The violet ash remained stuck to their skin.
Issa Kaneshiro rubbed his fingers together.
The powder wouldn’t blow away with the wind.
It clung to the fabric of his torn uniform.
Goman Arashi nervously scratched his collar.
“This stuff embeds itself into my skin; even using air on it won’t make it go away…” Captain Thiago Vane stopped dead in his tracks.
Behind him, Director Mazen Nazari, Ornella, and Kei approached the crater carved out by the explosion.
Jin Arashi walked behind them, his hands casually in his pockets.
Issa raised his head.
“This isn’t just a leftover trace of fire, Captain.
A normal bomb destroys everything.
Vang’s was designed to blow this powder onto us.
And it’s strange…
it doesn’t burn anything.” Thiago looked down at his black leather gloves.
A thin violet layer covered them.
“Explain yourself, Kaneshiro.” “It clings to the sweat of our skin.
To our energy,” Issa said in a pale voice.
“It looks like some kind of mark.” Goman froze.
His face suddenly turned very pale.
Tariq looked at his own dust-covered hands.
His fear instantly gave way to anger.
“It looks like using the bomb wasn’t just to hide evidence,” Tariq spat, staring fixedly at Thiago.
“They used Prof.
Vang as if to mark us in case the explosion didn’t take us out.” Jin let out a clear, small laugh that echoed through the ruins.
“Decidedly.
Even if you come from a parallel branch, your deduction is impressive, young Kaneshiro; looks like this time our every move is being watched.” These kids in general are just as remarkable, they managed to analyze the incident before letting themselves get carried away by emotions, and all of that autonomously.
Director Nazari’s system trained them well.
“This is quite troublesome,” Kei growled.
His expression tightened further and further.
“We have dozens of kids covered in this dust out in the field.
The entire Academy is a target.
The situation could degenerate quickly.” Thiago’s gray eye didn’t blink.
“Director.
Initiate strict quarantine.
The exam is canceled.” Mazen Nazari nodded, his face hard.
“Captain Aris, Captain Ornella.
Put the survivors in the decontamination showers.
No one leaves here with this ash on their body.” “And what about the seriously injured?” Ornella asked.
“We isolate them in a clean room.
Immediately,” Thiago cut off.
The basement infirmary glowed with a blinding white light.
The machines around the beds were beeping far too fast.
Professor Livia Moreau was dying.
Her chest had been crushed by Vang’s shockwave.
She was bleeding internally and her lungs were failing her.
“She’s out of oxygen!” a doctor yelled, pressing a cloth against the wounded woman’s mouth.
“Her heart’s going to stop!” The large doors burst open.
A medic pushed Leila Amrani into the room.
The young girl was covered in soot, her clothes in tatters, her energy reserves nearly dry.
She was barely standing.
The chief of surgery turned around, furious.
“What is a student doing here?
Get her out!” “Direct order from the Director!” the medic replied, out of breath.
“Her healing abilities were noticed during the seminars.
She saved three students out in the field.” Leila didn’t waste time apologizing.
She shoved the doctor aside with her shoulder.
Urgency came before everything else.
“Move aside.
Let me do it.” She approached the metal bed.
Her trembling hands lit up with a soft green light.
She placed her palms directly against Livia’s shattered chest.
The contact burned her skin.
Leila channeled her own energy into the professor’s blood.
She forced Livia’s cells to multiply to close the wounds from the inside.
“Don’t touch the air tubes,” Leila said, her voice cut short by the strain.
She tasted blood in her mouth.
“Regenerating her lungs will take time.” The dark blood stopped flowing.
The wounded woman’s vitals shot back up on the monitors.
Leila gritted her teeth.
Maintaining this pace drained her own strength.
A drop of sweat rolled down her forehead and stung her eye.
The machine’s beeps slowed down.
Her heart rate became regular again.
Strong.
“She’s stable,” the surgeon murmured, shocked.
Leila withdrew her hands and collapsed to her knees on the cold tile.
She was breathing hard.
The doctors immediately took over.
She had held out.
Two hours later.
Secret meeting room.
The room was dark.
Luminous maps hovered above a large glass table.
Mazen Nazari was seated at the end of the table.
Around him were Thiago Vane, Kei Aris, and Ornella.
Jin Arashi leaned against the concrete wall, looking at the students’ files with curiosity.
“The material damage is enormous,” Mazen began, crossing his fingers beneath his chin.
“But this shock has sorted things out.
The simulation is over.
Out of the hundred students, only two teams held up mentally and tactically.
Twelve students.” Ornella stepped forward.
With resolute confidence, she slid three files into the center of the table.
“I’m taking the frontline,” she said in a dry tone.
