There were no sounds coming from inside the infirmary.
Nothing like that.
Not at all.
Silence after sound.
Soren sat on a thin bed as a nurse put a generous amount of regenerative gel over the burns on his arms. His uniform sleeves had been removed to expose his bruised muscles, which were covered in areas of darker skin.
The nurse made a disapproving noise.
"You've really pushed yourself, haven't you?"
Soren shrugged his shoulders painfully.
"I've done better than this."
"That would be multiple energy burns," she said simply. "Along with the fractured rib."
She taped the gauze onto his arm.
"If you weren't an Enhancement Ego type, you'd still be out cold."
A little further away, Hizume had her hands folded against her chest, her eyes fixed intently.
"You should consider yourself lucky," she said.
Soren scoffed.
"Yeah. Lucky."
The doors slid open.
Kai walked into the room.
As soon as he saw Soren's injuries, his stomach clenched.
The burns.
The bruises.
The ripped uniform.
It was all his fault.
"I'm sorry," Kai said softly.
Soren did not reply right away.
The nurse completed her task and walked out of the room.
"Stay here for a while," she told him. "Try not to ruin another training ground today."
And then, she walked away without saying anything else.
The door closed.
The room fell silent once more.
Soren scratched the back of his neck.
"It's nothing," he mumbled.
Kai lowered his gaze.
"I couldn't control myself."
"Yeah," Soren said.
His tone of voice did not sound hostile.
Just tired.
"You did."
Hizume moved forward.
"I have viewed the recordings."
Kai felt tense.
"During the incident when you unleashed your ego… the entire arena floor collapsed."
She adjusted her glasses.
"I have never seen a technique act in such a way before."
Kai clutched his fists.
"I didn't want to do—"
"Relax," Soren cut him off.
He got up from the bed slowly.
"They were going after you."
He stretched his damaged hand.
"I intervened. That's all."
Kai met his eyes.
"You might have been killed."
Soren nodded.
"Perhaps."
But then he glanced at him.
"But I'm still alive, aren't I?"
Those were his last words.
The door opened again.
Kael Tenebris entered the room.
"Hizume. Soren."
His voice carried easily through the room.
"Leave."
Neither of them argued.
Tenebris' gaze moved to Kai.
"You."
Kai straightened instinctively.
"Come with me."
The Headmaster's office sat at the highest point of the academy.
A wide circular chamber overlooking the city.
Headmaster Caden Veylor stood behind a large wooden desk.
He didn't sit.
He simply watched Kai.
"So," Veylor said calmly.
"You are the one who shattered Arena Gamma."
Kai lowered his head.
"Yes, sir."
Tenebris stood silently beside him.
Veylor's eyes remained steady.
"Kael tells me you lost control."
Kai nodded.
"I did."
Veylor walked slowly around the desk.
"The force you released was… unusual."
He stopped in front of Kai.
"Not large."
A pause.
"Dense."
Kai looked up slightly.
"Sir?"
Veylor's expression remained unreadable.
"It did not spread outward like most Ego techniques."
He tapped the floor lightly with his cane.
"It folded inward."
Tenebris crossed his arms.
"That's what broke the arena."
Veylor studied Kai for a long moment.
"From this point forward, your training will change."
Kai felt his chest tighten.
"You will no longer attend standard combat classes."
Veylor turned toward Tenebris.
"He is your responsibility now."
Tenebris nodded once.
"Understood."
Veylor looked back at Kai.
"If you cannot learn control…"
His voice remained perfectly calm.
"You will not remain here."
Tenebris took him deep beneath the academy.
The training room was small.
Windowless.
Its walls were made of dark reinforced steel.
"Sit."
Kai obeyed.
Tenebris began walking slowly around him.
"You think your Ego is dangerous."
Kai nodded.
"Yes."
Tenebris stopped behind him.
"Wrong."
Kai blinked.
"Your Ego isn't the problem."
Tenebris leaned closer.
"Your fear is."
The room grew heavier.
Tenebris' presence pressed down on the air.
"Tell me," he said quietly.
"What happened the first time it awakened?"
Kai's hands trembled.
The memory surfaced immediately.
A narrow alley.
Rain.
A knife flashing in the dark.
His brother stepping in front of him.
And then—
Power.
Violent.
Uncontrolled.
Tenebris placed something in Kai's hands.
A small glass sphere.
"Hold that."
Kai looked down at it.
"If your Ego surges," Tenebris said, "it will break."
Kai swallowed.
The memory intensified.
The alley.
The attacker moving closer.
His brother shouting.
The pressure inside his body began rising again.
Silver Ego flickered across his skin.
CRACK.
The sphere shattered.
The illusion collapsed instantly.
The training room returned.
Tenebris stared at the broken glass.
"Not good enough."
Kai lowered his head.
Tenebris turned away.
"We'll repeat this tomorrow."
His voice carried no sympathy.
"And the day after."
He looked back once.
"You don't need more power."
A pause.
"You need restraint."
When Kai returned to the dorm room, Soren was punching a training pad mounted to the wall.
WHAP.
WHAP.
WHAP.
Each strike echoed sharply.
Hizume sat at her desk, reading through stacks of academy reports.
Soren stopped when Kai entered.
"So."
He wiped sweat from his forehead.
"The old man started your training."
Kai nodded.
Soren cracked his knuckles.
"Good."
He hit the pad again.
WHAP.
"You need it."
Hizume spoke without looking up.
"I searched the academy archives."
Kai blinked.
"For what?"
"Your Ego."
She adjusted her glasses.
"There's nothing."
Kai frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"No records," she said calmly.
"No techniques like yours."
She finally looked at him.
"The academy sealed everything related to it."
The room went quiet.
Soren turned around.
"Forget the research."
He tossed Kai a pair of training gloves.
"You and me."
Kai caught them.
"Now?"
Soren nodded.
"Now."
He pointed to the mat.
"You can't keep relying on that thing."
Kai looked down at the gloves.
For the first time since arriving at the academy…
He understood something.
He wasn't just their friend anymore.
He was something unstable.
Something none of them fully understood.
And starting tonight—
They were going to figure out how to fight it.