Orange light flooded her vision as the fire mana closed in. Akari’s instincts told her to run, but where? There was nowhere to hide on this ridge, and she couldn’t get away in time.

“Hold still!” Relia stepped forward and raised both her hands skyward. Blue light shot out from her palms, flashing through the air like lightning.

The two colors collided as Relia’s Missiles knocked the others off course. One of the fireballs crashed into a nearby maple, leaving a dark crater in the broken bark. Another hit the ground near her boots, melting the snow and blackening the leaves beneath.

Idiot, Akari scolded herself. She could have done that. Maybe not as well, but anything was better than standing around.

No sooner had the raptors shot their volley than the entire pack charged forward. They ran close to the ground, and their tails slithered back and forth like snakes.

To her left, Kalden fired his own Missile at the lead raptor. The creature snapped its head up, piercing Kalden with its reptilian eyes.

“Solid form,” Relia hollered. “But you’ll need more speed.”

The raptor jumped at the last second, soaring a good five feet into the air. Meanwhile, Kalden’s Missile landed harmlessly beneath it with a soft puff of snow.

“Shit,” Akari hissed under her breath. “They can do that?”

“Be ready to adjust your mana’s path.” Relia’s voice was still cheerful despite the incoming mana beasts.

Kalden nodded as he fired another attack, far faster than the first.

Akari turned her focus back on the pack. This time, she didn’t hesitate before lining up her shot and releasing her mana.

The raptor saw her Missile, and its leg muscles tensed as it prepared to dodge left. Akari stepped right as the Missile flew, altering her center of gravity. At the same time, she moved her dominant hand in a quick circle, and the Missile spun in a corkscrew pattern. She felt the impact as it struck the creature on the side of its head.

Kalden’s next attack caught a raptor on its side. This one stumbled over a log before leaping back to its feet.

The pack reached the bottom of the ridge a second later. The center was too steep to jump, so they split up, attacking from either side.

“Alright.” Relia cracked her knuckles. “Stand back.”

Akari and Kalden each took a few steps backward, letting Relia put herself between them and the enemy. The redheaded girl stretched out her arms to either side, releasing two more torrents of blue mana.

Akari had expected her to dominate the field with raw power, but Relia’s Missiles were sharp and narrow like flying bullets. Every step and technique looked precise, but effortless, like a dancer moving on a field.

Relia struck a raptor’s windpipe, and the creature’s head snapped back. Another raptor took a Missile between the eyes, and it collapsed face-first in the snow.

Akari gaped at the display, afraid to blink and miss something. In less than a minute, the pack had gone from an unstoppable force to a helpless mess.

Two more raptors struck with their fiery Missiles—one on each side. Relia took an unhurried step to her left, letting the fire pass mere inches from her face.

Kalden raised his palm and fired at a raptor on Relia’s left. Akari followed his lead and aimed for the one on her right.

Relia pierced the right raptor through the eye, stealing Akari’s chance. Orange and blue flashed back and forth as she exchanged more blows with her left two opponents. It didn’t take long until the pair got clever, finding cover behind the thicker trees.

Then a second pack of raptors appeared on Akari’s side of the ridge.

This time, Akari unzipped her backpack and pulled out a G9 fire rod. Relia had said they could keep any raptor cores they killed themselves. She didn’t say anything about how they killed them.

The weapon vibrated in Akari’s hand as she pulled the trigger, releasing several fire Missiles at the approaching pack.

No one dodged this time. Instead, the closest raptor raised its claws, forming a transparent Construct between them. Akari’s Missile broke against the shield like water on a rock.

Damnit. Fire artists could repel fire. She’d known that, but she hadn’t expected it from a mana beast.

Kalden and Relia shifted their attacks on the new group. For a second, Akari could’ve sworn Relia’s Missiles were gold rather than blue, but she might have imagined it.

Most of the pack focused on Relia, but the closest one broke off and hurled a fire Missile at Akari.

Akari pulled the trigger on her rod, and fire met fire in midair. An explosion followed, and heat stung her face as she staggered back.

Her opponent charged through the haze of orange mana, swiping with its claws.

Akari pulled a lever on the left side of her rod, releasing the spring-powered bayonet. Then she swung, meeting the raptor’s claws with the steel shaft. Her swing hit the creature’s face, forcing it to bite down on the weapon. Its claw scraped against her hand, and she drove a kick into its exposed belly.

The raptor staggered back, narrowing its yellow eyes into a promise of pain.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Akari aimed the Missile rod in her left hand, then she formed a pure Missile in her right. Both attacks flew forward in the same moment.

Like most animals, the raptor moved entirely on instinct. It blocked the fire mana with another wave of its claw, but Akari altered her own Missile’s course and struck the creature on its right cheek.

She hurled another Missile before it recovered. This time, the raptor leapt into the air, launching a technique from above.

The blow took Akari straight in the chest. She flew back into the nearest tree, and the impact forced the air from her lungs. The raptor landed a few paces ahead with a crunch of snow. Before it could finish her, a wall of solid mana appeared between them. The raptor slammed into the Construct like a bird against a car window.

Relia. She’d been watching this whole time.

Akari checked herself for wounds, but the Missile hadn’t broken through her hoodie’s defenses. At least that was paying for itself. She cycled more mana into the fabric, recharging the sigils.

The shield faded, and Relia looked ready to finish the raptor.

“He’s mine,” Akari said as she fell back into her combat stance.

Her opponent prepared another blast of fire between its claws. Akari cycled her own mana as she charged forward to meet it.

The raptor hurled its technique, but Akari knocked it aside with her own Missile, the same way Relia had with the volley.

