With Seraphina and Ren both settled at Radiant-rank, I returned to my own work. Not to chase Liam's lessons, but to push the edge of my sword art where I could feel something waiting—close, clear, and not yet mine.
I drew my blade. The weight set into my grip like it always had, a promise and a measure. I moved through long forms I had carved into muscle and breath over years. Cuts tracked true. Guards set without thought. The rhythm of Sword Unity—steel and wielder as one—beat steady in every motion. But as I finished a complex chain that left thin lines of energy floating in the air, I felt a second rhythm under the first. A higher gear. A door I could sense with the skin, not yet with the hand.
"There's another level," I said quietly, easing the blade back to center.
