(Opening Scene: The Lumina Academy training grounds are bustling with activity. Students practice spellcasting, weapon techniques, and various forms of magical combat. Zane and Astrid stand at the edge of one of the open training fields, a sense of renewed purpose in their eyes.)
Having shared their secrets and found a measure of understanding, Zane and Astrid decided to explore the extent of their current abilities. The headmaster had given them leave to train while the remaining applicants continued their entry tests. A palpable energy thrummed in the air around them, the combined magical potential of the academy's hopefuls.
"Ready to see what we can do?" Astrid asked, a spark of excitement in her stormy eyes. The revelation of her inner struggle seemed to have invigorated her, a sense of not having to hide a part of herself anymore.
Zane nodded, a similar sense of anticipation stirring within him. He was eager to test the enhanced connection to the void he now possessed. "You first," he offered.
Astrid stepped forward, facing a series of training dummies. She focused, and the air around her began to crackle with energy. With precise movements, she summoned gusts of wind that buffeted the dummies, followed by bolts of lightning that struck with controlled fury, leaving scorch marks on their surfaces. Her control seemed sharper, her power more readily accessible.
Then it was Zane's turn. He focused, summoning the familiar darkness within him. He willed the Null Blade to form, the obsidian steel solidifying in his hand. He then focused on the shattered form he had briefly commanded in the arena. With a thought, the blade dissolved into countless shards of shadow, but this time, they didn't feel wild and uncontrollable. They danced around him, a swirling vortex of sharpened darkness, responding to his mental commands with newfound precision.
"This…" Zane murmured, a sense of awe washing over him. "I can control them now." He mentally directed the shards, sending them darting and weaving through the air, striking targets with pinpoint accuracy before reforming into the Null Blade. "Shadow Storm," he decided to call this amplified form.
As he experimented with the Shadow Storm, a new sensation bloomed within him, a focused point of intense void energy. It felt different from the pervasive darkness he usually commanded, a concentrated strike waiting to be unleashed. An instinct told him it was potent but limited.
He focused on one of the training dummies, visualizing his void energy bypassing its physical form, striking its… shadow. With a mental command, the focused energy erupted from him, a silent, invisible strike that passed through the dummy's solid frame. A moment later, a deep fissure appeared in the dummy's shadow on the ground, and a corresponding crack split the dummy itself.
"What was that?" Astrid exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise. She hadn't seen any visible attack.
Zane was equally surprised. "I… I don't know. It felt like… striking its shadow. Bypassing its defense." A realization dawned on him. "Shadow Strike," he murmured. But the energy felt depleted, the focused point gone. An intuitive sense told him it was an ability he could only use once a day.
He explained what he had felt to Astrid, the sensation of striking something beyond the physical. They both marveled at this new, mysterious ability. The events of the entry test had not only secured their place at Lumina Academy but had also unlocked new and formidable aspects of their powers.