The air above the frozen plain shimmered with latent energy. Even in her exhaustion, Kiana felt it an almost alive presence approaching, heavy, controlled, and unyielding. It wasn't just Shinrei. It was command, authority, and raw emotion bundled into a force that dwarfed even Lucere's Void Art.
Somewhere far, far away, at Veyl Academy, the apex of Shinrei mastery stirred.
Master Isen.
Lucere tilted his head, the faintest smirk on his lips. His eyes, strange and disconcerting, studied Kiana.
"(Isen will come here…)" he thought silently, almost savoring the inevitability of the confrontation.
He didn't panic. Didn't shift. His calm was a storm in itself.
Then, he looked down at Kiana.
"Let's finish this, shall we?"
Kiana wiped the frozen blood from her lip. Her veins burned as her Shinrei spasmed. Her eyes flared crimson and cobalt, colors colliding, forming streaks of raw emotion that radiated outward.
"I won't let you!"
