It had been a couple of days since the trio began their training. Through endless hours of sparring, syncing their movements, and breaking down one another's rhythms, they finally started to see a flicker of progress. Even though they'd attended the Academy together for years, they'd only fought side-by-side against a common enemy a handful of times. Most of their assignments had been solo missions, by design. The Academy prioritized individual strength over team cohesion, hoping that raw, unrelenting power would shape the young Deviants into elite weapons.
That's why Damien, Luka, and Summer now found themselves in a tundra. It's not real, but a bone-chilling simulation shaped by a geoshaper courtesy of Summer. Turns out she had a few lying around in her garage, relics from her father's company, BattleGate, which specialized in military-grade tech.
'She has to be the richest girl in the world.'
The tundra bit at Damien's skin through his clothes. The air was dry and sharp, scraping down his throat with every breath. Below his feet, the ice crackled and groaned beneath their weight, slick and unforgiving. All around them stretched frozen water, dark and unmoving like glass laid over a pit. The artificial island was only about 150 meters wide, but every inch felt hostile.
Still, the freezing cold wasn't the actual challenge.
It was the other gift from Summer's billionaire father.
'Damn this monster.'
The three of them were locked in a desperate struggle against a grade two monster. Again, not a real one—another virtual creation, this time born from an MN Emulator. A marvel of simulation tech, the device could create combat-ready monsters from any of the five classes. These constructs couldn't inflict real injury, but they could clash with your weapon, and one strike from them counted as death for training purposes.
Grade two wasn't even the highest level, but still dangerous enough to level a city if left to the regular military. Earlier in the day, they'd tried a grade three abomination. It hadn't gone well. That one had abilities. They hadn't lasted five minutes.
This one, however, was a nightmare of brute strength.
The behemoth stood upright on its hind legs, towering over them like a mountain, white fur shimmering under the artificial light. It resembled a polar bear, if a polar bear had escaped a nightmare and merged with a war machine. Its claws were twin sabers of steel, each two feet long and glinting with cruel precision. Its mouth brimmed with serrated metal teeth, clacking audibly even without a growl. A jagged line of metallic spikes ran down its back like a weaponized spine, twitching with every breath. Its thick fur seemed less like an organic coat and more like woven armor—dense, durable, and unyielding.
Then it roared.
The sound wasn't just noise—it was force—a sonic wave that cracked across the tundra, vibrating the ice and shaking the trio to their bones. Damien's knees bent instinctively as the ground shuddered beneath him. The bear slammed its claws into the ice, gouging deep fissures as it lowered its head and began to dig its feet in.
It was preparing to charge.
Damien turned to his left. Luka was there, smiling with wide, unblinking eyes and a crooked grin like he'd been born for this moment. His wild blonde hair danced in the wind, and his body practically vibrated with excitement. On his right stood Summer, her short brown hair rippling in the frigid breeze, her expression cold and unreadable—like the tundra itself.
And then the bear came—fast. Far too fast for something that massive. It hurtled forward like a runaway train, tearing through the space between them with horrifying momentum.
"Now!" Damien shouted.
Without hesitation, Summer raised her hand. Dozens of iridescent bubbles formed in the air, clustering between the trio and the charging monster. They shimmered like floating crystals, pulsing with faint energy. The bear plowed through them. They didn't stop it—not like they had with Damien before—but they slowed it, its movement dragging as if through molasses.
At the same time, Luka had already launched himself into the sky using his custom boots—ones he'd made from the remains of someone he'd killed not too long ago.
'I wonder how Daeron will react when he sees that.' The thought sent an involuntary shiver down Damien's spine.
But no time to linger. Damien had his part to play.
Gripping the hilt of his sword, Damien exhaled slowly and closed his eyes.
'Run through my body.'
He summoned the lightning.
It surged through his veins like a wrathful storm given shape. For a moment, it threatened to consume him, to burn through flesh and bone and soul. But Damien reined it in, forced it to slow, not weak but focused, tamed.
The amplification wasn't as wild as before, but it was stable and manageable. His strength and speed doubled. Every vein in his body lit up with a bright, electric blue. His whole body pulsed like a living circuit, a glowing silhouette against the ice.
