Chapter 173. How Does Someone Have This Much Energy After Weeks of Hell
Her voice was calm but carried effortlessly across the distance between them. The students paused mid-retreat, glancing back at her, but she kept her focus entirely on him.
She stepped away from the pillar, the paperwork shifting in her grip as she walked closer, though she maintained a respectful distance.
"You think you’re the only one who noticed?" she asked, her voice softening as she approached. "The students are running on fumes."
"They’re moving like automatons because they’re terrified of making a mistake... Even when they’re standing still, they’re braced for an attack that isn’t coming."
She paused, her gaze dropping for a fraction of a second before meeting his again. "And honestly?"
"I can’t get a single line of these reports written..." Catherine sighed. "Every time I pick up a pen, my eyes wander back here."
"I find myself watching them, waiting for the next crisis, and maybe... waiting for the next scream." A wry, almost apologetic smile touched her lips. "I can’t focus on the bureaucracy when the people behind it are crumbling."
She took another step, lowering her voice so only he could hear the genuine sympathy underneath her professional tone. "I know you need this more than any of them."
"I know what last night took out of you." Her eyes flickered briefly downward, acknowledging the unspoken truth of their shared intensity, before snapping back to his. "So let them rest."
"Let you rest... The paperwork can wait, and hopefully... the world won’t end if we stop fighting for twelve hours."
’She sees everything,’ William thought, a bitter laugh echoing in the back of his mind. ’Every muscle spasm, every lie, every moment of weakness...’
’And somehow, she makes it feel like strength instead...’
William drew a breath, the cool morning air feeling like glass against his lungs as he fought to suppress another involuntary spasm in his lower back. He needed to end this before his composure crumbled entirely.
He needed to send them away before they saw the sweat beading on his forehead from sheer pain tolerance.
"I want everyone to remember something today," he said, forcing his voice to carry that familiar, commanding lightness, even as his inner monologue was a chorus of curses. "And I want you to hear it clearly."
William’s students stopped in their tracks. The air between them crackled with residual suspicion, but they listened.
"You’re not just soldiers, or students, or whatever fucking title this academy wants to slap on your files to make you feel like assets in a ledger," William continued, his gaze sweeping across each of them: Ellie’s confusion, Clara’s anxiety, and Kaela’s defiance. "Your people... well, duh... are human... wait... mortal beings!"
"And sometimes, mortal beings need a day where their only goddamn job is simply existing." William crossed his arms. "No blades, no strategies, and no anticipating death around every corner, but just... being."
He offered a rare, genuine smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes because his eyes were too busy tracking the fire spreading through his hips, but it was sincere enough. "So go... Be people."
"Go eat something that doesn’t taste like iron and gunpowder."
"Sleep until your brains feel soft again, and I’ll see all of you... tomorrow."
"Wait, Catherine!"
The shout came from Kaela, who had already turned halfway toward the barracks. The group swerved back like a school of fish startled by a predator.
Kaela pointed toward Catherine, who was still standing by the pillar, the paperwork now forgotten at her side.
"What did she mean by that?" Kaela demanded, her voice echoing off the training ground walls. "That ’people’ bullshit? Is she saying we’re incompetent?!"
"That we’re too weak to handle the schedule? Because if she’s implying we can’t maintain discipline--"
"Kaela, shut up," Lia interrupted, though she too looked toward Catherine with obvious curiosity. "She’s not saying you’re weak."
"She’s saying what William said... We’re exhausted."
"I’m not saying anything about incompetence," Catherine called back, her voice amused but firm.
She raised one hand in a dismissive wave, the sunlight catching the silver rings on her fingers. "I’m saying that even the sharpest blade dulls if you never stop cutting."
"I’m not implying anything other than the fact that we all deserve a moment to breathe without checking our six."
"Now, go. Before I change my mind and assign you three hours of filing."
The students exchanged glances, some relieved, some still deeply unsettled by the sudden absence of structure, but the spell of the ’rest day’ finally held. One by one, they began to retreat, their voices fading into murmurs of planning their escape from the academy walls.
William watched them go, feeling a profound sense of relief. It was a nice sentiment. He believed it with every fiber of his being.
Standing there in the golden morning light, watching them walk away from the violence and the drills, he felt a rare moment of peace. He had given them something precious: the permission to be vulnerable.
He turned his head toward Catherine, wanting to share a private moment of acknowledgment, a silent ’thank you’ for her understanding.
He had absolutely no idea, in that moment, how violently one of them was about to shatter that peace. He had no idea that the fragile calm he had just orchestrated was about to be torn apart by something far more brutal than any training exercise.
...
Kaela’s version of "doing absolutely nothing" lasted exactly as long as it took her to complete thirty paces from the training ground to the treeline at the edge of the academy grounds.
The moment the students were out of William’s direct line of sight, the relaxed posture she had been performing evaporated, replaced by a coiled, predatory tension.
"We’re hunting," she announced, not to anyone in particular, but to the universe itself.
She began striding toward the forest path with the kind of aggressive, purposeful energy that suggested this decision had been hardwired into her brain somewhere around the third sentence of William’s speech; it had simply been waiting for the legal permission to become official.
Clara, who was trudging along a few steps behind with her journal tucked protectively under one arm like a shield, gave her a long, sideways look that screamed weary exasperation. "Kaela, we need to stop."
"We literally just got told to stop by Instructor Wade... and you DO realize that ’hunting’ is generally classified as strenuous physical labor, right?" Clara sighed. "It’s work... Actual work."
Kaela didn’t even slow down; she just waved a dismissive hand behind her as if swatting away a particularly annoying fly. "Not if you’re not getting graded on it, nerd."
"That’s the entire fucking difference."
"It’s still dangerous," Clara countered, stepping over a twisted root while trying to maintain her dignity. "And we’re supposed to be resting our muscles, not engaging in potential life-or-death combat scenarios."
"Exactly!" Kaela spun around to face Clara while still walking backward with terrifying agility, a feral grin splitting her face. "No Instructor Wade lurking in the bushes with a stopwatch, no points being deducted for ’excessive force,’ and absolutely no three-hour lectures afterward about how my footwork was sloppy or how I didn’t consider the wind direction!"
"No consequences, Clara~! Just me, whatever stupid, brainless thing is dumb enough to wander into my path, and a nice, quiet morning of violence."
’God, she’s insufferable,’ Clara thought, rubbing her temples. ’We’re supposed to be relaxing, and she’s already mentally picking out which monster she’s going to gut first.’
’How does someone have this much energy after weeks of hell?’
"You’re going to get us killed, or worse, you’re going to get us sent back to the barracks for disciplinary action before noon," Clara muttered, though she didn’t actually turn around to leave.
"Relax," Kaela laughed, the sound sharp and hungry. "Besides, if we run into something big, we’ll just call it ’unplanned field research.’"
"Now come on, move those legs! The forest isn’t going to slaughter itself!"