Her opponent swiped a claw toward her face. Akari raised her forearm to block, trusting her hoodie to absorb the damage once again. She threw another Missile at its legs, knocking it off balance. She forced the mana to hold its shape rather than turning to vapor. It wasn’t easy, but she’d gotten plenty of practice hitting those trees in Phoenix Park.

Akari spread out her arms, pulling the same Missile toward her and hitting the raptor several more times.

It hit the ground with a bird-like shriek, and Akari grabbed the fallen Missile rod, plunging the blade through its eye.

She sat there on her knees for several long seconds, breathing hard. Sweat coated her forehead despite the winter air, and her hands shook as they clutched the rod.

Relia and Kalden stepped forward, and Akari grinned down at her fallen opponent. “That counts,” she said.

Relia clapped her hands. “You got him!”

“Akari.” Kalden pointed a finger at her hand.

No sooner had the word left his mouth than she felt something warm and sticky on her weapon’s handle. She flipped over her hand and saw a thin red line that ran all the way from her thumb to her pinky.

Shit. Akari rolled up her hoodie’s sleeve to keep the fabric from getting stained. Her adrenaline faded, and a wave of pain struck her like a hot stove.

“Hang on.” Kalden unshouldered his backpack and unzipped the top. “I’ll get a potion.”

“No worries,” Relia said, “I’ve got this.” The other girl raised her arm and a sphere of glowing mana formed in her palm. Akari couldn’t tell if it was green or gold. Maybe both.

The Missile left Relia’s hand, drifting slowly between them like a leaf on the wind. Another wave of pain shot through Akari’s arm as the mana touched the wound. She gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to flinch. But when she opened her hand again, the skin was sealing itself back up.

“You’re a healer?” Akari asked. That couldn’t be right; Noella and Maelyn both needed physical contact to heal someone, but Relia had done it from three feet away.

“Life artist,” the other girl said. “It’s like restoration, but way more versatile. You’ll see what I mean later.”

“Didn’t you use pure mana against those raptors?” Kalden closed his backpack and inspected her hand. Akari held it out for him to see, using her other hand to unscrew the top of her water bottle. Killing dragons was thirsty work, even little ones like these.

“Sure,” Relia said. “I have pure mana, too. You saw my master’s aspect video, right?”

“Yeah.” Akari took a long drink. “He said you only get one.”

“Pure mana doesn’t count. Wait long enough, and you can aspect half your mana and leave the other half pure.”

“What?” Kalden sounded as surprised as she felt. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“Me neither.” Akari wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Must have slipped your master’s mind.”

“Maybe I’m thinking of a different video.” She brought her index finger to her chin. “It’s not a popular route, especially with the casual crowd. It makes you more balanced in the long run, but you miss out on the fun stuff up front.”

She’d also seen the Grandmaster use pure mana in the first few videos, so he’d probably aspected half his mana too.

“How was our form?” Akari asked. “You never said.”

“Yeah.” Relia rubbed her chin again. “About that—I thought you guys just started a few months ago?”

Kalden nodded. “We started last Hexember. Around the same time you showed up.”

“That makes no sense,” Relia said.

Akari perked up at that. “You’re saying we’re good?”

“I’m saying no one’s that good in two months.”

“This wasn’t easy,” Kalden said. “It took us weeks to make our first Missiles. That fits with—”

“You don’t get it,” Relia broke in. “I saw you guys shifting your mana in midair.”

“You told us to do that.”

“I didn’t think you’d pull it off!” She rounded on Akari. “And you—your mana held its shape after you hit that raptor. That’s even more advanced.”

“I practiced that for weeks,” Akari said.

“A few weeks is nothing . . .” Relia trailed off, then began again. “Do either of you play an instrument?”

Akari shook her head. That sort of thing cost time and money she didn’t have.

“I play the violin,” Kalden said. “Plus I took a few years of piano.”

Of course he did.

“Okay,” Relia said, “a few years of piano. How well could you play Nohira’s Fourth Symphony right now?”

“Not well,” he admitted. “I’d need a few months to brush up.”

“Exactly,” she said. “But you wouldn’t start from scratch in that time. No one can move mana that well in just a few months.”

Akari stood a little straighter. “You saying we did the mana equivalent of what’s her name’s symphony?”

Relia waggled a hand. “I mean, these aren’t Master-level skills or anything. I’ve seen eight-year-olds who can fight like you, but they start learning when they’re three or four.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped again.

“Does everyone start that early?” Kalden asked. “Where you’re from, I mean.”

“I started early,” Relia said. “Other people start older. But you guys look like you’ve had years of experience, and some good teachers. Online videos wouldn’t do all this—there are too many small ways to mess up, and you need a real teacher to point those out.”

Weird. Maelyn had said something similar, but Akari had assumed it was the Grandmaster’s videos that made them better.

Kalden gave a helpless shrug. “I don’t know what else to say. We didn’t even know where to start until we found those videos.”

“I believe you,” Relia said, but her eyes were distant.

Akari’s frown deepened at that. If she and Kalden were really too good to be true, then why did Relia believe them? Wouldn’t it be more logical to assume they were lying? And there was something off about her expression—like she wanted to tell them something, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Relia turned to face them again. “Do you ever dream about mana arts? About techniques you haven’t learned in real life?”

Akari hesitated. She had, of course, but saying it out loud felt like admitting some deep dark secret. What’s more, her dreams had been the source of her online screen name, Space+Time—a name that Relia had known before they’d even met.

Before they could say anything else, something shook the ground beneath their boots. Akari felt the vibrations in her chest as well as her ears.

“Hold that thought,” Relia said. “Looks like the drake is here.”