LOCATION: illumine guild HQ.
Nathaniel and Ginah stepped out of a sleek black SUV, a private vehicle owned by the Illumine Guild. Once they entered the underground garage, Nathaniel found himself quietly impressed by the facility's scale. Overhead, yellow floodlights bathed the wide halls in a soft amber-white glow, giving the industrial space an oddly welcoming warmth.
As they approached the receptionist's desk, the distant sounds of activity faded into a hush. They handed over their details while the driver departed without a word.
It was still surreal to Nathaniel, the idea that the guild leader's daughter had been assigned to his squad.
Ginah noticed his quiet fascination and commented on the scale of the Illumine Guild's influence and their market share within the biome-based extraction industry. Their reach was impressive, at least in presence, compared to the main association run by the monarchy. Still, any real comparison was a stretch, since the guild operated at barely five percent of the total capacity of the Knight Association.
She smiled as she saw him mentally note the information. Moments later, someone arrived to escort them to the head office, and they resumed their appointment.
Their escort was someone surprisingly tall and lanky. He wore a metal helm that looked as though it was part of his head. He introduced himself simply as Turret.
Nathaniel's eyes caught on something that felt oddly consistent throughout the facility. Everyone here, to some degree, seemed to possess the same underlying energy signature layered beneath their own. When he looked upward, his vision locked onto a surge of radiant gold Uratsu flowing from the upper floors, intertwined with a red signature of comparable density. He instinctively recoiled at the sheer difference in power.
The realization struck him as he understood she was actively boosting everyone's combat potential. Arete Bergschrund ranked just below Erementaru in the Knight Association's power hierarchy. If this was the gap between him and her casual output, he could not imagine how much power their overseer was truly holding back.
The hum of the elevator's moving carriage steadied his nerves as they ascended. This was his benefactor they were about to meet, at least to the extent of his knowledge. He exhaled slowly, glancing down at the dark suit and blazer he wore, paired with a crisp white shirt and a gold silk tie. He hoped it would make a good first impression, especially after all the effort Ginah had put into schooling him on the subject. He could still remember her insistence as she made him try on the suit for the first time and lectured him on proper corporate etiquette.
As the elevator rose higher, the faint metallic rhythm of its motion mixed with the low hum of energy that seemed to resonate through the entire building. The air grew heavier, almost charged, as though the facility itself was alive and aware of their presence. Nathaniel felt it deep in his chest, the subtle pulse of Uratsu threads running through the walls like veins of light.
Ginah stood beside him, calm and collected, her expression composed yet focused. She had changed into a more formal outfit that matched the guild's aesthetic, her hair pinned neatly behind her ears, her guild insignia glinting faintly under the ceiling lights. Nathaniel caught her reflection in the elevator's polished surface and saw the faintest trace of anticipation in her eyes.
When the elevator finally stopped, a soft chime announced their arrival. The doors opened to reveal a wide corridor lined with glass and gold-trimmed dark oak panels. The air here was different, refined and quiet, filled with a faint warmth that made every movement feel deliberate. At the far end stood a pair of tall doors guarded by two armored knights whose armor emitted faint streams of energy from the seams, their presence calm yet unmistakably powerful.
Turret stepped forward first, his voice low but clear as he addressed the guards. After a brief exchange, the doors opened soundlessly. A warm light poured from within, spilling across the corridor floor.
Inside, the office looked nothing like what Nathaniel expected. The hard wood walls were adorned devices that displayed various suspended holographic projections of vast landscapes, each shifting slowly as if breathing. In the center stood a long desk crafted from a smooth, white alloy that reflected the room's soft amber lighting. Behind it sat a youthful woman with golden hair and eyes that shimmered faintly with traces of Uratsu flow.
Her gaze lifted from the tablet in her hand, calm and analytical as it met Nathaniel's.
"Mr. Alderman," she said, her tone even and polite. "It is good to finally meet you in person."
Nathaniel bowed slightly, remembering Ginah's words. "It's an honor to be here, ma'am."
A small smile touched her lips. "Let's hope you keep that same respect after we discuss why you're really here."
The air in the room shifted again, subtle but heavy. Nathaniel felt the pulse of power beneath her calm expression, faint traces of radiant energy that made the air vibrate around her.
