CHAPTER 4: The Shadow that walked
1397 Words
The academy was unusually quiet.
Not because there were no students, but because everyone was afraid to speak.
The attack had left its mark, both in the memories of the students and in the very walls of the academy.
Massive portions of the courtyard were still closed off for repairs, and every morning the students gathered to hold a memorial service for those who had died.
On the temporary monument, there were names carved into stone.
But one of them was covered in scratches.
Shion.
The students whispered about it as they passed the memorial.
"She died"
"No... she's alive"
"Then what came back?"
Speculation ran wild in the days that followed.
She made a pact with a demon.
An ancient god chose her.
She was never human in the first place.
Nobody dared ask her.
Shion sat beneath the academy's largest tree.
She didn't seem to notice the leaves that fluttered gently above her.
She looked at the practice sword in her lap.
The same one she had trained with for years.
The same one everyone had laughed at her for using.
"You'll never amount to anything"
"You're weak"
"Why do you even train?"
She smiled as she recalled their words.
Oddly enough...
They didn't hurt anymore.
They were just memories.
Footsteps approached from behind.
"You've been avoiding everyone"
"I know"
"They're worried about you"
"I know"
"They're afraid of you"
Shion finally looked up at Kael.
Her silver eyes seemed...calmer.
"Good"
Kael blinked in surprise.
"You wanted friends, didn't you?"
"I wanted their acceptance"
"And now?"
"I don't need either"
A tense silence filled the space between them.
Kael studied Shion's face.
She looked the same.
Same black hair.
Same academy uniform.
Same face.
But everything about her seemed different.
The timid girl who had apologized for everything was gone.
Even her breathing was different.
It was steady.
Measured.
Like she had already accepted her fate.
"Come to training," said Kael.
"The instructors want to test you"
Shion stood and faced him.
"Then let's not keep them waiting"
The arena was filled with students.
Word had gotten out that the girl who had died would be fighting.
Even the teachers gathered at the far end of the arena.
Master Orion, the head instructor, stepped forward.
He was a large man with silver hair pulled back into a ponytail and scars running down both of his arms.
"I have trained warriors for thirty years," said Orion.
"I have seen weak students graduate and become great knights"
His piercing blue eyes locked onto Shion.
"But I have never seen someone return from the dead before"
The entire arena fell silent.
"This is not a trial by combat," said Orion, eyeing the students.
"It is an examination"
He gestured to a young man standing in the arena.
"Third year student"
"Rank A"
"Darius"
Darius gave a confident smirk as he rested a large blade on his shoulder.
"I'll go easy on her"
A few students chuckled at his words.
Not Kael.
Something in his gut told him this would end badly.
Master Orion raised a hand, signaling for the match to begin.
Darius charged at Shion with surprising speed.
He drew his blade and swung at her side, but she simply stood her ground.
The blade stopped mere inches from her skin.
Everyone in the arena gasped in shock.
Darius' arms shook as he tried to push the blade forward, but it was like his arms were bound.
"What is this?!"
Shion tilted her head.
"Is that your best?"
Darius' face turned red with anger, but he forced himself to push forward.
Nothing happened.
Then, suddenly, Shion raised a single finger.
With a simple motion of her hand, the blade in Darius' hands snapped in two.
The crowd gasped as thousands of tiny metal fragments flew into the air.
Darius stumbled backward in shock.
"Impossible..."
Shion took a step forward.
"Did you really think I was weak?"
Her voice was calm and emotionless.
"Did you really think I was your friend?"
Darius' heart pounded in his chest.
He raised a fist, channeling mana into it.
He would end this fight with his bare hands.
But the moment he lunged forward, Shion was gone.
The crowd gasped in surprise.
"Where did she go?!"
"There!"
They all turned to see Shion standing behind Darius.
A single hand rested lightly against his back.
"I could snap your spine," she said quietly.
"But I won't"
She gave him a gentle push and sent him flying across the arena.
BOOM!
Darius crashed into the far wall, knocking him out cold.
The arena was silent.
No one said a word.
No one applauded.
Everyone simply stared in shock.
Even Master Orion seemed stunned.
Later that afternoon, the academy bells rung.
It was not training time.
It was not class time.
It was an emergency.
A patrol from the northern forest had returned.
One of the knights stumbled through the gates, his body covered in blood.
"They're back..."
The courtyard grew quiet.
"What do you mean?"
"The hybrids..."
"There are dozens of them!"
"No..."
The knight shook his head.
"There are hundreds of them!"
The students scrambled as they prepared for battle.
Instructors formed lines along the outer walls.
Master Orion shouted orders.
"No first years outside the walls!"
"Healers to the infirmary!"
"Combat units, with me!"
Kael raised his sword as he looked toward Shion.
She was standing silently, watching the chaos unfold.
Not scared.
Not worried.
Just...watching.
"Aren't you coming?" Kael asked.
She looked toward the distant forest where the black smoke rose.
"I am."
"But not to protect the academy."
Kael's expression darkened.
"What do you mean?"
She walked past him.
"I'm going to hunt."
The forest was silent.
Trees littered the ground, their branches broken.
Wild animal corpses were scattered everywhere.
Something had been hunting them.
Shion found them.
A group of hybrids feeding on the body of one of the knights.
One of them lifted its head and snarled at her.
Its claws were dripping with fresh blood.
Without warning, they charged.
There were too many to count.
Shion closed her eyes.
The strange darkness in her heart answered.
Black mist curled around her feet.
Silver light sparked to life in her skin.
When she opened her eyes again...
The silver light had returned.
The first hybrid lunged at her, but she caught its throat in one hand.
It struggled, its glowing red eyes locked onto hers.
"You enjoyed killing the helpless," Shion said quietly.
"So let me show you how it feels to be helpless"
The darkness in her hand spread over the hybrid's body like ink in water.
It didn't scream.
It simply disintegrated into black dust.
The other hybrids froze in place.
For the first time...
The hunters became the hunted.
Shion smiled.
Not a smile of happiness, but of satisfaction.
It was the smile of someone who had stopped being afraid of monsters because she had become one herself.
One by one, the hybrids attacked her.
One by one, they turned to ash.
The forest trembled with the force of her attacks.
Trees split in half.
The ground cracked open.
When the knights from the academy arrived, the fighting had already stopped.
Hundreds of small black piles of ash littered the ground.
Not a single hybrid remained.
In the center of it all stood Shion.
Her academy uniform was stained with blood that was not her own.
Dark mist curled around her body like a cloak before vanishing into her skin.
The knights from the academy stood frozen in place.
No one said a word.
No one lowered their weapons.
Because they didn't know if the girl before them was their ally...
...or the next monster to attack Nightfall Academy.
Far away, in the ruins buried beneath the mountains, the hooded figure watched through the dark pool of water.
"So," the figure said with a smile.
"The world has finally noticed you."
The surface of the water rippled, showing Shion's emotionless face.
"Walk your path, child of death."
"Become the shadow that terrifies monsters... and men alike."
The image in the water grew dark.
Outside, the wind blew the scent of rain toward Nightfall Academy.
A storm was coming.
But this time, it would not be the sky that frightened the people of the academy.
It would be the girl who had returned from the dead.
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