Chapter 163: Luna [2]

Until one afternoon in the estate gardens a girl stepped directly into her path.

"Let’s fight."

Luna blinked. "...What?"

"A duel. Right now."

Luna let out a tired sigh. "Not today. I’m not in the mood to—"

THWACK.

A thorned vine erupted from the cobblestone and wrapped tight around her ankle.

Luna looked down at it. Then up at the girl. The girl had her arms crossed and was looking at her like she had all day.

"I said now."

A twitch formed near Luna’s eye.

The noble children around them erupted immediately.

"Just who is that girl?!"

"Is she insane?! She’s actually challenging Lady Luna?!"

Luna pulled once against the vine and felt its dense unyielding mana structure.

"Fine," she said and let her mana hum up through her fingertips like silver threads. "Let me shatter that confidence of yours."

Isabella’s lips curved into a tiny fierce smirk. "Let’s see."

The duel lasted less time than anyone expected.

Luna lay flat on her back in the dirt. Her expensive robes ruined. Thick wooden vines locked around her arms and legs and torso cutting off her mana flow completely. She stared up at the blue sky with her breath coming in ragged gasps.

"I..." She whispered. "I lost?"

Isabella stood above her looking down with the same calm unbothered expression. "Yep." She flicked her fingers and the vines retreated into the earth. Then she turned and walked away without another word.

Something deep inside Luna that had been cold and dormant for years shattered. What replaced it was a roaring blaze.

"WAIT!" She pushed herself out of the dirt and shouted after the retreating figure.

Isabella paused and looked back over her shoulder.

"Your name! What’s your name?!"

"Isabella Ashford."

Then she was gone through the garden gate.

Luna stood in the quiet garden alone staring at the empty archway. For the first time in her life she desperately wanted to run after someone. Not from spite or from wounded pride, but because she wanted to see exactly how high this person could climb.

From that day forward she threw herself into Isabella’s orbit. They became inseparable rivals and stubborn friends. For the first time someone looked Luna in the eye after a sparring match and said "you’re getting lazy with your thread control" and Luna went home and trained until her hands shook because she wanted to prove that wrong.

It drove her crazy. She loved every second of it.

When Isabella announced she was enrolling at Astral Academy Luna barely let her finish the sentence.

"Then I’m coming with you."

Isabella blinked at her. "You?"

"Someone has to be there when you get too arrogant."

Isabella scoff. "Fair enough."

And that was that.

Inside the academy Luna realized quickly that Isabella wasn’t just a prodigy. She was a monster of relentless growth. Her nature magic evolved at terrifying speed. Her battlefield instincts sharpened faster than anyone could track. Before long she was achieving results that even Luna struggled to match.

And instead of drowning in envy Luna felt her blood roar with thrill. For her entire life everyone had followed behind her. Now she finally had a sun to chase. Someone pulling her forward into higher strength. That gap gave her a reason to bleed.

Their academy years were not entirely defined by brutal training. There was also a certain lazy noble named Theodore who provided a different kind of chaos entirely.

"I’m not sparring today Luna! I told you!" He was already turning to sprint away.

Luna raised one hand calmly. "I didn’t ask for your consent."

THWIP.

Razor threads shot through the air and wrapped around his neck and torso and yanked him backward off his feet in a graceful arc.

"WOAH! HEY!" He clawed at the glowing threads around his throat while skidding across the dirt. "You damned psycho demon let me GO!"

"You’re training with me."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Yes."

"NO!"

"Yes."

"NO!"

Isabella pinched the bridge of her nose. "Both of you. Enough."

Instant silence.

Luna released the threads. Theodore scrambled up and straightened his ruined uniform and turned to glare at Luna.

PAK.

Her fist hit the top of his head clean.

"OW!"

"Shut up," she said.

Isabella rubbed her temples. "When are either of you going to grow up."

Despite the constant chaos the three of them forged something unbreakable. They pushed each other to unprecedented heights. Their names echoed through the academy as the pinnacle of their generation. And eventually one by one they earned the single most prestigious title in the realm.

Spire.

Luna’s voice trailed off and her eyes refocused on the foggy border. A gentle nostalgic smile rested on her lips.

"And that’s how it started."

Alden nodded slowly. "Isabella is the reason you found something worth chasing."

"Before I met her I was just existing," Luna said. "Everything was easy. Then she knocked me into the dirt and for the first time someone stood above me." She glanced at Alden. "I loved that feeling. The fact that I finally had a mountain worth climbing." Her eyes sharpened with something permanent. "She is the sole reason I’m standing here."

"Sounds like a lifelong rival."

"Perhaps," she said. Then she turned toward him with that playful mischief coming back. "Though you’re not half bad yourself Alden."

He raised an eyebrow. "Just not half bad?"

"Don’t let it go to your head. But you kept pace with Isabella’s pressure in the colosseum without backing up once. That honestly makes me want to test my threads against you in a real duel someday."

Alden shook his head. "You Spires are all going to give me headaches."

Luna’s eyebrow went up. "Is that your way of turning down a challenge?"

"Not a chance," he said with quiet confidence. "Whenever you’re ready Lady Luna."

Her smile went brilliant. "I’ll hold you to that—"

"EMERGENCY!"

The scream tore through the air and froze everything.

A bloodied scout was sprinting from the outermost watchtower toward their position. His breath was coming in rattling gasps and his face had no color left in it. He stumbled into the staging area and nearly went down before catching himself on one knee.

Luna’s whole demeanor flipped in an instant. The playful ease vanished and what replaced it was pure Spire command. "Calm down. Breathe. Report."

The scout pressed a hand against his heaving chest and forced the words up through his throat.

"The Vampires..." He swallowed hard. "They started making their move!"