The training facility was a cavernous, repurposed warehouse on the industrial outskirts of the city, a place of concrete, steel, and the lingering scent of ozone. It was one of Wei Heng's first acquisitions, a sterile and anonymous space perfect for honing weapons that the world could not yet comprehend. For Chen Ling, it was just a larger cage.
She stood in the center of the vast floor, a lone, tense figure in simple training clothes. It had been three days since Gao Qiang had pulled her from that alley, three days since the boy with the ancient eyes had offered her an impossible choice. She had accepted, but trust was a currency she had long since lost. She was a weapon that feared its own edge, a bomb that was terrified of its own fuse. Every waking moment was a battle to suppress the chaotic, violent energy that churned within her, threatening to erupt at the slightest provocation.
The heavy metal door slid open, and Wei Heng entered, followed by the hulking form of Gao Qiang. Wei Heng's presence was, as always, a paradox—a seventeen-year-old boy who moved with the weight of ages. Gao Qiang, by contrast, was a mountain of quiet strength, his presence reassuring. He gave Chen Ling a small, encouraging nod.
"Your power awakens through intense emotion," Wei Heng began, his voice cutting through the silence, devoid of preamble. "Fear, rage, desperation. It floods you, and you lose control. You become a passenger in your own body. This is why you are afraid of it."
Chen Ling flinched, his words striking the very heart of her trauma. She wrapped her arms around herself, a defensive gesture.
"They see a monster. I see an unrefined energy source," Wei Heng continued, his tone that of a master craftsman discussing raw material. "The technique I will teach you is not about suppressing your emotions. It is about using them as fuel. It is called the 'Asura's Heart Sutra.' An Asura is a demigod of war, fueled by wrath and passion. This technique will teach you to be the master of that wrath, not its slave."
He gestured to Gao Qiang. "Titan will be your training partner. His task is to stand. Your task is to hit him."
Gao Qiang grinned and walked to the center of the room, planting his feet. "Ready when you are."
"I... I can't," Chen Ling whispered, her voice trembling. "If I lose control... I could hurt him."
"You will lose control," Wei Heng stated, as if it were an inevitability. "And you will not hurt him. That is the point of a shield." He looked at Gao Qiang. "Titan, activate your technique. Full defense."
Gao Qiang nodded. He took a deep breath, and a faint, earthy yellow light enveloped his body. He settled into his stance, and suddenly he was no longer just a large man; he was a part of the earth, an immovable, unshakable object.
"Attack him, Chen Ling," Wei Heng commanded.
She hesitated, her mind flashing back to the horror of her awakening, the fear in her family's eyes.
"You are afraid," Wei Heng's voice was cold, probing. "Afraid of what you did. Afraid of what you are. Your parents cast you out. The world hunts you. You are alone, weak, and pathetic."
Every word was a needle, aimed at her deepest insecurities. Rage, hot and familiar, began to bubble up in her chest, overriding her fear. "Shut up!" she screamed.
The power exploded from her. It was a raw, uncontrolled torrent of energy. Her eyes glowed with a faint crimson light, and she launched herself at Gao Qiang, her fist a blur.
BOOM!
The impact was like a car crash. A shockwave of air blasted through the warehouse. Chen Ling's small fist connected with Gao Qiang's crossed forearms, and the mountain moved. He slid back a full ten feet, his boots carving deep grooves into the reinforced concrete floor. A grunt of pain was forced from his lips, but he held his ground, his defensive posture unbroken.
Chen Ling stumbled back, her arm numb, the wave of power receding as quickly as it came, leaving her gasping and dizzy. Gao Qiang shook his arms, his eyes wide with shock and a healthy dose of respect. "That... packed a punch."
"Unfocused. Inefficient. A firecracker when it could be a cannon," Wei Heng critiqued calmly. He walked toward the trembling girl. "You let the anger use you. Now, I will teach you how to use it."
He began to guide her, not with physical instruction, but with the principles of cultivation. "Focus on the anger. Feel it. Do not let it consume you. See it as a furnace inside you. Now, open a channel. A single, narrow channel from that furnace, down your arm, to your fist. All that rage, all that power... force it through that one, tiny point."
