Chapter 25: Into the Maelstrom
The battle raged on around them.
Flames roared, shadows danced, wind screamed through the shattered courtyard.
Cordelia, Varek, Tirien, and the black-haired second-year girl fought side by side—holding back the tide of lesser Spirits that kept pouring in.
Noah stood with them one moment—katana in hand, eyes locked on the distant Training Hall.
The next—
He was gone.
None of them noticed at first.
Cordelia loosed a wave of fire across a line of water wraiths. Varek shattered a stone elemental with a brutal punch. Tirien called out commands to his golem. The second-year girl flickered between shadows and light, her magic carving paths through the enemy.
But the space where Noah had stood seconds ago was empty.
A faint shimmer—Gibbous Step—had carried him forward, unseen.
He moved through the wrecked outer halls of the Training Wing, body low, footsteps silent.