As Vale stood within the dimly lit chamber, his gaze fixed on the golden-haired knight, he slowly shifted his attention to Evelyn.
The black-haired woman looked as though she might stumble backward at any moment. Her eyes were wide, her face pale, frozen in pure disbelief, as if something utterly impossible had manifested before her. Whatever stood in front of her was not merely unexpected, it shattered something she believed could never be broken.
After a long, suffocating moment, the golden knight began to move.
Vale watched in quiet awe as the man advanced. He focused on him instinctively, reaching out with his senses to gauge his presence. The energy surrounding the knight was… strange. It wasn't overwhelming, nor did it feel inherently dangerous. In fact, it felt almost normal.
Almost.
The energy circled the man's body in constant motion, but its speed never remained the same. It accelerated, slowed, shifted rhythm endlessly. That was the anomaly. Not the strength of the energy, but its momentum. It was that ever-changing cadence that made it unsettling, unique in a way Vale could not articulate.
The golden-haired man briefly glanced at Vale with one eye, a cool, unreadable gaze settling on him.
A faint nervousness crept into Vale's chest.
'Did he notice?'
'Did he know what I was doing?'
But the man did not approach him.
Instead, he continued toward Evelyn, who remained utterly still. When he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her in a deep, unguarded embrace, protective, familiar and what looked to be sincere.
Vale blinked.
The man spoke, his voice low and filled with regret.
"I'm sorry, love," he said gently. "I shouldn't have been so careless with your feelings."
Vale stared, confusion flooding his thoughts.
'She knows him?'
'Is he the reason she's been so tense?'
Before he could process any of it, a hand suddenly clamped down on his shoulder from behind.
Vale reacted instantly.
His senses flared as he tried to move, but his body refused to obey.
His instincts screamed.
The energy behind him was not merely overwhelming. It was suffocating. Crushing. As if a mountain loomed directly above him, ready to collapse if he so much as twitched. The pressure pressed into his very existence, threatening to erase him should he provoke it.
Panic surged through him.
'Get out!' his mind screamed.
'Get out, now!'
He tried to break his focus, to pull back from the sensory state he had slipped into, but nothing worked. His consciousness felt trapped, sealed away, utterly exposed before this presence.
Then a voice cut through the paralysis.
Deep. Cold. Immensely powerful.
"Hey, kid," it said calmly. "You should get out of here."
The words snapped Vale back into reality.
He gasped sharply and turned his head.
The man standing behind him had skin as black as polished onyx. His eyes were pure white, empty of pupils, empty of warmth. They were lifeless in a way that made Vale's own eyes feel fragile by comparison.
The man studied him briefly before speaking again.
"And ask next time you try to enter someone's mind," he said flatly. "You could die if you attempt that again."
Cold sweat slid down Vale's cheek.
His body still refused to move. His mouth wouldn't open. He stood frozen, caught between terror and awe, every instinct screaming at him to flee.
The man sighed faintly.
"Yuki," he called out, barely raising his voice. "Can you get the new kid out of here? Seems like I overwhelmed him."
As he spoke, a white-haired woman appeared in the doorway.
She had light brown skin, sharp blue eyes, and an air of composed confidence. Vale barely noticed her, his gaze remained locked on the dark man, his thoughts still tangled in fear.
"Well," Yuki said after a moment, her tone thoughtful, "that's not really your fault. Anyone who tries to enter your mind reacts like this. Or just dies."
The dark man responded calmly, "I've restrained my power. It shouldn't kill him, at least. Either way, I need to speak with Callum. Take the kid to his room."
A bright smile spread across Yuki's face.
"Of course, sir."
Ice suddenly formed beneath her feet, spreading outward in jagged patterns. It slid across the floor, engulfing Vale's legs and anchoring him in place. With a subtle gesture, the ice carried him forward, moving smoothly as if obeying her will.
Vale didn't resist.
He couldn't.
Yuki guided him out of the chamber as the door closed behind them. They moved through long, shadowed halls. Soldiers passed by, saluting Yuki respectfully. She returned their greetings with polite smiles, entirely at ease.
Eventually, they stopped before a door.
Yuki turned toward Vale and spoke softly. "I assume you're Evelyn's student. If so, this will be your room."
She paused, studying him.
Vale still hadn't moved.
An awkward expression crossed her face. "Right… I can't exactly leave you like this."
She guided him inside.
