CHAPTER 133: LESSON ONE, FLASH STEP

"You can take your time to read the scroll," Cecilia said, "but words on parchment are only an outline."

"Executioner’s Path is not just a list of movements. It is a philosophy, a rhythm of battle. And you must learn it from the ground up."

Noah gave a small nod. His shadows crowded closer, restless, as if they were just as eager to hear the truth behind this new way of killing.

Cecilia raised one hand, ticking a finger as she began. "Executioner’s Path has three steps. Three only. But each one must be mastered until it is instinct, not thought."

"Step one is called Entry." She began to pace, her boots scraping softly across the sand. "This is the beginning of every kill."

"Entry means you close the distance explosively, without hesitation, without warning, and without giving the opponent the space to mount a defense. If they have a weapon, they won’t have time to raise it. If they have a spell, they won’t be able to finish it. Entry is about erasing time from their options."

Noah’s eyes tracked her as she spoke. His heartbeat quickened. It was exactly the kind of speed and violence that sang in his bones.

Cecilia gestured at the hall. "You can achieve Entry in many ways. Use terrain, shadows, angles, distractions. Even the fall of rain or the bend of light. The environment is your ally if you are clever."

"But more than that, there is a special technique meant to enhance this very step. A technique I will teach you."

She stopped, turning to face him fully. "Flash Step."

Silence filled the air.

Cecilia went on, her expression hard. "It is an advanced movement. Not a spell, not a skill, but something different."

"It is raw mana ignited in your own body, focused only in the legs, to send you forward in a burst of speed so sudden that most foes cannot even see it coming. One moment you are there. The next, you are upon them."

She let the silence stretch, letting the idea sink in.

"Step two is Strike." Her hand curled into a fist. "This is where the battle should end. Strike means the opening blow you deliver is devastating."

"It should shatter the guard, cave the ribs, crush the skull. It is not a probing jab. It is not a test. Strike is death given shape. You’re aiming to kill. It’s as simple as that."

She lowered her hand. "If you are perfect, the fight ends here. But battles are not always perfect."

Her golden eyes gleamed with grim certainty. "That is why there is Step three. The Finisher. If your enemy survives your strike, if they stagger instead of fall, then you end them utterly. Break what cannot be repaired. Spine. Neck. Skull. Whatever is essential to make them live, destroy it."

Her voice had dropped lower, and was now colder. "The Executioner’s Path is not about elegance. It is about certainty. The wielder becomes a force that cannot be stopped, a storm of endings. On the battlefield, soldiers can brace against arrows, shields, even spells. But not against this. Not against you."

The shadows within Noah swelled at her words, hissing with delight. He felt his lips twitch, but he forced them flat.

"And so," Cecilia said, straightening once more, "we begin with Entry. We begin with Flash Step."

She gestured for Noah to follow her to the cleared center of the hall. Arlo and Damien paused in their spar to glance over, curiosity obvious, but Cecilia’s glance sent them back to their own drills.

Cecilia raised her hand, palm open, golden light sparking faintly along her fingertips. "Flash Step is not like casting a spell. It has no formation to control the flow of mana. That is why most people do not use it."

"Mana channeled without runes or structure is wasteful. It burns fast. Too fast. For ordinary mages, it empties their reserves before they can make extensive use of it."

Her eyes narrowed. "But you, Noah, are not ordinary. You have mana to spare. You can pay the price others cannot. Don’t try to deny it. You mastered a F-rank spell within minutes on the first day of school. That takes more than just F-rank mana capacity or magic control."

Noah’s heart thudded, but he neither confirmed nor denied. His shadows whispered hunger in his ears, calling for him to try it, to burn the world beneath his feet.

Cecilia crouched, one hand brushing her leg. "The technique is simple in principle. Ignite mana in the muscles of your legs, shaping it to explode forward."

"You are not lifting off the ground. You are accelerating along it. Think of it as striking the floor with mana instead of your heel. The release propels you forward like an arrow loosed from the string."

She demonstrated. Her figure blurred, golden light flaring briefly around her legs. In less than a blink she crossed the circle and reappeared five paces away, the sand scattering in her wake.

Noah’s eyes widened. There had been no preparation and no runes, nothing but motion.

"Do not overthink it," Cecilia said calmly, walking back. "But do not be reckless either. If you ignite too much mana, you will tear your muscles. If you misdirect it, you will stumble. Using the precise amount of mana is everything. Control the burn, control the burst."

She gestured to the circle. "Your turn."

Noah exhaled slowly, stepping into position. He bent his knees, closed his eyes for a moment and reached inward. His mana surged, ready to obey.

He focused it into his thighs, his calves, and his ankles. The shadows within him laughed, urging him to unleash it all, to burn bright. He ignored them.

Then he struck the ground.

The world blurred. For an instant, he felt weightless. The sand tore beneath his boots, spraying outward as his body shot forward like a dart loosed from a bow.

He stopped several paces from where he began, breathing hard, his cloak snapping around him.

His shadows roared with approval.

Cecilia’s eyes gleamed faintly. "Good. Again."

He did it again. And again. Each time, the burst carried him farther, faster. His muscles ached, his mana burned, but exhilaration hummed through him.

By the tenth attempt, sweat ran down his temples, and the sand was carved into grooves from his repeated bursts. His lungs burned, but he stood taller, the rhythm starting to feel like his own.

Cecilia nodded once. "You learn quickly. However, it still takes you a few seconds to activate Flash Step. You will keep practicing until it is instinctive."

Noah nodded, breathing hard.

"Flash Step will make your Entry unstoppable." Cecilia continued. "Once you master its use in combat, no one will be able to stop your advance. And when you strike, they will not have time to breathe."

Noah straightened, chest heaving, a faint grin ghosting his lips. His shadows whispered like a chorus in his ears, some laughing, some chanting his name, some screaming for blood.

"Yes," he murmured under his breath, more to them than to her. "This will do."

The golden eyed professor regarded him silently for a moment, then spoke. "Remember the order. Entry. Strike. Finisher. Drill them until they are instinct. For once you walk the Executioner’s Path, hesitation is death."

Noah lowered his gaze, his grin fading into something colder. "I don’t hesitate."

Cecilia only nodded, but there was a flicker in her eyes. Pride, perhaps. Or fear.