The skies around the Mysterious Tower shimmered unnaturally, like warped gss resisting a pressure it could no longer hold. Lightning danced across the dome-like barrier surrounding the tower, threads of light tracing protective sigils that crackled under strain. A dark energy pushed against the dome trying to force its way in.

  Then the air ruptured.

  A violent pulse of darkness smmed into the barrier with a noise like tearing fabric. The sigils fred—once, twice—before the entire barrier shattered like brittle gss under a hammer.

  From the sky, cloaked in the swirling remnants of her own power, Kurai descended.

  She nded without a sound, her boots touching the floating isnd's courtyard with cold finality. Trees rustled from the shockwave of her arrival, though no wind stirred. Her expression was unreadable, but there was no hiding the intensity in her eyes.

  Normally, she would never be this reckless. But tely, everything she had done was reckless. Still, she saw it not as foolishness, but as necessity. Logic led her here. Emotion followed behind like an unwanted shadow.

  Without hesitation, she advanced toward the tower’s front door.

  The tower reacted immediately.

  Runes ignited in warning. The structure groaned as ancient defenses awoke. Hidden magical turrets unfolded from the walls, glowing with primal energy, and columns of protective fme surged toward her.

  Kurai didn’t flinch.

  With a twitch of her fingers, darkness exploded around her in a protective sphere. Fme bent around her. Arrows of light shattered on impact. Spikes of shadow shot out like bdes, impaling sensors and shattering enchanted devices before they could fully activate.

  She walked through the assault like a bde through mist.

  At the spiral stairway, phantom guardians emerged—echoes of old wielders made to test intruders. One by one, they moved in silence, weapons raised.

  One by one, she dismantled them.

  Her keybde never left her hand. The Silver and Bck Shadow Sovereign danced, drawing clean lines through each specter. No flourish. No wasted motion. Just cold, calcuted annihition.

  She passed through the floating staircases without pause. Portals spiraled open before her, sensing her forceful presence but unable to stop it. The moons and stars that glowed in danger dulled in defeat as she reached the highest levels.

  The door to Yen Sid’s study groaned open.

  Inside, Master Yen Sid stood behind his desk, the enormous room echoing with the hush that preceded a storm. Aqua and Skuld were already standing, having summoned their keybdes—Aqua with her signature Stormfall and Skuld with her sleek, Ravenveil Whisper.

  Both faced Kurai.

  Aqua’s stance was composed, protective.

  Skuld’s was defensive but tense, her eyes betraying nervous recognition. The feeling she got from the girl standing in front of her was the same as the feeling she just felt. It was very simir to Helios.

  Kurai didn’t raise her bde yet. She stared at them in silence, her silver eyes betraying nothing, until her voice broke the stillness.

  “Which of you is the better healer?”

  Her tone was level—too calm, too cold. There was no inflection. No curiosity. Just demand.

  Yen Sid’s eyes narrowed as he stepped forward, pcing one massive hand on the table. “You wield a keybde,” he said, voice low and commanding. “Yet your heart bleeds with darkness. How is that possible?”

  Kurai’s gaze slid to him, unbothered. “keybdes choose strength of heart,” she said ftly. “Not morality. They serve those who do not betray themselves.”

  There was no passion in her voice, only a cold confidence.

  Then she repeated the question, slower and colder: “Which of you is the better healer?”

  The room tensed. Darkness began to bleed into the corners of the chamber—slowly, steadily, like ink in water. It didn’t spread fast, but it began to press against the walls with a presence that was unmistakable.

  Aqua’s grip on her weapon tightened. “What do you pn to do once we answer that?”

  Kurai’s reply was immediate. “Take them with me.”

  Skuld stepped half a pace back.

  Aqua stepped forward.

  “And what if we refuse?” Aqua asked sharply.

  Kurai tilted her head ever so slightly, as though the question puzzled her. “Then I take you anyway. You cannot stop me.”

  That was enough.

  Three burning spheres of fme coalesced above Aqua’s head, brilliant and charged with intensity. With a sweep of her hand, Aqua unleashed them—three Firagas arcing together in a triangle formation, all aimed straight at Kurai.

  The bsts connected.

  A thunderous explosion ruptured the wall behind Kurai, the stone erupting outward as smoke and light filled the chamber.

  Yen Sid raised a hand to shield his eyes.

  Skuld gasped, but didn’t speak.

  Aqua’s stance lowered, bde still ready. She expected retaliation.

  But through the swirling dust and fire, a silhouette emerged.

  Kurai stepped forward, completely unharmed. The attack hadn’t missed—she had chosen not to block it fully. Her cloak was unscorched even at such a massive bst. The air around her smoked. But she was intact.

  And smiling faintly.

  She nded on the floating courtyard outside the breach Aqua had bsted her through, back straight, bde in hand. Her boots touched down upon open air—Bckened Sky ptforms already forming beneath her with silent precision.

  Aqua leapt after her, ready to face the threat head-on.

  Behind her, Skuld stood trembling—not with fear, but with nervousness. This wasn’t an enemy she did think at least. She felt some sort of connection to the girl and would rather try to talk this out but it seemed things had escated past that at this point.

  Inside the ruined study, Yen Sid watched with a narrowed gaze. He cast a protective spell around the tower as the csh that would follow would be one of great destruction.

  And outside, the storm began to rise.