?"Lord Kallos," the driver greeted, his spine curved at an angle of absolute submission, eyes glued to the ground to avoid the dangerous glare of the newcomer. "Step in, please. I have urgent updates from Her Majesty."
?Kallos settled into the synthetic leather, his face a marble mask carved by the cold of space.
?"Information? Vantus doesn't usually send messengers to the landing pad. It is a waste of protocol and fuel," Kallos’s voice was sharp, devoid of any emotion.
?"The Emperor has instituted the Nine Symphonies project, sir," the driver explained as the car tore down the imperial avenue, flanked by gargantuan statues of the tyrant. "He is selecting the nine most lethal warriors in the galaxy. Each designated by a number, a note in the universal harmony. You... occupy the rank of the Ninth Symphony. The maximum force. The pinnacle of the crescendo."
?Kallos looked out the reinforced window. The skyscrapers of Caelum resembled obsidian spears thrust into a twilight sky, bleeding neon light.
? Kallos thought, a cold, analytical gleam in his pupils.
?While Kallos was being escorted to the isolation of a high-security hotel, in a remote hideout within the fetid bowels of the industrial zone, the air vibrated with the rhythmic sound of flesh hitting reinforced metal.
?Bam. Bam. Bam.?Nova was striking a training dummy made of military scrap. Her hands, once steady, bled profusely beneath her shredded gauntlets. The stellar Lumen in her veins oscillated erratically, alternating between a pale glimmer of exhaustion and flashes of blinding white that threatened to explode.
?She collapsed. Sweat mixed with blood on the dusty floor, creating a scarlet mire.
?"Damn it..." she sobbed, her voice broken by grief and helplessness. "I can't do it. I'm sorry, Khalid... I am too weak to carry out your vengeance."
?"Hey, Nova!" A cheerful, irritatingly calm voice cut through the melancholy of the environment. "So? Did you storm the palace? Khalid died, didn't he? You could smell the funeral from out here."
?Nova reacted out of pure survival instinct. She lunged, a blade of pure light projecting from her fist in a lethal arc aimed at the intruder’s jugular.
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?Fwoosh!?Samuel moved like a chrome blur, an optical distortion that defied the retina. He reappeared five meters away, leaning against a beam with a cynical smile and his hands in his pockets.
?"Bastard!" Nova screamed, hatred overflowing from her tear-filled eyes. "If you had gone with us, we would have won! Why did you abandon us? Why didn't you fight by our side?!"
?Samuel shrugged. His speed was his greatest defense and his darkest secret.
?"You’re hysterical. I cannot kill him, Nova. Simple as that. There are laws governing sound and movement that you do not yet comprehend."
?"You could do it!" she insisted, taking a step forward, her Lumen flickering. "You’re the only one who can move at his frequency! Your speed negates sound propagation! You’re the perfect counterpoint!"
?Samuel’s expression darkened suddenly. For a brief second, his youthful glow vanished, revealing an ancient gaze, weary and laden with invisible scars.
?"I can't talk about that. But listen closely: if you really want this vengeance, stop playing soldier. You need to reach the Cosmic Level."
?"Cosmic Level? That’s a bedtime story for recruits..."
?"Then make the myth a reality," Samuel said, his voice now as serious as a grave. "Before he was corrupted, Vantus was a Chosen. He is not just a man; he is a force of nature, a singularity. If you want to beat a hurricane, you don't blow against it. You need to become the vacuum. Bye-bye."
?With a snap of displaced air, he vanished. Nova was left alone with the silence, but Samuel’s words burned like embers. If she couldn't defeat Vantus alone, perhaps she needed to break the chains of the tyrant’s most powerful "instrument": Kallos.
?Throne Room, Palace of Caelum?Soldier Arnold entered the vast hall, escorting a young man in crimson attire whose eyes looked like glowing embers, exuding an oppressive heat that made the air shimmer.
?"Lord Vantus," Arnold announced, kneeling. "The candidate for the Fifth Symphony. He nearly inherited the Primordial Element of Fire in his original sector. He is a prodigy of destruction."
?The young man stepped forward, his chest puffed with an arrogance that had not yet been tested by reality.
?"My name is..."
?"Symphony Five," Vantus interrupted. The voice was not loud, but the entire hall seemed to vibrate in unison. "That is your name. Your previous identity, your bonds, and your past were incinerated the moment you stepped in here. You are a note in my score. Nothing more."
?The lad swallowed hard, the heat around him faltering before the Conqueror's coldness. Vantus rose from the throne, a sadistic and experimental gleam in his eyes.
?"I want to test the temper of my new instrument. Let’s see if you can hold the tone."
?Vantus inhaled deeply. The air around his mouth seemed to be sucked into a black hole of acoustic pressure.
?"Sonai."
?The air turned to lead. Symphony Five shuddered, the flames in his hands struggling frantically against the invisible pressure attempting to extinguish his oxygen.
?"Sofonai!" Vantus raised the tone minimally.
?The veins in the boy’s neck bulged like steel ropes. The marble beneath his feet shattered into a thousand pieces under the weight of the vibration. He fell to his knees, the pressure crushing his ribcage as if a giant were stepping on his chest.
?"Sonofiai!"
?Vantus’s shout was a purified sonic explosion. A visible shockwave swept through the hall like an invisible tsunami, knocking down the elite guards and extinguishing the torches instantly. Symphony Five collapsed face-first onto the floor, blood running from his ears and nose.
?Vantus ceased the attack. The silence returned, heavier and more oppressive than any noise. He began to applaud, a dry, slow, and rhythmic sound.
?"Excellent resistance, boy. Most would have turned to pulp at the second chord. But do not delude yourself," Vantus smiled, returning to the throne with lethal elegance. "My authority possesses ten levels of strength and infinite variations."
?He looked at the fallen youth with almost paternal contempt.
?"You have just experienced the third. Try not to go out of tune next time."