The drones activated with a sharp whir, their etallic eyes log onto Aria and her beast. Red targeting lights flickered across the room, sing for movement.

  Aria tensed. She had no time to hesitate.

  The first drone lunged. It was small but fast, its thial frame darting toward her beast with a spinning bde attat.

  Her serpeed instantly.

  With a sharp hiss, it twisted its body, coiling to evade the attack. The drone barely missed, its bde slig through empty air before it corrected course.

  Aria’s mind raced. Meical beasts weren’t instinct-driven—they needed ands, tactics, precision.

  "terattack!" she ordered.

  Her serpent's e eyes fred. Its body coiled tighter before snapping forward like a steel whip.

  CRACK!

  The impact sent the drone skidding across the floor, sparks flying from its frame. The force was enough to knock it back—but not enough to destroy it.

  Seleched from the side, arms crossed. Her expression gave nothing away.

  "Too weak," she said. "Again."

  Aria gritted her teeth. She had never trolled a meical beast before. Unlike biological creatures, which relied on natural instincts, this one required direct strategy.

  She forced herself to focus.

  The drone was rec, its core still intact. It didn’t feel pain—only the o plete its fun.

  Aria’s fingers ched into fists. Efficy… If this were a real battle, a sed ce would.

  "Crush it before it stabilizes!"

  Her serpent obeyed instantly. This time, it lunged forward, pting shifting as its tail end sharpened into a spear-like point.

  WHAM!

  The strike pierced the drone's core, shattering it in an instant. The mae whined before its lights flickered out, its frame slumping lifelessly.

  Victory.

  But Aria barely had time to process it.

  Because two more drones dropped from the ceiling.

  She stepped ba instinct—then stopped herself.

  No. Hesitation was weakness.

  Selene's voice cut through the tension. "The battle doesn’t wait for you to breathe, Aria."

  The first new drone fired a pulse round, a small but fast-moving energy shot.

  Aria barely reacted in time. "Dodge left!"

  Her serpent whipped its body sideways, the pulse skimming past its pting. A near miss—but still close.

  Aria ched her jaw. That was sloppy.

  Selene sighed. "You’re not trolling it properly."

  Aria’s frustration spiked. "Then what do I do?"

  Selene’s gaze pierced straight through her. "You’re treating it like a pet."

  Aria froze.

  Selene tinued. "Biological beasts uaion. They bond with feeling. Meical beasts don’t care about your emotions."

  She gestured to Aria’s serpent. "What’s its fun?"

  Aria hesitated. "It… fights?"

  "Wrong."

  Seleone was sharp. Unyielding.

  "A biological beast fights because it wants to protect, survive, or serve. But a meical beast fights because it is built to fight."

  Aria’s heart pounded. She uood now.

  A meical beast wasn’t something she could and through willpower alo needed clear, structured orders.

  Cold logic. Calcuted precision.

  She exhaled, f her mind into a calmer state.

  ion. Not instinct.

  Fun.

  Her serpent stood still, awaiting input.

  The sed drone moved—this time lunging directly at Aria.

  A direct assault. If she moved too te, she’d take the hit herself.

  Her body screamed at her to dodge. But her mind was clear now.

  "Intercept. Cmp. Crush."

  Her beast moved instantly.

  The serpent shed forward, its pted jaws log onto the drone’s body mid-air.

  A meical whir echoed through the chamber as the serpent’s fangs tightened—metal grinding against metal. The droruggled for a sed.

  Then—CRACK.

  Its frame buckled.

  The light in its eyes died.

  Silence followed.

  Selene nodded approvingly. "Better."

  The remaining drone fled backward, reassessing the situation. But Aria’s mind had already caught up.

  "Pinpoint its core," she anded.

  Her serpent sed instantly. A faint e flicker appeared in its vision—a ot.

  "Eliminate."

  ation. No wasted movement.

  The serpent struck.

  A perfect kill.

  The final drone colpsed, its power core pierced through ly.

  A sharp beep echoed through the room.

  The test was over.

  Aria exhaled deeply, her heart still pounding from the rush. But this time, it wasn’t from panic.

  It was from crity.

  Selene walked forward, stopping in front of her. Their eyes met.

  "Now you uand," Selene said.

  Aria nodded, feeling t

  he weight of the lesson.

  She wasn’t just a tamer. She was the operator of a mae built for war.

  And she had to be its pilot, not its passenger.