A grey-haired man in a white robe entered the Council chambers of the Videntis, walking at a brisk pace.
His cold eyes grey eyes stared calmly ahead.
He calmly sat down on one of the thrones and tapped his comlink.
A video recording was projected in front of him.
In the video, a dark-haired youth levitated in the air as electricity and ice surged around him.
Chronobox panels wildly revolved around him to contain his power.
"My, my Sebastian, what a nice catch you've gotten this time."
His gaze hardened.
"Victoria, I wasn't expecting you to be here."
A red-haired girl materialized out of the shadows, gliding smoothly through the air.
Victoria Goodison laughed, her laughter washing over the chamber with a melodic tone. She smiled at him.
"I was already here when you walked in; you probably just didn't notice me." She said sweetly.
It was quite hard for one to mask one's presence from a Videntis, let alone catch them off guard. Their acute senses were almost impossible to fool.
"What's his name?"
"The boy's name is Warren, Warren Frost. He's a gem in the rough I discovered a while back." He locked eyes with Victoria.
" After a quick assessment, I determined the boy was extraordinarily talented and recommended him."
" You gave your recommendation?" Her eyes widened in surprise.
Sebastian smiled.
" But why of course, it is our duty to raise the next generation of talented. Even we among the Videntis cannot live forever, nor do we have the luxury of time as one as young as yourself." Sebastian rose and slowly, subtly scanned the room with his eyes.
He slowly made for the door.
" Of course, in this business, sometimes the young ones go before their elders," He said in a somewhat somber tone.
A slight frown formed on Victoria's face as she watched his retreating figure.
Sebastian paused at the door.
" What about the girl you had developed an interest in? What was her name? Emily, was it? How did she fare?"
"She's normal. The Chronobox evaluation was that she's Class A-1 and probably has a latent talent." Victoria said quietly.
" Is that so? How unfortunate. Truly a pity."
A faint smile formed on Sebastian's face.
" What about the commander, Gregory? How is his recovery coming along?"
"He's awake, almost fully recovered. He is still grieving. One of the casualties of the Orphanage incident was his sister."
Sebastian sighed. " Such a tragedy. It's a truly unfortunate turn of events."
Victoria ground her teeth. " What are you trying to get at?"
" Nothing, nothing at all." Sebastian's smile grew wider. " Wait, I forgot. There's one thing." Sebastian turned, his eyes aglow with a grey light.
A heavy, oppressive aura permeated the room.
The temperature spiked several degrees. Ordinary Talented would have been rendered immobile or fallen to their knees.
"Never try to mess with my mind like that again. Let this be the last time you try something like that. Otherwise, the Videntis just might lose one of its council members in yet another unfortunate tragedy."
He quietly closed the door as he left the room.
Victoria silently scoffed, pursing her lips.
She walked back silently, sat down on her throne, gazing into space quietly into space.
She eavesdropped on the thoughts of most of the operatives in the building.
"What a mess."
The air was abuzz with excitement as the time for the exhibition matches drew closer.
"Who said you could be Emily's friend? " Samantha snapped at Edmund, who was following them around.
"She did, I asked if we could be friends and she shook on it." Samantha's eyes widened in horror.
She spun around, placing her hands on Emily's shoulders.
The abrupt movement jolted Emily out of her reverie.
" Is that true, Em? But you barely know him. What if he's got it out for you?"
"It's true, and I think it's alright," Emily replied.
Edmund smirked smugly. " Why you, you," Samantha stuttered.
"Hey, look, she isn't trying to pick a fight with the monster, is she? "
A kid nearby whispered to another kid.
The long-haired girl who wielded lightning was standing in front of Warren Frost.
"This should be good, " Edmund muttered.
" Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you,". Samantha whispered furiously, tugging his arm. Edmund ignored her, focusing on the two top talents.
Emily also turned to see what was happening.
"Hey, my name's Amanda. Want to partner with me?" Amanda said, holding out her hand to Warren.
He cast her a brief glance before staring into space.
" Not interested." His voice was barely a whisper, but all the kids heard it.
Edmund pumped his fist in the air with a wide grin on his face. He inwardly screamed.
" Yes!"
Her eyes widened briefly, her mouth slightly opened as if to retort, as a multitude of conflicting emotions flashed across her face.
