Oraya returns to the palace through a rare, violent rainstorm after slipping out into the city. She climbs back into her high chamber soaked, hides the blood on her body with a robe, and is nearly caught by Vincent arriving moments later. Vincent notices the state of her room and her wet appearance, and their usual sharp banter quickly gives way to the shared fear neither of them wants to name: the Kejari is close, and danger is also building beyond the tournament in conflicts involving the Rishan and the House of Blood.

Although Vincent denies those wider political threats directly, Oraya reads his silence and realizes her suspicions are correct. Vincent redirects them to training, insisting that her preparation matters more than discussing enemies he cannot eliminate tonight. His urgency shows how high the stakes have become for Oraya, whose only hope of freedom in a world built to destroy humans is to survive and win the goddess Nyaxia’s tournament.

In the training ring, Vincent pushes Oraya harder than usual. He attacks with relentless speed and uses not only his blade and physical strength but also his wings and magic, effectively forcing Oraya to face what it would feel like to fight a powerful vampire who truly wants her dead. Despite exhaustion from her earlier fight and the injury on her arm, Oraya keeps adapting until she finally traps Vincent against the wall and symbolically kills him with her blade at his chest.

Vincent reminds Oraya that he could still have used Asteris, his devastating star-born magic, and the exchange forces Oraya to confront one of her deepest insecurities: she lacks the magical power that many vampire competitors will possess. She pushes that doubt aside, insisting that speed and ruthlessness can still win. Their closeness during the spar also underscores a rare exception in Oraya’s life: Vincent is the only vampire she fully trusts, the one person who has trained her to distrust everyone else while never betraying her himself.

After the match, Vincent warns Oraya that bleeding inside the Kejari will be especially dangerous, revealing how worried he is beneath his controlled exterior. As Oraya recovers, she reflects on the House of Night’s brutal history, the long war between Hiaj and Rishan vampires, and Vincent’s status as king and marked heir. Vincent then tells her that the full moon is approaching and Nyaxia may begin the Kejari at any unexpected moment. Remembering that Vincent himself won the tournament two hundred years earlier, Oraya steels herself to do the same, and Vincent sends her to dress so they can go assess her competition.