Realmshift: Triad Ascendancy.

A break from the action...?

[ARKANE]

I exhaled sharply, surveying the carnage around us. Blood pooled on the ground, bodies sprawled in unnatural angles. What a mess. I turned to the others, shaking my head.

"So... what now?" I asked, gesturing at the massacre surrounding us.

A low chuckle broke through the tense silence. I turned sharply to find Silver grinning, his amusement stark against the grim scene.

"What?" I demanded. "What the hell is so funny?"

Silver crossed his arms, his smirk widening. "Idiots." He gave an exaggerated shrug. "No offense, but you guys really are funny."

I narrowed my eyes. "Care to explain?"

Silver sighed as if we were slow to catch on. "He ordered us not to follow him. All we have to do is go home. Let them find his body in this shady place, surrounded by all these corpses." His smirk deepened. "It'll tell the story for us." 

Without another word, Silver stepped forward, extending his hands. A pulse of mana surged around us, wrapping us in an unseen veil. The air shimmered briefly before settling—our forms now completely invisible.

"Hold on," he muttered.

A gust of wind kicked up as we lifted off the ground, Silver's magic carrying us high above the bloodstained scene. The city blurred beneath us, cold night air whipping against our skin as he flew us back to Jeremiah's mansion.

The moment we landed, Silver released the spell, his signature smirk still in place. "Now, we wait."

And just as he predicted, the next morning, the school administration arrived with grim faces and urgent whispers. They told us what they had discovered—Jeremiah had ties to a vast underground slave trade, with connections stretching across the country. His death had unraveled a web of secrets, exposing the depths of his corruption.

Thankfully, we weren't blamed. The faculty understood that he had ordered us not to follow him that night. As far as they knew, he had met his end in that shady district, surrounded by the very filth he had profited from.

Although we weren't blamed, the mission was still a failure. We lost all the rewards that came with it—but that was fine. Maybe it was for the best.

After learning Beatrice's story, we couldn't ignore the loneliness that must have weighed on her. So, we asked her to stay with us, to make our home hers as well. At first, she hesitated, reluctant to accept, but we reassured her. She didn't have to be alone anymore—we wanted her with us.

In the end, she agreed. And so, she moved in, sharing my room.

This was an incredible opportunity for both me and Grey. Beatrice was the perfect sparring partner—her raw strength and unique abilities forced us to our limits, pushing us beyond what we thought we were capable of. Every battle with her was a test, a crucible that refined our skills and hardened our instincts. While Silver's role was to observe and analyze, his sharp eyes catching every flaw in our techniques, it was Beatrice's overwhelming offense that truly made us grow. For me, she was a challenge in swordsmanship, an opponent that adapted swiftly, while Grey had to face her sheer power head-on.

I steadied my stance, gripping my sword tightly as Beatrice's crimson weapons surged toward me like living tendrils of blood, each morphing into jagged blades, spears, and whips. With a sharp breath, I parried, my blade slicing through several, only for more to take their place. I focused, studying her movements, searching for an opening, a tell in her stance. But there was none. Her full-body suit of blood pulsed and shifted with an eerie sentience, reinforcing itself at every weak point, making it nearly impenetrable.