The peace of the day off vanished as quickly as the sunset that ended it.

The morning air at Zenith Academy was crisp and carried the faint scent of ozone. It was a byproduct of the massive mana scrubbers hidden within the marble foundations. Vane walked down the main thoroughfare of the Academic District. He was flanked by Valerica and Isole. The three of them moved in a loose, practiced formation that had become their default.

Students pulled back as they passed. The sight of the "Rat" walking shoulder to shoulder with the Gravity Titan and the Blasphemy was a visual reminder that the hierarchy of the first year had been permanently shattered.

"My neck still hurts from that arcade game," Isole said. She reached up to adjust her collar, her mismatched eyes scanning the rooftops with her usual detached curiosity. "You play like a man possessed, Vane. It is quite unbecoming."

"I play to win," Vane replied. He adjusted the strap of his bag. "There is no point in doing something if you aren't going to do it correctly."

Valerica walked with her hands clasped behind her back, her amethyst ponytail swaying with every step. Her dark eyes were fixed straight ahead. "It was a primitive display of reflexes. Though, I suppose I can see the appeal of hitting things without the risk of a court martial."

Vane opened his mouth to reply, but his instinct flared.

It wasn't a sound. It was a change in the air pressure. A sudden, sharp displacement that screamed of high velocity.

"Move," Vane grunted.

He didn't wait for them to comply. He grabbed Isole by the shoulder and shoved her toward Valerica.

A split second later, a heavy wooden practice sword whistled through the space where Vane's head had been. It didn't tumble through the air. It flew straight, propelled by a force that turned the blunt wood into a ballista bolt.

The sword slammed into a marble pillar behind them. The stone cracked, spiderwebbing outward from the point of impact. The wooden weapon remained embedded in the pillar, vibrating with a low, hum that sounded like a dying hornet.

Vane didn't reach for his dagger. He looked up.

Ashe Razar was perched on the edge of the second-floor balcony of the Library of Aegis. She was crouching like a gargoyle, her messy white hair catching the morning light. Her dark red horns looked even sharper against her pale skin, and her blood-red eyes were locked onto Vane with a predatory gleam.

"Too slow," Ashe called out. Her voice was raspy, the sound of someone who spent more time shouting on a battlefield than talking in a classroom. "If that had been steel, you'd be a head shorter, Rat."

"Ashe," Valerica said, her voice dropping into a cold, regal tone. A faint ripple of gravity distorted the air around her feet. "The healers warned you about straining your ribs. Do you wish to return to the infirmary so soon?"

Ashe ignored her. She leaped from the balcony, a twenty-foot drop that she handled with a casual roll. She stood up and stretched, her loose black jacket falling open to reveal the bandages still wrapped tightly around her torso.

"The infirmary smells like old people and chemicals," Ashe said. She walked toward them, her gait heavy and deliberate. She stopped three feet from Vane. "I'm bored. The Red Tower is full of idiots who just want to talk about formation drills. Nobody wants to actually bleed."

"We are going to Dungeon Ecology," Vane said. He didn't move an inch as she entered his personal space. "Go find a training dummy if you're restless."

Ashe leaned in, sniffing the air. "You smell like that place," she muttered. "Sector 4. You still have that look in your eyes. The look of someone who is waiting for the floor to turn into a trap."

She grinned, revealing her sharp, shark-like teeth.

"I watched you in the Practical, Vane. You didn't fight like the others. Isaac fights like a god. Anastasia fights like a machine. But you? You fight like you're trying to keep your guts from falling out. It's disgusting. I love it."

"I am glad my struggle for survival entertained you," Vane said dryly.

"It didn't just entertain me," Ashe said. She reached out and tapped the cracked pillar behind him. "It made me realize that everyone else in this school is playing at being a warrior. You are the only one who actually knows what a kill feels like."

She looked at Valerica and Isole, then back at Vane.

"You three are the only ones not boring me to death right now. I'm joining your squad for the Second Practical."

Isole let out a soft, melodic laugh. "We didn't realize we were taking applications, Warlord. Does your father know you are playing with the outcasts?"

Ashe's expression didn't change, but the temperature around her seemed to rise. "My father is three hundred miles away. And he'd probably tell me to kill you both just to see if I could. But I'm making the decisions here."

Vane looked at the wooden sword still stuck in the marble. He looked at the bandages around Ashe's waist. She was a Rank 4 monster. She was also a political nightmare and a walking insurance liability.

"We haven't agreed to anything," Vane said.

"You will," Ashe said. She turned on her heel and started walking toward the lecture hall, her hands tucked into her pockets. "Because if you don't, I'm going to keep throwing things at you until you do."

Vane watched her go. He felt a headache forming behind his eyes.

"She is quite loud," Valerica noted. She waved a hand, and the gravity around the embedded sword intensified until the wood splintered and fell to the ground in pieces. "And she has no sense of decorum."

"She's a predator," Isole added. She leaned closer to Vane, her green and red eyes shimmering. "And she just found her favorite chew toy. Are you going to let her follow us, Vane?"

Vane looked at the retreating figure of the Oni girl. He thought about the upcoming mines. He thought about the Rank 4 Alpha they would inevitably face.

"She's a shield," Vane said quietly. "A loud, violent, uncontrollable shield. We can use that."

"At what cost?" Valerica asked.

"I'll figure that out before the first class ends," Vane said.

He started walking again. Behind them, a group of Blue Tower students who had been watching the encounter quickly looked away as Vane's gaze swept over them.

The day off was definitely over.

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