The heavy silence General Brown left in his wake was a vacuum, and Liora's seething humiliation rushed to fill it. Pinned to the cold floor, the smooth tile was a stark contrast to the boiling rage scalding her from the inside out. The image of Brown defending Nia—of being forced to her knees before her nemesis—was a fresh, gaping wound on her pride. It was more than an insult; it was a public dismantling of her authority. Her control, meticulously built over years of service, finally snapped.
Her eyes, cold and sharp just moments before, ignited with a furious, azure light. With a surge of raw will, she lifted a hand toward Nia, who was still pinned under Kendrick.
"[Mana Blast]!"
A crackling sphere of pure, unadulterated mana, the color of a deep sea storm, materialized in her palm. It wasn't a controlled spell; it was a visceral manifestation of her fury. With a guttural cry, she launched it across the hall. The air screamed as the orb shot toward Nia with blinding speed.
A flicker of annoyance crossed Nia's face. 'Amateur,' she thought, a silent mockery in her mind. Her own eyes glowed, but with a different light—a serene, yet menacing, light green. A vortex of energy, spiraling with controlled power, formed in her free hand.
"[Mana Blast]."
Her counter-attack was faster, sleeker, and humming with a terrifying harmony. The two orbs of power collided midway between them. For a silent, breathtaking moment, they struggled against each other, a maelstrom of blue and green energy warping the very air. Then, they detonated.
The explosion was a deafening roar, a concussive force that threw dust and debris across the hall. The superiors braced themselves, but the sheer power of the blast was staggering. By the time the dust began to settle, Selena and the dark-blue-haired Derek had Liora pinned again, their movements swift and ruthlessly efficient. Kendrick, gritting his teeth, had reapplied his weight to Nia's back, his annoyance escalating into genuine anger.
"What the hell?" Nia shouted, her voice laced with outrage. "She started it!"
"Shut up!" Kendrick's voice was a low growl, and his eyes pulsed with a cold blue light that seemed to drain the warmth from the air around them.
Liora, however, was beyond reason. With a defiant roar, she threw off Derek and Selena's grips, their surprise giving her the opening she needed. She scrambled to her feet, her uniform disheveled, her silver hair wild, and took a staggering step toward Nia, her face a mask of pure hatred.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kendrick's voice cut through the tension, no longer just annoyed, but glacially cold. It was the voice of command, the voice of a predator whose patience had just run out.
Liora flinched, the sheer authority in his tone momentarily piercing her rage. She trembled, a flicker of anxiety finally breaking through her fury. When Kendrick was truly angered, his presence was suffocating, an echo of the absolute power wielded by General Brown himself. But the shame of her humiliation was a stronger fuel. She straightened her spine, forcing the anxiety down and cloaking herself once more in the mantle of her rank. She was Superior Liora. She would not be cowed.
Her eyes glowed, matching the cold intensity of Kendrick's. "Why is she here, Kendrick?"
"It's none of your busi—" he began, brushing her off, but she cut him short.
"As a Superior in this facility, it is my business, Kendrick," she retorted, her voice regaining its sharp edge. A vein pulsed on Kendrick's temple. Liora pressed her advantage, her tone dripping with formal venom. "So I ask again, Superior Kendrick. Why is Subject 00 present in this experiment?"
The name hung in the air, a deliberate and calculated insult. And then, the room broke.
An immense pressure slammed into the hall, a suffocating, invisible wave that buckled knees and stole the breath from lungs. It was Kendrick's aura or mana force, unleashed not as a warning, but as a weapon. The air didn't just grow heavy; it solidified, becoming a physical weight that threatened to crack ribs and squeeze the very life out of them. The metallic tang of ozone filled the air. The stationed soldier at the far door reeled, his face turning pale as he struggled to remain standing.
For the superiors, the effect was less physical and more a chilling psychic assault, but it was potent nonetheless. Mark, the hulking superior with the intimidating build, felt a bead of sweat trace a path down his temple but still remained compose as not to show it. "I heard Kendrick was on edge during the entry phase, but this… this is something else," he muttered to Kael, who stood beside him.
Kael, ever the enigma, simply wore a serene, weirdly pleased grin, his eyes closed and blonde hair. He seemed utterly unfazed by the oppressive force. "Don't worry yourself, Mark. His temper is his own problem, not ours."