“Loris repels attacks, Elian hits hard in close combat, and Caleb Wright can cover their blind spots.
These three possess highly complementary spirits as a team; they’ll be very effective in the field.
They’re coming into my group.” “Good, and you, Captain Aris?” said the Director.
Kei placed his coffee cup down with a sharp sound.
His shadow shifted beneath the table.
He chose three other files.
“I’m taking Thalia Mercier and Sira Kone,” the tired-eyed captain growled.
“Smoke and Anti-Friction.
Their powers are quite interesting for stealth assaults.
And I’m adding Goman Arashi as well.” Jin raised his head.
An amused eyebrow lifted.
“My dear cousin under your orders, Captain Kei?
His attitude is going to make you sick before the end of the month.” “He held his ground against your family and against one of Ornella’s familiars,” Kei replied, looking hard at Jin.
“His arrogance is a problem, yes.
But his air control is a destructive weapon if he learns to focus it properly.
I’m going to teach him discipline.” There was one group left.
The six most unstable, yet most resilient elements.
Thiago crossed his arms, his gaze resting on the final files on the table.
“I’m taking all of Squad 4 and Kaneshiro,” Thiago announced, sweeping his hand across the six files.
“Tariq El-Hashem.
Kais Trabelsi.
Raad Charara.
Issa Kaneshiro.
Their combined attacks and Kaneshiro’s thinking are our only weapons against Morgen’s traps.” Mazen nodded.
He placed a new, unofficial file on the table.
Soura Sayal’s closed expression appeared in the light.
“We have a special case,” the Director specified.
“Soura Sayal.
He has never studied here.
He has a criminal record for breaking public pipes.
His actions make him a delinquent.
Although his integration into the academy is temporary, I doubt we’ll keep him long, Captain Vane.” “He saved Goman and Kais three times just by reading the water’s movements,” Thiago interrupted, his jaw tight.
“He figured out how Ornella’s familiar worked and unmasked its weak point before any of the students during the physical test.
I understand his criminal record might leave marks at the academy.
But he’ll surely be a major asset in the field.
He needs to understand more things to refine it.” “That’s true,” Mazen said.
The Director typed a code on his keyboard.
Soura’s criminal record vanished from the screen.
“Given what he did today, I’m bypassing the rules.
Soura Sayal is officially a student at Central Academy.” Thiago didn’t waste a second.
“He’s coming into my team.” Silence fell over the room.
Taking a street kid straight into the military elite broke all the rules.
Ornella frowned.
“Thiago, this kid doesn’t follow any orders.
You can’t handle him like a simple soldier.” Jin pushed off the wall, a smirk on his face.
“That’s exactly what you planned from the start, isn’t it, Thiago?” Thiago’s gray gaze landed on Jin.
“This kid grew up without any particular reliance; he’s a self-taught person forged by the hardships of life.
Sayal is the natural enemy of this organization hiding right under the public’s nose.
He’ll see what we don’t see during our next hunt.” Kei sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Tactically, it makes sense.
And the last one?” Leila Amrani’s photo appeared.
Her features were drawn and she had dried blood stains on her clothes.
“Student Amrani saved Livia Moreau,” Mazen said with deep respect.
“Her talent goes beyond simple combat.
The military hospital has already requested her for intensive care.
She must stay in the infirmary.” “I’m sorry, Director Mazen, but here too I will have to refuse,” Thiago cut off, his voice hard as iron.
Ornella slammed her hand on the table.
“Thiago, you’re losing your mind!
She doesn’t know how to fight.
She’s a pure medic.
She’ll be ten times more useful at the hospital patching up our wounded.
The frontline will kill her!” “She’s coming into my team,” Thiago repeated.
His tone admitted no discussion.
He pointed at the girl’s file.
“Read the analysis reports.
Spiritual suppurations possess an innate, corrupted spirit that we’ve never discovered before—the feeding spirit.
This power forces the monsters’ cells to regenerate very quickly to heal them, but not only that: they push their senses and physical capabilities beyond anything we can imagine.
Leila’s gift does the exact same thing to heal humans.” Kei narrowed his eyes.
“You think she can…” “If she trains in the field, facing the corruption of the suppurations,” Thiago finished, “she won’t just heal us.
She’ll understand how the Suppurations’ energy works.
And maybe she’ll figure out how to stop the monsters from healing.
She’s not just a simple medic, Ornella.
She’s our biological key to annihilating these horrors.” Mazen validated the choice with a slow, definitive gesture.
The teams were formed.
The twelve students were no longer simple terror-stricken learners.
They were becoming the official weapons of the Commission.
The war had just begun.