Time passed very quickly. After he promised Albert, Cain stood outside the towering chamber. He wasn't just waiting; he was processing what he saw as he let out a slow sigh, reviewing all his comrades' performances.
Abel's sword skills were getting sharper and a bit different from usual. He, who took the Western longsword technique, which usually involved a basic defense and power, now relied more on a bit of movement rather than standing still waiting to be slashed by the enemy.
Rika, despite having a problem with her mind. Her shots still aimed right at the enemy's core, and her new fighting technique that combined close-range with a pistol, honestly, made Cain's body shudder.
Louise, there was no doubt she was the one who had the most significant development after facing strong enemies. The precision of her stabs was terrifying; even Cain's hair stood on end watching her.
Her agile movements even surpassed those of Abel and Peter, making her the team's ultimate weapon in critical situations.
Last but not least, Peter. With his passive Terra attribute ability, he could sense the enemy's presence from afar and read their movement direction without seeing. Relying on his trickery as a scout, he finished off his opponent with unexpected attacks full of deception.
Although he had the lowest attack power in the team, Peter had the highest survival rate, even surpassing Cain.
Now the four of them were standing around him, forming a small circle while discussing their previous battle.
"Abel, your sword style has undergone rapid change."
Rika crossed her arms on her chest. Her red eyes stared at the blonde boy, who chuckled softly as he scratched his cheek, looking bashful.
"Well, I still have much to learn, especially from Cain."
Hearing his name come out of Abel's mouth. Cain pointed his index finger at himself, raising his brows.
"Me?"
Abel nodded and stared at his hard, calloused palms. A proof of his dedication to seeking strength.
"Yes, I realized that with a rigid sword style. I would only be a target for the enemy and I don't want that. So I slightly changed my approach from passive fighting style to be more engaging."
"Y-Yes, Mr. Abel is indeed great for being able to do that in this short time. B-But there are still many times when your body suddenly stops to receive an opponent's attack."
Louise raised her voice, drawing all eyes to her. It made her expression stiff, but she clenched her hands in front of her chest and continued.
"I-I fully understand, because a person's habit is difficult to change quickly."
Even though her way of speaking was still a little clumsy, the intent that Louise gave was clear. It was visible from Abel's serious expression that he stared at Louise as if wanting to devour all the explanations from a spear expert.
"Louise is right, it's hard to change that habit. Even I myself have a flexible fighting style similar to a girl's. This is because of my habit of imitating my older sister's movements since I was little."
With a flat face, Peter averted his gaze sideways. He exhaled in resignation, but turned to Abel and widened his lips.
"Let's work hard together, Abel. We have to find our own fighting style."
"Um, you're right."
Peter and Abel raised their fists, then bumped them while exchanging smiles.
While the other four were discussing, Cain himself remained silent, even though he was standing right in front of them. The gray-haired boy stood still, watching the others exchange opinions, feeling a sense of emptiness at being ignored. The boy was muttering in his heart.
'Am I needed in this group?'
The truth was not because they ignored him, but more like, there was nothing else they could comment on about his fighting style.
Cain had successfully integrated the Kenjutsu technique into his own style, without being burdened by the written rules handed down over generations.
For example, in the battle just now, instead of adopting a middle stance, Cain changed it to fit the situation, which was to stab the enemy's core, showing his flexible thoughts than the others.
He sighed and saw a shadow approaching from the side, which brought their conversation to a halt.
"Cain, as promised?"
Albert came; his deep voice made the other four cadets wrinkle their eyebrows, wary and suspicious of his secretive behavior.
"What do you mean? We have a promise with...!"
Before Rika finished her words, Cain raised his arm to signal her to stop. He stared at his other comrades, then opened his mouth.
"You guys go first, I have business with Professor Albert after this."
Without waiting for an answer from the others. Cain followed Albert through the office, which turned out to hide a secret door next to the elevator. The door hissed and slid open automatically when Albert fiddled with the device next to it.
"Please come in, if you don't mind the mess."
