckage.
"I won't attack you again," he said. "I swear."
She didn't answer.
She turned away and sat against the tree, silent.
Ryan stared at his trembling hands, then at the staff beside him, and murmured like a curse—
"Power… every time I reach for it… it slips further away."
Then his eyes returned to her.
Regret was there.
But behind it… something else flickered.
Dangerous curiosity.
That blue energy… what was it?
The forest didn't answer.
But high above, hidden between the branches, the Shadow watched—eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
Its whisper crawled through the silence like smoke.
"The first transformation succeeded…
the girl has revealed her core.
Next step… the trap."
And somewhere deeper in the forest, something ancient shifted—
as if a door had stirred in its sleep.
And when the next key awakens…
who will still be standing?