The room was modest, just a bed, a desk, and a closet, but it was clean and spacious enough to be comfortable. Yuki placed Vale in the center of the room and snapped her fingers. The ice around his legs vanished instantly.
She examined him for a moment, curiosity overtaking her professionalism.
"Damn," she muttered. "What kind of powers do you even have?"
She waited.
And waited.
Vale remained motionless, still trapped within the echo of an overwhelming force that his mind had yet to recover from.
After some time, Vale finally began to stir.
At first it was subtle, his fingers twitching, his shoulders tensing, small signs of awareness returning to his body. Yuki, who had been sitting nearby and absentmindedly playing with Ember after the small wyvern woke during Vale's unconsciousness, noticed immediately. Her playful expression faded, replaced by quiet anticipation.
Her eyes widened slightly.
Vale's body shook as he pushed himself upright, every movement slow and unsteady, as though he were relearning how to exist within his own skin. His breathing was shallow. Uneven.
He lifted his right hand and stared at it.
It was trembling violently.
His gaze locked onto it as memories surged back, raw and vivid. The presence. The pressure. That impossible energy.
'What did it feel like?' he asked himself.
His fingers curled and uncurled as he searched for the answer.
'Right…'
'It didn't feel like anything.'
The thought lingered for a second too long.
Then realization struck him like a hammer.
'No.'
'That's wrong.'
His breath caught in his throat.
'It felt like everything.'
Vale's heart began to race.
It hadn't been overwhelming because it was vast or violent or oppressive in the way power usually was. No, he could now see it clearly. That onyx-skinned man's energy hadn't been singular at all.
It had been plural.
Blonde-haired knight. Evelyn. Tharion. Caesar. Rose.
He could remember their energies, each distinct, each unique.
And all of them had been there.
Inside that man.
Vale's breathing quickened, his chest tightening as the implications crashed down on him. His thoughts spiraled, accelerating faster and faster, threatening to pull him apart from the inside.
'That wasn't power.'
'That was totality.'
"Yo."
The voice cut through the storm in his head.
"You okay?"
Vale flinched, snapping out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up sharply.
Yuki was watching him closely now, Ember perched beside her, its small wings tucked in tight. Vale stared at her in silence, his eyes wide, his expression strained, as if he didn't quite trust his own senses yet.
Several seconds passed.
Finally, he spoke.
His voice trembled.
"Who… no, what was that?"
Yuki tilted her head, interest flashing across her face. A slow grin crept onto her lips.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she said lightly. "But it's not like you're going to see him again. So why should I bother answering?"
Vale stiffened.
Shock flared, followed immediately by irritation. His jaw tightened as he forced himself to speak again, struggling to keep his emotions in check.
"Because I asked," he said sharply.
Yuki blinked.
Then she burst out laughing.
She laughed hard, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she shook her head. "Wow. You're funny," she said, still chuckling.
She raised her hand and tapped a device embedded around her palm.
"Tell you what," she said casually. "Why don't you try reading my energy?"
Vale frowned.
Was she… challenging him?
He wasn't sure what possessed him to agree. Confusion, curiosity, lingering fear, maybe all of it at once. Regardless, he focused.
The moment he did, he understood.
True overwhelming energy announced itself immediately. It had structure, presence, weight. It declared its origin, its intent, its power without ambiguity.
Yuki's energy was cold.
Not metaphorically.
Cold in a way that reached into his bones.
The instant he touched it with his senses, his body reacted violently. His muscles seized. His skin prickled. For a fraction of a second, it felt as though he had been flash-frozen from the inside out.
Then, just as suddenly, it vanished.
Yuki tapped the device again, cutting the energy off completely.
Vale staggered backward, drenched in sweat, burying his face in his hands as he sucked in ragged breaths.
'What the hell was that?!'
He looked up slowly, eyes wide.
Yuki was smirking.
"Do you get it now?" she asked.
Vale hesitated, still reeling.
She continued, her tone sharpening. "Almost everyone in this building could kill you if they wanted to, Easily so. So tell me, why do you think you can order me around?"
Vale froze.
The question echoed in his mind.
He looked down at himself, at his trembling hands, at the reality of his own insignificance in this place.
Then the answer surfaced.
Quiet. Fragile. Terrifying.
"Because…" he said softly, his voice shaking, "…I'm part of the Rose family."
The words hung in the air.
And suddenly, the room felt very different.