Tuesday morning dawns in Guarly. In a luxurious building, on the sixtieth floor, lies an enormous penthouse. A vast white hallway leads to a double bed, flanked by two small black nightstands. A phone alarm rings, waking a young athlete who immediately turns it off. He remains seated on the bed for a moment, observing his spacious room. With his phone, he opens the blinds and takes in the beauty of the city. Smiling, the light-brown-haired, green-eyed teenager stands up, wearing a black tank top and gray-and-black checkered pants. He slips on his black slippers, yawns, and walks into the living area as the windows slowly open.
Still groggy, he heads to the bathroom to splash water on his face and fix his hair. Feeling more awake now, he smiles and goes to the fridge, grabbing a carton of milk, a box of cereal, and a jar of nuts. He slices some strawberries, pours milk over the cereal, adds the rest of the ingredients, and returns to the massive living room. Sitting on his white sofa, he turns on a flat-screen TV that slides out from the wall. Gregorio watches the city news while eating breakfast—until his phone vibrates.
Gregorio (smiling): "Hello?"
Nya (serious): "Hi, Greg. Hey, do you have any plans for Christmas?"
Gregorio (thoughtful, looking at the ceiling): "Not really. What did you have in mind?"
Nya: "Nothing for me, but a girl who's friends with Alexa—she's part of her study group—invited me to a party this Friday afternoon at Kiryoku."
Gregorio (glancing at a pile of cards on the dining table): "I see… Do you want me to go with you?"
Nya: "If you want. Honestly, I didn't plan on going if I didn't know anyone. The blonde already told me she doesn't plan to go, so going alone would be pathetic. And just being there with Emily and Alexa doesn't mean we'll really talk much."
Gregorio smiles and agrees to accompany his friend. He walks to the kitchen, washes the bowl from his breakfast, and gazes out the window, sighing at the deep silence of his home. "Do I even have anything Christmas-themed?" he wonders aloud as he heads to his wardrobe, passing the letters on the glass table—unaware that the top one bears the seal of the Sejuk family.
The four teenagers walk toward their master's cabin; the day before, he had asked them to arrive much earlier than usual. Because of this, two of them look tired—especially the brown-haired boy with yellow tips, who struggles against his own body mass as they move through the calm forest.
Emily asks, "Why do you think he asked us to come so early?"
Yawning, the black-haired girl looks at the sky. "Maybe he just wants to beat us up because he's annoyed we lost. Or maybe he wants to keep torturing Tyron."
All three girls glance at Tyron, who trembles at the mere possibility. Admitting it could be true, they continue on. The blonde offers another idea: "Maybe since we lost, he wants to teach us a new technique… maybe his healing technique?"
She looks at the green-eyed girl, who frowns. "What?"
"You know more about Fiu than we do," the blonde explains. "How hard is that thing the master does?"
Alexa notices how expectantly they all look at her, convinced she must know. She shakes her head. "I don't know. I've only seen a few people do it. I think it's a medical skill, but that's it. I don't know how difficult it is or how it works."
Emily looks up at the clear sky and smiles. "Maybe he wants to give us an early Christmas gift."
That makes the others imagine the warrior smiling kindly while handing them presents. They all swallow nervously—if it were something good, it would probably come with many bad things. Tyron, after thinking for a moment, beams proudly. "I bet it's time for us to specialize in different types of swords! That way we can improve our team attacks, like combat styles."
Emily and Alexa nod, liking the idea. But Francesca quickly shoots it down. "Are you idiots? Do you really think the same guy who laughed in our faces when we lost to Erinios—and pointed out all our mistakes against that Mercenary—would suddenly become kind just because Christmas is coming?"
After that, no one can cling to the idea that their master would suddenly be nice.
They reach the cabin and hear groans coming from the back. Without much thought, the two brown-haired teens move ahead, confident it's their master. The blonde follows. Taking advantage of the moment, she whispers to Alexa, "Do you think it could be…?"
The green-eyed girl shakes her head. If it were what she had foreseen, Tyron wouldn't be here. They keep going, leaving Francesca doubtful. Both girls think at the same time, Maybe telling someone about what was going to happen changed something.
