The group cheers for Kaia as she stands in the black sand of the nightmare she just killed, the heart she held moments ago now turned into the same sand as the rest, rinsing through her fingers. Lloyd and Percy run up to her and pick her up. She laughs. Then suddenly there is a clickering sound echoing through the empty streets. Max cries out before her unconscious bleeding body drops with a thud to the ground. Kaia and the other two look terrified up at the massive monstrous nightmare standing over Max's body. Blood at the tip of its claws, it repeats the clickering sound from before. The other 3 lie next to him, and Teon sits on a chair next to the door.

  "AAAARRRGHHHH!"

  Lloyd screams before snapping out of his sleep, shooting up to sit straight in bed. He grunts as he feels the pain from his injuries. He lies on a bed in one of the hospital wing rooms.

  "You're finally awake."

  Max, sitting on her bed, bandages wrapped around a huge injury at her stomach, slowly turns her head towards him.

  "W...what happened?!"

  "You survived because I saved you."

  Lucius says, leaning against a wall, arms crossed.

  "We have no idea where this one came from."

  Then suddenly the door slams open and Kai rushes inside; the five recruits look up in surprise.

  "I rushed here as fast as possible after I heard what happened two hours ago."

  "Two hours ago?!"

  Lloyd blurs out.

  "I thought you trained outside the country."

  "I do, and?"

  The surprised looks of his friends just intensify, everyone having the same thing in mind: How did he get there so fast? Despite them moving to nearby cities in a matter of minutes, they can't imagine him getting here in just two hours while not even being in the same country.

  "Stop lying, dude."

  Max is the one to speak up first.

  "He is not. Now enough of this. You need to rest. Kai..."

  "I'll stay!"

  Lucius shakes his head.

  "Whatever."

  He moves towards the door. Before leaving, he looks back one last time.

  "Asshole."

  Max murmurs, causing Kai to look confused at her.

  "Where does this come from?"

  "She is mad because you injured Teon so badly."

  Percy explains, while sitting on the edge of his bed, playing with a dagger between his fingers.

  "About that. I didn't plan to go out so much against you. But I really thought you were a bit stronger."

  Max continues to glare at Kai; the others seem much more relaxed. Percy throws his dagger in Kai's direction, who catches it without looking.

  "Anyways. How did you train so that you got this strong in this short amount of time?"

  Smirking Kai looks down at the dagger between his fingers.

  "The conditions are great if Hyper-Lethal number 4 is your trainer and number 2 is the one to overlook it."

  Max looks over, now more interested than angry. Kais smirk grows as he catches a glimpse of her look.

  "Want to hear about number 4?"

  Max pouts and turns away again. Kaia on the other side nods.

  "Yes, please. Tell us about him. What are his powers?"

  "Not him, her. To be honest..."

  Max's head turns back to him again, excited to hear that number 4 is a woman.

  "I have no idea what her powers are."

  "What, why?"

  She blurs out. Kai chuckles.

  "She never needed to use them."

  The room turns quiet for a moment before Kai continues.

  "She is rough at times, maybe even rougher than Nova, but overall she is a great person. But let's stop talking about my training."

  He turns and walks towards the door.

  "I'm going to stay for some time so we can really catch up. Maybe even train a bit together."

  Gifting Teon a last smile Kai leaves the room and closes the door. The day after, the four recruits are released from the hospital wing and go back to their room.

  "Man, we heal much faster than before."

  Max opens the door to their room but abruptly stops in her tracks. The other three stumble against her.

  "The fuck?! Why is he here?"

  The four look confused as they see Teon and Kai sitting on Teon's bed, chatting with each other. Kai looks over to them and waves.

  "Well, I need a place to sleep."

  "So you decided to choose this room?"

  "Yes."

  "I see only 5 beds, so have fun sleeping on the ground."

  Max sneers before walking toward her own, slumping down on it as if she is guarding her territory. Kai chuckles.

  "If no one wants to share a bed, I believe it's not so hard to find another one."

  "I'll help you find one."

  Teon says and stands up; together the two leave the room.

  Later that evening the five are back to training. Max and Kaia spar together, while Percy and Lloyd have to team up to even have a chance at beating Teon. Suddenly all of them shake slightly. Everyone felt the soul-pressure stronger than what they felt in Kai's fight with Cole. All look to where it's coming from. Out of one of the doors to the training field, with a bright smile on his face, walks Kai.

  "Hey guys."

  "Is this pressure coming from you?"

  Kaia asks. Her knees tremble more with each step that Kai comes closer. He nods, the smile still on his face.

  "I just wanted to flex a bit. Anyone want to spar with me?"

  The others look at each other. Teon speaks up first while scratching the back of his head.

  "I already had my turn against him; it's your turn now, guys."

  "Fine, I'll do it."

  Tightening the grip on his katana's handle, Percy steps forward.

  "A sword fight? That's fine with me."

  In Kais right hand appears the outline of a katana. At the same time the outlines of its sheath appear on the boy's waist. Both materialize completely. The sheath is white wood, while the sword's blade shines in pure silver.

