The door on the capsule hissed, blowing out the cold air trapped inside. Cain stepped out, leaving the red scenery on the barren ground to slowly fade and turn pristine white.
His face was twisted, unwilling that the simulation had to end after he had performed it only three times. The boy glanced to the side, seeing the floating blue panel pulsating as if wanting to tell him about the update he needed to undergo.
For a moment, Cain let out a short sigh and turned to face Albert, who was looking at him cynically with a dark smile on his face.
'What's wrong with him?'
The boy scowled, not far away from the scientist's side, and he also saw the frown on General Dosh's face. It causes the atmosphere in the control room to thicken.
'What did I miss?'
"Are you alright?"
The hoarse voice from Dosh drew the attention of the gray-haired boy to him. Cain nodded and glanced toward Albert.
"Thank you for the chance."
Albert nodded slightly as he answered the boy, his eerie smile radiating a negative aura.
"What's your name, boy?"
The boy tilted his head sideways, wondering why Albert was only now curious about his identity. A silence descended for a while until he finally gave up and opened his mouth.
"...Cain."
Without answering, Albert approached, then typed something on his terminal, which made the bracelet on Cain's wrist loosen.
"Cadet Cain, huh. I'll remember it."
The solid armor that wrapped his body broke into small particles, which slowly gathered into a bracelet on his wrist. Albert came closer and opened the bracelet, then immediately turned to face the other cadets.
"Who's next?"
The other cadets swallowed hard, their palms shivering from the chill that had pierced their skin due to the event that had transpired earlier, haunting them like a menacing whisper.
They saw the grin on the black-haired man's face. The darkness in his eyes twisted like a malicious vortex, intent on devouring someone else's consciousness.
But despite all that, one brave child stepped forward. A symbol of hope for humanity, with a level nine mutation potential, stood before the professor.
"May I go next?"
Albert, Dosh, and Cain stared at Abel's face. His facial expression was calm, like a glass reflecting the blazing fire in his heart.
From behind, Cain caught the silhouette of a red-haired girl, who was clenching her fists tightly. She bit her lip as she felt useless about her current mental condition, which couldn't withstand others' malice.
Peter let out a small breath; the tension in him seemed to be washed away by Abel's voice, causing him to smile slightly.
As for Louise, she shook her head back and forth, trying to open her stiff mouth, but couldn't. Her face turned ghastly pale.
"Your hand."
Hearing Albert's instruction, Abel nodded firmly and briefly peeked toward Cain, who was crossing his arms over his chest.
Without saying much, Cain just smiled slightly and opened his mouth.
"Knowing you, this trial will be easy."
The blonde boy widened his eyes, not expecting that he had such high value in the eyes of his friend and rival.
"You think so?"
'It's showing again, his indecisive attitude.'
Cain's eyebrows wrinkled. It was hard to believe that someone with the highest potential actually had the weakest mentality in his class.
This was a kind of power balance given to him by the world. With incredible hidden strength, Abel still lacked when compared to the other cadets, who generally had a firm attitude and a steel-like mentality.
However, that didn't mean it was a weakness of his. Precisely because of that, Abel still had room to grow, and with the help of those closest to him. The boy would surely rise to the peak, creating his own legend.
Cain shifted his attention to the side, seeing Rika's red pupils fixed on watching the back of the blonde boy beside him.
He chuckled and reduced the distance between him and Abel. Cain raised his hand and mercilessly slapped Abel's back, which made a crisp sound.
"Ouch!"
"Quit your whining! Just go in there and experience it yourself."
Abel's body bent, feeling a searing throb similar to being poured with molten iron.
"That hurt, you know."
With glistening eyes, Abel glared at Cain, who moved away from him and returned to the other cadets.
Upon arriving there, his body flinched as he stared at the red eyes that stabbed him like knives.
'My god, she is as intense as ever if it's regarding Abel.'
The grey-haired boy raised both hands in surrender, smiling wryly before the angry mother.