They grip their katana hilts and follow the others. The good news—Tyron wouldn't be the enemy, Alexa thinks. The bad news—if it were possible, all four of them could be attacked by that mysterious figure.
They arrive to find the adult sitting on the ground, his right hand extended, holding four massive vessels floating within a cloud of light-blue Fiu. Jayden exhales, the cloud slowly dissipating until nothing remains. He lowers his hand as the vessels settle gently onto the ground.
"Good, you're here," he says with a heavy sigh. "It's time to begin training."
He stands and orders them to position themselves, one in front of each vessel, then heads inside the cabin to retrieve something. Curious, Tyron peeks inside one of the containers and finds a large amount of what looks like mud—strangely warm. Intrigued, he reaches in, but Emily grabs his wrist while the other two smack the back of his head to stop him.
Jayden returns carrying four glass rectangles under his left arm. "Three steps back from the vessels," he orders. They comply. He plants one glass piece beside each student, perfectly positioned like a mirror.
Jayden (serious, sitting on the porch): "From today on, your training will be at this hour. Your defeat against the Mercenary made something clear—you must raise your level significantly to face the enemies ahead. But first, you must master this technique."
Alexa (confused): "Isn't this the clone technique? Wouldn't it be more useful to teach us more about enemy styles and abilities?"
Jayden (shaking his head): "No. First, you need to be able to create clones so you can devote more time to training while the copies handle your daily routines. The downside is that it may take most of the morning to make a proper clone. To begin, you need a clear image in your mind. Then create a Spiral Sphere of energy—use your hands, release Fiu slowly and steadily, drawing larger and larger circles. Once the sphere is formed, guide it into the clay inside the vessels. Do not lose the image in your mind until the clone is complete."
The teenagers spend half an hour staring at their reflections. Alexa is the first to move, tracing a small circle in the air with her hands, releasing pale green energy. She draws larger circles until they merge into a sphere. Francesca follows with blue energy, Tyron with yellow, and Emily last with light brown.
After an hour, each holds an orb the size of a palm. They drop them into the vessels—only for each to explode, splattering them with clay. Jayden snorts and casually cleans everything with a flick of his hand.
"Again," he says. "Relax. Your energy must merge with the clay—it's imbued with my Fiu, which should help. If you can't integrate the sphere, this will take all day."
They try again. This time, Francesca gently guides her orb into the vessel. The clay bubbles. Arms emerge, then faces of pure clay. The clones step out, their muddy forms quickly taking on the color and texture of the originals' skin and clothes.
Unfortunately, a bead of sweat tickles Emily's nose. As she fights the urge to scratch, her clone's torso suddenly swells and explodes—destroying the others' clones as well.
Jayden (pouring tea): "Again."
Four hours pass. The backyard is heavily damaged from repeated explosions. On the eighth attempt, the clones finally stabilize with proper coloration. Exhausted, Francesca sighs under a pounding headache. Emily rests under a tree. Tyron collapses on the ground, gasping for air. Only Alexa seems unaffected.
"Five minutes," Jayden says. "Then create a smaller Spiral Sphere and connect it to your clone's head. That will complete the technique."
After two more hours, they succeed. They place the tiny orbs against their clones' foreheads; the energy is absorbed.
"Now touch your own forehead with the same finger," Jayden instructs.
They do so, feeling no immediate change. Jayden then orders the clones to return home. As they walk away, he explains:
"The Spiral Sphere isn't for combat—it's unstable on contact. It's meant for techniques like this, where it sustains something with limited energy that regenerates through the motion of the circles. The second sphere acts as the clone's brain. That's why they're identical in personality. When a clone is destroyed, everything it experienced returns to you. You may feel a headache at first, but you'll adapt."
Tyron whispers to Alexa, "Did you understand any of that?"
"Just that when the clone disappears, we'll know everything it saw," she whispers back.
"Same," he admits, embarrassed.
Jayden is about to resume training when a burst of green energy erupts at the center of the platform. The students take battle stances, but Jayden signals them to stay still. The energy fades, revealing a blue-skinned, faceless humanoid.
Jayden sighs in annoyance as a warm voice echoes directly into their minds:
"Greetings. It is good to see you, great Barrier of Power… and to finally meet your new students, who are so often spoken of within the Society of Users."