Runner launched forward with a yell. Her first steps were heavy but she didn't stop. Every inch she pushed forward came with agony, but she pushed through. Her body was burning from the inside out. Her bones were shifting. Her nerves were sharpening. Every time she punched, she felt her arms splintering and rebuilding in real-time.
But it didn't matter.
Shimmer had always been the stronger one. Ever since they were adopted, Shimmer was faster, louder, bolder, braver. She was the one who could create sonic domes, who could rattle the training halls with her Sound Tether. Runner had spent the last two and a half years just watching, always trying to catch up.
But not anymore.
Vastarael noticed the fire behind her eyes, and something stirred in him. It was not pride, but a patient satisfaction. A craftsman seeing a chisel finally start to shape the marble.
She came at him again, fists glowing, movements tighter now. She was adapting again on the fly, just like earlier. And while she still couldn't land a single hit, she was faster. Each missed strike forced her to recoil and redirect her momentum. It was raw, ugly and imperfect, but the effort was there.
Then he saw it. His eyes narrowed.
Floating just beneath her skin, hovering inside her soul, he saw three faint, nearly invisible orbs. Not fully formed. Not real cores.
Pseudo-cores.
He hadn't expected that. Not at this age. Not from Runner.
'She's going to be a mage. Her body's preparing for channeling. She's not just Ascending. She's evolving into a conduit.'
The more they fought, the more those pseudo-cores vibrated. Pulsed. Each time she screamed, each time she launched herself forward, they swelled. Her essence was trying to stabilize, like a storm wrapping itself around an eye. She wasn't just learning through action. She was manifesting through combat.
That changed everything.
Vastarael's stance shifted. His essence expanded and sapphire began to shimmer in the air behind him. Five crystalline spears formed, floating in a halo of deadly beauty around his body.
He wasn't holding back now. Well he was, but he wasn't going easy on her either.
Runner skidded to a stop, blinking sweat and snow from her eyes. She saw the spears. She felt the pressure. Her instinct screamed to run.
She gritted her teeth and sprinted forward anyway.
The first spike shot toward her like a comet. She ducked, just barely, but it grazed her shoulder. She stumbled, blood seeping from the fresh slice but she kept going. Another spear spun sideways, aiming low. She leapt, twisting mid-air, slamming her foot against it to vault herself higher.
She screamed mid-spin and aimed a punch straight for Vastarael's chest.
He caught her wrist, spun, and slammed her to the ground again, but not hard enough to break her. Just enough to fracture the weakness in her control.
"Again!"
She roared and leapt.
He sent two more spikes and this time she grabbed one. Her fingers bled as she gripped the essence-forged weapon and hurled it back at him. He let it vanish an inch before impact.
That fire in her eyes?
It was no longer a flicker. It was a blaze.
Around them, the camp had gone deathly silent. Raika's jaw had gone slack. Seyna looked like she'd just seen a ghost. Even Obsidian, who had trained thousands of soldiers, was watching with both arms folded tightly across her chest, jaw clenched, one brow arched.
"She's hurting," Chrysanthemum said under her breath.
"She's awakening," Obsidian corrected. "And master is making it harder for her. He's forging her like she's a blade."
And that's exactly what Vastarael was doing.
The next round of sapphire spikes didn't just hover. They circled Runner like sharks. She didn't stop. She weaved through them, ignoring the cuts, the bruises, the ache in her bones that felt like thunder. Her pseudo-cores were vibrating violently now, so much so that even those nearby could see the faint glow inside her chest and lower spine.
She blinked.
For a moment, the world slowed. Everything aligned.
The snow. The spears. The rush of wind through the valley. The breath of her father.
She moved not as a student but like an Ascender.
Her strike came without warning. Her palm was open, essence flooding through her body like a living circuit. The blow didn't land, but it moved Vastarael's arm a fraction.
Shimmer gasped and stumbled backward.
And Vastarael smiled.
