The next few days were no different.
Every morning, Rei and Mira were pulled away from the others and brought to the same quiet training courtyard behind the academy halls. While Shin, Valen, Cassian, and Elira trained through sparring and mana drills, Rei's training followed a far less forgiving pattern.
Rei stood.
Forced out the unstable spark of dark energy.
Collapsed.
Then Mira healed him.
At first her control was clumsy. The water mana flowed unevenly through Rei's body, sometimes slowing the pain, sometimes doing little at all. But slowly—day by day—the results improved.
Minor wounds closed faster.
Muscle strain eased quicker.
Small cuts and bruises vanished under her mana.
It wasn't impressive healing by any academy standard.
But it was progress.
Rei's improvement was harder to see.
Yes, the dark energy spark had grown slightly stronger.
Where once only a faint flicker appeared, now two unstable sparks could briefly form above his hand.
But that was all.
Every day ended the same way.
Rei collapsed onto the courtyard stone, barely conscious.
Every day Mira's mana ran dry trying to keep his body functioning.
Every day Professor Hale simply watched in silence.
And every day, despite everything—
Rei stood up again.
After a few more days, Mira's healing had improved dramatically.
For a Stage One mage, her control had already become exceptional. Small injuries closed quickly under her mana, muscle strain faded faster, and Rei's body recovered far more efficiently than before.
Because of this, Professor Hale assigned her a permanent position beside Rei during his training.
There were breaks for Mira.
There were none for Rei.
Yet Rei never complained.
If anything, it seemed like he wanted this.
As if the brutal routine was something he had chosen for himself.
Eventually, Hale stopped telling him to stand back up after collapsing.
There was no need.
Rei was already on his feet before the words could leave his mouth.
Later that night, the dormitory room was quiet.
Shin dropped onto his bed with a tired groan, one arm thrown over his eyes. Training with lightning had left his muscles buzzing and his mana channels sore.
Across the room, Rei's bed was still empty.
Shin lowered his arm and stared at the ceiling.
"Still training…"
He had noticed it the last few days.
While the others finished practice and returned to the dorms, Rei stayed behind in the courtyard with Hale.
Hours longer.
Sometimes Shin would fall asleep before Rei even returned.
At first Shin assumed Hale was forcing him.
Now he wasn't so sure.
Rei wasn't the type to complain.
But he also wasn't the type to push himself like that for no reason.
Shin turned his head toward the empty bed again.
"…What are you trying to figure out?"
The dorm door opened quietly.
Rei stepped inside.
His uniform was wrinkled, his hair damp with sweat, and his movements slightly slower than usual.
But his expression looked the same as always.
Calm. Quiet. Thinking.
Shin watched him for a moment.
Then sighed and rolled over.
"Try not to die during training tomorrow," he muttered.
Rei simply placed his bag beside the bed.
"I'll try."
Weeks of brutal training finally produced a change.
Rei stood in the quiet courtyard, breathing slowly as he focused on the strange pressure building inside his chest.
The familiar dark spark flickered above his palm.
For a long time it had been nothing more than a brief flash.
Today it didn't disappear.
The spark stretched.
Twisted.
Then a small flame formed in his hand.
Black.
Not bright like fire.
Dense. Heavy. Almost swallowing the light around it.
Rei held it there.
One second.
Two.
Three.
By the fourth second his arm began to tremble.
Mira stared at the flame with wide eyes.
"That… looks wrong."
Professor Hale didn't answer. He simply picked up a training spear from the weapon rack and flicked his wrist.
A compressed wind blade shot toward Rei.
Rei raised his hand.
The black flame touched the incoming spell.
For a brief moment the two forces met.
Then the wind blade fractured.
The mana structure broke apart as if something had eaten through it, dissolving into scattered particles before reaching him.
The courtyard fell silent.
Mira blinked.
"…Did you just break Professor Hale's spell?"
Hale's eyes narrowed slightly.
"That wasn't broken."
He looked at the fading black flame in Rei's hand.
