The sky had always been a dark grey area with not a single peek of light shining through it.
But a single boy—Joey—made a difference in the scenery.
Joey stood there, bright yellow lights shining on his body. He walked toward what he believed was Jordan's lifeless body, lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
Joey didn't know it was a clone. He thought it was really Jordan. He picked up the body, held out his palm, and a glowing ball—about the size of a tennis ball—descended to the ground, creating a human-sized hole. Joey gently placed the bloody body into it, and with one swift kick, covered the entire hole with dirt.
Then he turned to face the wolf-like experiment.
"I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you," Joey kept repeating, his voice growing darker with each word.
He raised his palm again. This time, instead of a small ball, it looked like something was charging—and then, suddenly, it was unleashed.
A massive beam of light erupted from his hand—too fast for Milo to react. It struck the wolf directly, tearing through trees and scorching the terrain as it pushed him backward.
Joey then heard coughing.
Looking around, he saw some students and teachers still alive—but barely.
Then, with another glowing orb of light, he tossed it into the air. It exploded in a massive circle, blowing away the dark clouds above.
Sunlight. Real sunlight.
Golden rays poured down from the sky.
Everyone beneath the light felt it immediately—wounds healing, fatigue vanishing.
"What is this?" Nico asked, stunned.
"That guy's evolution was originally healing, was it not? So why in the world does he have this kind of power now?" she continued, wide-eyed.
No one had the answer—not even those who knew what it really was.
"So… does anybody know what the hell an affinity is?" Harkel asked through the telepathic link.
"Magic," Riven whispered in everyone's minds. He and Jordan had already rejoined the group, thanks to Riven's teleportation.
"Wanna be more specific?" Wren asked, still confused.
"On the Internet, there are tons of theories about forced and natural evolution," Riven said. "One of them is that evolved abilities are basically magic. The affinity that the system just mentioned—that Joey has—is mostly used to describe certain magic types. You can put the dots together. Think of energy as mana. When you run out of energy, it's almost impossible to use your evolution—just like in games when you run out of mana and can't use magic."
He continued, "This might be one reason why natural evolvers are more powerful than forced ones. It's like… they were gifted true magic—not something torn from the soul, but something given by a higher force. Still, it's just a theory. We don't really know how evolvers came to be, so it's strong and weak at the same time."
"Whatever it is… it's powerful. Real powerful," Leo said aloud, and no one could disagree as they saw Milo's body slowly healing under Joey's attacks.
Joey turned again, palm out. Another blast. Then another. Trees were obliterated. Milo was driven back further.
"What is this?" Milo muttered, barely able to stand.
"I've never seen an evolution that can both heal people and launch this kind of attack. It hurts… it really hurts."
But Milo remained calm.
"Okay, okay, relax," he thought.
"He has his own energy pool. He'll burn out. Eventually, he'll have to fight physically. When that happens… he'll lose. It's a matter of endurance. I'll win that."
Joey, however, could read him like a book.
"Oh? You're waiting for me to get tired, huh? You're a beast—your endurance is probably insane. But let's try this," Joey grinned with wild eyes.
He raised both hands. Energy began charging in his palms. Then—boom—two beams of pure white light shot out, combining into a massive force that slammed Milo backward again. And then it happened again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
"What the hell? How much energy does this kid have?" Milo thought in disbelief as his defense started to collapse. The beams smashed into him one after another.
Little did Milo know—Joey was getting tired.
But he didn't care. The golden-haired boy laughed maniacally as he kept firing, tears streaking down his face.
Everyone who knew Joey… they knew this wasn't him.
This wasn't the sweet, pure-hearted boy they had trained beside.
Riven and his bonded party members could hear what Joey was screaming in his mind.
"I'll kill you! I'll f*cking kill you!"
They tried to calm him through their link, but he couldn't hear them. He'd drowned them out completely.
"We need to stop him!" Harkel shouted to the others.
"Why?" Nico asked. "He's getting rid of the biggest threat out here!"
"Because our teams got separated after we ran into Xander, that black-eyed wolf!" Harkel snapped.
"Me and Wren's teams also got split up," Jordan added. "If he keeps this up, someone might get caught in the crossfire. And if that blast hurts a beast like him, it'll definitely kill one of them."
"Fine. I got an idea," Riven said, grabbing Jordan.
And in a flash, they both was out of the area.
"What the—he disappeared?" Luka asked. "I thought his evolution was gravity… or telekinesis?"