He caught her wrist again, twisted her around and this time, let her land on her feet instead of the ground. She was panting, shaking and bleeding. Her arms were trembling. Her eyes were foggy.
But she didn't fall.
He raised one hand slowly and tapped the center of her chest.
"Five pseudo-cores," he murmured. "You're already becoming a mage."
Runner blinked up at him, dazed. "I… am?"
"Yes. And they're stabilizing now."
She collapsed to her knees, the cold and exhaustion finally catching up to her, and Shimmer rushed in, kneeling beside her with wide, proud eyes.
Vastarael looked down at her but then, his voice broke the silence again.
"You've got potential, little storm. But this? This was only the beginning."
Shimmer stayed on her knees, arms around her sister, eyes wide with a pride she couldn't even speak.
Vastarael stepped forward as he stood over Runner's collapsed form. Her breath was shaky, her body bruised, and her tiny frame trembling like a branch in a storm. Yet her essence glowed like wildfire. Five pseudo-cores shimmered like stars inside her soul-thread. Vastarael lowered himself to one knee beside her, one hand resting lightly on her back.
"Runner, do you want to become Aeterium?"
She turned her face up to him, jaw still twitching from the pain that coursed through her body, and nodded.
"I do."
He exhaled, something ancient and sacred stirring in his voice. His hand shifted to her chest, over where her essence was practically vibrating through her ribcage.
"Then by the roots of the Royal Pure-blood Aeterium and the breath of the First Soul, I name you now. May your body be broken and reborn. May your soul be burned and tempered. Rise, Runner Richinaria… as Aeterium."
The air ignited.
The five pseudo-cores inside Runner erupted.
Runner screamed as her essence violently burst outward, causing a sonic boom that exploded from her chest in visible waves of teal light. Everyone instinctively shielded themselves. Obsidian actually stumbled, Chrysanthemum gasped and stepped back, her face pale.
Runner's body floated two feet off the ground, essence pouring from her eyes hands and skin. Her bones glowed through her flesh. Every inch of her soul was convulsing under the pressure of being reconstructed. Shimmer didn't let go of her, even as the energy threatened to fling her across the snow. She held on, sobbing, trying to scream her name again and again.
Then, Runner's body fell limp, into her sister's arms. But something was different.
The light remained. Vastarael narrowed his eyes.
"She's… Second Phase," Obsidian murmured behind him, her voice shaky for once. "She is a Second Phase Ascender just from her awakening."
"That's not normal," Chrysanthemum said. "That shouldn't even be possible."
Vastarael was already there, scooping her gently into his arms. Her essence was still radiating from her like the heat of a forge. He brushed a hand across her forehead.
A faint sapphire glow moved from his fingertips into her skin, flowing through her as his Body Reconstruction began repairing her cells, calming her overstrained organs, and reshaping the bones that had cracked from the force of her transformation.
Her eyes fluttered open. He smiled.
"Congratulations."
Runner blinked up at him, dazed but grinning. "Thanks… Dad."
And then, with a soft exhale, she passed out again.
Vastarael stood, cradling her with practiced gentleness. He turned to the camp, expression returning to that cold calm he always carried.
"We're halting movement. Set up a reinforced camp. We'll stay here for the next few days until she's stabilized."
Obsidian, still staring at Runner with a strange look of fear and admiration in her eyes, gave a firm nod.
"Agreed. I'll see to the perimeter."
Chrysanthemum was still stunned but saluted. But then, Vastarael's gaze turned north. His expression shifted just slightly.
"Obsidian," he said, still holding Runner, "Prepare everyone."
Her head snapped toward him, immediately alert.
"What is it, master?"
Vastarael looked into the horizon. Even at this distance, he could see the faint shimmer of trees being pushed aside. The snow melting too fast. The sound of something dragging its mass against the mountainside.
"A creature's coming. It's big and ancient."
Obsidian tightened her grip on her greatsword.
"How big are we talking?"
He didn't blink.
"Big enough that I can feel its power from here."