"It's not my fault I did that."
"But, at least you can just pat his back, right? Why do you have to slap it?"
Rika stomps the ground hard as she gets closer to Cain's side, causing him to step back.
"I'm sorry, okay. Look, the simulation is starting, you don't want to miss his action, right?"
The glaring red-haired girl snorted. She exhaled loudly and then shifted her position around to get a better view of the arena.
After seeing Rika's attention diverted, Cain slumped his shoulders, then patted his chest lightly and realized that his heart rate had increased rapidly.
'Crazy, rather than a girlfriend. Rika is like a lioness Mother who cares about her cub.'
If seen closely, her obsession with Abel, whom she always wants to protect, sparks curiosity in Cain's mind. They must have a past that makes their relationship like this.
However, Cain didn't want to force his way through those walls. He preferred to wait for them to open up to him, just as Rika had told him that night.
'When the time comes, maybe the three of us will be much closer.'
Unknowingly, the corner of his lips lifted, revealing a thin smile that was noticed by Rika, who immediately gripped his arm.
"Oi, what do you mean by giggling like that? Are you thinking of something rude about me?"
"No, that's just your hallucination."
Dread washed over the blood on his face, and Cain shook his head furiously.
"Hmph."
Rika sniffed, flicked her red ponytail, and watched Abel's simulation. But, from the side, Cain saw the girl's cheeks puff out with a slight blush.
He shook his head and shifted his attention to the same place. The familiar red scenery, full of iron wreckage and black blood scattered. Abel stood in the middle. In front of him, a virus beast, the same one Cain faced, flicked its tentacles.
Abel began to move, unlike Cain's soft and flowing movements. He was more rigid and seemed to focus his strength on the core.
Clang!
A spark flew out as Abel parried the enemy's tentacle. Not finished yet, he used the momentum of the previous impact to slash the other tentacle and change the direction of its attack.
The battle continued. Abel bravely stood in the middle of consecutive attacks from the enemy.
Each collision sent a tiny shockwave that shook the air surrounding Abel. However, the attack that looked one-sided immediately twisted in a hundred eighty degrees.
'He's coming.'
Just as Cain whispered, Abel, who was unmoving like a pillar, shifted his position and swung his sword with all his might.
The wind howled as a silver flash severed the two tentacles attacking him. The blonde boy kicked the ground, rushing to his opponent while raising the sword over his head, and swung it vertically with all his might.
A thundering crash split the body of the monster into two. It disintegrated into glitching data, swallowed by the atmosphere.
'Hoo, as expected he's strong.'
Cain smirked; his black pupils never missed Abel's every movement. Every movement was solid; it seemed that Abel had honed his abilities well despite months of training.
"Way to go, Abel."
A small voice that seemed like a whisper resonated beside him. This caused Cain to glance to the side and see the beaming expression of the mother watching her son succeed.
'Good grief, these two.'
The simulation continued, but this time General Dosh sternly barked at Professor Albert to increase the level gradually.
Twice, thrice before Abel volunteered to stop the trial and leave the capsule.
"Next?"
Rika volunteered, and with her accuracy. She left holes in every core of the virus beast that stood before her.
Peter, with the agility and deceit he had trained since an early age, demonstrated a flexible and tricky fight while utilizing the surrounding terrain.
Last but not least, Louise, although she looked nervous, her ability to use a spear changed her into someone else. Every thrust was precise and sharp, illustrating her sincere attitude full of blazing determination.
After hours had passed, General Dosh stood in front of the cadets. He scrutinized the student's expression.
"Good work everyone. Thank you for following this sudden event and I hope you are not bored, because I still have one more thing I want to show everyone."
"As you command."
Cain and the other cadets patted their left chest as a salute that had been taught to them.
"Good, follow me."
"Cain, can I have a word with you?"
Albert interrupted, causing all attention to turn against him.
'What's going on here?'
Cain whispered, his eyebrows raised as he didn't understand what was going on inside the head of the mad scientist in front of him.