"Tch, so heavy."

Nova groaned under her breath, opening the bedroom door.

The large bed awaited them, and she shifted onto her back, still holding White, before free-falling and tossing him onto it.

"Ahhh,"

"Ahhh,"

She exhaled in exhaustion as she rose from the bed, her back groaning from carrying him and walking ceaselessly for twenty minutes.

Deciding to rest until the ache in her spine eased, she remained where she was, the room falling into silence as soft moonlight spilled in, drawing Nova’s attention.

She turned to the window where showers of moon rays poured in.

...bright moon,

...purple sky,

...blinking stars, with occasional shooting stars zipping around.

It created an inexplicable calm in her heart, one that remained until the realization hit her:

Just a few hours ago, she had come close to never seeing any of this again.

A voice in her tried to defend her actions.

’Heaven is a more beautiful place.’

It said, but a second voice replied.

’Mom gave you the Xcyber card, obviously hoping you would live, and you chose to die just a day after getting in.’

’If you went to heaven and found your mom and dad. Would they welcome you with open arms, or be disappointed that you suicided?’

This time, both her and the other voice were quiet.

In that moment, the words she had heard once resurfaced in her heart.

____

"You know what your parents would have wanted? It’s to see you grow. To live a good life, free without regrets."

____

How true those words were now.

She turned slightly behind her, observing him.

He was truly deep asleep, the sound of his soft breath echoing softly through the air, while a ray of moonlight quietly cast a line across his face.

The sight of him made her breath almost pause.

’He’s...changed.’

She thought to herself, moving closer to observe him.

His face was smoother; his hair having turned white enough to match the whiteness of her own hair.

Then was his well-defined physique, a complete Heaven and Earth difference from his previous lanky body, which she remembered.

All of that made Nova come to one conclusion.

"He’s evolved into the Star realm... So fast?"

She mused to herself, quiet shock in her eyes.

He’s growing incredibly fast... even abnormally fast.

But instead of jealousy, she smiled.

"You deserve it."

She had watched his fight during the test.

She had thought he would eventually sit her down and discuss how they would need to begin killing other trial takers since that seemed like the obvious way to get more points.

But what had he done?

Luring all beasts towards him with their corpses and ceaselessly fighting for three days straight.

While she had fought, got exhausted, then moved back to the encampment to rest, even choosing to sleep on the third night.

He had continued to fight.

She could remember those endless cuts, their claws tearing through his skin, the amount of blood he had lost, and yet he continued to fight.

Now that he was awakened, who could say he didn’t deserve it?

He had suffered more than any of them in the test.

He had lost his parents, too, like her.

Even if it wasn’t to a Supernatural, the truth was that he had also lost everything too in one night.

And he had been battered up by the beasts, just like she had in the hands of Rukun, though his was no doubt worse.

Yet, here he was, though exhausted but still breathing through it all.

Attending classes, coming to check up on her in the hospital, and dragging her out of her foolishness.

What moves him?

What was he planning to achieve that all of this pain wouldn’t even register in his mind?

There was no answer for that in her.

But so far as he existed, he would always be a living proof of going forward, even against enough pain to lose your mind.

She rose to her feet after, reaching for the bedroom door to leave, but she paused.

Quietly she turned once more to look at him, before flashing forward, reappearing before him.

Leaning down, she kissed his forehead, whispering a

"I’m sorry, and... thank you."

Only after did she rise up and finally exited his room, leaving only the sleeping White.

_______

The next morning...

"As much as our Xtremecyber Academy is a school focused more on the theoretical aspect of awakenings. We also understand a crucial fact."

The words echoed through the hall coming from a hefty looking instructor that towered as high as 2 meters in height.

He stood on a very large battle ring, dressed in a combat suit that revealed his powerful form, while around him were the various students, with most having sweat drip down their faces.

The man was exuding pressure on all of them from just standing there, refusing to reign in his aura like the rest of the instructors.

"And that crucial fact is that we all won’t be able to focus on understanding the theoretical aspect of awakenings if a supernatural’s claw is on our neck." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"For that reason, we have made it a necessary requirement!"

"Each one of you must possess more combat ability than the theoretical knowledge you will ever be learning here in Xtremecyber."

"The Training begins now!"

He said, with some students shifting uncomfortably in their seats while some were merely amused and a few even excited.

"We’ll start with having each of you duel the other."

He said and some of the students visibly swallowed while others grinned.

"Don’t grin just yet!"

The instructor said, a holograph opening before him.

"I have a list of each of your rankings in here, which should correlate to how much stronger you are."

"You all will be fighting someone either with the same strength as you, or with an ability that has been specially made to just be hellish for you."

He said and the hall fell silent.

The battle instructor chuckled evilly from the reaction, and in the next moment, his face hardened as he roared out

"Let’s begin!"