To be honest…

  The Gray Shadow seems to have no concept of personal space at all.

  He appeared so close that sometimes it felt like he was part of the room itself.

  Sometimes—just a shadow over my shoulder.

  Sometimes—as if he were standing in the corner, watching.

  But yesterday…

  He saved me.

  And even though it irritated me, I couldn’t deny it:

  He took the books.

  He covered for me.

  He did everything precisely, silently.

  I immediately reinforced the orb’s protection:

  triple runic encryption,

  transmission delay,

  and a trace-distortion rune.

  Now every message required much more mana,

  but at least it was safe.

  Elinia watched all of this without saying a word—

  but her expression made it clear:

  she understood this wasn’t a toy.

  The next day, I was paired against Siren.

  I looked at him.

  He was smiling.

  Then I looked at myself.

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  And honestly—what plan did I even have?

  I was supposed to look like I was developing,

  not repeating the same tricks over and over.

  The judge raised a hand.

  “Fight!”

  I immediately created five small ice golems

  and at the same time hurled a water spear at Siren.

  When the spear struck the first golem—

  the golem exploded,

  shattering into icy fragments.

  Siren was left without his sword—it was knocked away by the blast.

  He drew a backup dagger—fast, pure reflex.

  The remaining golems rushed him.

  He figured out the pattern in a few seconds:

  break them with wind,

  finish them with water,

  keep his distance.

  Good.

  He really had gotten stronger.

  And I…

  I had been training more than actually fighting.

  When the last of the first five collapsed,

  Siren lunged toward me.

  I created five more golems

  and went on the offensive myself.

  Ice spikes flew at him,

  and Siren responded with icy blades and bursts of wind.

  I protected my golems with a water dome,

  not letting him destroy them too quickly.

  I decided—it was time.

  I dashed forward—fast.

  Two meters left.

  One and a half.

  One.

  He saw the excitement in my eyes—

  and that was enough for him to decide:

  “Even if I lose, I’ll take one of us down with me.”

  He detonated the wind—

  a shockwave threw us both back,

  but I used it

  to shove one of the golems behind his back.

  There it was—the moment.

  Two golems at his side.

  One behind him.

  Me in front.

  Siren took a step back—

  and realized it was a trap.

  He tried to jump away…

  but it was too late.

  All the golems exploded at once,

  freezing the area around us.

  Siren was encased in ice,

  like a statue.

  I pretended to be thrown back by the blast

  and dropped to one knee.

  “Too much mana…” I muttered, “breathing heavily.”

  It looked natural.

  No one needed to know that this tactic had taken almost no effort from me.

  Siren thawed out, staggering—

  but smiling.

  “Zen… that was awesome.”

  I nodded, acting tired.

  When I lifted my head—

  I saw Elinia.

  She was…

  copying my trick.

  Only instead of five golems—

  there were fifteen.

  FIFTEEN.

  And all of them were advancing on Tara.

  I covered my face with my hand.

  How does she have no shame at all?..

  At all?

  I sighed quietly.

  “She’s not going to leave me a single signature move…”