The academy was no longer recognizable. Smoke curled through shattered hallways. Fires burned faintly, casting warped shadows across broken stone.

  Kyrex’s spark trembled in his hands, but the shadow coiled tightly around him, almost like a second heartbeat.

  A whisper slithered through his mind:

  “The storm shifts. Follow or be swept.”

  Umbrawraiths moved with unnerving precision. Not mindless attacks — each strike seemed coordinated, testing, probing, anticipating.

  Kyrex blocked one with a ribbon of light. Another swept toward a nearby student; instinctively, the shadow nudged his hand, and energy deflected the attack harmlessly.

  His chest pounded. “…I can’t keep up…”

  Vaelix appeared beside him, blade slicing through an incoming wave of Umbrawraiths. Silver eyes cold, calm, unshakable.

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  “You’re keeping up more than you think,” Vaelix said softly. “But you will need more than instinct. Read the currents. Predict, react, adapt.”

  Kyrex exhaled. “…Predict, adapt… got it…”

  Noctus circled above, wings unfurled like an eclipse swallowing the sun. His presence pressed down on the academy, bending the very air. Umbrawraiths obeyed his slightest motion, forming walls, traps, and decoys.

  “You move… but the currents betray you,” Noctus murmured inside Kyrex’s mind. “…Interesting, piece. Let’s see how long your instincts last.”

  Kyrex’s eyes widened. “…He’s… inside my head?”

  The shadow pulsed violently. “Focus on what you can control. Let the currents guide you, not fear.”

  Kyrex lunged, spark weaving like liquid light. Umbrawraiths collided with it, shattering in arcs of energy. But more came, faster, smarter.

  Vaelix intervened strategically — blocking only the attacks that Kyrex couldn’t yet counter, leaving him to handle what he could. Each wave was a lesson. Each strike a guide.

  “You will not survive by reaction alone,” Vaelix murmured. “Your spark must think ahead. Move with the currents, not against them.”

  Kyrex’s hands glowed brighter. Lines of energy bent around him, forming shields, barriers, and small attacks. He began to sense patterns in the chaos — openings, currents, weaknesses in the Umbrawraiths’ coordination.

  Noctus’ shadow swept down. Dark wings folded into strikes, Umbrawraiths following like extensions of his will. The academy shook under the assault.

  “You learn quickly… but can you adapt when nothing is as it seems?” Noctus whispered.

  Kyrex hesitated, then remembered Vaelix’s words, the shadow’s guidance, the currents he’d started to sense. He moved differently — predicting, weaving, flowing. Each strike, each deflection became a dance.

  The shadow surged around him, fully alive now, guiding instinct and intent together. Kyrex’s spark flared like never before. Umbrawraiths shattered against it.

  For the first time, he felt… almost equal.