After dinner, Kael led Selene out to the garden. Two moons hung low in the sky, casting a pale, silvery glow over everything. The house stood quietly behind them, its windows faintly lit, and all around bloomed flowers that seemed almost too perfect for a world so cursed.
Selene's voice cut through the stillness, calm but pointed.
"Why didn't you just apologize?"
Kael's chest tightened. His emotions surged— In this damned place, Selene was the only one he believed had his back.
But then she dropped the bomb.
"According to the rules," she said slowly, deliberately, "Slaves of losers get punished too."
Hearing that, Kael choked.
A sharp breath caught in his throat, but he said nothing.
His pride had already taken enough damage for one evening.
"Teach me," he said at last, clearing his throat. "The easiest Rank 1 spell. Please."
Selene looked at him—really looked—and then gave a slow, solemn nod, like a teacher about to initiate a particularly hopeless student.
"All right," she said.
"This one's called Moon Blade. Basic. Elegant. Just dangerous enough to lose a finger if you're stupid."
She muttered something under her breath, the words curling like smoke in the moonlit air—too quiet for Kael to catch, too smooth to be accidental.
Her expression had shifted, calm and focused.
Then she raised one hand.
A faint blue glow bloomed on her palm, growing steadily brighter. It wasn't just light—it shimmered, like it was alive, pulsing softly with energy.
Kael's eyes widened. It was beautiful in a cold, almost alien way, like moonlight trapped in a bottle.
Without warning, she dropped her arm in a single, practiced motion.
A sharp crescent of glowing energy sliced through the air.
Silent. Swift.
It struck the tree in front of them with a dull thud —not explosive, but precise. A curved dent appeared in the bark, scorched at the edges, still faintly glowing.
Kael stared, speechless.
"If you pour more mana into it," Selene said casually, brushing hair from her face, "it gets a little more… dramatic. Say, tree-splitting. Or limb-removing. Fun stuff."
Kael blinked, still staring at the smoking dent.
"...I want that," he whispered.
Selene laughed—quiet, sharp, like moonlight cracking ice.
"To master a spell," she said, turning slightly, "you have to master its rune first."
She knelt down, dragging her fingers through the soft earth.
Glowing lines followed her movements, etching strange, elegant curves and jagged hooks into the ground. The rune pulsed faintly with residual mana, humming with something ancient.
Then she stood, brushed her hands on her skirt, and began walking away, her back now to Kael.
"It's not easy to learn a spell rune, you know," she said over her shoulder.
"Even I took a full day just to memorize this one. And I'm... well, me."
Behind her, Kael stared at the glowing symbol etched into the soil. It was bizarre. Complex. Almost alive.
But then, something shifted inside him. A quiet click. His mana control stirred—instinctive, subtle. Like a muscle remembering how to move.
The rune, once incomprehensible, began to make sense. His mind picked it apart. Patterns emerged. Meaning unfolded like petals under moonlight.
He hesitated. Part disbelief. Part suspicion. Then, cautiously, he spoke:
"…What's the next step?"
Selene laughed again, softer this time, almost mocking.
"Once you remember that," she said, nodding toward the rune,
"which I think should take you, oh, maybe three days minimum—then you need to feel mana around you."
She turned slightly, her expression half-serious, half amusement.
"We live in a world soaked with mana, Kael. It's everywhere. In the air. The ground. Us. Even I took nearly a year to sense it properly."
She smirked. "You? Well... let's just say two years if you're lucky and don't fry your brain first."
Kael raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
He closed his eyes, focused.
And then—again—that quiet shift. Like a door cracking open in the back of his mind. His mana control stirred, responding to something deeper.
When he opened his eyes, the world had changed.
Floating in the air around him were shimmering bubbles—tiny orbs of light and color. Some pale and flickering like fireflies, others deeper, richer, like drops of ink in water.
He realized it instinctively: the denser the mana, the darker the color.
Here, in the moonlit garden, the air was mostly tinged with soft blues, like lazy wisps of fog made of light.
Tentatively, he reached out. A large orb drifted close—deep navy, nearly violet. He touched it. Or tried to.
His hand passed through it, like mist. No resistance. No warmth.
Just... emptiness.
He blinked, uncertain if he was amazed or disappointed.
"So… what's next?"
Selene sighed, long and exaggerated.
"Haah… You still have hope. Adorable," she muttered.
"Fine. Next, you manipulate the mana by chanting the rune I showed you, and using that motion of the hand—" she gestured lazily with a swirl "—to shape the spell."
She turned her back to him again, arms crossed.
"But it's all complicated, Kael. Takes time. Practice. Patience. Now do you understand how impossib—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Behind her, Kael had raised his hand. Blue light bloomed on his palm, flickering with raw, unstable energy. His voice cut through the garden—deeper, rougher than before, as he shouted:
"Moon Blade !!"
Selene whipped around, eyes wide. Goosebumps crawled up her arms.
The crescent-shaped arc screamed through the air, brighter and sharper than hers had been. It slammed into the same tree—but this time, there was no dent.
The tree split down the middle with a loud crack, as if nature itself flinched. Wood groaned.
Then, with a thud, it fell to the ground in a cloud of dust and petals.
Kael stood there, blinking. His chest heaved. The glow in his hand had vanished.
"…Yeah," he said softly, voice hollow. "Definitely need to control the mana output."
He turned to Selene. "See?"
She didn't answer.
She took a step back, eyes wide with horror, lips trembling.
"...Monster," she whispered. Then, louder—"MONSTER!"