The sun was beginning to dip, casting long, amber shadows across the courtyard of the newly rebuilt St. Jude's Sanctuary. Tae stood at the front of a grassy clearing, droning on about the molecular stabilization of spirit particles. It was, by all accounts, incredibly boring.
Sora was leaning against a tree, stifling a yawn, while Mina was braiding a young girl's hair, and Leo was busy trying to balance a pencil on his nose.
"And that," Tae said, tapping a chalkboard that shouldn't have even been outside, "is why the internal equilibrium is more important than the external output. Any questions?"
A small boy in the front row raised his hand. "Tae? Since Jay is the oldest... can he beat you?"
The courtyard went silent.
Old Tae—the one before the Buddha Essence, the one with the hair-trigger temper—would have crashed out immediately. He would have leveled the courtyard just to prove a point. But now? Tae just blinked, a faint, serene smile on his face.
"Jay?" Tae looked over at Jay, who was leaning against a stone pillar, looking like he'd stepped off a magazine cover. "He's got spirit, sure. But beating me? That's a tall order for a big brother."
Jay straightened up, his charisma practically radiating off him in waves. He started "aura-farming" without even trying, the air around him shimmering with golden-red confidence. "I don't know, Tae," Jay said, his voice smooth. "Age comes with wisdom. And wisdom usually knows where the blind spots are in a younger brother's defense."
Jax stepped up next to Jay, cracking his knuckles. "I'm with Jay. You've been getting a little too 'zen' lately, Tae. Might've gotten soft."
Tae's smile didn't flicker. "Soft? Is that the word? Alright. Let's step outside. Well... we are outside. Everyone, clear a 100-yard radius."
Round 1: The Golden Wall vs. The Twin Storms (Tae vs. Jay & Jax)The "no-named" kids scrambled back, eyes wide. Mina shook her head, whispering to Sora, "Tae's actually going to let them try?"
"He's too calm," Sora noted, crossing his arms. "That's the scary part."
Jay and Jax moved with perfect synchronicity. Jay didn't just walk; he glided, his presence filling the space. Jax, on the other hand, was a coiled spring of pure aggression.
"Don't take it personally, little brother," Jay smirked, his aura flaring into a massive, regal silhouette.
Jax moved first—a blur of speed, aiming a heavy kick at Tae's ribs. At the same time, Jay snapped his fingers, and a wave of pressurized spirit energy surged from the ground beneath Tae's feet.
Tae didn't move. He didn't even raise his hands. A faint golden shimmer—the Logos Engine humming at 1%—simply deflected Jax's foot like it hit a mountain. The ground erupting beneath him simply flowed around him, as if the earth itself refused to touch him.
"Talk more," Tae said, his voice echoing with a slight celestial reverb. "I like the confidence."
"Oh, we've got plenty!" Jax yelled, launching a barrage of strikes. Tae parried every single one with two fingers, looking like he was swatting flies.
Jay jumped in, his strikes more calculated, aiming for Tae's pressure points. "You're wide open!" Jay shouted, his hand glowing with a piercing light.
Tae tilted his head an inch, let the strike pass his ear, and then gently tapped Jay's chest. The impact sent Jay skidding back fifty feet, his heels digging deep trenches into the dirt.
"Is that all the wisdom you've got?" Tae asked, his eyes glowing with that terrifyingly peaceful golden light.
Round 2: The Cold Calculation (Joseph vs. Cygnus & Rix)As the dust settled from Tae's casual flex, Cygnus pushed his glasses up his nose. "Impressive. But raw power is predictable. I've been running simulations, Joseph. Statistically, I'm 14% more efficient in tactical processing than you."
The air temperature dropped forty degrees.
Joseph, who had been quietly watching, turned his head slowly. His blue eyes weren't peaceful like Tae's—they were like icebergs. Everyone knew: never tell Joseph he isn't the smartest person in the room.
"14%?" Joseph's voice was a low, dangerous hum. "You think numbers can account for me?"
