Noel woke before the rest, the dim glow of the mana-lamps still soft against the cabin walls. The air was cool and quiet, filled only with the faint hum of the ship's engines moving through the endless tunnel.

He reached a hand to his side out of habit. Empty.

Noir wasn't there.

The system's message from that night echoed in his head: [Noir is evolving…]

He sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 'She always pushed me during training. Without her, it feels… empty.'

Noel stood, stretching, then began to dress: a black shirt tucked into fitted trousers, light boots, and his short jacket. His gaze fell to Revenant Fang, resting against the wall. The cursed blade seemed heavier than usual when he slung it at his hip, its black sheen dull in the mana-light.

"Guess it's just you and me today," he muttered.

He splashed water on his face from the small basin, combed a hand through his hair, and tightened his belt. Then he stepped out into the corridor.

Most of the students were still asleep, their laughter from last night replaced by silence. The path to the reinforced training rooms was long, echoing with his footsteps.

Noel opened one of the doors and slipped inside. The chamber was vast, its stone walls etched with runes that pulsed faintly, ready to absorb stray magic. The quiet pressed against his ears, but it was the absence of paws padding beside him that weighed heavier.

'Noir… don't keep me waiting too long.'

He drew Revenant Fang, its dark edge catching the light, and set his sights on the training floor.

Noel set Revenant Fang against the wall and reached into his pouch. He drew it out carefully, the cover marked with faint sigils that still pulsed weakly, as if alive.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, opening to a page filled with glyphs scratched in old ink. His eyes narrowed. Even after studying this book for weeks, the archaic script resisted him. Some runes spiraled in patterns that bent back into themselves, others twisted like knots he couldn't fully untangle.

"Shadow Step…" he murmured, tracing the glyph. That one he understood. He had forced himself through it enough times that the logic had stuck. But the next pages—

Umbral Grasp. The diagram showed a shadow stretching like a claw from the ground, reaching for an enemy's legs. The notes scribbled around it were dense, full of broken metaphors and fragments. He frowned. "Reach with intent… anchor through darkness… but what does that mean in practice?"

He flipped again. Shade Cloak. Lines of glyphs interlocked with symbols for silence and concealment, yet half the text seemed contradictory. One phrase even read, "To vanish is not to be unseen, but to be unlooked at."

Noel rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'These aren't instructions… they're riddles.'

Still, he kept going. He copied the glyphs in the air with his finger, repeating them under his breath, forcing the patterns into memory. The mana tugged faintly at his skin, reacting—but imperfect, unstable.

The book snapped shut as he stood, slipping it back into the pouch. "Fine. If I can't understand it on paper, I'll make sense of it in practice."

Shadows pooled faintly at his feet as he drew Revenant Fang once more.

Noel gripped Revenant Fang and stepped into the center of the training chamber. The enchanted walls pulsed faintly, ready to absorb stray mana. He steadied his breathing, then moved.

"Shadow Step."

His body blurred into a patch of darkness and reappeared cleanly several meters away. Smooth. Precise. No stumble this time—he had already mastered the basics of that spell.

But the others were different.

He raised his sword, focusing mana into the ground. The dummy's shadow stretched, wavered, and—almost—snapped around its leg. For half a second, the figure trembled as if bound. Then the grip dissolved, the darkness scattering like dust.

"Tch." Noel exhaled sharply. Too much mana wasted for almost nothing.

He tried again, forcing the shadows outward. The same result: a momentary hold, then collapse. Sweat rolled down his temple. His breathing grew heavier.

Switching spells, he whispered, "Shade Cloak." Darkness rippled across his shoulders, the edges of his form blurring. But instead of fully masking him, the shadows flickered like unstable smoke. The illusion broke apart with a harsh crack, leaving him visible and drained.

He dropped to one knee, catching his breath. His core ached from the mana drain.

'If Noir were here… she'd growl until I got it right. She'd know when my stance was off.' His gaze flicked to his side, empty as always since last night. The absence gnawed at him more than the failures.

Still, he pushed himself back to his feet. Revenant Fang hung heavy in his grip, its edge drinking in the light. "Again."

The shadows at his feet swirled faintly, almost mocking him.

The clang of a door echoed through the training chamber. Noel straightened, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.

Selene stepped inside, her short blue hair catching the glow of the runes, her cyan eyes cool as ever. She carried her wand loosely at her side.

Her gaze swept the room once, pausing on the fallen dummies and the faint traces of shadow still curling at Noel's feet. A subtle shift crossed her face—not quite a smile, but a softening that Noel didn't miss.

"You've been at this a while," she said, her tone calm. "Your control's better than I expected."

Noel raised an eyebrow, rolling his shoulder. "That sounded almost like a compliment."

Selene's lips twitched, the closest thing to amusement she ever allowed. "Don't get used to it." She walked further in, tapping her wand against her palm. "I came here to train alone. But since you're here…"

She stopped a few paces away, her eyes meeting his. "Do you want to practice with me?"

Noel adjusted his grip on Revenant Fang, studying her expression. Cold as usual, yes—but there was something else. A flicker of curiosity. An openness he rarely saw directed at anyone else.

'Even when she's trying to hide it, her face gives her away,' Noel thought. '

"…Alright," he said finally, lowering his stance into readiness. "But don't hold back."

Selene raised her wand, the air around her chilling instantly as frost laced the floor beneath her feet. "I never do."

Shadows coiled at Noel's heels, ice forming at Selene's. The training chamber darkened as the clash began to spark between them.

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