But no one answered. No one had time. This was life or death; questions don't matter at this moment.
The twin brothers appeared beside Joey, who was still bombarding Milo with attacks.
"Joey! STOP!" Riven yelled.
Joey turned with a glare.
"He killed Jordan! You should be angrier than I am!!" Joey screamed, eyes glowing.
"No… he didn't." Jordan said gently
Joey froze.
He turned—and saw Jordan, alive and well.
"I thought— I thought—" Joey began, but tears were falling more freely now.
"Don't worry. It was a clone. You don't think you can get rid of me that easily, do you?" Jordan smiled.
"Yeah…" Joey breathed, finally smiling through the tears. He ran into Jordan's arms, hugging him tightly.
"Where's Riven?" Joey asked.
They looked around—and spotted him standing over Milo's dying body. The beast's yellow eyes flickered in and out. He was barely clinging to life.
Joey had nearly killed him.
Riven looked down coldly.
"So… do you have any last words?" he asked with no hint of sympathy, not after all the wrong Milo did. Letting him get out his last words was gracious enough.
"I've got a couple," Milo coughed. Then he howled.
It wasn't a howl for help.
It was a howl of defeat.
Everyone thought it was a surrender.
But Riven heard it. It was more than that—it was a message. A message meant for someone else.
A name left Milo's lips in a final whisper, one only Riven could hear:
"Kael will avenge us."
⸻
Meanwhile, at the teleporters, Team C arrived with the surviving teachers. Kael approached the device, crouched, and typed in a sequence on the base.
The portal shifted colors—purple—signifying a world-shifting destination but one where you will end up at a random location.
Then they heard the distant howl. Milo's final cry.
"Hmm… Milo, Xander, Ashley. They're all dead, aren't they?" Kael said to himself. "I could go finish the job… but who's to say these beasts won't destroy this portal too? And who knows—those teachers and students might not be so cooperative."
He turned to Kelvin, one of the teachers.
"You," Kael said, pointing. "Make a choice. I'm a fair man. So here are your two options:
Option One — I kill you, and your men live.
Option Two — I kill them, and you live. Decide."
"Kill them!" Kelvin blurted without hesitation. "Spare me!"
"You bastard! You never cared about us—or the students! You only cared about yourself, you—" a teacher shouted.
But Kael raised a hand to silence him.
"Predictable," Kael muttered. "Lucky for you, I'm low on manpower."
He looked around.
"You'll follow me. Your leader clearly doesn't care about you, so why should I? If you don't join me… I'll kill you on the spot. Choose wisely."
They all joined him. What other choice did they have?
Kael was the last to step into the portal.
But before going, he said:
"Before I go… destroy this portal. Don't follow me. If you do, I'll know. I have your scent in my memory. I'll sense you if you're even on the same world as me."
He looked directly into Kelvin's eyes.
"And when they ask what happened to you, you'll say your students died in a fierce battle. Say it again and again if you have to. If you tell them the truth… you will die."
Kael stepped into the portal.
And it vanished behind him—destroyed by Kelvin moments later.
"They died in a fierce battle… They died in a fierce battle…"
Kelvin repeated the words like a mantra as he walked toward the closest tracker beacon.
When everyone got close to the trio, the main bonded party members all gave Joey a group hug—even Wren. They all thought they lost a friend or could've lost a friend today, but they were just glad that no lives were lost—at least no lives of the main group.
"Thank you," Mr. Sable and the other teachers who were alive said as they stood in front of the group. "You kids should've never even gone through this in the first place. I could tell some of you can even do the impossible, probably thanks to this place, and I'm sorry for that—that you had to unlock this power thanks to this scenario," Mr. Sable continued.
All of the bonded party members knew what this meant—Sable knew. Some of them used their second evolution. I mean, he knew most of them were dual evolvers—or in better terms, forced dual evolvers.
"Now, and I'm sorry for this, we will have to tell the Academy about your new evolutions, and we will try our best to protect you kids from whatever. You saved our lives, and we will make sure your lives are saved as well," Mr. Sable said with a bow, as the rest of the teachers followed, same with the remaining students. They all thanked them, and all everyone could do was reply with:
"You're welcome."
"Now, will you please help us bury the bodies? I know it's a lot, but we are pretty much out of manpower," Mr. Sable asked, looking embarrassed, but the group agreed, wanting to give their classmates a decent burial.