Rix stepped up beside Cygnus, sensing the shift. "He's right, Joe. You're stuck in your old ways. We're the new era."
Joseph didn't wait. He didn't "aura-farm." He simply disappeared.
"Azure Aegis: Zero Point," Joseph whispered, appearing directly between the two.
Cygnus's eyes widened. He tried to calculate the trajectory, but Joseph was moving in a way that defied logic. Joseph grabbed Cygnus's face and Rix's throat in one fluid motion, slamming them into the ground so hard the shockwave shattered the windows of the nearby training hall.
"Calculate the velocity of that," Joseph hissed, his blue energy decaying the very grass beneath them.
Rix roared, swinging a heavy fist, but Joseph didn't dodge—he used Azure Singularity to warp the space, making Rix's punch hit Cygnus instead.
"Hey! Watch it!" Cygnus yelled, clutching his jaw.
"He's cheating!" Rix shouted.
"I don't cheat," Joseph said, his voice cold and terrifyingly calm. "I rewrite the rules of the game while you're still reading the instructions."
From the sidelines, Leo whistled. "Man, Joseph is pissed. I haven't seen him this mad since someone touched his library."
Round 3: The Volcanic Ego (Kd vs. Ethan & Ayden)Kd was laughing at Joseph's intensity until Ayden spoke up.
"You're laughing, Kd, but your form is sloppy," Ayden said, casually stretching. "In pure hand-to-hand? I'd have you pinned in thirty seconds. You rely too much on those flames."
Kd's laughter stopped. A vein popped in his forehead. "Sloppy? I'm the Prince of Chaos, kid. I'll break your hands before you can even form a fist."
Ethan smirked, adding fuel to the fire. "He's right, Kd. You're basically just a human flamethrower. No finesse. All bark, no bite."
"What did you just say?" Kd's aura exploded. Red lightning arched off his body, scorching the ground. He didn't look zen like Tae or cold like Joseph—he looked like a literal demon.
"Oh, now he's mad," Mina giggled. "Ethan, you shouldn't have said 'bark.' He hates being called a dog."
Kd charged. He didn't use fire—he used raw, brutal speed. He reached Ayden in a heartbeat, throwing a punch that sounded like a sonic boom. Ayden slipped the punch, trying to counter with a technical wrist lock, but Kd's skin was so hot it felt like touching a stove.
"Finesse this!" Kd roared, grabbing Ethan by the shirt and hurls him toward Ayden.
Ayden caught Ethan, but the momentum was so great they both tumbled back. Kd was on them in a second, his fists a blur of red-hot fury. He wasn't even using his full power; he was just beating them with pure, unadulterated "crash-out" energy.
"Who's the flamethrower now?!" Kd screamed, punctuating every word with a strike that cracked the earth.
The AftermathThe courtyard was a mess of craters, scorched grass, and frozen patches of dirt. The three prodigies stood in the center, surrounded by their defeated brothers.
Tae was still perfectly clean, not a hair out of place. Joseph looked disgusted that he'd even had to exert effort. Kd was huffing, steam rising off his shoulders, looking like he wanted to go another ten rounds.
The "no-named" kid who started it all looked at the destruction, then back at his friends. "So... I guess the answer is no?"
Sora walked over, patting the kid on the head. "The answer, kid, is that you never, ever talk about their egos. Especially Joseph's."
Tae looked at his brothers, the golden glow fading from his eyes. "Class dismissed. Jay, Jax... you're cleaning the courtyard."
"What?!" Jax yelled. "Tae, you hit us!"
"I'm the Director," Tae said, that boring, zen smile returning. "And the Director says: grab a shovel."
The clatter of shovels hitting the dirt echoed through the ruined courtyard. Jay wiped a smudge of dust from his forehead, looking at the trenches they'd dug, then looked over at Tae, who was sitting cross-legged on a floating slab of debris, sipping a juice box Mina had handed him.