"It was destabilized."
Rei finally exhaled as the flame vanished, his knees nearly giving out from exhaustion.
Four seconds.
That was all he could manage.
But during those four seconds, the dense personal mana in that flame was strong enough to tear apart structured elemental magic.
Even the attacks of a Stage Two mage.
Hale folded his arms, clearly interested now.
For the first time in weeks, Rei stood beside the others instead of being pulled away.
Valen noticed immediately.
"Back from your private torture sessions?"
Rei simply nodded.
Only Mira knew what had changed yesterday.
Professor Hale stepped into the arena.
"Today's exercise is simple."
His calm voice echoed across the hall.
"You will attack me. One at a time."
He gestured to the arena floor.
"You stop when you are exhausted."
No one needed to ask who would win.
Valen stepped forward first.
Flames ignited across his forearm, brighter and more stable than weeks ago.
Without hesitation he launched a narrow stream of fire directly at Hale.
Wind twisted around the arena.
The flame bent sideways and scattered.
Valen didn't stop.
Instead of trying to overpower the wind, he changed shape.
The flame split into several smaller streams that curved around Hale from different angles.
A smarter approach.
For a brief moment the arena filled with weaving ribbons of fire.
Hale moved once.
A circular gust of wind swept outward.
Every flame collapsed instantly.
Valen's eyes narrowed.
He tried again, compressing the fire tighter this time. Smaller. Denser.
The flame shot forward like a spear.
Hale stepped sideways and flicked two fingers.
A thin blade of wind cut the spear apart before it reached him.
Valen's breathing was already growing heavier.
He pushed again, forcing more mana through the mark on his arm.
Flames surged wider.
This time Hale didn't disperse them immediately.
He let the fire expand for a second.
Then the wind above Valen shifted.
The oxygen feeding the flames vanished.
The fire died in an instant.
Hale closed the distance and tapped Valen's chest with a short wind burst.
Valen slid backward across the stone floor.
"Your power increased," Hale said.
"But fire requires space to grow."
He gestured to the empty air around them.
"If your opponent controls the air…"
"…your flame becomes useless."
Valen stepped aside, breathing hard but clearly thinking.
Cassian entered with far less patience.
The moment he stepped into the arena he slammed his palm against the ground.
Earth spikes erupted upward.
Hale jumped lightly onto one of them and avoided the rest.
Cassian reacted faster than before.
Another spike shot upward beneath Hale's landing point.
Hale twisted mid-air and landed cleanly between the attacks.
Cassian grinned.
He had forced Hale to move twice.
He pressed his advantage.
Stone rose around Hale in a circular wall.
Cassian raised both hands.
The stone began compressing inward.
Hale stepped forward.
Wind struck Cassian's wrist.
The spell collapsed immediately.
Cassian attempted again.
This time he didn't try a large structure.
Instead he launched rapid smaller spikes from multiple directions.
Better speed.
Better pressure.
But every time he began forming a larger attack, Hale disrupted the casting before it stabilized.
Eventually Hale stepped behind him and lightly kicked the back of his knee.
Cassian dropped to one leg.
"Your earth magic is powerful."
Hale looked down at him.
"But your casting speed is slow."
Cassian's jaw tightened.
Elira walked into the arena more confidently than before.
Her wind blade formed almost instantly.
The structure was sharp. Clean.
She released it.
The blade sliced through the air.
Hale sidestepped.
She launched another immediately.
Then another.
Unlike the others, she wasn't forcing power.
She was forcing precision.
The blades came quickly and accurately.
Several passed within inches of Hale's clothing.
But none connected.
Hale moved faster.
Eventually he stepped inside her casting range.
Two fingers tapped her shoulder.
Elira froze.
"Your precision improved."
Hale's voice remained calm.
"But precision without pressure is easily avoided."
She nodded quietly.
Mira stepped forward and immediately formed two rotating spheres of water beside her hands.
Instead of waiting, Hale attacked first.
A thin wind blade cut across her arm.
