In the beginners' training wing, every conceivable piece of advanced equipment lined the walls—machines that measured mental energy output, devices that analyzed micro-movements, and platforms designed to record even the slightest fluctuation in visual power.
Among the trainees, Orion trained like a beast unleashed.
The monitors flickered violently with each strike—his punches and kicks far exceeding what was normal for his age. His blue eyes burned with the glow of vengeance, his nerves aflame as adrenaline flooded through his thin frame. He tore across the moving targets with a speed that made even the instructors tense.
"Faster! Harder!" he shouted at himself, launching waves of pressure from his eyes.
Cain watched from the upper observation deck, a faint smile touching his lips.
Beside him, the instructors exchanged uneasy glances.
"He's pushing himself past his limit, sir," one whispered.
Cain's gaze remained cold.
"Let him. Pain forges the greatest warriors."
After being separated from his brother's quarters, Orion showered and headed to his newly assigned room.
That night, as he unpacked his few belongings, his eyes fell upon a photograph—him and his father at a zoo, smiling beneath the sun.
He lifted the frame, voice trembling.
"I'll kill them all, Father… Every last one who caused your death."
A tear slid down the glass, warping the memory beneath it.
---
Twenty days had passed in the secret facility.
Tiflos had endured relentless training since his arrival, but today marked something different.
The hidden complex—concealed behind a fog-like illusion barrier—buzzed with an unusual energy.
For the first time, Tiflos was beginning to grasp a combat aspect of his visual ability.
It began at dawn.
Trainer Raiden guided him into the main hall, where several massive speakers had been assembled.
"We'll simulate magnetic waves," Raiden explained, positioning the devices.
"You'll try to gather and fold the high-frequency waves into your body."
Tiflos inhaled deeply and nodded.
Raiden left the hall, sealing the door behind him, and entered the elevated control room. His fingers danced over the console.
The chamber erupted—waves crashed toward Tiflos like a sonic tsunami. His limbs trembled violently.
"This intensity is too high," Raiden muttered, adjusting the output.
The waves weakened slightly, but the earlier pressure had already rattled Tiflos's body.
Raiden picked up the intercom.
"Tiflos, should we change the test?"
Tiflos nodded.
The trainer immediately shifted the simulation—converting magnetic waves into high-frequency sound.
The speakers emitted a soft, almost gentle whistling.
But Tiflos did not merely hear the sound—
He saw it.
A thick golden river of waves flowed toward him.
"So I'm drowning today," he murmured with a faint smile.
The waves crashed into him, flooding every inch of his body.
A strange sensation rippled through his eyes—like someone was washing the inside of his organs, rewriting his entire physical structure.
Raiden watched from above, stunned.
Tiflos didn't move. Not a twitch. Not a strand of hair swayed.
"He's close… he's actually close to success."
Hours passed.
Raiden wiped sweat from his forehead.
"What is happening to this boy? Did he die standing up?"
He shut down the speakers and hurried into the hall.
As he approached, he noticed a faint transparent aura around Tiflos—
then—
Tiflos vanished with a sharp ringing sound.
Raiden froze, terror creeping into his chest.
"What… what? No, this is impossible—did he vaporize!? Continuous wave pressure can't do that! I've never—"
Before he could finish, another high-pitched chime echoed behind him.
A hand touched his shoulder.
Raiden turned slowly.
Tiflos stood there. Alive. Calm.
---
Later that afternoon, in one of the observation chambers, Cain stood beside a woman in her thirties—elegant, sharp-eyed, with a scientist's poise.
Dr. Lena.
They watched Tiflos from behind reinforced glass as he trained.
"It seems he's adapting to his eyes," Lena noted, studying the data streams.
Cain exhaled.
"His speed is excellent. But his offensive and defensive output is still pathetic. We need him to reach the Silver Tier."
Inside the training hall, Raiden barked orders while Tiflos moved at blurring speeds, surrounded by a faint transparent aura.
"Push your visual power! More! Don't cross your limit or you'll go blind! Hurry, boy—balance it! If you hesitate, you'll rot at the bottom forever!"
Lena spoke quietly, "After Raiden's experiment, he started replicating sound waves. His speed is approaching sonic mimicry. But his offensive strength is below average. That's why we're adding visual pistols or a blade to his style."
She hesitated.
"Are you… certain about pairing him with her?"
Cain's smile sharpened.
"Tiflos and Noor… Let's see how far the two of them go together."
---
On the fifty-fourth day of training, Cain summoned both Tiflos and Noor to a circular chamber unlike any other.
The walls were lined with advanced insulating materials, and the ceiling was webbed with glass tubes filled with flowing, multicolored currents—designed specifically to push visual abilities to their limits.
"Today," Cain said, "you'll train in a technique I developed myself—Wave Convergence.
Tiflos reads waves. Noor forms spectrums. You will attempt to merge your powers."
They began cautiously.
Tiflos reached out to read her neural signals—
but the moment he touched her energy, he saw threads of emotion intertwined:
Rage— red and molten like erupting magma.
Grief— thick blue, deep as the ocean's abyss.
Fear— a black river stretching into endless night.
"Stop invading my emotions!" Noor snapped, recoiling.
"I am NOT invading!" Tiflos protested. "I'm reading your neural state!"
But when Noor activated her spectrums and her hand brushed his—
Something detonated between them.
Their energies spiraled into a brilliant golden vortex, filling the room with crackling light.
A violent reaction shook the entire chamber.
Images crashed through Tiflos's mind—houses on fire, a screaming child, a man collapsing with a spear in his chest.
They broke apart, gasping.
Noor stared at him, horrified.
"You… you saw that? You saw pieces of my memory?"
Tiflos stepped closer, voice soft.
"I saw a child running from fire… and a warrior falling."
"That was my father…" Noor whispered, tears trembling in her eyes.
"He died that night…"
The instructors quickly realized the truth:
When their powers touched, their visual abilities fused—
multiplied tenfold—
and their emotions and memories became linked.
But there was a lethal cost.
The power surge could eventually destroy their visual centers—possibly leading to blindness with repeated use.
From the observation deck, Cain clapped lightly.
"Incredible. The first successful dual-ability fusion in the organization's history."
Noor and Tiflos sank to the ground, breathless.
Her usual fire was gone—replaced by something fragile, wounded.
"The waves pulled us together," Tiflos murmured.
"But what secrets hide inside those golden threads?"
Then he asked quietly, "Tell me… what did you see in my eyes?"
She hesitated before answering:
"I saw you and Orion.
Your brother crying over a grave.
And you… swearing to protect him."
She swallowed.
"And I saw something else—
a red thread binding you to him.
Forged from pain… and rage."
Tiflos looked up at the ceiling.
Pain… and rage.
So that's what binds us.
---
That night, Tiflos visited Orion.
His brother sat alone in the dark, blue eyes reddened from crying—glowing like embers.
"Orion, the instructors told me about your training. You need to slow down. Overtraining will destroy you."
"Leave me alone!" Orion snapped.
"While you play around with that girl, I'm preparing to avenge Father!"
Tiflos sat beside him.
"Blind vengeance won't bring him back. And it will destroy us if we lose clarity."
"You don't understand!" Orion screamed, tears falling.
"Every night I see him in my dreams—begging me to avenge him!"
Tiflos pulled him into an embrace.
"We'll avenge him, Orion.
But on our terms.
Together.
Not by destroying ourselves."
---