The first year at Mythos Academy had come to an end.
Nine months. Nearly an entire year in this world.
The time had slipped past faster than I ever could have anticipated.
When I first arrived here, reality had been a weight pressing down on me—a world brimming with prodigies, monstrous talents who outstripped me in every conceivable way. Power, influence, resources, experience—I had none of it. Not compared to them. I had to be careful. I had to be smart. I had to survive.
But now?
I hadn't just caught up.
I had surpassed them.
Lucifer. Ren. Cecilia. Rachel. Jin. Ian. Seraphina. The others.
Every single one of them had been ahead of me when I first arrived. Now, I stood at the peak of my year.
But it wasn't enough.
Not nearly enough.
Strength was a fleeting thing in this world, a transient moment between one struggle and the next. If I stopped pushing forward, I would be left behind. And that was unacceptable.