A shallow line of blood appeared.
Several students flinched.
Mira didn't panic.
Water mana flowed through her body.
The wound closed.
Hale attacked again.
Another small cut.
Another heal.
Then another.
Each time the healing became smoother.
More controlled.
Less wasted mana.
The others began whispering.
Even Cassian looked impressed.
Hale increased the pressure slightly.
Two wind strikes hit almost simultaneously.
Mira stumbled but immediately stabilized herself.
Both wounds sealed under her water mana.
Hale stepped back.
"Efficient."
Mira exhaled slowly, exhausted but proud.
Shin stepped forward with his usual grin.
Lightning burst across his body.
He attacked immediately.
A bolt struck the arena floor near Hale's feet.
Hale jumped aside.
Shin didn't chase.
Instead he spread lightning across the ground.
Electric arcs crawled outward like a web.
A clear attempt to control the battlefield.
Hale responded by redirecting airflow across the arena floor.
The lightning dispersed.
Shin switched tactics.
He compressed lightning into quick bursts rather than wide arcs.
Short-range attacks.
Faster.
One strike nearly reached Hale's shoulder before the wind redirected it.
But Shin kept pushing.
More speed.
More aggression.
Eventually Hale stepped inside his range and pressed a palm against Shin's chest.
A sudden wind burst launched him backward.
Shin landed on his back, laughing despite the exhaustion.
"Still too slow, huh?"
"Your speed is good," Hale replied.
"But speed without timing wastes energy."
Silence settled over the arena.
One student remained.
Rei stepped forward.
The others watched closely.
For weeks he had barely participated in their training.
No one knew how much he had changed.
Hale gave a simple nod.
"Begin."
Rei moved instantly.
No spell.
No warning.
Just raw physical speed.
He crossed the distance faster than anyone expected.
Hale stepped aside.
Rei twisted mid-motion and launched another strike.
His movements were efficient. Almost mechanical.
Wind struck toward him.
Rei raised his hand.
Black flame spread across his palm.
The dark energy formed a short blade around his hand.
The wind attack touched it—
—and collapsed.
The spell disintegrated instantly.
The arena froze.
"What the hell—"
Valen's voice died in his throat.
Cassian stared.
"That wasn't wind interference…"
Even Hale's eyes sharpened slightly.
Rei didn't pause.
He pushed forward again.
Jumping. Pivoting. Launching himself off the arena floor with explosive speed.
Hale attacked with multiple wind strikes.
Each time the black flame blade intercepted them.
Every spell that touched it broke apart.
The watching students felt something strange when the dark energy moved.
A faint sensation.
Like mana itself was unraveling.
Even standing several meters away felt uncomfortable.
"Rei… what is that?" Mira whispered.
Rei closed distance again.
His speed forced Hale to retreat once.
Then twice.
For a brief moment—
Hale reached the edge of the arena.
The students stared in disbelief.
Rei lunged forward with the black flame blade.
Then the wind exploded.
A sudden pressure wave froze Rei mid-motion.
Hale stepped behind him instantly.
A precise strike to Rei's shoulder dropped him to one knee.
The black flame vanished.
Rei remained kneeling, breathing hard.
Hale faced the group.
"Your improvement is acceptable."
Then he began listing weaknesses.
Valen.
"Battlefield control."
Cassian.
"Casting speed."
Elira.
"More output."
Mira.
"Mana endurance."
Shin.
"Timing."
Finally he looked at Rei.
"You rely heavily on physical movement."
His gaze shifted to the place where the black flame had been.
"And that energy…"
"…destabilizes structured mana."
The students shifted uneasily.
"It is powerful."
Hale folded his arms.
"But unstable."
He looked directly at Rei.
"If you miscalculate even once…"
"You die first."
The hall went quiet.
Then Hale turned away.
"Training resumes tomorrow."
The arena slowly emptied after Professor Hale dismissed them.
The six students gathered near the weapon racks, each still catching their breath.
But no one was thinking about the sparring matches anymore.
