The next night, the Seal spread its silence around us, thick as the frost threading across the walls. The desk looked abandoned, papers scattered in messy stacks, forgotten in the urgency of what loomed ahead. Across the far wall, Wintermere pulsed faintly blue. Halven stood inside his icy prison. His hand pressed flat against the frozen surface of the wall, his face serene as though sleep had taken him, but the stillness clawed at me.

We gathered in a half circle before the elders, to include Yukari.

Isa’s presence carried authority as it always had, but tonight her voice stayed steady only through effort.

“Tonight we attempt what has failed before. Fusion to keep the lake stable. Binding to return the entities to their prison. But first, the Transmutation. The increased power will give us what we need to maintain the spell and keep the entities from attacking us.”

Her words scraped like stone across the chamber. None of us had been told who would give themselves. Tension pulled tight through the group. Shara’s eyes darted to Veyn, her body taut with fear she could not disguise. Rielle fixed her gaze on Halven’s frozen form, refusing to look at Neir though his nearness pressed heavy around her. Ardorion shifted with restless energy, as though even he had nothing light enough to break the moment. I crossed my arms over my armor, jaw tight, more ready than any of them to end this and bring Halven back.

Then I could leave and put as much distance between Orivian and me as possible.

Even now he crowded me. His posture held defiance as always, but the bond between us pulled like a chain I despised. The nearness of him prickled beneath my skin, unwanted yet impossible to ignore.

The chamber did not belong to us alone. Lo and Elio lingered near the back, their silence an odd contrast to their usual banter. And Aster held herself apart, unease etched in her stillness. The was all of us, the students who completed the semicircle before Isa, bound together by what was about to be demanded.

Isa let the silence linger. “Now you know the order. But not the one who gives up their life tonight.”

Air thinned, tension pressing like steel.

Yukari stepped forward. Her body blurred at the edges, silvery-blue mist unraveling from her arms before drawing back again. Her hair drifted like water pulled by unseen tides, streaked with white, glimmering with diamond ice crystals. Her eyes, cold blue and luminous, swept across us. “It is me. I will be the one Transmutated.”

The words carved into the chamber like a blade. Relief cracked through Shara’s face, guilt shadowing it at once. Rielle’s shoulders sagged with something between grief and release. For me, there was no such conflict. If it was her, so be it. She was not one of us. She was not Halven. That was enough.

Elio stumbled forward, his voice breaking. “I don’t know about anyone else, but Transmutating a person is a lot different than a plant. You cannot ask us to kill you, or anyone.”

Who says?

Yukari’s mouth curved, humor edged with pity. “While I appreciate your honorable nature, dragon, I am not asking. I’m telling you. My hands have ended more lives than all the combined years you all have been alive. A thousand times over. Whole villages destroyed under my command. Minds broken while they begged for death. Some deserved it. Many did not.”

The chamber swallowed her words, silence thick and heavy. The others shrank beneath the truth of what she confessed. Only I understood the weight of war, of hate, of death, and the certainty that some blood could not be cleansed. What she described was not foreign to me.

Her voice deepened, threaded with centuries of shadow. “That debt binds me more tightly than any chain. Tonight, it ends with me. Tonight, I begin my redemption before seeking it in the eight hells.”

The others wavered, unsure if they could end her. I did not. Her choice stripped away doubt. One death for thousands saved. There was no clearer balance than that.

Her gaze lifted to Isa, eyes gleaming with frozen fire. “When the Transmutation is done, Neir, Rielle, and Aster will need to bind what remains of me into Isa. Once complete, Isa will have access to my energy to use in the Binding of the entities to the lake.”

Isa inclined her head, her face unreadable.

Yukari’s body flickered, mist unraveling from her shoulders before pulling back into her form. “This is how you will save everyone, so don’t weep for my corrupted soul.”

No worries, I won’t.

We closed the circle around Yukari where she knelt, mist curling at her edges, her form already blurring as if she had begun to loosen from herself.

Isa raised her hands, her voice carrying. “Find your element within her. Draw all of it free.”

I reached for Metal, steady as ever. Unlike some of the others, I did not need to wrestle to find it in this creature made of water and ice. Metal lived in every body, iron or copper threading through blood depending on the creature, minerals buried in marrow, hidden strength beneath soft flesh. She carried it too, no matter how much Winter claimed her veins. The elements were mine to take.

I sank into it, pulling the trace of ore from her, cold and unyielding. The strands answered quickly, hard and bright, bending into the circle with ease. Where Ardorion clawed for sparks and Shara tangled with her web of roots, I cut clean through to what was always there. Metal had no illusions. It was the marrow of life, and tonight it belonged to us.

Light gathered, threads weaving from every side. Rielle’s magic faltered, wavering until Neir steadied her again. Shara clenched her firsts, torn between guilt and duty. Ardorion strained against the task, fire clawing for purchase where none belonged, his jaw locked in determination. I did not waver. Halven’s frozen hand on the wall fixed my resolve. He was the reason for this. Nothing else mattered.

Yukari’s body began to unweave, strands of water, shadow, and light dissolving into the ring. Her face softened, as if peace had finally found her. Eyes closed, she gave herself over without struggle.

The plant in training had been empty. This carried mind. Each thread sang with memory, with knowledge of centuries of destruction. I did not flinch from the existence of so much life. Metal carried the truth of endings as well as beginnings.

Her edges thinned, unraveling fully. Mist curled, then brilliance overtook her. Every last strand slipped free until only a mass of raw, seething energy mist hovered in her place.

Power rushed through the circle, hard and bright, dangerous enough to break us apart. My stance held firm. This would save Halven. That was all I required.

