Standing at the back of the dojo, she let out a sigh and broke the exchange of glances with Nephis.
She decided to move closer to the ring where Professor Rock was already standing, ready to begin the class. Once all the Sleepers had filed in, he started.
Looking down at them with both arms behind his back, he began the class.
"Good morning, Sleepers." He paused and looked into everyone's eyes as they returned the greeting. "This is the introductory combat class. Over the course of this month, we will cover the principles and concepts that form the foundation of combat, delving into the practical side of these lessons."
He then turned and pointed at a machine.
"This machine you see is used to test the force behind each strike. Each of you will have one opportunity until everyone has participated." After scanning the faces of the Sleepers again, he added, "Keep in mind that the force behind a strike doesn't come solely from your arm, or whether your Aspect is strength-based."
He then positioned himself and, from one moment to the next, threw a punch in an awkward form. Seconds later, the machine clearly displayed a 60.
Umbra noticed very clearly that the professor hadn't used his full strength; otherwise, the machine would have simply ceased to exist. He was an Awakened—obviously, his strength would have been enough to break it.
Looking back at the Sleepers, he pointed at the number and raised a question. "Can anyone tell me why I scored so low?"
Of course, there had to be the typical joker, who quickly replied, "Well, obviously because you didn't use your full strength, huh," and then started laughing.
The comment was so stupid that literally no one laughed with him. An awkward silence stretched on as he kept laughing, unaware.
Professor Rock let out a sigh, took out his communicator, and sent a message. Then he remained completely silent, staring at him. Only when he felt the professor's gaze did the Sleeper stop laughing and start looking around, confused as to why no one had laughed at his joke.
Still looking at him, Rock said, "Sleeper Kirk, I recommend you switch to the Flaw Adaptation class."
Before he could respond, two Academy employees entered the dojo and began escorting him out.
All eyes were centered on the scene—except for Umbra and Nephis, who continued looking at the professor.
When it was over, Umbra raised her hand.
Awakened Rock looked at her immediately and gave a nod.
"Your technique was awkward when you threw the punch," she replied simply, then decided to add, "Given your physique, you should have taken a wider stance and used your legs more when launching the strike."
The professor didn't respond. He positioned himself, following Umbra's advice, and threw another punch.
Now the machine clearly marked a 120.
Double what he had scored previously.
After acknowledging Umbra's answer with a nod, he turned to the rest of the Sleepers.
"As you can see, when throwing a strike, technique is even more important than the strength one possesses. Now, taking turns, I want everyone to hit the machine."
At that moment, everyone nodded, and a line began to form. Since she was one of the closest to the ring, she was the first to take her strike.
'Should I use my Aspect?' she wondered as she positioned herself.
She could focus the circulation of her blood into her muscles and deliver a more explosive strike. However, she preferred not to use it. It would be beneath her to do so just for the sake of a better score. Either way, she wasn't going to let herself be easily surpassed.
After all, she had an advantage over the rest of the Sleepers.
Belonging to one of the great clans and having a Sacred-rank Aspect, she had been able to obtain some Shards simply due to her position. For that reason, her strength wasn't like that of a Sleeper who had only recently had their First Nightmare—she had had hers at the beginning of the year.
Remembering her First Nightmare, Umbra suppressed a small tremor and, clenching her teeth, brought her fist to the machine with near-perfect technique.
The result was a clear twenty.
Everyone gaped at the display, stunned. She turned around and left the ring without uttering a word.
'I could have scored higher.'
In fact, at the moment she released her arm, she noticed that her waist hadn't rotated enough to transfer the force generated from her feet.
Analyzing her strike, the rest of the Sleepers continued with their turns.
Most people were getting numbers ranging from ten to fourteen. It was considered a good result—something that only the most athletic people could reach. However, a lot of Sleepers, obviously those with enhancing Aspects, were able to achieve a score of fifteen or even sixteen. Then, obviously, there was Umbra, who had scored a twenty thanks to her technique and the Shards she had already consumed.
Then it was Nephis's turn, and she decided to pay more attention.
'Let's see why they told me to stay away from you…'
The slender girl approached the machine and, with a bit of preparation, delivered a sudden, crushing blow.
Umbra perfectly noticed the flawless economy and speed of her execution.
'I'm quite sure she didn't use her Aspect… but her technique was almost perfect, like mine.'
After a short pause, the machine displayed the result: sixteen.
She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. Nephis could have easily scored higher. And a small idea took hold in her mind.
'It was as if… as if she had wanted to score that on purpose.'
Either way, she couldn't think about it any further, because the next turn was Caster's, and he—clearly using his Ascended Aspect—threw a dry punch. His fist impacted the machine.
Seconds later, the machine marked a clear twenty-one.