Every pair of eyes had settled on Rei.
Valen finally broke the silence.
"…You planning to explain that?"
Rei sat down on a nearby bench before answering. His breathing was still uneven, and a dull heaviness lingered in his arms.
The black flame always left him like that.
Cassian folded his arms.
"That definitely wasn't normal mana."
"Really?" Shin said dryly. "What gave it away?"
Valen ignored him and leaned forward slightly.
"That was the thing you've been practicing with Professor Hale, right?"
Rei gave a small nod.
"Personal mana."
The group blinked.
Elira hesitated before speaking.
"…The dangerous kind?"
Rei nodded again.
"It interferes with atmospheric mana."
Shin tilted his head.
"So that's why Professor Hale's wind spells kept breaking."
Rei rubbed the back of his neck.
"Something like that."
Valen still looked unconvinced.
"You're telling me that strange little flame can shut down magic?"
Rei shook his head.
"Not shut down."
He paused briefly, thinking.
"Destabilize."
Cassian raised an eyebrow.
"And that means?"
Rei made a vague motion with his hand.
"Structured mana collapses when it touches it."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Shin let out a quiet laugh.
"So basically…"
"…you hit magic and it falls apart."
Rei didn't bother correcting him.
Mira crossed her arms.
"You nearly forced Professor Hale to step back."
Valen nodded slowly.
"And then he reminded everyone why he's the instructor."
Rei shrugged.
"Expected."
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
The fatigue was beginning to settle in now. Using the black flame drained him far more than regular training ever had.
Shin noticed immediately.
"You look like you're about to collapse."
"Probably."
Cassian stared at him for a moment before letting out a short snort.
"So your terrifying anti-magic technique lasts what… five seconds?"
"Four."
Shin grinned.
"Fantastic. We've discovered the world's shortest miracle."
Rei gave a small nod.
"That sounds accurate."
The others stared at him.
Then Mira rolled her eyes.
"You're way too calm about something like that."
Rei didn't answer.
He had already leaned back against the wall, eyes half-closed.
Shin shook his head.
"Alright, genius. Before you pass out in the training hall…"
"…let's go get food."
The dining hall was louder than usual that evening.
Most of the noise came from a single table.
Cassian leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, studying Rei like he was trying to solve a complicated equation.
"So let me understand this correctly," he said. "Your terrifying new technique works for exactly four seconds."
Rei continued eating.
"Yes."
Shin nearly choked on his drink.
"Four seconds."
Valen rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"The time limit isn't the important part."
He looked at the others.
"Did you see what happened to Professor Hale's spell?"
Cassian snorted.
"I saw Professor Hale end the fight in two moves."
"That's not what I meant."
Mira leaned forward slightly.
"When the flame touched the wind blade… it didn't block it."
She frowned.
"It felt like the spell unraveled."
Elira nodded quietly.
"I felt that too."
The others turned toward her.
Elira rarely spoke unless she was certain.
"The mana structure broke apart."
Shin pointed his fork at Rei.
"So instead of blocking magic…"
"…you basically break it."
Rei paused mid-bite, considering the statement.
"…That description is technically incorrect."
He thought for another moment.
"But close enough."
Cassian groaned.
"You sound way too relaxed about something like that."
Before Rei could answer, a shadow fell across the table.
Professor Hale stood beside them.
"Rei."
Rei looked up.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Come with me."
The others reacted immediately.
Cassian leaned forward with interest.
"Oh good. He finally broke academy property."
Valen frowned slightly.
Shin waved lazily.
"Try not to get arrested."
Rei stood, placed his tray aside, and followed Professor Hale without another word.
Rei left the dining hall with Professor Hale without looking back.
The noise of the hall faded quickly behind them as they stepped into the academy courtyard. Evening had settled across the campus, the last light of the sun stretching long shadows across the stone paths.
Professor Hale walked ahead at a steady pace.
He didn't explain where they were going.
Rei didn't ask.
