Kaela nodded slowly. "It's like… a different power altogether."
One of the assassins let out a chuckle, blood trailing from his lip. "That's because it is. This is the next stage of the Awakening Echo."
"Awakening Echo?" Kaela asked, brows furrowed.
Liam's eyes narrowed. "It seems… he means the First Flame."
"It has a Stage 2?" Kaela breathed.
"Yeah," the second assassin confirmed darkly, cracking his neck. "And this... will finish you off."
The ground cracked beneath them as both assassins unleashed the full brunt of their second-stage Awakening Echo.
Kaela and Liam leapt back, instincts flaring. Aether exploded outward as the assassins moved faster than before, almost teleporting across the alley. Their blades glowed with sharpened energy, and every strike now sent aftershocks into the environment.
Kaela spun, dodging a strike and countering with a sweep—Amber Spiral. But the assassin parried with ease, then struck her mid-air. She hit the wall hard, coughing.
"Ugh... okay, now I'm pissed," she growled, flames of power lashing out again.
Liam was in a deadlock with the other assassin, each blow echoing like thunder. He ducked a rising slash and slammed his elbow into the man's ribs—Veilbreaker—but the assassin barely flinched.
"Your strength is impressive," the assassin said, twisting around and kicking Liam back, "but you're not ready for this level."
Kaela rejoined the fray with a flying dropkick—Flare Descent. The assassin turned just in time and blocked, though the force pushed him backward several steps.
"Kaela, we need to isolate one!" Liam shouted.
"Then isolate faster! I'm not a fan of getting sliced up while you monologue!" she snapped, ducking a twin strike and retaliating with Radiant Spiral Punches.
But the assassins worked in tandem now, slipping through their defense like water through cracks. One caught Kaela by the wrist mid-strike and flipped her overhead—she landed hard, groaning. Liam reached to help her but was intercepted, taking a brutal strike to the side.
The two teens stood, panting. Blood ran down their arms. Their enemies hadn't just gotten stronger—they'd become monsters.
"This power," Kaela muttered, eyes burning, "It's overwhelming."
Liam clenched his fists. "Then we overwhelm it back."
They surged forward again—Liam using Eclipsing Vigor to match the assassin's brute force, Kaela weaving through with the grace of Solstice Ember. Their moves danced in deadly tandem. Solar Bloom met Phantom Coil. Veilbreaker clashed with Ashen Veil.
Every blow was desperate. Every dodge, life-saving.
Kaela slid beneath an incoming blade and uppercut the assassin's jaw—Flare Fang. Liam unleashed a spinning low-kick—Gravity Chain—that swept his opponent's legs, but the assassin caught himself midair and twisted around into a counter kick that hit Liam across the face.
Momentum shifted.
They began receiving the beating now—Kaela was thrown into a wall again, hard enough to crack brick. Liam's guard shattered under three consecutive strikes, his body skidding across the ground.
They struggled to stand.
The assassins stalked toward them, unrelenting, masked faces shadowed.
"Now do you see?" one of them growled. "This is what true Awakening feels like."
Although we're still far from being strong .
Kaela spat blood. "Yeah? Well guess what, masked freak—your breath still stinks."
Liam chuckled hoarsely beside her. "You just don't stop."
Kaela smirked. "I'd rather die than lose to someone dressed like a discount Halloween ninja."
The assassins growled and rushed them again.
Kaela and Liam barely had time to ready themselves.
Kaela lay sprawled on the cracked pavement, blood trickling from her lip, her breath shallow. Her limbs trembled as she tried to push herself up—but her body refused. Every muscle screamed.
Liam wasn't faring any better.
He coughed as he dragged himself across the cold ground, vision swimming. The taste of iron coated his tongue. The world around him was crumbling, the air thick with failure.
His hand twitched toward Kaela, who was barely breathing. His voice came out broken, like glass underfoot.
"I was supposed to be strong…"
The words barely escaped him, cracked and full of disbelief.
"I thought I was ready…"
His fingers clawed the ground weakly.
"I trained. I fought. I believed I could do it…"
Memories of his parents' deaths flashed before his eyes—his mother's last smile, his father's bloodied body protecting him. Samuel. Rachel.
"I thought I could avenge them…"
His chest heaved.
"I thought... I was enough…"
Why am I so weak? Why…?
Silence answered.
Tears spilled down his cheeks, trailing through the dirt and blood.
"…Is this how it ends?"
A whisper. Fragile.
"I can't… I can't even protect the people around me…"
Kaela groaned again. Her hand moved, then went still.
Liam clenched his eyes shut. A sob escaped him.
"I need power," he whispered.
Nothing.
"I need power…"
Still nothing.
"I need power… I need power!"
Still—just wind.
His voice broke.
"Please… please… Cooome…"
But the sky didn't answer. The ground didn't rumble. There was no echo, no glow, no miracle.
Just the pain.
Just the silence.
His head dropped, shoulders shaking. Hope bled from him like the wounds on his skin.
"...Am I not ready?" he asked the void, barely above a breath.
And then—
A voice, calm and cool, carried through the air from above.
"No. You aren't ready… yet."
The assassins jerked their heads toward the rooftops, eyes wide.
"When did y—"
BOOM!
A fist, raw and furious, came down from above like judgment itself, crashing into the assassin's jaw. The masked man was sent flying sideways, slamming into the alley wall, bricks cracking under his body.
Liam's eyes widened for a second, lips parting.
"…Uncle… Dreck…" he whispered, before his consciousness faded and his body slumped beside Kaela.
From the other end of the alley, a second figure emerged, slow and elegant. Lucas adjusted his sleeves with an audible sigh.
"Honestly. I leave for five minutes, and you're already falling apart?" he muttered, shaking his head.
The second assassin turned just in time to receive a spinning roundhouse kick straight to the ribs. No aether. No glow. Just bone-crunching velocity and precision. He soared backwards like a meteor and crashed into a dumpster with a metallic clang.
Dreck dusted off his palms. "Just wait. I'm cleaning up the trash."
Lucas rolled his eyes. "Wait? Sit back and enjoy as I clean the alley, you mean."
The two stared at each other for a long moment.
The assassins groaned as they crawled up from the wreckage, eyes wild.
"Where the hell did they come from?" one asked, wiping blood from his mouth.
The other narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't matter. They're arguing. We attack now."
With a growl, they both rushed forward—
CRACK!
Each of them was sent airborne by a brutal front kick—one from Dreck, the other from Lucas. Their bodies flipped midair before skidding across the ground like broken dolls.
"Don't interrupt us when we're talking," Dreck said without looking.
Lucas adjusted his collar, annoyed. "So rude."
The two assassins lay groaning.
Lucas nudged his opponent with his foot. "Mine's uglier. You take the other one."
Dreck scratched his beard. "No, yours smells like fermented trash and failure. I'll take him. I can handle nose damage better."
Lucas scoffed. "Handle your hairline first."
Dreck glared. "We're in the middle of a fight, Lucas. Focus."
The assassins shakily stood again, trying to find an opening.
"You messed with my student…" Dreck said, voice cold now. "Beat him down. Broke him."
His fists tightened.
"Now… you pay the price."
Lucas cracked his knuckles beside him, grinning. "And me? You also messed with my student, but I've been waiting to punch something all day."
The assassins tensed.