"This is just like the old days," Kael mused, turning his head slightly toward Lyra, the striking woman with violet-silver hair. She held a trembling Amelia, who had latched onto her leg like a life raft. "Right, Lyra?"
Lyra's violet eyes, usually filled with a detached curiosity, were keenly analytical. She watched the display not with fear, but with academic interest. "Indeed. Raw, but powerful."
"I-I'm scared," Amelia whimpered, her face buried in Lyra's leg, her earlier predatory confidence completely gone.
"Shhh, it will be over soon, little one," Lyra said, gently patting Amelia's head.
And she was right. The crushing pressure receded, not abruptly, but like a slowly retreating tide, leaving a residue of chilling fear in its wake. Nia, who had been gritting her teeth against the assault, finally gasped for air. Liora, who had been forced to her knees, trembled as she pushed herself back up. Pathetic
Kendrick stood in the center of the room, his chest heaving slightly, the storm in his eyes slowly calming. He ran a hand through his hair, his expression a turbulent mix of anger and displeasure. When he finally spoke, his voice was dangerously quiet.
"You asked why Subject 00 is here," he said, walking slowly until he was face-to-face with Liora, their glowing eyes locked in a silent war. "Let me ask you a question, Superior Liora. Why didn't you ask General Brown when he was standing right in front of you?"
Liora's breath hitched. She couldn't answer. To question the General directly, especially after being told to drop the matter, would have been an unforgivable act of insubordination. She bit her lip, the taste of blood and humiliation filling her mouth. Silence was her only option.
Kendrick's lips curled into a cruel smirk. "General Brown looked directly at Nia before he left. Surely even your brain cells were capable of picking up on the implication."
The insult was a physical blow. Liora stood frozen, her face burning, her fists clenched at her sides. She hated this. She hated him. But she knew another word would be a mistake, one he would gladly use against her.
"Alright, I believe we've seen enough," a smooth voice interjected.
Kael stepped forward, that confident, unreadable smile still plastered on his face. He walked calmly toward the tense standoff. "Superior Liora did, perhaps, cross a line."
Liora shot him a betrayed look, but he ignored it.
"However," Kael continued, his gaze shifting to Kendrick, "she also made a valid statement. Kendrick, given how… volatile… this lady, also known as Subject 00, is, we other superiors would also like to know why she is here. It is only fair that you share such critical information, rather than keeping it secret."
Kael had masterfully turned Liora's personal grievance into a collective concern. The gazes of the other superiors now fell upon Kendrick, their silent pressure adding to Liora's.
For a moment, Kendrick seemed cornered. He let out a long, suffering sigh. "General Brown personally ordered her to be here."
The superiors showed no reaction; they had already surmised as much.
"Yes, we all understand that," Kael pressed, his smile unwavering. "We would like to know why."
Kendrick stared him down, but Kael's placid expression didn't falter. Finally, Kendrick played his trump card. "Her reasons for being here are on a need-to-know basis, under direct orders from the General. It is classified. Do you understand where I'm getting at, Kael?"
The argument was ironclad. Kael couldn't challenge a direct, confidential order from Brown. He simply gave a slight bow of his head and stepped back to his previous position, the game concluded.
Liora's face fell, her last hope of getting an answer dashed.
Kendrick turned to Nia, pulling her to her feet. He tossed a small, metallic badge into her hand. "Ask the soldiers for directions to your assigned quarters. Use this if anyone tries to stop you."
"Awww, how sweet of you, Kenny," Nia mocked, inspecting the badge.
Kendrick's eye twitched, but he remained unfazed. "And just so we're clear," he added, his voice low and threatening, "if you attack another participant or any of the staff without express permission, you will be punished. Severely."
"What if I have a really, really good reason, like—"
"JUST GO TO YOUR ROOM, SUBJECT 00!" Kendrick finally roared, his composure shattering.
Nia gave him a final, triumphant smirk before sauntering out of the hall, leaving a trail of chaos in her wake.
The others left carrying Liora.
Kendrick stood alone in the silence, breathing heavily. He pressed his fingers to his temples, a deep weariness settling over him. 'Haah, what have I gotten myself into?' This was supposed to be a controlled experiment, a project to forge the ultimate hunter. Instead, it was devolving into a circus of personal vendettas and insubordination.
'It's all that damn Ares's fault,' he thought, a scapegoat for his immense frustration. The boy was Brown's pet project, the one Nia was so strangely interested in, and the source of all this damned unpredictability.