They passed the main training fields first. Several students were still practicing late drills, but Professor Hale didn't slow down. Instead he continued deeper into the academy grounds, toward an older section of campus most students rarely visited.
Stone buildings here looked older. The paths narrower.
Trees grew thicker along the walls, and the usual noise of students had long since faded.
After several minutes they reached a small courtyard surrounded by tall stone walls and overgrown ivy. The place was quiet enough that even the distant sounds of the academy barely reached it.
Professor Hale stopped in the center.
Rei stepped beside him.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the air shifted.
A streak of fire cut across the courtyard.
The attack came from the shadows, fast and precise, aimed directly at Professor Hale's back.
Rei moved before thinking.
Black flame wrapped around his palm, forming the unstable blade he had learned to produce only days earlier.
He stepped forward and raised his hand.
The fire spell collided with the black flame.
For a brief instant the two forces met—
Then the fire unraveled.
The mana structure collapsed instantly, scattering into harmless sparks that faded into the air.
Silence followed.
Then slow clapping echoed from the far side of the courtyard.
"Well."
A man stepped out from the shadows.
"That answers that."
He looked to be in his early thirties, tall and lean with the kind of build that came from years of actual combat rather than academy training. His dark coat hung loosely over his shoulders, and a faint warmth radiated from the fire mana resting just beneath his skin.
His eyes moved from Professor Hale to Rei with sharp interest.
"So the boy really can break spells."
Professor Hale folded his arms.
"You attacked from behind."
The man shrugged lightly.
"You told me to test him."
Rei studied the stranger quietly.
The man noticed.
His lips curved into a faint smile.
"Good reaction speed," he said. "Most students would've frozen."
Professor Hale glanced toward Rei.
"This is Captain Ravik Soryn."
"The personal bodyguard of the Eastern Region's military representative."
Ravik inclined his head slightly.
"Stage Five fire mage," he added casually.
Rei returned the nod.
Ravik crouched for a moment, examining the place where the fire spell had collapsed.
"No deflection. No resistance."
He stood again.
"Your mana didn't overpower my spell."
His gaze settled on Rei.
"It dissolved it."
Rei didn't respond.
Ravik studied him for another second before letting out a quiet breath.
"Interesting."
He looked toward Professor Hale.
"You weren't exaggerating."
Professor Hale said nothing.
Ravik slipped his hands into his coat pockets.
"You know the regional council governs through three authorities," he said, glancing back toward Rei.
"The military command. The civil administration."
He paused briefly.
"And the Arcane Council."
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"Something that interferes with the Divine Mark system tends to attract attention from all three."
Rei remained silent.
Ravik watched him for a moment before giving a small, amused smile.
"You're quiet."
"Efficient," Professor Hale corrected.
Ravik chuckled.
"Fair enough."
He turned slightly, looking back toward the academy buildings.
"My report will say the ability is unstable and still under instructor supervision."
Then he glanced back toward Rei.
"That should keep certain people from becoming curious too quickly."
With that, he started toward the exit of the courtyard.
As he passed Professor Hale he added quietly,
"Watch him carefully."
Then he disappeared back into the shadows beyond the courtyard wall.
Silence returned.
Professor Hale finally looked at Rei.
"You understand the problem now."
Rei nodded once.
"Because it interferes with Divine Marks."
"Yes."
Professor Hale's voice remained calm, but there was a harder edge to it now.
"The Divine Mark system is the foundation of modern magic."
He held Rei's gaze.
"If people believe your ability bypasses it…"
"…some will try to control it."
A brief pause.
"And others will try to eliminate it."
Rei absorbed the words without reacting.
Professor Hale turned and began walking back toward the academy buildings.
"For now, you are still a student."
Rei followed a few steps behind.
"But from this point forward," Professor Hale continued,
"Do not use that ability outside controlled training."
Rei thought about the black flame for a moment.
Then he answered simply.
"Understood."
The two of them walked back toward the quiet academy grounds.
Behind them, the empty courtyard returned to silence.