The next morning, Css Verde assembled in front of the Dome of Echoes a massive silver hemisphere embedded in the academy’s north field. Its surface shimmered with shifting colors as power currents ran through its alloy shell. It was the academy’s most advanced training chamber: half simution, half solid holographic manipution, where real pain taught real lessons.

  Instructor Veyra stood at the gate, holding a tablet. “Combat Training, Phase One. Objectives: teamwork under pressure, assessment of power control, and response to enemy hostility. You will be pced in randomized squads. Injuries are real. Death is not. Failures will be recorded.”

  The door irised open.

  Inside, the Dome of Echoes transformed trees erupted from synthetic ground, buildings twisted into ruins, smoke curled in the air. It was a city battlefield mid-colpse. Aeria’s squad included Mirae, Harrow, and Zin. Not the most banced combination.

  “Begin.”

  Gunfire simutions started. Explosions rocked digital buildings. Drones shaped like insectoid monsters crawled from holes. Screams echoed from behind walls.

  Aeria immediately summoned a protective dome of vines and moss, wrapping it around a cornered group of bystanders. Mirae unched into the fray, igniting her arms in fme, incinerating enemies as she flipped over rubble.

  “Support me, green girl!” Mirae shouted.

  “I am!” Aeria barked, shoving healing spores into Harrow’s cracked shoulder. He grunted, nodded, and leapt forward using his gravity shift to hurl a car at an oncoming bot.

  Zin cracked a joke mid fight. “Could be worse. Could be finals.”

  The simution was relentless. By the end, three team members were down, Mirae was singed and limping, and Aeria’s hands trembled from overuse of healing power.

  “Passable,” Veyra said, checking the scoreboard. “But half of you would be corpses if this were live. Rest. Tomorrow squad reshuffle.”

  As they left the dome, Mirae scowled at Aeria. “You’re not a shield. You’re a teammate. Start hitting back.”

  Aeria didn’t respond. Her hands still glowed with post-heal warmth.

  She wasn’t sure yet if she could hurt to help.