Even with her threads digging into his jugular, Luca’s mind was intoxicated by the front row view of the strange girl.

His lips parted slightly, and even his pupils dilated.

The smell of winter dew hit his nose and a lush meadow.

This must have been the scent not just from the girl, but also from her ego.

Ego energy possesses the characteristics of physical bodies.

One of such was its tangibility.

When Luca stuck his tongue out, he was certain he could taste it.

In that moment, the coiled wires tightened with a metallic sheen.

Her eyes glowed an otherworldly hue. The kind you would expect from a murderer as she pressed her aura tightly on top of him.

Luca groaned. He felt the strength of the iron and the exact pressure required to decapitate him.

The involuntary calculation startled him, and perhaps, should have scared him.

However, Luca felt simply fascinated by the whole thing.

The girl, noticing his silence, knitted her brows. Her confusion was plainly revealed on her face.

"I know I asked before, but are you dumb? Don’t you know you can die from this?"

Luca shrugged.

"You know, I felt you from my room."

She tilted her head. "Huh?"

"Your Ego. I felt it from my room.

It was subtle... as if you didn’t intend on releasing it... but I felt it... and it called out to me."

The string tightened yet again and tore fresh skin, causing blood to dribble down.

"Get to the point."

Luca’s eyes shimmered brilliantly as they were stuck in hers.

"You felt it too."

She froze.

"I can tell you could have killed me even before I entered the room.

No, from the moment I woke up, someone as powerful as you must have instantly felt my presence... and when I approached... You knew I was heading here."

He scoffed and tilted his head upwards.

"You’re just as intrigued as me."

The girl narrowed her eyes... but her grip on her strings didn’t taunt.

In fact, it loosened a bit.

Luca had hit the mark, but so what?

She still had his life on her hands and could take it when she wished to.

But if she did, she wouldn’t be able to get the response to her question.

Her real question.

"Your Ego is off the charts." She began. "How has nobody seen it? It’s neither frenzy, nor still, neither warm nor cold, yet it isn’t nothing... and it isn’t something."

She bit her lower lip.

"Invokers should have seen the anomaly of your Ego... It’s not normal."

"You’re an invoker... how come no one but me felt your presence?"

She opened her mouth as if to reply, but then went silent.

Her thoughts churned at her, and her body hesitated.

It was weird.

As an assassin, she had been taught never to falter. Never hesitate.

It was a cause for failure. Pain. Punishment.

She couldn’t afford such a thing.

"My superiors wouldn’t want any of you to know of my existence... or the way I look."

"Funny... for a moment, I actually thought your name was superiors."

She wanted to tighten the string when.

"I have seven."

She halted.

Her eyes widened slowly and the strings grew lax.

"Wha– What did you say?"

Luca chuckled softly.

"I said... I have seven."

She gasped. Her eyes bulged slightly and the coldness, indifference and drilled discipline crashed all at once.

She dropped her arms while the strings slid off his neck.

"Se– Seven... you poor thing."

She mumbled under her breath.

’Poor thing?’ Luca wondered.

"D– Do you also experience it?"

She asked in a whisper with hesitation.

Luca arched his brow.

"Exp–

Suddenly, she jolted to her feet.

"WE DON’T TALK ABOUT ME!"

She screamed with a voice.

A voice that was the same, yet different.

Foreign in the way that Luca couldn’t recognise, yet familiar in the sense of who it belonged to.

"What?" He stood to his feet.

"ST– STOP! GO BACK!"

"YOU STUPID BITCH! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!"

"— AR-ARGH! GO BACK!"

She staggered to the walls of the storage room and collided with the shelves. Her hands gripped her skull tightly.

Her breath was rugged and her Ego collided against itself. Dark violet and Light lilac coiled as if strangling each other.

"Do– Do you need my– STAY AWAY!"

Both voices collided into one and caught him off guard. She fell to her knees, as she gripped harder.

A pained shriek escaped her lips, until suddenly, she fell silent.

The light lilac Ego surged and consumed the violet until there was nothing left but subtle hints of dark portions.

Luca was baffled. Confused.

They had made so much noise. Enough to alert the entire Institution, but he got the feeling that wouldn’t be the case.