'One more than me.'
Again, everyone stared open-mouthed, and more than a few admiring looks were thrown at Caster, who simply bowed and took a step back. Instructor Rock smiled.
"Not bad. Now, we will move to sparring and evaluate your general level of training. I need two volunteers to begin."
Nephis was the first to step forward and walk to the center of the ring. A couple of seconds later, a tall and extremely muscular Sleeper followed and faced her.
"The rules are simple. Make your opponent's back touch the ground or throw them out of the ring. Use the skills and techniques you deem appropriate."
The tall guy attacked without wasting time. His muscles swelled, threatening to tear the soft fabric of his white dobok. He advanced like an unstoppable mountain, launching a fierce flying kick.
A second later, he lay on the ground with an expression of astonishment on his face. Nephis hadn't even changed her posture.
Instructor Rock gave her a cheerful look and smiled. "Next."
What followed could only be described as a massacre.
One after another, Nephis defeated nearly every Sleeper present in the dojo. She didn't seem faster or stronger than them, but every time someone entered the ring to face her, they inevitably ended up hit and thrown to the ground.
Umbra watched the process with her arms crossed.
At first, there was nothing particularly surprising in what she saw. Nephis moved with efficiency, wasting no motion. Every punch had a purpose, every defense turned into an attack, and every exchange ended exactly where she wanted it to.
However, as the fights continued, Umbra began to notice something more.
Nephis moved with the serene precision of a combat machine. Her technique was clean, elegant, and ruthless. No matter what kind of attack was thrown at her, she was able to anticipate or react instantly, deflect it, and return it against her opponent with minimal effort.
Everyone ended up defeated in a matter of seconds, and throughout the entire process, the composed expression on her face didn't change once.
But she knew that look. It wasn't confidence, nor was it arrogance.
It was habit.
Nephis fought the same way a person walks down a path they have traveled countless times. There were no doubts in her movements because she had already accepted all possibilities long ago. Victory, defeat, pain… none of those things seemed to matter.
She simply advanced.
For an instant, Umbra saw something familiar in her.
Not in her technique—it was evident that they followed different philosophies. Nor was it her strength. It was the distance she maintained from the rest of the world.
Others looked at Nephis and saw a prodigy.
She saw someone who had been shaped by hardship for too long.
Someone who, like her, seemed to have learned to keep moving forward long before she was old enough to do so.
Obviously, she didn't know what Nephis's life had been like, but a feeling had settled in her mind that suggested just that.
Even though she had been adopted into one of the great clans, she had still experienced her share of traumas and difficult challenges.
Having no memories of her past, she had become a vessel. Her real personality had been lost along with those memories, and in its place remained an empty shell.
She had had to build herself from almost nothing because of this… and she had done it.
Umbra still didn't know exactly where that will and determination that had characterized her and helped her achieve it had come from. No, that was a lie.
She had always been a very curious girl since childhood—perhaps it was genetic—and one of her hobbies was having her mother tell her stories about her cohort.
And the one she had always admired most was precisely Nephis's father. She loved listening to stories about Broken Sword's adventures.
Her mother always described him as someone with an unbreakable will, who achieved everything he set out to do. So from childhood, she had taken him as a role model.
'It's a shame he died during the Fourth Nightmare…'
Umbra let out a sigh as she watched Caster defeat Nephis.
Caster, using the speed of his Ascended Aspect, dodged one of Nephis's feints and then tripped her and pushed, causing her to fall to the ground. However, just before she hit the mat, the Legacy carefully grabbed her by the collar of her dobok and pulled gently, cushioning the fall and allowing Nephis to land without impact.
She had been somewhat distracted by her thoughts during the fight, but she noticed something that cheered her up a little. Changing Star hadn't used her Aspect, while Caster had.
'Well, I suppose it's my turn now.'
Instructor Rock grunted and gave Caster a nod, then Nephis slowly rose to her feet. And the former gestured for her to approach the ring.
Now came the complicated part—her Flaw.
In the clan, her Flaw was relatively public within the channels she frequented, simply to avoid awkward situations. For that reason, during training, she had a different regimen than the rest.
During those sessions, she had developed her technique, and it was very simple.
She didn't focus on defeating her opponent.
The opponent defeated themselves.
There were many ways to achieve this, but the easiest was to create false illusions. Along with a very clear detail: everyone reacts to things around them… but she doesn't.
Reacting is a very slow way to avoid contact, and moreover, someone with experience can easily predict how someone will react.
For that very reason, she doesn't react—she responds.
The former is an instinctive action, while the latter is intentional.
Umbra positioned herself in her corner of the ring while Caster took his place opposite. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, and then Caster slightly bowed.
"Lady Umbra. Please excuse me in advance."
