Beneath the scarlet moon, Purple and Julien rested on a bench in the Rover family courtyard. They waited for Scar, who had overslept, and for Arthur, who waited for his nephew.
Purple leaned forward, elbows on her thighs, and chin propped on her fists. Her typical smile had disappeared. She was deep in thought, heart pounding so hard her palms were slick with sweat.
Julien, meanwhile, focused on pulling his cream locs into a ponytail. He didn't know why Purple looked so distressed, but he hoped to god she wouldn't drag him into a pointless fight.
Purple snorted, "I can't explain it, but something's wrong. We need to stay alert. The Kugo clan is in my palm after this afternoon's negotiations, and that's exactly why I'm uneasy.
"The outcome against the Zhang clan depends entirely on my intel. Neither side would dare move against me, doing so would destroy their standing."
Tsk.
"I swear something's moving beneath all this. I don't know what it is yet, but something bad is coming."
Confusion crossed Julien's face.
He'd been there this afternoon during negotiations. Purple had been completely composed, unreadable as always. He'd even suspected she had some kind of mind-reading ability. And now she was afraid?
"Who'd have thought… even the smartest one here has her fears." He muttered so low that it was barely audible.
Purple exhaled deeply and turned to Julien. "Don't do anything without informing me. If you see something unusual, tell me immediately."
She frowned.
"We'll make use of Arthur's teachings and grow stronger. You need this power more than I do, but since you work for me, I need you at your best as well."
Julien nodded energetically. He'd do anything if it meant being ready for his vengeance.
Soon enough, a familiar figure appeared.
Scar came over, hand on his stomach, scratching the back of his head with an awkward smile.
"Ah, I'm finally here. I had some urgent stuff to deal with… like being awesome, of course."
He exhaled.
'I don't know if it was the fear of tonight's training, but damn… my stomach definitely had the worst of it.'
Nature had called, and what happened in the washroom was… alarming.
Probably not the best time to bring that up…
"Oi! My nephew has arrived." Arthur said, approaching them.
Purple and Julien approached the training field with an enthusiasm that made Scar wonder if something was wrong. He'd have expected it from Julien, who was obsessed with getting stronger, but Purple? This was unusual.
It didn't take long for Scar to notice Arthur was the oddest one present. Yesterday, his aura had been different. Tonight, it had changed yet again.
His face was smooth now, wrinkles completely gone. The scar remained, the blind eye unchanged, but he radiated power.
If he didn't know any better, Scar would've thought Arthur was aging backward.
With a big grin etched across his face, Arthur spoke:
"We don't have time to waste, so I'll teach you one of the hardest techniques first. After that, everything else will come naturally."
He moved toward a wooden dummy, relaxing his fingers. With careful, measured precision, he flicked one out. The moment it made contact with the practice dummy, the entire thing shattered into fragments.
Their mouths fell open in astonishment.
But Scar wasn't just amazed, he was bewildered. Arthur had barely touched it, using almost no force. That shouldn't have even shifted the dummy. Was this the real power of Enhancement?
Arthur turned to them, still wearing his smile. "This should be easy. Concentrate the Blessing on a single part of your body and use it. It's best if it covers your whole body, but let's focus on this first before moving on to the difficult part."
The instant he finished speaking, Purple approached a dummy. She stood calm and relaxed briefly, then snapped her fingers forward. The dummy's head shattered into pieces.
"Excellent. You've got it. You don't have to break the whole dummy as I did, but this shows you've mastered the foundation." Arthur said.
Scar gulped. Purple struck with more force than Arthur had, but she'd only shattered part of the dummy. That gave him a clear sense of Arthur's power. And if Dain was even stronger than Arthur… Scar realized he was being hunted by something monstrous.
Julien stepped up to a dummy and destroyed its head in seconds. Then came Scar's turn.
It came naturally to him, having already tapped into his Blessing before. One steady breath, one quick flick, and the dummy's head shattered.
Arthur looked so proud you'd think Scar had just killed a Nightmare.
Arthur raised his head confidently and gestured toward the distance. In the time it took them to turn and look, he'd somehow transported himself there and struck his usual omnipotent pose.
"What?! You didn't even move! How is it possible to cover 20 meters in a blink?" The words left Scar before his mind could process what he'd seen.
"So that's the 'Flash Step'? But… how did you not take a step?" Purple followed Scar's aggression with calmness.
"I did take a step, but it happened too fast for you to notice. Some people can do it without stepping at all, and I'm still thirty years away from that," Arthur said and approached them.
Julien, though, looked too eager and excited for anyone's liking. "How can we do it?… teach us."
"More complex skills exist, but given our limited time, mastering this will pave the way for you to pick up the rest more easily."
Odd. Why did Arthur keep emphasizing that their time was running out? Confusing, but Scar was too eager to learn the technique to worry about it.
"Those squats from this morning? They'll be crucial here. And since you already know how to enhance your body, this works out perfectly."
Suddenly…
A sinister smile crossed Arthur's face. One moment, he was distant, the next, he stood before Purple, hand clamped around her neck. Her eyes went wide with terror.
Scar and Julien took steps back as the atmosphere shifted ominously, the air itself seeming to yield to Arthur's malicious presence.
"You don't mind if I kill you, do you?" The smile on his face made it even harder to refuse his words.
'What's happening? This isn't my uncle.'