"Alright, now put your leg in there."
Elric's voice was calm, almost lazily impatient.
"No, you're still doing it wrong," he continued, barely looking at Pietro. "You're not supposed to push it. You're supposed to pull it toward you. Stop overthinking."
He glanced sideways.
"Look at your sister. She only needed ten minutes to grasp this. You've been at it for two full days."
Pietro lay sprawled on the training ground, his chest rising and falling as he stared up at the pale sky. A low groan escaped him before he could stop it.
Four hours bathing Leo every morning...
Six hours of physical conditioning...
And now chakra control practice on top of everything else...
Where exactly was he supposed to find the time to master this?
He swallowed the complaint before it could reach his lips. Some thoughts were better left unspoken—especially around Elric.
"This is just a basic trick," Elric continued, merciless as ever. "If something this simple takes you days, how long do you think learning actual ninjutsu will take?"
Before Pietro could muster a response, Aline's mechanical voice cut through the air.
"Boss, there's a message from Annie."
Elric's expression didn't change, but he straightened slightly. "Wanda," he called without looking away from the middle distance, "help Pietro and make sure he doesn't slack off."
He paused, then added, "You should also continue practicing the power you awakened."
Strictly speaking, Wanda hadn't fully awakened her abilities yet. But after receiving chakra, something fundamental had shifted. She could sense her chaos magic now—no longer a distant, incomprehensible force, but something tangible, waiting just beneath her skin. It felt like standing at a door that had finally been unlocked, even if she hadn't yet learned how to turn the handle.
Pietro pushed himself up on his elbows, that familiar desperate hope flickering in his eyes. "Big Boss... will I really get a special power like hers?"
It was the same question he'd asked at least a dozen times this week.
Elric didn't turn around. "You're twins, so probably."
A heartbeat of silence.
"But I'm not sure."
It was the kind of answer that simultaneously crushed hope and kept it alive—exactly the balance Elric seemed to prefer.
After gaining chakra, both siblings had become obsessed with Elric's abilities. The dōjutsu that saw through everything. The flight. The way he moved through the world as if physics were merely suggestions he chose to follow.
Naturally, they wanted to learn.
Elric didn't mind teaching them how to fly. The problem was simple: he didn't actually know how he did it. The ability had come with his transformation, instinctive and unexplained.
So he'd given them the easiest truth wrapped in strategic vagueness.
"It's a special ability," he'd explained. "Unique to each individual. It manifests naturally when chakra awakens."
When Wanda later developed her first stirrings of power, they'd immediately assumed it was because of the chakra he'd given them.
Elric had seen no reason to correct that assumption.
If they believed chakra was the source of all power, they would train harder. And gratitude was always easier to cultivate when people thought you'd given them something irreplaceable—something they could never have obtained on their own.
"Whether you awaken something special or not doesn't actually matter," Elric said, his tone almost dismissive. "Just practice your chakra control diligently. That alone will make you stronger than most people could ever dream of being."
He turned away, already mentally shifting to his next task.
"I might be late tonight. Don't wait for me for dinner."
"Elric."
Wanda's voice stopped him mid-step. There was something uncertain in it, something she'd clearly been holding back.
He paused but didn't turn around. "What?"
"Is it really okay? Choosing her?"
Even without understanding all the intricate political maneuvering, Wanda had figured out the core of his strategy. He wanted a ruler he could control. And logically, a powerless person—someone with no base of support, no family influence, no leverage—would have been far easier to manipulate.
"Even if it's ten years," Wanda continued carefully, "Anastasia's family holds enormous influence here. The nobility respects them. The military remembers them. Are you certain she'll still listen to you after she becomes queen? Once she has that kind of power?"
It was a fair question.
A powerless ruler would certainly be simpler to manage.
But also far more fragile. Powerless people panicked. They made desperate choices. They broke easily under pressure and became liabilities instead of assets.
