Bodies healing faster than minds.
Rose stopped waking at night. Mostly.
Ari stopped seeing the eyes every time he closed his own. Mostly.
They didn't talk about it.
They didn't need to.
They took the elevator down.
Floor -30.
"Minus thirty?" Ari muttered. "What the hell is this place?"
"This," Cookie said calmly, "is where we store the gifted weapons."
"Gifted weapons?" Ari repeated.
The elevator doors opened.
The room was massive. Cylindrical. Multi-leveled. Glass chambers lining the walls from bottom to top.
Weapons everywhere.
A man stepped forward.
"Finally," he said. "The four who disrupted Serena's domain."
"My name is Luke. A-tier gifted human. I guard the Keep."
He studied them carefully.
"You aced your tests. You broke internal parameters. So Gift Society has decided to promote you to E-tier."
The four looked at each other.
"And you will each receive a gifted weapon."
Ari blinked. "Wait— what?"
"Your training is over," Luke continued. "Now... it's time to be chosen."
"Chosen?" Rose asked.
"Yes. The weapon chooses you."
Silence.
"So," Luke said, "who's first?"
Everyone looked at Leilla.
She sighed. "Alright."
She stepped onto a platform at the center of the room.
From the platform, the chamber looked endless — weapons glowing behind glass, stretching down into darkness.
Luke pressed a button.
All the glass doors opened at once.
Silence swallowed the room.
Then something moved.
From below.
Rising slowly.
Two shapes floated upward and stopped in front of Leilla.
Twin daggers.
Simple steel blades. Cloth-wrapped handles. Thin strings trailing from the ends.
She reached out.
The moment she grabbed them, something clicked.
They felt... right.
Rose stepped onto the platform.
The chamber hummed.
For a moment, her hands trembled at her sides. Not from fear of the weapon — but from the silence. The waiting. The same silence before the dog had jumped.
She remembered the snap.
Leilla's legs.
Her own body, torn.
Next time, we stick together.
She closed her eyes. Reached out.
Then Pink Cha rose from below.
Rose exhaled. Reached out.
The trembling stopped the moment her fingers wrapped around the hilt.
"Pink Cha," Luke said quietly.
Rose held it gently. Then, without thinking, she swung once — a small arc through the air. The blade hummed. Clean.
She smiled. Just a little.
Malak stepped forward.
A small axe rose from below. Matte black. Compact. Balanced.
It didn't look special.
Until she held it.
It aligned perfectly with her stance.
"Black Axe," Luke said.
Finally, Ari.
He stepped forward — but something felt different.
Heavy.
Like pressure pushing against him.
Like the weapons were watching him.
He stood on the platform.
Nothing happened.
Then—
A metallic shape rose slowly.
A gun.
"...A gun?" Ari muttered.
The others burst out laughing.
"Why does he get a gun?" Leilla complained. "He can just shoot us from distance."
Luke raised a hand. "Relax. Every weapon has its strengths."
Ari grabbed it.
The moment his hand wrapped around the grip—
The pressure vanished.
In the training pit below, they tested them.
Each weapon came with basic documentation.
Leilla's daggers:
Can function separately as standard blades with freezing effect on direct impact.
When merged, they transform into a crystalline dual-edged weapon capable of generating and launching ice shards.
Ice spreads based on contact duration.
Malak's axe:
Absorbs kinetic energy from incoming force.
Can release stored energy in a single amplified strike.
Higher absorption increases output, but strains the user physically.
Rose's sword:
Amplifies precision.
Allows controlled extension of blade reach through energy projection.
The pink edge cuts clean — minimal resistance.
Petal Dance — after three consecutive strikes, the blade releases a trailing arc of pink energy petals that linger in the air for seconds, obscuring vision and creating false afterimages of the user's next attack.
Rose tested hers quietly. Each swing precise. Controlled. But every few minutes, her eyes flicked to the shadows at the edge of the room. Checking.
After a while, Ari stood beside her.
"You good?"
She nodded. Slower this time.
"Getting there."
He didn't push.
She swung again.
Clean. Precise.
Her eyes didn't flick to the shadows this time.
Ari noticed.
He didn't say anything.
Didn't need to.
They watched Leilla freeze a target solid.
Then Malak's axe absorbed a heavy strike and released it in one brutal swing.
Ari's file was... short.
Weapon: Model Unknown
Feature: Infinite ammunition
Status: Recently integrated
Data: Insufficient
"That's it?" Ari frowned. "Infinite ammo?"
Leilla smirked. "You're already strong. A gun's just bonus. Go crazy."
They trained.
Something strange happened.
Ari didn't miss once.
Not once.
On one shot, his bullet passed near Leilla's ice shards.
Leilla froze. "That wasn't me."
Ari looked at his gun. Then at her. Then back at the gun.
"What the hell..."
When the bullet struck the target—
The entire structure crystallized.
The observers upstairs froze.
They replayed the footage.
The freeze originated from the bullet.
Silence filled the observation room.
"Who is this guy?"
Later that night—
A file lay open on a desk.
Name / Age: Ari Vederci / 19
Continent / City: Empyrea / Heaven
Brown eyes, brown hair. Short hair, light beard. 178 cm, 82 kg. Physically strong and fast. High resilience. Observant, quietly intelligent. Consistently prioritizes team cohesion and protection of others.
Behavioral notes: struggles with trust, control, and emotional attachment. Reluctant to rely on others despite leadership tendencies.
Potential: Exceptional for leader's hand role. A-tier support capability with abnormal growth indicators.
The King closed the folder slowly.
He leaned back.
"Vederci, huh..." he murmured.
A faint smile touched his face.
Outside his window, the lights of Empyrea glittered —
"Let's see who you really are."