'He's going to use the same technique again?'
Caster disappeared—or at least, that was what her eyes tried to tell her.
The reality was much simpler. Caster was simply moving too fast.
Umbra barely managed to discern a blur crossing the ring. A moment before, he was in front of her. The next, he had already crossed the distance between them.
He threw a punch forward, aiming for her chest.
Umbra took a step back to absorb the blow but canceled the movement halfway. Instead of moving away, she twisted her torso and let the attack graze her side—but it didn't touch her. Fortunately.
Caster's punch didn't land, and taking advantage of his movement, she turned completely, lowering her center of gravity slightly.
Caster was fast. His Ascended Aspect was highly effective, and against any other Academy member, it would have been the deciding factor. But not against her.
She had consumed more Shards than Caster. Her core was more saturated, granting her more strength and speed… obviously, this didn't make the difference between them negligible. She was slower than him, but the margin was much narrower.
As soon as the attack failed, she felt Caster disappear again.
But Umbra didn't try to find him. Most people would—they would turn their heads, try to follow his movements, or attempt to react. And for that reason, they would lose.
Because reacting meant accepting the enemy's rhythm, and a hunter never lets their prey set the pace.
She planted both feet on the mat and waited—her senses heightened by Beast God's lineage helping her make the margin even narrower.
A second later, she raised her leg and threw a side kick into the void.
There was no one there—naturally.
The kick was never meant to hit anyone, but as she extended her leg, Umbra felt a slight change in the air around her.
Caster had changed his trajectory to avoid it—exactly as she had expected.
Her leg descended to the ground, but instead of completing the movement, Umbra interrupted the return and spun on her supporting foot, completely altering her posture.
At the same moment, Caster reappeared behind her.
It was the best available route after discarding the others.
The young man advanced quickly, leaning his body forward as he gathered all his weight into a single decisive blow.
Umbra initiated a second kick but then canceled it. Her knee descended just a few centimeters before she changed direction—the feint lasted less than a blink. But it was enough for what she wanted.
Because Caster had already committed to his attack.
Her real attack came after. Using her plasticity, Umbra twisted her hips violently, making her body spin as she generated a small jump with her supporting foot.
Then, using the leg with which she had feinted, she separated it from her body, and it traveled in a horizontal arc.
For the first time since the fight had begun, Umbra saw Caster clearly.
Time seemed to slow down for an instant.
She saw his eyes widen slightly. She saw him try to correct his trajectory. She noticed how all the momentum accumulated from that monstrous speed suddenly became a prison.
But it was already too late for him.
Her foot connected directly with Caster's ear.
A dry sound echoed throughout the dojo.
The young man's head snapped to the side, and his body immediately lost stability. He took several clumsy steps before managing to stop himself outside the ring.
She noticed him bring his hand to his ear immediately, and seconds later, he ended up collapsing to the ground, completely dazed.
At the same time, a total silence fell over the room.
She positioned herself with both arms crossed behind her back and then slightly bowed.
"Apologies accepted."
A couple of Legacies from Caster's group approached him, and after shooting murderous looks at her—which she received with a cordial smile—they lifted him by the shoulders and took him to the infirmary.
In the end, the same thing had happened as in most of her fights.
She hadn't forced Caster to make a mistake.
She had simply given him the opportunity to make one himself.
Meanwhile, Awakened Rock looked at Umbra with an expression of approval.
"That's all for today. Tomorrow, we will do paired training depending on the levels shown today." His voice grew deeper. "You are free to leave or stay in the dojo on your own. Class dismissed."
She nodded and went back to the rack to look for a sword.
Being the last one, she hadn't been able to train much, so she was going to spend the rest of the morning doing so.
Obviously, a swarm of Legacies affiliated with Song began to surround her, and she had to suppress a sigh.
In the end, she hadn't been able to spar with Nephis, but she was sure that eventually, she would… and she wasn't certain she could win the same way she just had.
Either way, it was something that would surely happen tomorrow, or the day after. Now, what she had to focus on was avoiding the Legacies touching her and finding her brother.
Fortunately for her, both were relatively simple tasks. Throughout the day, she followed her routine without anyone interrupting her, and when she had finished dinner in the dining hall, she headed to an empty area of the Academy.
Throughout the day, she had felt the gaze of something, and it didn't take a genius to figure out who it could be.
Leaning with her arms crossed against the wall in a shadow-filled corner of the Academy's monotonous hallways, she let out a sigh.
"You can come out now."
And so it was. Seconds later, a boy with onyx eyes and black hair emerged into the hallway.
Sunny stopped at the end of it, and his eyes reflected a sea of emotions impossible to describe.
Disbelief, hope, fear, confusion, guilt, pain, rage, and above them all… recognition.