Chapter 65: Lines That Burn
The moonlight poured in through the open balcony of the upper dormitory tower, casting silver shadows across Cassandra Ikemba's room. The space was minimal, clinical—books in a single line on the shelf, sparring gear neatly folded, robes arranged with precision. A room of control.
But tonight, something was off.
Cassandra opened her eyes the moment the latch on her balcony clicked. Her breathing remained even, her body motionless beneath the sheet. She had sensed the aura the moment it entered the building.
It was Mira.
She didn't knock.
She didn't speak.
She crossed the room barefoot, aura suppressed, lips tight with internal conflict.
Cassandra sat up as Mira reached the bed.
"You've gone too far," Cassandra said calmly.
Mira's breathing was shallow. Her eyes held something frayed—obsession laced with hunger, admiration twisted into something darker.
"I just wanted to see for myself…" Mira whispered, almost reverently. "What it feels like. To touch someone like you."
Cassandra didn't move.
Mira leaned in anyway.
The kiss was fast, stolen—not passionate, not romantic, but desperate. Mira clung to the edge of control, as if proving something to herself.
And then—
She was thrown.
Cassandra's hand pressed against Mira's chest, and the moment contact was made, her Null Field flared—not in full bloom, but just enough to drain the soul energy Mira tried to build in instinctive defense.
"You think obsession is intimacy?" Cassandra's voice was razor-flat. "You thought I wouldn't react?"
Mira didn't speak. She didn't move. She just stared from where she knelt near the foot of the bed.
Then, something strange—her eyes shimmered slightly, not in fear, but awe.
"You've reached the 8th Spirit Cycle already," she said softly, stunned. "You… You didn't even tell anyone."
Cassandra stepped off the bed, robe falling around her shoulders. Her eyes—piercing and emotionless—never left Mira's.
"I don't owe the Soul Board anything," she said. "Least of all you."
Mira looked up, smiled faintly—unsteady, brittle.
"I wasn't afraid," she murmured. "I just… needed to know. What kind of person you were."
"You already knew," Cassandra replied coldly. "You just hoped I was like you."
Mira stood slowly, her composure shaken, but her spine held.
"I'll leave," she said quietly.
She turned without waiting for a reply, stepped through the balcony, and vanished into the night breeze.
Cassandra stood in silence for a long while.
Then whispered, "Fool."
She didn't lock the balcony door.
She didn't need to.
The message had already been sent.