He straightened, unsure whether to feel flattered or uneasy.
The door beside her opened as her secretary entered and stood at her side, handing over a file along with a specific set of keycards. She thanked Alice quietly before the woman stepped behind her, standing at attention with calm professionalism.
Nathaniel found himself genuinely surprised by Arete's appearance and vitality. She looked no older than twenty-five, though he knew she was closer to forty-five. She could have easily passed as Ria's sister; their faces were nearly identical except for their eyes and brows. Arete's build was stronger, her frame defined by the physical demands of her augment.
Her presence was striking. A faint, radiant gold aura shimmered from her skin, a visible manifestation of her Uratsu flow. It reminded him of Ria's red glow, the mark of her father's lineage, and the contrast between them spoke volumes about their shared yet divergent bloodlines.
Arete placed the file on the desk and folded her hands neatly above it. "Nathaniel Alderman," she began, her tone calm yet precise. "Member of the Fourth Unit under George Stiney Jr., correct?"
"Yes, ma'am," Nathaniel replied, standing straight.
"I have reviewed your assignment and the unit's latest field reports. Squad Four has shown consistent performance under George's leadership, but your file stands out. Your recorded augment patterns are atypical for someone with your classification."
Nathaniel nodded, his voice even. "It might be because of how my systems synchronize. The Kinetic Muscle augment adapts faster than most, and Hellcharge reinforces it during combat bursts."
Arete's gaze lingered on him. "Hellcharge. The Uratsu combustion enhancer. That system is difficult to maintain without extensive regulation. How do you manage the strain?"
"Controlled ignition cycles," Nathaniel answered. "I treat it like a temporary overclock. It increases my output in short intervals but burns through my reserves quickly."
Her expression softened slightly, though her eyes remained analytical. "You use an offensive augmentation for defense. That is interesting."
Ginah, standing to the side, added with quiet pride, "His combat reports reflect that. Nathaniel's instincts prioritize protection over aggression. It is what keeps his synchronization stable."
Arete glanced at her before returning her attention to Nathaniel. "Protective instinct. I see. It explains your energy response during the last raid." She paused, studying him for a moment. "Still, your readings carry an odd resonance. It feels layered, as if something beneath your augment is adjusting itself independently."
Nathaniel hesitated before answering. "Possibly feedback from my incomplete sync between my newly developed uratsu circulation and my biology . It tends to realign during high-output cycles. That could cause the inconsistency."
Arete closed the file and smiled faintly. "Then I will assume it is a system anomaly until proven otherwise." She handed the keycards to Ginah. "Take him to the lower wing for calibration and evaluation. I want the readings normalized before Squad Four's next deployment."
Arete leaned back slightly, a mischievous glint flashing behind her composed expression. She cracked her knuckles, the faint sound echoing in the otherwise quiet office.
"Before that," she said, her lips curving into a confident smile, "I want to stress test this boytoy of yours."
She gestured toward the access passes on the desk, their surfaces glowing faintly with gold sigils.
"Both of you," she continued, her gaze shifting between Nathaniel and Ginah. "The arena below. Now."
The last word struck like a command, carrying a weight that made even the air feel charged. The faint hum of Uratsu pulsed through the walls again, deeper this time.
Without a word, Arete stood, her movements fluid and deliberate. Before Nathaniel could react, she grabbed his arm and the access card, hauling him toward a hidden panel in the floor.
The panel slid open almost silently, revealing a vertical shaft that led down to the locker room below. Without hesitation, she leapt, dragging him with her.
Nathaniel yelped, his voice echoing in the shaft, caught between surprise and indignation. "Hey! What!?"
Arete's grip did not falter, her expression calm, almost amused. "Keep up," she said over her shoulder, the faint pulse of her Uratsu threading through him as if to remind him he was not in control.
The fall seemed brief yet long enough for Nathaniel's heart to pound against his ribs. When they landed, the lockers surrounding them rattled slightly from the impact, but Arete's composure remained flawless, as if the stunt had been planned from the start.
She threw him to the side. Nathaniel scrambled to his feet and turned just in time to see the card flying toward him. He caught it seamlessly.
