Marie's eyes sparkled like a child seeing her dream in front of her.

  "This is it," she whispered.

  Omar grinned, rolling his shoulders like he already belonged there.

  Roy stayed silent, staring at the three skyscrapers in the middle of the academy.

  A tall man wearing a suit walked toward the gate from inside the academy. As he got closer, the gates opened.

  Everyone stared in silence.

  "Everyone, please follow me. If you go here or there and get lost, you will return from where you came, so you better keep up. It's a big place."

  After he finished, he turned around and began walking, not waiting for an answer. Everyone followed him.

  They moved along a road inside a large park. All of the new students were looking everywhere, seeing lakes, students walking together, other students watching them.

  They continued walking until an enormous statue appeared: the person who built the academy, on one knee, holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, looking forward. Everyone stared at it.

  After another five minutes of walking, they found themselves in front of the middle and tallest skyscraper.

  The crowd entered after the man went inside.

  As they entered, they found themselves in a mostly empty hall except for a stage at the end of the room with a microphone stand without a mic.. There were two women on the right of the stand and one man on the left, though not for long as he was joined by the man who had led them in.

  Hundreds of students stood waiting, talking and murmuring. The noise quieted as a tall woman with silver hair walked up to the stage and approached the stand. Her presence alone cut through the chatter.

  "Welcome, new students of Silvergate," she said, her voice echoing through the air, sharp and steady.

  "You've all earned your place here. But that alone isn't enough. Tomorrow morning, your abilities will be tested. Your performance will decide your rank, your dorm, and your privileges. And if you perform under a certain level, you will be expelled."

  Murmurs spread across the crowd like ripples in water.

  Marie clenched her fists, excitement vibrating through her body.

  Omar smirked, already imagining himself showing off.

  Roy kept his hands in his pockets, shoulders tense. That was exactly what he didn't want. The second test sounded like it would be a fighting test.

  The students were dismissed shortly after. The two women and two men moved, the women telling the girls to follow them and the men telling the boys to follow. Then they began calling names. When you heard your name, you went to the person who said it. In the end, they split into four groups.

  Every two groups walked together.

  Following the two groups the trio were with, they went on a quick tour showing them where they could train, where they would go tomorrow, and finally to the place where they would sleep. Every room held four students. It was an old and dusty building.

  The afternoon sun dipped low, throwing long shadows across the training yard. The field was quiet. Most students by now were resting for tomorrow's evaluation.

  But Marie, Omar, and Roy were still there.

  Marie charged forward, going around Roy, a thin layer of frost spreading behind her.

  "This time I'll actually hit you!"

  Roy tilted his head.

  "Try."

  She swung her hand, sending a shard of ice slicing through the air. Roy stepped aside like he'd known where it would land before she even moved.

  Omar came in, right after her, the ground rumbling faintly with his steps. He punched forward, earth magic coating his fist. Roy slid under the swing, barely bending his knees.

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  "Too slow," Roy said calmly, straightening up behind him.

  "You're starting to sound like a villain," Omar muttered, spinning around.

  Roy ignored him and raised a hand slightly.

  "Marie, your ice is too linear. Omar, your follow-ups need to be tighter. Try attacking together. We don't know if it might be a team fight."

  Marie huffed.

  "Bossy."

  He didn't deny it.

  "Ready?"

  The two nodded, more determined this time. Marie darted in with a curved frost strike while Omar attacked from the opposite side, swinging high. Trapped between the two attacks, Roy deflected the frost with a small motion. Right before Omar's punch could hit him, a shadow moved under Omar's leg and he sank into it, making him miss.

  "Really?" Omar barked.

  "Using shadows now?"

  "You should've seen it coming," Roy said simply.

  Marie used air to throw herself behind him, aiming an air slash at his back. Roy turned before she finished the motion. She froze mid-attack as the tip of his fingers pushed lightly on her elbow, stopping her from completing the attack.

  "You're still slow," he said softly.

  Marie narrowed her eyes but smilled.

  "Then I'll be faster next time."

  Omar groaned, brushing dust off his pants.

  "He's not even sweating. This is unfair. Just last time, you didn't even want to train and struggled to dodge one fireball. What happened?"

  Roy exhaled through his nose, not quite a laugh.

  "What changed is that we're now inside Silvergate."

  Roy stepped back and glanced at the two of them. His tone shifted, calm but serious.

  "Okay, since we're here and I doubt you two will fail the test, and we might get different rankings, I have to say something."

  "You two were strong fighters in your past lives," he said.

  "It's in your soul. So you'll get better fast. But remember, this can come with a cost. The most common reason someone reincarnated is regret. So make sure not to get consumed by a regret you can't even remember."

  The grins and smiles disappeared from Omar and Marie's faces as the weight of reality came to them: their condition, and that they might get separated.

  Roy glanced at the fading light, shadows stretching longer across the field.

  "That's enough."

  "Already?" Marie asked.

  He looked at her and Omar.

  "You'll need the energy tomorrow."

  They both nodded. Marie stretched her arms over her head, and Omar cracked every joint he could crack in his hand.

  Roy let his gaze drop to the ground, at his shadow.

  'I just need to land somewhere in the middle,' he thought. 'Not too high. Not too low.'

  The wind picked up, carrying the quiet sounds of the nearly sleeping campus. Tomorrow was going to be loud. But he still got something to do.

  Evening

  When the sun set, the academy changed.

  The shouts and footsteps were replaced by quiet murmurs and the rustling of leaves.

  Roy was still at the training yard, sitting motionless, trying to keep his mana and mana presence lower by letting it out slowly and compressing the rest so it wouldn't appear as large as it actually was.

  'I won't take any chances. If they had someone who could see mana at the first test, there's nothing to say they won't have it in the second.'

  The night was quiet.

  He finally finished and could finally go and sleep.

  He arched his back, stretching as he looked up at the moon hanging above the academy..

  Then it happened.

  A thin black tear slid down from the moon's surface. The moment it touched the ground, his lungs froze.

  "Kill the liars... and hypocrites..."

  The voice came back stronger than it had been in a long time.

  His fingers clenched into fists. His heartbeat roared in his ears.

  "Not again," he whispered.

  "Kill them all... everyone in this hypocrite of a place..."

  The sound filled his skull like a whisper and a scream at the same time.

  "Shut up," Roy muttered.

  "Stand up and do i..."

  "I said SHUT IT!"

  His shadows exploded outward like something was trying to break free from under his skin. Then... silence.

  The moon looked normal again.

  No tear. No whisper.

  Only him.

  Roy dropped to the ground, facing it, breathing hard. His hands shook against his chest.

  "Shit," he muttered through clenched teeth.

  It hadn't ended. The shadows around him began moving, surrounding him in a circle. He didn't know if he could survive this without drawing attention.

  But then...

  THUNK.

  The sound of a wooden sword hitting a tree came from somewhere nearby. With it, the shadows disappeared, and everything went back to normal.

  Roy remained on the ground, gasping for air, trying to understand what had just happened.

  'what... was that?' he thought.