He had her practice for hours. He would provoke her, stoking the flames of her trauma and rage with cold, calculated words. Each time she would explode, and each time he would calmly guide her to focus the chaotic energy. Gao Qiang stood as her unmoving target, absorbing dozens of blows that would have turned a normal man to paste. He was bruised, battered, but his Qi-infused body healed slowly, his resilience astonishing. He was the perfect anvil for the forging of this sword.
Finally, after hours of grueling, emotionally draining practice, something clicked.
"The Iron Fist Clan," Wei Heng said, his voice low. "They weren't going to arrest you. They were going to put a collar on you and turn you into their attack dog. You would have been a slave, a tool to be used and discarded."
A fresh wave of rage, cold and sharp this time, surged through Chen Ling. But this time, she didn't explode. She remembered his words. A single, narrow channel. She took a breath, her knuckles turning white. The chaotic energy that usually flooded her body was instead compressed, forced into a single, terrifying point of focus at the tip of her fist.
She moved. Her motion was no longer a wild lunge, but a single, explosive step. Her fist shot out. There was no shockwave, no wasted energy. All the force was contained in the point of impact.
Her fist struck Gao Qiang's chest.
There was a sound like a temple bell being struck by a sledgehammer—a deep, resonant GONG.
Gao Qiang's eyes went wide. The earthy yellow light around him flickered violently. He didn't slide back this time. He was lifted off his feet and thrown backward, tumbling through the air for twenty feet before crashing to the ground in a heap.
Silence.
Gao Qiang lay there for a moment, the wind knocked out of him, before pushing himself up, a massive grin spreading across his bruised face. "Okay... that one I felt."
Chen Ling stood where she was, her fist still extended, her body trembling not with exhaustion, but with revelation. She looked at her hand, then at the downed Gao Qiang. She had unleashed her full power, but she had been in control. For the first time in her life, she was not afraid of herself.
Tears of relief streamed down her face. She had found her hilt.
Wei Heng gave a single, satisfied nod. "That is the first step. You are no longer a victim of your power. From now on, you are its master. Your codename is Valkyrie. You will be the sword of Aegis."
Later that evening, the four pillars of Aegis were assembled in the command center. Gao Qiang was nursing his bruises with a stamina potion Sun An had just synthesized—a cloudy, green liquid that tasted like grass but worked wonders. Chen Ling stood quietly, her earlier wildness replaced by a focused, dangerous calm.
"Oracle, report," Wei Heng commanded.
"The Iron Fist Clan has classified the port district incident as an 'unresolved encounter'," Mei Ling's voice echoed in their minds. "They've listed an 'unidentified male defensive-type Awakened' as a person of interest. They have no idea it was connected to us. The Azure Dragon Guild, however, is another story. They have a file on you, sir. And on Gao Qiang. They are watching."
"Let them watch," Wei Heng said. "Lifeweaver, your progress?"
"The first stable batch of low-grade Stamina Potions is complete," Sun An reported, holding up a vial. "Based on the refined crawler core, it can restore about thirty percent of a D-Rank Hunter's stamina. It's marketable. More importantly, I've isolated a unique protein in the core's structure. With the right catalyst... I believe I can synthesize a serum that temporarily boosts a normal human's physical capabilities. The military applications alone would be..." He trailed off, his mind lost in the possibilities.
"Excellent," Wei Heng said. "Our foundations are set. Our pieces are in place. It is time for Aegis to make its official debut."
He brought up a map on the holographic table. It showed a recently emerged, uncleared D-Rank Gate in an abandoned subway tunnel beneath the city.
"The Hunter's Association has posted this as an open-bid mission for new guilds," Wei Heng explained. "It's a test. A chance for us to prove we are more than just a name on a registration form."
He looked at his team. The Shield. The Eye. The Hand. And now, the Sword.
"Prepare yourselves," he commanded, his voice ringing with the quiet certainty of a king leading his first charge. "Tomorrow, we hunt."