Cain entered, and immediately the door behind him closed with a thud. Its interior was neither too small nor too big. This room was Albert's private space.
Inside, books were scattered across a long metal table. The typical smell of paper wafted in the room and entered Cain's nose, shooting his weary mind after the battle.
Several bookshelves lined the right wall, and right at the end of the room was a rectangular silver table between a pair of three-seater sofas facing each other.
The boy followed Albert, who approached the sofa and pointed to the other one.
"Please, sit down."
"Alright."
Albert approached the wall next to the sofa. With a touch of his finger, the wall split open and showed a place where he stored glasses and his drink. He took two glasses and a silver kettle, then filled both cups.
"Thank you. I'll take it."
Without fear, Cain took his glass and downed the contents in one single gulp. Seeing that, Albert leaned his body forward and refilled the boy's empty glass.
The boy drank half the water in his glass, feeling the freshness wet his desert-like throat. It cleared his mind of fog.
He put his glass on the table and stared at Albert, who was filling his glass for the third time. Not wanting to linger, Cain opened his mouth.
"So what is the experiment you meant?"
Albert did not budge; he put his kettle back into the wall, then sat opposite the boy. The man raised the terminal he was carrying. His index finger began swiping the screen a few times, then stopped.
"Read this!"
Seeing the tablet in front of him, Cain was hesitant, but seeing the calmness radiating from Albert's expression made his hand move by itself. He flipped the screen, seeing a complete journal of data with dates and written reports.
'What is this?'
His black pupil shrank. In his hand was data on an experiment to develop a cure and vaccine for a cosmic virus that Albert was working on.
"!?"
Initially, he intended to use the Scan Protocol. But with another person present, Cain restrained himself. His eyes swept through every word, sentence, and paragraph.
The further he read, his expression hardened, and the hand gripping the terminal clenched tightly until blue veins popped out.
His left index finger stopped midway while scrolling the file because there was a video file with the title: {Experiment number 313, trying to test the cure on an infected criminal.}
Cain's eyes narrowed dangerously. His index finger stopped midway, but eventually he tapped the terminal screen to play the video.
The video showed a gray room layered with solid metal. Not long after, Albert arrived in a lab coat and mask, accompanied by his male assistant, who wheeled a silver trolley.
They approached a bed occupied by a bald man asleep; no, he can't move anymore because he is restrained. From the image, the man's body had crimson lines spreading across his bare upper body.
{We will start the test.}
Albert's voice echoed on the monitor screen. He took a syringe filled with a dark-red liquid and injected it into the man on the bed.
As he withdrew the needle in his hand. A few seconds passed in silence until, at one point, the body of the person lying down convulsed.
And this was not an ordinary convulsion. The red lines on his body spread rapidly, pulsating as if alive.
{Experiment failed, immediate evacuation!}
The two men in lab coats began to walk away, and from the sound, heavy machinery was heard along with a thick door closing.
{Aakh! Aaaaakh!}
The man on the bed began to scream, his body filled with red color, slowly faded, replaced by black, decaying. Because his body was convulsing and tied up, the sound of crushing bones came out of the terminal.
Every cracking sound that appeared, sending a tingling sensation through Cain's body, causing him to scowl and glare at the man before him.
The body of a criminal that was previously shaped, now turned into a clump of boneless, decaying flesh writhing on the iron floor.
Cain, who was about to turn his gaze away, stopped when he witnessed the gray room emit an orange light that radiated intense heat.
Then a red flame burst forth from each side, burning the clump of flesh and melting the medical equipment on the trolley, leaving only ash and molten alloy scattered on the floor.
Feeling sickened by all of it, Cain threw the terminal onto the table with a 'tack' sound, even hitting the glass there, which wet the terminal.
"What's your point in showing me something this horrifying?"
Cain's voice was low, laced with anger that overflowed from the deepest darkness of his heart. From under his clenched fists, a black, tiny vein crackled as if being roused from its dormant state, itching to crush the man's skull.