"Let's begin."
Ceto steps back from the line and walks toward the control table. He places his hand on the authorization device. The surface lights up. Holographic rings rise and rotate, streams of data scrolling too fast to read.
Agents who were assisting Drakon exit the room, sealing the doors behind them.
Levia leans closer to Helios.
"You were late," she mutters. "Again."
Helios keeps his eyes forward.
"I was training elsewhere."
She frowns.
"Elsewhere? This is our only training ground."
"I have my own place," he replies casually.
Levia tilts her head.
"What kind of place?"
"A place where you train."
"That's not an answer."
Helios lowers his voice.
"Gym. Power checks. Dummies."
Levia blinks.
"It has all that… and we don't know about it?"
"Personal," Helios says. "Maybe I'll let you come sometime."
She studies him, looking for cracks.
"You're lying."
"Only a little."
A faint smile slips through despite herself.
"You always do this," she says. "You act like nothing matters. These are trials."
"That's not true," Helios replies. "Okay. Partly true. But I'm ready. I swear."
At the table, Ceto places a small black shard onto the surface.
The training ground responds instantly.
The shard unfolds into a wireframe. Limbs form. Mass fills in. A creature takes shape, suspended above the platform.
Test-level entity unlocked, the system announces.
The temperature drops.
Drakon shifts his stance.
"That's it?" he scoffs. "That's what we're fighting?"
Ceto turns slightly.
"Each of you will face the levels individually. One attempt per level. Only after defeating a level will the device unlock the next."
He scans the class.
"These constructs are designed not to kill," Ceto continues. "Only to harm."
A pause.
"But you will still have to kill it. That is how worth is proven. That is how strength is measured."
Helios squints at the creature.
"Define 'kill.'"
Ceto turns fully now.
"If you need the definition," he says calmly, "you will fail."
Silence.
The creature's eyes open. Too many. All wrong.
Levia swallows.
"Helios," she whispers. "Please tell me you actually trained—"
"I'll be fine," he says softly.
"You said that before."
"And I was."
She hesitates.
"Once."
A countdown ignites across the walls.
Ceto steps back from the table.
"This first trial is simple," he says. "Hand-to-hand only. No abilities. Only response."
The creature twitches.
Helios exhales. His smile fades.
"See?" he murmurs. "Light work."
Levia doesn't reply. Her expression tightens.