It did happen once more.
Weeks ago. Back during the final exam period, when he was just walking around evening. It had been subtle, buried beneath the adrenaline of the fight—but his mana had flared then too. For no visible reason.
Was that Lunar Mana?
His body had reacted then the same way it had tonight.
Tense. Coiled. Defensive.
But not toward an enemy.
Toward a presence.
Which meant…
Astron's eyes lowered to his tea, the steam curling faintly like memory.
Could it be that again?
His body wasn't just housing Void and Shadow.
That much had always been obvious to him—at least, once he began understanding what he was.
What Astron Natusalune had become.
Because the very first time he accessed mana—truly used it, back when the merger had still been raw, when the instincts of the world clashed with the remnants of player knowledge—it hadn't been elemental. It hadn't been flame, or wind, or anything as simple as light or dark.
It had been Lunar.
Unmistakably so.