Then he heard Summer's voice, sharp and urgent but still carrying that teasing tone she never seemed to lose.
"Go, glow stick! I can't keep him slowed for much longer!"
Before he could reply, another voice chimed in, this one inside his mind, soaked in laughter and mockery.
"My little glow stick. I'm going to start using that."
Damien dashed forward, wind screaming in his ears, his body a streak of blue.
"You guys are not calling me that!" he shouted.
The bear, even slowed, reacted with terrifying speed. One of its metal paws shot toward him, cutting the air with a slicing hum. Damien barely had time to react—until another bubble manifested between them. The paw collided with it, stuttering in momentum. That gave Damien just enough of an opening to drop into a slide, blades skimming the ice.
He passed underneath the monster.
As he slid beneath it, he twisted and slashed upward with precision. His blade met its target—its Achilles. Flesh and sinew parted cleanly, the severed tendon snapping with a sickening crunch.
The beast howled in agony and crashed forward, unable to stabilize.
Damien didn't stop.
He jumped, landing on its side and gripping the cold metal spikes along its back. His hands burned with contact, the metal humming with latent energy.
'Enjoy this, you bastard.'
Lightning exploded from his palms and flooded into the creature's spine. He could feel electricity racing through the steel, searing into the monster's nervous system. The bear screamed, its roar distorted like audio warping through static. Its muscles locked and twitched as the volts surged.
It collapsed.
But not for long.
With a violent shake, the bear began to rise, trembling. Damien clung on for dear life as the spikes whipped from side to side. Then, without warning, he was flung off, his body tumbling across the ice like a ragdoll. He rolled for ten meters before finally skidding to a halt, groaning as the pain throbbed through his limbs.
Not lethal. The simulation counted him as alive.
He gritted his teeth and glanced back.
The bear was staggering, steam rising from its singed fur. Its eyes locked onto Damien like those of a predator who remembered the sting.
'Lucky for me, I was just the distraction.'
Looking up, Damien spotted a streak falling from the sky—a golden blur slicing through the clouds.
Luka.
The blonde descended at a terrifying speed, sword pointed downward, his body angled like a missile. He wasn't falling—he was controlling the descent, kicking off the air to accelerate—a move only someone insane or inhuman would even attempt.
Fifteen meters above the monster, Luka thrust his blade—Nova—down with both hands. Just before impact, he kicked downward, propelling himself back into the air while unleashing his momentum into the strike.
The blade hit.
It didn't slice—it pierced, effortlessly carving through the bear's neck like hot iron through ice.
The abomination collapsed in an instant. Dead.
Luka landed softly beside Damien, casually brushing ice from his shoulder.
"This is totally not worth it," he muttered.
A cold shiver crept up Damien's spine.
But he agreed.
They couldn't siphon any Deviant energy from the monster. Normally, absorbing a fallen foe's essence would enhance their strength, feeding both body and ability. But this was just a simulation—no real gain.
Still, Damien suspected that wasn't why Luka thought it wasn't worth it.
He liked killing humans more.
The theory made Damien uneasy. Luka needed to kill something that had an ability to gain one himself. And while a grade three or higher monster was out of reach, a newly awakened human? Not so much.
'I swear he's a maniac.'
Just as that thought passed, Summer ran toward them, breathless. Her cheeks were flushed red from the cold and exertion. Her short brown hair bounced with each step. She looked worried.
"Are both of you okay? I can heal you!"
They both assured her they were fine. She'd already given enough—she was drained, and they knew it.
While Damien and Luka had delivered the final blow, Summer had protected them the entire time, shielding, slowing, and sacrificing her stamina to keep them alive.
Damien gave her a warm smile. "Good job. Your bubbles made this possible."
She returned the smile, cheeks still pink. Luka grinned and threw both arms around them, pulling them close.
They had finally killed a grade two beast for the first time in days of effort.
Damien's happiness, however, did not last.
A voice echoed overhead, ancient and mocking.
"Wow, it took you guys this long to barely kill a grade two beast? Back in my day, I threw around grade fives like they were nothing… so pathetic."
Damien rolled his eyes and looked up at the sky.
'Well, at least I'm not sealed .'
That shut the voice up for now.