Chapter 76: A New Tension Between Iris and Luna.
The day of Iris’s first training arrived faster than Noah had expected.
They had agreed to meet at the same secluded park where Yume and Luna usually practiced. Luna had set up several perception barriers around the area to keep civilians away, while Yume prepared several training targets.
Iris arrived exactly on time.
She wore sportswear, her hair tied back, and the crystal brooch stored in a small case.
Noah raised a hand.
"Good morning."
Iris returned the greeting.
"Good morning."
Yume smiled.
"I’m glad you came."
"Before you get too excited, I only agreed to try it once."
"I know."
Luna stood beside one of the targets.
"We’ll start with control exercises."
Iris looked at her.
"Did you prepare them?"
"Noah and I."
"What kind of exercises?"
"Creation, endurance, range, and precision."
Iris surveyed the entire field.
There were ten wooden targets placed at different distances, along with several marks on the ground and an area surrounded by stone blocks.
"It’s a somewhat basic design,"
Iris said, prompting Luna to cross her arms.
"It’s your first training."
"You could gather more information if you added moving obstacles."
"First we need to know if you can control a stationary structure."
Iris held her gaze.
"I could do it without any problems."
"We’ll check."
Noah immediately felt the tension, and Yume moved closer to him.
"Are they already arguing?"
"I hope not."
"But they look like they’re about to."
Noah walked over and positioned himself between them.
"Transform first."
Yume raised her key, Luna held her gem, and Iris took out the brooch.
The three activated their objects at the same time, and energy enveloped their bodies.
Yume appeared in her magical dress of white, pink, and blue tones.
Luna was wrapped in her black-and-white suit.
Iris was surrounded by geometric figures and crystalline fragments. Her light armor formed over her torso, followed by the skirt of transparent layers and the floating pieces that settled behind her back.
Noah felt a wave of nostalgia at that transformation, since he had seen it many times in the series, but seeing it in person still felt different.
Iris opened and closed her hands.
"I’m ready."
Luna pointed to the first mark.
"Create a crystal the size of your hand."
Iris raised her palm and a crystal appeared instantly, perfectly symmetrical.
Luna observed it.
"Now hold it for one minute."
"That’s unnecessary."
"It’s a stability test."
Iris didn’t argue.
The crystal floated above her hand without trembling or changing size, and after one minute, Luna nodded.
"Good."
Iris closed her fingers and the object disappeared.
"Now create three,"
Luna said, and Iris raised both hands so three crystals appeared in front of her.
"Five."
Iris created two more.
"Ten."
The pieces multiplied while maintaining the same shape and spacing.
Yume’s eyes widened.
"That was fast."
Noah wasn’t surprised by the type of power, since in the original story Iris was known for her ability to create, shape, and control crystals with extreme precision. What he hadn’t expected was that she would master the technique from the very first training session.
’In the anime it took several episodes to reach this level.’
Luna walked around the figures.
"Modify the size of the third one."
Iris made one of the crystals grow.
"Reduce the fifth."
The piece became smaller.
"Spin them all in different directions."
Iris moved her fingers and the crystals began to rotate at different speeds each.
Yume raised a hand.
"Can I try something like that?"
"No."
Noah and Luna answered at the same time, making Yume frown.
"I wasn’t going to destroy them."
Noah looked at her and Yume glanced away.
"Well, maybe one..."
The next exercise consisted of creating a barrier, so Luna formed a dark, semi-transparent structure to show her the approximate size.
"You need to cover the entire space between those two marks."
Iris measured the distance.
"That’s six meters."
"Correct."
Iris moved both hands, causing a crystal wall to rise from the ground. The structure covered the entire area without cracks or visible differences on its surface.
Noah approached.
"Can you make it taller?"
Iris raised a hand and the wall grew until it exceeded four meters.
"Thicker?"
The crystal increased in thickness and Luna touched the surface.
"Good density."
Iris looked at her.
"Good?"
"For your first attempt."
"I think it could withstand a direct hit."
"We need to test that."
Luna stepped back and raised a sphere of energy.
Iris didn’t deactivate the barrier.
"Ready?"
Luna asked.
"Yes."
Luna launched the attack and the sphere struck the center of the wall, causing a crack to appear, but the barrier held.
Iris moved two fingers and the fracture closed, prompting Luna to raise an eyebrow.
"Structural regeneration?"
"It’s not regeneration."
"But you just repaired it."
"I reorganized the magical material."
"It’s the same thing."
"Not exactly."
The two looked at each other seriously again and Yume once more approached Noah.
"Now they’re definitely arguing."
"Unfortunately, yes."
During the next exercise, Iris had to create small crystal platforms at different points on the field.
The first appeared under her feet, the second emerged five meters away, and the third formed behind a target.
Iris jumped from one to another without difficulty.
Noah remembered that ability, since in the anime Iris used platforms to move through the air and change the terrain during fights.
However, in her first original battle she could barely create two, and now she had already formed seven.
Noah raised his voice.
"Try to keep them while creating a crystal barrier."
Iris descended to one of the platforms and a wall appeared in front of her without the other structures disappearing. She then created several crystal projectiles.
Yume smiled.
"She’s really good."
Luna kept a serious expression.
"Her control is high."
Iris descended to the ground.
"Was that everything?"
"Not yet."
Luna replied, since the final exercise consisted of attacking several targets. Noah placed five marks on a table.
"Each one represents the order in which you must destroy them."
Iris observed the symbols for less than three seconds.
"Understood."
She raised a hand and five crystal fragments shot out.
Each projectile struck the correct target in the indicated order.
The wooden pieces broke almost simultaneously and Noah checked the marks.
"She didn’t miss any."
Yume clapped.
"That was incredible!"
Iris lowered her hand.
"It was simple to do."
Luna pointed to the remaining targets.
"Now do it while moving."
Iris looked at her.
"You think I can’t?"
"I want to check."
Iris created a platform and began to move.
The crystals shot out from different angles and all hit their marks.
Luna raised a barrier to block one, but the projectile changed direction before impact and went around the structure. Luna turned her head, seeing the crystal strike the target from behind.
Iris descended.
"Were the moving obstacles necessary?"
Luna deactivated the barrier.
"The enemy won’t always let you go around them."
"That’s why I wouldn’t use the same strategy twice."
"You don’t know how you’ll react under pressure."
"I already reacted during the previous attack."
"You used the building as an advantage."
"That’s also part of combat."
"In open terrain you won’t have that option."
Iris crossed her arms.
"I would create my own obstacles."
The tension rose again and Noah positioned himself between them.
"You’re both right."
Luna and Iris looked at him, but Noah continued before they could ask.
"Iris is good at modifying the terrain, but Luna is right that she still needs to test her abilities under different conditions."
Yume raised a hand.
"I think it was really impressive."
Iris looked at her.
"Thank you."
Yume smiled and Noah thought that at least one of the interactions had gone well.