The girl suddenly stood back on her feet.

An exasperated sigh escaped her lips as she pushed the strands of hair back in place.

Her eyes which were once dark violet shimmered with a pinkish lilac and her pupils constricted as they locked onto Luca. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The boy stared in shock.

’... they’re not the same person.’

The girl suddenly clicked her tongue.

Her voice was deep and harsh.

Extremely different from what he had heard moments ago.

"What are you looking at?"

Pain.

Luca dropped to the floor as a dull ache exploded in his head. His eyes were wide in shock and his mouth hung ajar.

His breathing evened– his vision darkened.

"Man, what was that idiot talking about? Being all mushy with a worm like him just because he has seven Archetypes."

Those were the last words Luca registered before everything turned dark.

*

*

*

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Luca’s eyes shot open as a gasp tore from his lungs.

He jumped from his bed in alarm, his gaze darting from side to side as an ear-wrenching sound like that of a gong erupted every few seconds.

"My room?" He muttered as he held his forehead while the sound of the gong continued to resound with a metallic bang.

Soon, the sounds of rushing feet shook the building to its very foundations.

The Cadets were awake and active already.

In that moment, the voice of an Instructor rang through the entire building like a siren.

"CADETS, ARISE!"

Luca turned to his door and walked towards it.

He forced it open to find only a few Cadets running down from the fifth floor.

His gaze narrowed as he followed after.

The voice resounded once more.

"TIME FOR THE ASSEMBLY!"

"Assembly?" Luca muttered. "Is it morning already?"

His pupils dilated as he sprinted to the side.

Rushing towards what played out in his head.

"Wha– What happened to her?"

He got to it and swung it open in panic... but his chest sank the moment he investigated the room.

"Empty."

It wasn’t just empty, it was spotless.

The shelves were placed back in their respective corners, the walls and floor looked clean from footprints and there was no reflective sight of those iron threads.

Luca walked back slowly.

"Was it a dream?"

Suddenly, someone held his shoulder firmly.

His head darted to the side, muscles coiling in preparation, but the person he saw immediately loosened the tension.

"Lucamir? I thought I saw you."

The familiar voice of a certain chubby fellow echoed in the Hallway.

"Why are you just standing there? Let’s go."

Taren nudged along as he rushed down with the others, leaving Luca to his thoughts.

Luca hesitated for a moment.

He glanced at the empty storage room and scratched the back of his head as he headed towards the stairs.

’Perhaps it was a dream.’

The first morning had come for the Cadets and this usually began with the Morning Assembly.

A mandatory, extremely early ritualistic practice where the Cadets make a round trip to the Institutional Central Square.

Every Cadet– male and female makes their way here and eventually waits for their Instructors, Head Instructors’, Soldiers and finally, the Headmaster of the Institution where a speech would be given.

It was followed by a brief rundown on the classes they would be taking and finally, the Abyss schedule, which for most parts, Luca was excited to learn about.

At the moment, Luca was under the dull skies of the morning rays.

With the moon setting and Elderion’s form shrinking from the bright sun rays, a cold refreshing wind surged through him.

He sighed as he jogged along the familiar pavements and streets of the once-busy institution.

Circling with some familiar faces towards their intended goal.

As you would have it, Taren was the runner-up in their group. Having defeated the other three with brutal precision.

It had seemed like Luca’s action had rubbed off on him and contrary to what Luca had thought, Taren didn’t hold it against him.

"I would have done the same." He had replied with a smile while they ran.

"The rule of the Ardenthals is that the strong don’t hesitate... in some ways, you’re more Ardenthal than I ever will be."

He had laughed it off at the time, but Luca had not found it funny.

"Don’t cut yourself short just yet."

He had replied with a light tap on his shoulder.

It was a form of encouragement, and from Luca, who he later found out reached the top 50, it meant quite a lot.

At the moment, both of them were jogging with some others.

Sweat dripped down their foreheads as the morning wind whisked a cool breeze over their heads.

Their sleeping clothes– which Luca accompanied with his buttoned black clung to their sleekened skin.

For some Cadets, it was a morning run.

The kind that awakens your sleeping muscles and increases your blood flow.

For others, and the majority at that... it was the beginning of their hell.