"No matter how much political power she accumulates," Elric replied without looking back, "she's still just a human in the end."
He let that sink in for a moment.
"As long as she listens to me, that's sufficient. If she doesn't..." His tone remained perfectly casual, as though discussing something no more significant than changing clothes. "I can replace her anytime. It's just a matter of effort."
Wanda said nothing. What could she say to that?
Looking at her gloomy face, he could not help but sigh.
Okay, why don't you come with me? You also need some actual combat practice.
.......
Sokovia was a small country.
So small that for most of its history, the world had barely noticed it existed.
Once conquered by Mongols, later absorbed into Russia's expanding sphere of influence, it had followed Russia's trajectory like a leaf caught in a current. When Russia expanded, Sokovia expanded with it. It became part of the Soviet Union—another minor territory in a vast empire—until 1991, when everything shattered.
In the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, Sokovia found itself independent but insignificant. Its population barely exceeded five hundred thousand. Its land seemed poor and unremarkable. No one had any reason to look closely.
That changed eight years ago.
Geological surveys uncovered massive deposits beneath Sokovia's soil. Lithium. Rare earth metals. Strategic minerals.
And oil.
Substantial reserves of oil.
Where there was oil, "freedom" inevitably followed.
It was only a matter of time before the United States took notice.
A weak nation with no real military, no economic leverage, and a government already weakened by corruption—it was almost an invitation. American intervention began subtly: economic pressure, political "advisors," carefully placed investments. Then it escalated. The monarchy was overthrown in what was officially called a popular uprising. Plans were drawn up for a permanent military base.
None of this was unusual.
By all rights, Sokovia should have followed the same path as countless African nations—resource extraction, political instability, perpetual dependence.
But Sokovia had one critical flaw in that plan.
It shared a direct border with Russia.
At first, Russia didn't care. They had vast oil reserves of their own. Internal problems demanded attention. A small nation like Sokovia barely registered.
But when the United States openly intervened, overthrew a government, and announced plans to establish a military base directly on Russia's doorstep?
That couldn't be ignored.
Russia didn't send troops. They didn't need to.
Instead, weapons quietly flowed across the border. Money followed. Support networks formed. Local resistance movements suddenly found themselves well-armed and well-funded.
A civil war erupted.
For the United States, fighting overseas was expensive—especially on the other side of the world. Even the largest economy couldn't sustain prolonged conflict without visible scars. But if local resistance intensified, if the cost in money and lives continued to climb, withdrawal became inevitable.
And if the U.S. withdrew?
Russia wouldn't need to spend much at all. They could simply shift their focus to something larger.
He will give them something bigger.
He will restart the Cold War properly this time.
And that would become even easier once Russia gained access to arc reactor technology—especially with the world's most advanced AI supporting them from the shadows.
Elric understood this balance better than anyone.
If one side pushed too far, if the equilibrium tipped, everything would collapse into chaos. He needed stability. A world where Sokovia could quietly develop its own strength, where it could eventually stand independently without becoming a permanent battlefield.
Most importantly, he needed a world where he could use Russia's resources and manpower to build the technology he wanted—without Russia ever realizing they were simply tools in his hands.
By the time his thoughts settled, he and Wanda stood before the ruins of an old castle on the city's outskirts.
The entire left side of the structure had collapsed. Blackened stones lay scattered across scorched earth. The air still carried a faint acrid smell.
Wanda stared at the destruction, her expression caught between shock and resignation.
"What happened here?" she asked quietly. "This place is over three hundred years old. It was protected as a world heritage site."
Elric glanced at the ruins with the barest flicker of interest.
"I don't know," he said, his tone utterly casual. "Must've been a strong wind."
Wanda looked at the burn marks seared into the ground. The melted stone. The complete absence of missile debris or conventional weapon signatures.
She was absolutely certain he had done this.
But seeing how completely he ignored her questioning gaze—how thoroughly he dismissed the obvious lie—she could only let out a quiet sigh.
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