"Go put on the guild-provided suit," Arete said, her tone calm but commanding. Nathaniel blinked, caught off guard. Had they already taken his measurements?
Before he could respond, she pointed toward the arena floor.
It was less of an arena and more of a private practice range. The space stretched wide, the scale rivaling an Olympic stadium. Certain hazards were scattered throughout, no doubt using the same technology the Association employed during his evaluation. Nathaniel felt a flicker of apprehension at the possibilities, but he also felt the unmistakable thrill of being pushed to his limits. It had been a while since he had been genuinely pressed.
as he entered the locker looking at the suit he had been given .
When he was done, the uniform felt almost like his usual combat gear from Association missions, yet different in ways he could not ignore. The added padding along his arms was made of a flexible, dark brass alloy that shifted and tightened with each movement. It formed a set of arm braces and back braces that moved like flexible machinery, and the knuckle suspension inside the full gloves clicked softly each time he flexed his fingers.
The suit was heavier than his normal one, but somehow more flexible. The overlayer of armored knee panels moved with a segmented rhythm similar to a mechanical exoskeleton. Jointed plates extended down around his ankles and the back of his shoes, forming reinforced guards around the Achilles tendon. Once everything was fitted, the mechanical components began calibrating on their own. Small indicator lights blinked along the spine of the suit as it adjusted to his body type, his posture, and the faint traces of kinetic energy he carried.
He snapped on the simple external gauntlets that had been left folded in the case. The moment they locked into place, thin rings of light pulsed along the brackets and his cyan Uratsu flickered across the surface like a breath of living neon.
Nathaniel stepped out into the hall.
Arete was waiting for him.
She wore a suit nearly identical to his, at least in design. The difference was in the finish. Where his had the dark reflective accents of polished brass, hers shone like sculpted gold. Her suit caught the amber lights of the hall and scattered them like tiny sunbursts across the walls and floor. Even without activating her augment, she seemed brighter than the air around her.
She looked him over with a nod of approval.
Her voice carried its usual calm confidence."Good. It fits you perfectly."
From a small container at her side, she lifted a neatly arranged gear set and held it out to him."Your standard loadout for today. Nothing fancy. Everything optimized for the kinetic profile on your record."
Nathaniel accepted it with a faint smile."Feels a little more advanced than standard."
Arete raised an eyebrow."It is. You are Squad Four material. I am not handing you training scraps."
Her tone hinted at something else too. Not suspicion. Not concern. Something closer to curiosity. She had seen his earlier sparring session. She had seen the way his Uratsu behaved when it should not have. But she said nothing about it, only turned and motioned for him to follow.
"Let us see what you can do with equipment that does not fall apart when you move," she said, and the faintest spark of gold lit her eyes.
Internally, Arete studied him again, her expression calm while her thoughts churned. She looked at the very human face in front of her and compared it to the image burned into her memory. The contrast was staggering. His presence now was quiet and steady, grounded in the harmless glow of cyan energy that barely touched the edges of his aura. Yet in her mind she still saw the other version of him, the one wrapped in a storm of crimson light that bent the air like heated metal.
The difference was like night and day.
Ever since the biome break, he had been reduced to this. A fragment of what she had witnessed. A hollow echo of that impossible anomaly. The fact that he was this weak irritated her more than she wanted to admit. Where had all that power gone. Where had the anomaly vanished to. How did someone who once felt like a walking cataclysm look so normal now.
She kept those questions behind her steady gaze.
Nathaniel broke her thoughts when he lifted his hands slightly, flexing the new gauntlets."These feel familiar," he said with a faint note of recognition. "Almost like the set I got when I first joined the Association."
The memory clicked into place for him.Those early gauntlets were duplicates.Exact replicas of the ones Arete Bergschrund herself had used in her younger years.
He looked at her, and this time the understanding showed clearly on his face."You modeled mine after yours back then. I did not realize it until now."
Arete smiled at his observation. It was small, but genuine."You were a promising recruit. I wanted you equipped properly. The original set served me well, so I had no reason to doubt they would do the same for you."
Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer, measuring something she could not yet name."Besides," she added softly, "you handled them better than most."