The chamber shook with the energy Yukari had become, thrashing like a storm ripped from the sky. Strands of brilliance lashed in every direction, threatening to scatter and undo everything we had done.

Isa strode forward, her jaw tight, shoulders straining under the force pressing against her. “Now. Bind it to me, to my center in my womb.”

Neir’s hand went up, Rielle and Aster’s following. Silver, blue, and lavender currents poured into Isa’s body, a braid of power anchoring the chaos. The sight should’ve been beautiful, but it churned like metal warping in a forge. My own magic hummed sharp in response, ready to lash if anything went wrong.

Rielle’s words wavered as she spoke her intentions with the others. “We bind what remains of Yukari into Isa, so her power may guard Wintermere.”

Neir’s voice was solid and unshakable. The magic slammed into Isa, dragging Yukari’s essence straight into her core. She screamed, body folding, but she didn’t fall. Light pulsed in her abdomen, steady and alive, like some cursed brand burning itself into her. The storm fell quiet. Trapped in her.

I flexed my hands, the need to tear Yukari free biting through me. Instead, I stood still, watching Isa hold what no one else could. Whatever Isa had become, none of us would ever match it.

Isa crossed to Halven’s frozen prison with Neir and Veyn at her sides. The rest of us spread along the wall, hands poised for what came next.

Elio pressed his palm to the ice. I set mine over his, his skin hot against mine.

“If this works, if we save Halven, I want to leave tonight,” I said to him, keeping my voice low.

His gaze searched mine. “Are you sure, Garnexis? If you were mine, I would ensure you were cherished.”

I understood the offer said between his words. A flicker of bitterness struck deep. If fate had given me the bond with him, I would have welcomed it.

Elio, steadfast, strong, not one who would have hidden me away as something shameful. I cursed the gods for binding me to Orivian, cursed them for every twisted thread they had spun into my life. Then I shoved the thought aside and braced for the spell.

“I’m not changing my mind.”

He nodded, but his lips thinned.

Softer, I said, “Thank you.”

“Begin Ardorion and Aster.” Isa’s command rolled through the chamber.

Their Fusion rattled Wintermere, fire and water colliding until cracks split across the ice. The same breaking that had nearly undone us before.

Then Isa blazed. Yukari’s energy coursed through her, the brilliance devouring every shadow. Wind roared through the chamber, shredding across us, until her command broke through the storm. “Begin the Binding spell.”

Elio’s magic surged steady, carrying mine with it with our shared whispered intention. Metal joined to his strength, the iron in blood and bone threading into the wall. My focus locked on his, steady as the earth itself, until our strands hurled into the greater spell Veyn anchored.

The entities howled, rage clawing through the ice, pressing against our magic, but their fury no longer carried the same force. I pressed harder, driving everything I carried into the barrier, letting Elio pull me into his rhythm as he anchored our magic in the elements.

Isa’s glow tore into Wintermere, Yukari’s power burning like a beacon through her body. The entities faltered. Their cries cracked, weakened, then dwindled to silence. The fractures closed, luminous frost sealing over them, until the chamber shook with stillness.

Neir pressed his hand to the wall, his spell sinking beyond reach. Behind closed eyes he continuously spoke his spell, something my magic couldn’t read. Then the silence deepened. The entities had been put to sleep.

Our magic dissolved, coming back to each of us, and the Seal remained bright as Isa and Veyn turned their magic to Halven’s prison. The ice unraveled their previous Binding spell, streams of water coursing to the floor. Halven collapsed free of it, body slack, but life stirred in him.

Victory surged through the chamber.

Veyn steadied Halven first, hauling him upright with a clasp of hands that spoke of bonds older than this Academy. Lo barreled into him next, lips pressed to his, arms locked around his waist. Elio joined, his laughter cracking through the heaviness as he clasped Halven’s shoulder.

I was happy but my jaw tightened. Fate would never grant me the bond I wanted, never free me from the one I despised. Yet Halven stood alive before me, his breath stirring with his renewed life. That was enough. Whatever else haunted me, tonight we had saved him.

Ardorion’s embrace landed on Halven with the noise of brotherhood, his voice booming through the chamber. “Missed you, bro. Don’t do that again unless you want me to replace you as captain of our bro squad.”

Halven’s lips curved faintly, his voice rasping through the stillness. “Thanks.”

Every gaze sharpened at that single word. Then his eyes lifted, meeting each of us. When they landed on me, he held steady. A nod passed between us, simple and quiet, but it settled the last thing I had come here to do. He knew I had stood with him tonight. That knowledge would matter later when he wondered why I was gone.

Shara caught his hand next, her grip firm, anchoring him beside Lo. Rielle hung back with me, tears streaking her cheeks, but Neir stood to her other side.

The chamber rang with Halven’s laugh, hoarse but alive, as Elio grinned. “You’d better start studying tonight if you want to pass finals.”

Laughter tangled with sobs, breaking the room open. Relief and grief crashed together until even the air trembled with it. For me, the sound carried no ease. My task was finished. I had been here when it mattered. Now I could leave.

My gaze snagged on Orivian. He stared at me, pride and challenge simmering in his eyes. My jaw tightened. That stare alone reminded me why I could not stay. The gods had chained me to him, but I would not let them bind the rest of my life. When his attention shifted away, I edged deeper into the shadows, slipping where he would not find me unless he turned.

Isa’s voice lifted above the murmur. “The lake remembers what you’ve done for Nythral. And it always will. You should feel proud of what you’ve accomplished here, Docilis. I know I do.”

All eyes fixed forward, every face turned to her and Halven. Mine did not. I crossed the threshold out of the chamber, already counting the steps back to my tower, to the bag waiting to take me far from here.

Ardorion’s voice was the last one I heard. “Hear that, bro? We’re legends now.”