The sun had long dipped below the horizon, Leaving Euphoria bathed in deep, dark shades as night fell.
The students had finished their combat training hours ago, muscles aching, spirits alive from the day's victories and tensions.
Lanterns flickered along the arena's edges, casting soft light against the darkening landscape. Even the trees seemed to lean closer, their leaves whispering as if recounting the battles they had witnessed.
Bulb walked slowly through the quiet pathways of the training grounds, the hum of the cooling night around him. His boots pressed into the soft earth as he thought back to the day— Stephanie's theatrics, Valkyrie chosing sky, as though they had a thing together and the unexpected turns of alliances.
His chest still bore the thrill of adrenaline, and yet a strange, serene tiredness pulled at his limbs.