Her eyes shifted, becoming sharp and analytical as they traveled slowly over his form. She stepped in close, almost uncomfortably close, and Nathaniel felt his posture stiffen. Her presence was warm and heavy, like she carried a second atmosphere around her.
She began speaking about his medical records, the restricted ones passed only to authorities involved in the biome break incident. The casual way she referenced them made the back of his neck prickle. She was not just reviewing data. She was searching for something.
Her fingers brushed the side of his arm, and the subtle contact made him shiver. It felt less like a touch and more like a scan. He forced himself not to pull away. This woman was his benefactor. A Guild Master. Someone he could not afford to antagonize.
As she moved around him, her tone shifted to clinical precision. She spoke about the uratsu map of the body, the points where energy naturally flowed, the paths that expanded with training, and the conduits that remained closed in most people.
Nathaniel noticed too late that the air around her body was beginning to brighten.
Her aura thickened in a slow pulse of gold that carried a dangerous heat. He felt the buildup before he saw it, a rising pressure in his chest that made his breath catch. The uratsu in her veins was accumulating rapidly, pooling in her arms, gathering at her fingertips.
"Do not move just yet," she said softly, almost teasingly.
Her eyes gleamed with a sharp, menacing gold.
Before he could react, her palm struck him square in the chest. The blow did not feel like a physical hit. It felt like a detonation.
A burst of radiant energy exploded from her hand and tore through his body. The force launched him off his feet and sent him skidding across the polished floor. He hit the ground chest first and gasped as every nerve lit up.
Nathaniel blanched. His body shuddered violently as if his heart had misfired. Thin cracks of gold light pulsed across his skin, crawling over his arms, his neck, and the sides of his face. The dull silver glow that usually marked his uratsu flickered, then shifted, then turned into a deep, luminous gold.
Something was wrong.Very wrong.
The interface was active. He could feel it buzzing beneath his consciousness. But it did nothing. No regulation. No dampening. No suppression.
This hurt.
What had she done.
He clutched his chest and felt the conduction paths in his body being forced open far wider than anything he had trained for. Especially around his core. The uratsu she had blasted into him was assimilating at a brutal pace, merging with his own energy and expanding it.
A gold glow swallowed him whole. His breathing changed. His heartbeat changed. His hair shifted color until it carried the same metallic sheen as hers. The cracks on his face slowly sealed as the light poured back into his skin.
Arete finally spoke, her tone as calm as if she had simply adjusted his posture."This is one of my techniques. Aura Transfer: Radiant Light. It temporarily boosts the body by reinforcing every uratsu pathway at once. You will feel stronger, faster, and sharper for a short duration."
She folded her arms as she evaluated the results."And before you ask, yes. I loaded your body with ten times the uratsu you walked in with. Consider it a lesson in handling real power."
Her gaze lingered."Let us see if your body can keep up."
"I put that boost in so I could see your true skill level," Arete said, her voice even as she watched him. "You are more durable than you give yourself credit for. Your capacity is limited. Your coils are juvenile at best. Right now you are running off a separate energy reserve. At your maximum baseline you should only be at a low S-rate augment user, which would make you roughly two and a half percent of my base capacity. That is the level I want to use against you so we are on equal footing."
She paused and let the information settle between them. Her gold aura pulsed in a slow, deliberate rhythm. "I will not go above this level. If I did, the hard limit would be three percent."
Her mouth curved into what passed for a smile. "Rattle my brain. See what you have. I need a good brawl."
She stepped back and lowered her guard just enough to make the invitation real. The hall seemed to hold its breath. Nathaniel felt the weight of the challenge settle into his chest.
Nathaniel's vision wavered. His eyes were hazed and unfocused, the usual cyan flickers that marked Kinetic Muscle activation now replaced by aggressive flashes of gold. Every pulse felt wrong. Every breath felt heavy. The aftershocks of Arete's invasive boost still tore through him, leaving behind an impact reserve worth nearly a quarter of the initial strike. His body was holding more power than it knew how to process.
Arete watched the taller male with a sharp, assessing gaze. She saw the moment his pupils tightened. She saw the twitch in his fingers. She saw the instinct take control.
She raised her hand. Five spectral shields formed in a curved wall in front of her, each shaped from compressed radiant light.