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  "This one is special. It's from my favorite video game ever. I was really waiting for an opportunity to use it."

  Kai sheaths the weapon, his right hand still holding onto the handle, while his left holds the sheath. His right foot is placed in front of the other. Percy takes his sword in both hands and holds it over his head. After a moment of just staring each other off, Percy quickly steps forward and slashes down. Kai, without changing his stance, dodges backwards.

  "Is that all you got?"

  Kai asks in a cocky tone. Percy scoffs before copying Kai's stance.

  "Even if he was the best swordsman in the world, he could never beat you, Kai."

  Teon thinks while watching the two intensely. Kai looks surprised as Percy copies his stance.

  "This is going to be interesting."

  Percy steps closer before quickly pulling his sword, slashing horizontally at Kai. In the same second, Kai pulls his, slashing vertically. The moment the silver blade of Kai's sword leaves its sheath, a blue light slash shoots from it towards Percy, cutting the boy's weapon clean through before sending Percy flying through the room. The four bystanders couldn't comprehend what they just witnessed. Not one was truly able to see the light slash. The only exception was Teon, who was able to see it only the moment Kai drew his sword.

  "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"

  Kai smirks and looks over at Max and the rest of his friends before sheathing the katana again.

  "That's the weapon's special ability. Moonlight slash."

  Percy grunts and breathes heavily while standing up. Still holding his now broken sword in his right hand, he limps towards his friends.

  "Could I have the sword for a moment?"

  "Sure."

  Kai hands him the sheathed sword. Percy holds it just like Kai did, left hand on the sheath, right hand on its handle. Again, copying the stance from before. He takes a deep breath, holding it for a second. As he breathes out, he pulls the sword in a horizontal slash. The lightbeam shoots from the blade while he swings and travels for a few meters before fading away.

  "Does this not consume any soul energy? I didn't feel anything."

  He asks after turning around and handing Kai the sword back.

  "It does, but only mine. It was created by me, so it will consume mine alone. Every second it exists, it's slowly draining my energy."

  The sword disappears. Kai notices Percy's interested gaze.

  "I'm sorry. I can't give it to you because of that."

  There is a tinge of disappointment in Percy's eyes, but he nods understandingly.

  After Percy's turn, Max steps forward, a confident smirk on her face. And while her ability and her highly skilled hand-to-hand combat give Kai some problems, as he has to fight without his ability and his advantage of higher power, he still comes out as the winner. She wasn't able to hold up her ability for a long time against him, and the moment Max stopped and Kai's soul energy returned, the fight ended quickly.

  Next, Kaia stands in front of Kai.

  "You are the only one who hasn't awakened their innate ability, right?"

  "Hey! Don't be mean to her!"

  Max demands.

  "I wasn't... that wasn't my intention. It's just... Lucius sees something in you that no one else does. And I want to know what it is."

  Kaia blushes slightly. Kai uses this moment to get close to her and take her out in one blow to the stomach. She collapses to her knees and coughs out. Max runs over to Kaia and helps her up. As the two walk past Kai, he murmurs.

  "You have a long way to go if you want to become what Lucius sees in you."

  At last Llyods stands across from Kai; he grits his teeth as bones grow out of his forearms, forming scythes where his hands were.

  "No armor?"

  "No, unnecessary. I will lose, with or without, so why exhaust myself?"

  Kai chuckles before opening his arms, presenting himself wide open for an attack. Lloyd runs at him, and a few steps in front, he raises his arm, slashing down to cut Kai right in the chest. The blades connect with Kai's body, but the only thing that is cut is his shirt.

  Lloyd stares shocked at Kai's unscathed skin. Before he can gather himself again, Kai grabs both his weapons and just breaks them off his arms. Lloyd screams out and stumbles backwards before Kai delivers a final blow. Lloyd lies on his back, his arms slowly healing.

  "YOU ASSHOLE!"

  Max yells while storming towards Kai to hit him.

  "THAT WAS COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY!"

  Just as she is about to slap him across the face, Teon grabs her wrist and stops her. She continues to protest, but Teon pulls her away from Kai, who turns his gaze from her back to Lloyd.

  "You're right. I'm sorry, Lloyd."

  Kai holds out his hand and helps Lloyd to stand up. While Kai still supports him, he limps back to the others, where he sits down.

  "Do you really not want try Teon?"

  Kai asks, smirking. His friend shakes his head, smiling.

  "Nah, that one beating was enough for me."

  Kai grins and nods.

  "Alright. Then, I won't intervene in your training further."

  "Are you leaving already?"

  Teon asks, disappointment written over his face. Kai smiles and tilts his head.

  "Yeah. I'm sorry, I have to go back to training."

  He walks towards an exit waving.

  "It was really fun sparring with you guys. See ya!"

  The door closes behind him. Teon looks at it for a while longer before Kaia steps next to him.

  "Don't be sad. We'll see him again."

  Teon looks at her and forces a smile.

  "I know."

  Kaia pats his back before turning around and going back to the others, who are already training again.