Chapter 53 – First Steps into the Circle
Part 2: One Month of Steel and Shadow
A month passed in silence.
Not peace.Not comfort.Just silence—the kind you earn after years of fire.
For Ariz al Sulieman, the Bloodmoon Academy was nothing like the human world he left behind.
Here, no one whispered behind his back.They whispered when he wasn't looking—and only about how still he stood, how clean his footwork was, how violet his eyes glowed when the shadows moved without wind.
They didn't hate him.
They just didn't know what to do with him.
His days were simple.
He woke at the first pulse of the Heartspire.
Attended sword theory, where he now stood at the front of his class for efficiency of motion—never flashy, never wasteful.
Attended shadow magic application, where he cast faster than anyone else in his tier—but only once. Ariz never repeated a demonstration.
He didn't speak more than necessary.Didn't eat in the mess hall.Didn't drink at the barracks bars.
But he trained.
Relentlessly.
And he learned.
What he didn't expect… was Luceris.
The vampire noble made it his unofficial mission to bother him daily—though "bother" wasn't the right word.
More like… orbit.
"You improved your draw speed. You shortened your angle. That's cheating."—Luceris, Day 9
"Your dodge timing today was flawless. Do it again. No, really. Now."—Luceris, Day 14
"Midnight duel. South courtyard. Loser buys blood tonic."—Luceris, Day 21
They fought seventeen times in thirty days.
Luceris never won.
But neither did Ariz—not decisively.
Because Luceris always adapted, always came back faster, always studied the way Ariz moved like it was scripture.
They never sparred with anger.Never fought to humiliate.
Just to test.
And each time, more students watched.
Not to gossip.
But to learn.
Today was no different.
The training fields shimmered with ambient mana, spell dust clinging to the obsidian tiles. The class had just ended, and Ariz was collecting his cloak.
Luceris appeared beside him like a perfectly dressed curse.
"You vanished yesterday after shadow lecture," he said casually. "I had to spar against two beast-kin just to stay warm."
Ariz gave him a side-glance.
"Not my concern."
Luceris grinned. "So tonight then."
"No."
"You'll show up anyway."
Ariz paused.
Then gave the faintest nod.
They walked together across the crescent terrace—Luceris talking, Ariz silent, the way they always did. From a distance, they looked like opposites. One pale and flowing, the other dark and grounded.
But side by side, they moved like a matched rhythm.
Like rivals who never needed to define the word.
[System Notification: Rapport Increase – Luceris Vael]
Status: Competitive FamiliarityEmotion Detected: Respect
"Some bloodlines earn respect.Others take it one duel at a time."
The Bloodmoon pulsed above the Academy.
The courtyard buzzed with silent magic.
And the boy who once crawled through broken ashes now stood clean, focused, and sharpening blades not just for war—
But for the years he would shape from here onward.