Nathaniel hit them before he even realized he had moved.
His fist crashed through the first shield, then the second, then the third, detonating them into scattering sparks. A deafening crack shook the room. The remaining two held, but only just. Arete slid one foot back to absorb the force, her eyes narrowing with mild surprise.
On the observation deck, Ginah's breath hitched.Alice froze mid-note, her expression turning from neutral to tense.
Why was Nathaniel spiraling? Why was he charging forward like that?
Inside Nathaniel's mind, everything was unraveling at once. He was high on power. Not arrogance or excitement. Actual intoxication. The rush from Arete's transferred uratsu hit his bloodstream like a drug. His augmentations strained to stabilize themselves. Kinetic Muscle thrashed against its limits. Hell Charge hovered on the edge of activation, dangerously close to igniting.
Worse, the resin problem started again. His power kept trying to crystallize in his arms and chest, forming rigid plates beneath the skin. He forced it back down with raw will, redirecting the flow with what little control he still had. His vision blurred. His pupils contracted and expanded in rapid cycles as Enhanced Sight flickered on and off by itself.
He needed control. He needed balance.But the interface gave him only one objective.One clear command, pulsing through his mind like a warning beacon.
land 7 decisive blows to Regain control.
Nathaniel gritted his teeth, feeling his heartbeat slam against the inside of his ribs. The gold inside him refused to quiet.
Arete watched him struggle, and a small spark of interest lit her eyes. Her voice was steady, almost amused.
"Good. You are not breaking. Now show me if you can actually fight."
Nathaniel inhaled sharply, a ragged sound torn from his throat as the command burned across his awareness.
Land seven decisive blows to regain control.
The interface did not shout. It whispered. Cold. Precise. Absolute.Each word pulsed across his nerves, syncing with the unstable rhythm of his heart.
He staggered one step forward, then steadied himself. His arms trembled as gold light flickered across his skin like liquid fire. Arete tilted her head slightly, studying the sudden shift with a scientist's curiosity, not a fighter's worry.
Nathaniel blinked against the swirling haze in his eyes.He saw afterimages.Gold outlines.Trails of movement that were not yet movement.His perception was speeding up even as his control weakened.
He took a second step.Then a third.
Arete adjusted her stance. Not tight. Not defensive. Just aware.
From the observation deck, Ginah pressed a hand to the railing."Stop. He is not stable."Her voice cracked, betraying a spike of fear.
Alice shook her head quietly."Master Arete knows what she is doing. He has to work through it."
The gold flare around Nathaniel surged. His breath left a faint light trail as it left his lips. The pressure inside him kept rising, climbing toward a breaking point.
Nathaniel's fingers curled.
"One," he whispered, counting the first blow he had to land.The word steadied him for half a second.
Arete caught the whisper and smiled faintly."You are trying to follow an internal directive. Good. That means you are still conscious."
Nathaniel lunged.
This time he did not blur.He detonated forward.
The impact cracked across the training chamber as Arete lifted her forearm to block. Her skin gleamed with reinforced uratsu as she redirected the strike. The shockwave rippled outward, rattling the equipment lining the walls.
"That is one hit you got ," she commented, even though it had not reached her cleanly. "Keep going."
Nathaniel reeled back. His balance faltered. Gold fire coiled in his hands, threatening to crystalize at the fingertips again. He forced the energy inward, almost choking on the effort.
The interface repeated the directive.Land seven decisive blows.Regain control.
Nathaniel's eyes narrowed. His pupils shrank to tiny points.
He could barely speak, but the words came out rough and low.
"I am trying."
Arete's smile widened."I know. That is what makes this interesting."
She stepped toward him, aura rising in a controlled surge."Now come again."
Nathaniel's arms flashed hot for a single second, a violent, blistering surge that lit every nerve in his forearms. It felt like his skin was being burned from the inside out. His augment reacted on instinct, trying to purge the foreign uratsu Arete had forced into him.
The pain snapped him awake.
He slammed his fist into the ground, using the earth itself as a vent.A burst of superheated uratsu erupted beneath him in a sharp, concussive blast. The shockwave cracked the floor and launched him forward like a slingshot.