"Why?" Amanda quietly asked.
With such an outright rejection, she had to at least know why he hadn't even considered her proposal. She was quite confident in her abilities.
She was even ranked quite highly; everyone had seen it.
Warren sighed.
" It's simple, really. You're weak, so very weak."
Fury flashed in her eyes as her body moved forward on instinct, her fist flashed through the air towards Warren's face.
" Oh shit." Edmund thought, rushing to where the confrontation was happening.
Amanda's mouth fell open in surprise. Edmund was startled. Amanda had completely missed. Warren had bent down and was nonchalantly tying one of his laces.
"How?!" Amanda asked, voicing the thoughts of most of the kids in the room.
"Like I said, you're weak," Warren replied in the same nonchalant voice, slowly rising to his feet.
Amanda snarled, her form blurred as she leapt forward, her hand wreathed in electricity. She jumped into the air, lashing out with a series of kicks.
Warren calmly dodged them, fluidly weaving from side to side.
He was like a phantom as he seemingly flickered in and out of the trajectory of her strikes.
"This guy," Edmund thought.
"The whole time, his hands never left his pockets."
She feinted then ducked to deliver a devastating upper cut.
The kids closest to the conflict jumped back as the heat from the blow spread outward. Sparks flew through the air às the electricity continued to crackle and sizzle.
Edmund's eyes widened in disbelief at the scene he was witnessing.
Warren had calmly stopped the punch. He was holding onto Amanda's fist as it crackled with electricity.
"Know when you're beaten," Warren said calmly. Amanda tried to wrestle her hand free from his grip and failed.
Warren squeezed her fist, causing her to whimper in pain.
"If this had been a fight, you'd be dead."
Amanda dropped to one knee as Warren slowly increased his grip on her fist.
" Just who is this guy?" Edmund thought.
"That wasn't a fluke. It's like he knew exactly what she was going to do before she did it. He read her like a book."
The monster was even more monstrous than he'd anticipated, probably more than any of them had thought.
"Damn."
Darius, who was observing the scuffle from a nearby control room, similarly frowned." Where did Sebastian find this kid?"
The auditorium had been outfitted with several cameras to monitor the kids and collect even more accurate data.
Norvax strode into the room with the agents from before. His eyes swept over the kids, noting Amanda's bruised hand, Warren's nonchalance, and the anxious looks on the faces of some of the kids.
He surmised what had happened at a glance.
" What's going on here?" Norvax asked.
"We just had a small disagreement, sir," Edmund nervously said. " But it's been resolved. We're all good, sir."
" I'm glad to hear that. Fighting is strictly forbidden, and if I catch even a whiff of it, there will be hell to pay." Norvax said sternly.
"The matches will now begin."
The first match-up will be Amanda Gardner and Anthony Grant.
Amanda furiously walked towards the stage.
"I'll make him pay for this humiliation. I will not be taken lightly, weak? I'll show him who's weak," She inwardly snarled.
A pale, sickly-looking youth walked towards the stage from the opposite direction. He slowly got onto the stage. His Chronobox evaluation was class A-2, mental manipulation. He waved at Amanda.
" Hey, sorry about earlier."
"Shut up, let's get this match over with, " Amanda snarled.
"Now, now, there's no need to be so violent, can't you just let me win?" Anthony said, raising his hands.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an elastic band, tying his shoulder-length hair into a ponytail. He smiled at Amanda.
"I'm ready when you are."
Amanda burst forward, her figure turning into a blur as she barreled towards Anthony.
His eyes widened in disbelief as she closed the distance between them in a split second. She jumped into the air and spun, delivering a devastating roundhouse kick to his temple.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head as the ground rushed up to meet him.
A smug smile formed on Amanda's face as she looked at Anthony sprawled on the ground before her.
" He's finished. He never stood a chance."
"And the winner is Anthony Grant." The instructor announced.
Amanda's eyes widened.
"Wait, there's been a mistake. I won. My name isn't..."
The auditorium was filled with silence.
Amanda had walked out of bounds on her own.
Ànthony smiled smugly, waving at her as he walked off the stage. He casually pulled the elastic band from his hair.
Warren silently shook his head. Edmund frowned
"What just happened?"