The final group test was the hardest one yet.

Selene had reconfigured the training hall into a multi-stage gauntlet — three connected zones, each with different challenges. Zone one was a formation puzzle: a locked energy barrier that the team had to solve together to open. Zone two was a combat section with moving formation targets that fired back. Zone three was a pressure chamber where the environmental resistance increased every ten seconds until the team couldn’t hold it anymore.

Same teams as before. Same energy links. But this time, Selene had added one rule: the team’s final score was based on their weakest member’s performance, not their average.

Ren understood immediately what that meant. It didn’t matter how well he or Iris performed if Lyra’s reserves ran dry halfway through.

From the look on Iris’s face, she had figured that out too.

— • —

They huddled briefly before the start. Iris spoke first, her voice low and efficient.

"The scoring is designed to test whether we protect our weakest link or leave them behind. Moonwhisper, your reserves are going to be the limiting factor in zone three. We need to get through zones one and two as fast as possible so you have more energy left for the pressure chamber."

It was blunt. It was also true. Lyra’s jaw tightened, but she nodded. She wasn’t the type to pretend she didn’t have a problem.

"I’ll handle zone one," Iris continued. "Formation puzzles are pattern work. That’s my strength. Valis, you take point in zone two — you’re fastest at adapting to combat under pressure. Moonwhisper, conserve everything you can through the first two zones. We need you at your best for zone three."

Ren looked at Lyra. "Stay behind me in zone two. I’ll handle the targets. You focus on keeping the link stable and saving your energy."

Lyra hesitated. He could see the pride fighting the practicality in her expression — she didn’t want to be carried, didn’t want to be the person everyone worked around. But she was smart enough to know the math.

"Okay," she said quietly. "But if you need help, I’m not going to stand there and watch."

"Deal," Ren said.

The timer started.

— • —

Zone one went fast. Iris solved the formation puzzle in under two minutes, her fingers moving across the barrier’s energy patterns with the kind of precision that came from years of studying things most people found boring. Ren and Lyra held the link steady while she worked, feeding her a clean energy channel to pull from. The barrier dropped and they moved through.

Zone two was rougher. Formation targets came from three directions — floor, walls, and ceiling. They fired small energy bursts that stung on contact and disrupted the link if they hit directly. Ren took point and moved through the section the way he’d learned in the Hollowroot Realm — reading the space, finding the gaps, clearing threats before they reached the others.

Behind him, Lyra kept the link clean. She wasn’t fighting and she wasn’t flashy, but the connection between the three of them stayed rock-solid because she was pouring all her concentration into it. Iris covered the flanks, striking down targets with short, precise bursts of energy.

They cleared zone two with only one link wobble, which Lyra caught and smoothed out before it could break.

Then they entered zone three.

— • —

The pressure chamber hit them immediately. A constant force pushing down on their bodies and their energy, like trying to walk through water that was getting thicker every few seconds. The first ten seconds were manageable. The second ten were uncomfortable. By thirty seconds, Ren could feel the resistance pressing against his root channels.

Lyra was struggling. He could feel it through the link — her energy thinning out, the same problem as always. Her control was excellent, her output steady, but there simply wasn’t enough behind it to sustain under this kind of pressure. She had maybe another thirty seconds before the link started to fail.

Iris was holding, but barely. Her precision kept her efficient, but the chamber didn’t care about precision. It cared about raw endurance, and endurance cost reserves.

Ren made a decision. Quietly, through the energy link, he shifted his output. Instead of channeling all his energy into resisting the pressure himself, he redirected part of it toward Lyra’s thread — a thin, steady stream of support energy, flowing from his reserves into hers. Enough to buy her another twenty seconds. Not so much that it looked like he was carrying her.

Lyra felt it. He could tell because her thread steadied and her breathing evened out. She glanced at him — a quick look, surprised and warm — and then she turned back to the challenge and kept going.

She didn’t say thank you. She didn’t need to. The look was enough.

On the other side, Iris was watching. She had felt the energy shift through the link — there was no way to hide it when all three of them were connected. She knew exactly what Ren had just done: sacrificed part of his own score to prop up the team’s weakest member, because the scoring punished the weakest, not the average.

It was the smart play. It was also the kind play. And Iris, for all her sharp edges, knew the difference.

They held for sixty-two seconds before the pressure overwhelmed Lyra’s reserves and the link collapsed. Selene called time. The team stepped out of the chamber breathing hard, their energy links dark.

It was the highest team score of the assessment.

— • —

Afterward, Lyra found Ren by the water station. Her face was flushed and tired, but her eyes were bright.

"You fed me energy in the pressure chamber," she said. Not a question.

"A little."

"It wasn’t a little. It was exactly enough to keep me going for another twenty seconds without making it look obvious." She tilted her head. "You calculated it, didn’t you?"

Ren shrugged. "I’m good at math."

Lyra laughed. The same small, surprised sound from that first day after the breathing tip — like she still wasn’t used to someone helping without wanting something in return. Then she stepped a little closer and said, quietly enough that only he could hear, "You know, most people who help me try to make sure I know I owe them something. You never do that."

Ren didn’t know what to say to that, so he said nothing. Lyra smiled at him — warm, real, the kind of smile that was starting to make it harder to remember why keeping his distance was the smart move — and walked away.

Kaia pulsed gently. Warm.

A few minutes later, Iris stopped by his desk to pick up her bag. She didn’t sit down. She didn’t make small talk. She just stood there for a moment, adjusting the strap on her shoulder, and said, "That was good tactical thinking in the pressure chamber. The energy redirection was precise. Better than anything I’ve seen from a student at our level."

She paused, then added, "I still think you’re hiding something, Valis. But whatever it is, you use it well."

Then she left.

Ren sat at his desk for a moment, staring at the empty doorway.

Two girls. Two completely different reactions to the same person. Lyra saw someone who helped without asking for anything back, and it made her want to get closer. Iris saw someone whose abilities didn’t match his background, and it made her respect him despite her suspicion.

Both of them were getting harder to keep at arm’s length.

’This is going to be a problem,’ Ren thought.

He picked up his bag and headed home. Tomorrow was the final trial. The assessment was almost over.

— • —

Author’s Note: Both romance tracks took a step forward this Chapter — warmth from Lyra, grudging respect from Iris. The assessment reaches its climax next Chapter. Thanks for reading!