Arete's eyebrows lifted a fraction.She had not expected that.
Nathaniel shot toward her in a streak of gold and cyan, his body moving faster than his mind could keep up. His heel collided with her raised forearm, the impact ringing through the chamber in a heavy metallic thud. The force actually pushed her back, boots skidding across the floor.
Ginah gasped. Alice straightened reflexively.
Arete planted her foot and stopped her slide.Her expression flickered with the slightest hint of approval.
Nathaniel did not get to see it.
She caught his wrist in mid-air with startling precision. Her grip was like a steel vice. His forward momentum died instantly.
"Good attempt," she said calmly.
Then she pulled him forward and drove her fist into his jaw.
The strike detonated across his skull like a burst of static. Nathaniel felt the world tilt as he staggered back, gold sparks shaking loose from his aura.
The interface pulsed again.Six blows remaining. Keep control.
Nathaniel spat blood, steadied himself, and forced his shaking arms into a guard.The residual heat in his limbs flared again, threatening to erupt.
Arete lowered her stance slightly, eyes gleaming with interest."You learn fast. Now catch yourself and try again."
Her aura brightened.Nathaniel's heartbeat quickened.The floor hummed beneath them.
Arete flashed forward, her expression tightening as she tested his guard. The first two strikes hit something solid, his arms crossed and braced, before she slipped underneath and gutted him with four clean, punishing body shots. Her perception stayed flawless, every twitch of his frame mapped before it finished happening.
Nathaniel lifted his head again.
The glow in his eyes bled from gold into a fierce cyan as his innate energy forced its way back into his system. His body temperature spiked too fast, steam hissing from the vents along the suit's ribs. The fabric tightened as his muscles coiled like steel cables, ready to detonate.
He pushed.
The world responded.
He burst into motion, limb after limb firing like pistons, ricocheting around the chamber at full S-rate speed. Each step cracked the reinforced floor. Adrenaline roared through him, cooled only by the wind his velocity generated. Then it happened.
Hellcharge ignited.
Gold jets erupted from the vents across his back and shoulders, brief but violent, like thrusters stabilizing a missile. The downforce hammered the ground, launching him forward an instant before Arete could re-align and read his trajectory.
Her eyes widened.
Nathaniel slammed into the space in front of her, one fist already buried in the floor from the landing shock. She twisted aside on instinct just as his follow up came.
His leg shot outward in a brutal manji kick. The braces along his shin rattled under the force as the strike hammered her side. The impact rolled through her entire frame, sending a sharp boom across the chamber.
Arete steadied herself, one hand sliding across her ribs where the kick had landed. The force had been real. More than real. It had been intentional. Controlled chaos. She felt the corner of her mouth lift in the faintest, most dangerous smile.
"Finally," she murmured. "You are waking up."
Nathaniel did not respond. He could barely hear her. His heartbeat was too loud, his blood too hot, his vision still cycling between gold and cyan as his systems wrestled for dominance.
The interface pulsed across his mind.
Impact count: 3 out of 7.
Arete shifted her stance, ready for the next charge.
Nathaniel did not rush her this time.
Instead, he dragged his heel across the broken floor, hooking a chunk of shattered plating with the curve of his boot. His arm wound back in a smooth motion, muscles tightening along the shoulder and forearm. His fingers curled around the slab of debris like it weighed nothing.
He threw it.
He did not toss it. He pitched it.
The projectile tore the air apart, spinning with such violent momentum that sparks trailed behind it. Arete reacted fast, snapping her forearm up into a guard. The debris slammed into her block hard enough to force her back two full steps, boots grinding against the reinforced ground.
A sharp jolt ran through her arm from wrist to shoulder. She released a breath through her nose, amused, not annoyed.
The interface chimed again in Nathaniel's skull.
Impact count: 4 out of 7.
Arete rolled the tension from her arm and fixed her eyes on him with open approval.
"Good choice," she said. "Do not waste your movement. Make every strike count."
Nathaniel inhaled sharply as heat pulsed down his spine, his thrusters flaring in small bursts as he prepared the next attack.
His body was on the edge. His mind was held together by instinct and stubbornness.
But the objective was clear.
Three more hits.
And he was going to land them.