The Ice Clan Headquarters shimmered under the pale moonlight, its tall spires gleaming in the frosty night air. It was a fortification and a sanctuary for the clan's warriors; however, tonight, for Kai Ciphera, it felt anything but safe.

  His body throbbed with pain with every step he took. The cool night breeze dried the blood on his black jacket while bruises painted his skin violet and black.

  With vision blurred from exhaustion, he walked through the entrance when—

  "Kai?!" Celine's voice rang out from across the hall.

  Before he could answer, Celine and Pyrus rushed to his side and grabbed both of his arms.

  "What the hell happened to you?!" Pyrus asked. "You look like you just got jumped."

  Celine latched onto his other arm and held him up. "Who did this to you?"

  Kai hesitated.

  They moved deeper into the fortress. Kai felt being stared at by the eyes of several Ice Clan soldiers. He could not make out their expressions, yet he was definitely uneasy with their lingering gazes as Guido's words echoed in his mind.

  If Guido really had spies here, telling the truth was tantamount to suicide.

  Kai let out a pained chuckle. "Just ran into someone stronger than me."

  Celine's furrowed brows were disbelieving. "Stronger than you?"

  Pyrus barked a laugh. "Bullshit! You're limping like someone took a sledgehammer to your ribs!"

  Kai put on a grin that seemed to hurt his face. "Not the first time I've had a bad fight."

  "Whatever, dumbass..." Celine replied.

  When they reached the Healing Chamber, which was starkly contrasted by the vast expanse of glowing green tanks filled with a substance meant to heal injuries, Celine let out a loud sigh. "Get in before you drop dead."

  Pyrus and Celine helped Kai enter the Healing Tank, induced by a cool liquid brushed against his feet before he was submerged.

  Things before him faded and blurred—his pain dulled; his thoughts began to drift…

  Then, just as the tank vibrated with healing energy, he focused on one thought.

  Guido.

  "That bastard was messing with me! One second, my ability was gone... but the moment he walked out, it came back."

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  Kai felt his jaw clench.

  Kai's chest tightened. "Guido must have some kind of ability... An Ability Nullifier. If I had anything to counter his ability..." he clenched his fist.

  For the first time in what felt like ages, it was as if he were indeed exposed.

  For now, he had no choice. "For now, I would play along and be Guido's so-called dog. But when an opportunity arises? I would rip out his throat!"

  Days after his recovery, Kai sat cross-legged in the center of the runes on the floor, glowing a deep azure. His body was motionless, but within, his power was whirling like a furious storm. Then came the moment when there was an upward current of energy unlike any Kai had known before.

  Shaking his body violently, he exploded shockwaves from inside his chest, smashing the walls and ceiling of the chamber. The atmosphere turned around him distorted, the air filled with kinetic energy before he let out a slow exhale.

  He finally leveled up to Level 4.

  His eyes opened, glowing with an intense, almost-predatory light.

  However, he did not have a chance to reveal so long into his powers because the door to the chamber slid open.

  An Ice Clan soldier, a spy of Don Guido, stepped into the chamber. This person wore a strange stiff attitude over his face that depicted frivolity, but Kai wasn't a fool. He could even feel the discomfort hidden behind those emotionless eyes.

  The soldier simply extended a small black gadget towards him in silence.

  Kai took it without a word, and the soldier turned on his heels, walking out possibly as quickly as he had walked in.

  Kai observed the device in his palm for a short moment before activating it. A flickering blue light appeared, and a hologram formed in front of him.

  It was a pre-recording of Don Giorgio Guido.

  Guido was seated behind his desk, capped with the same aura of tranquility, equal dominance to which even veteran killers would cower.

  "Kai, my boy," Guido's voice was smooth yet laced with menace. "I'm sure that you have already healed from your wounds? You are of no use to me if you are broken."

  Kai gritted his teeth but kept his mouth shut.

  "Alright, let's get straight to business."

  The hologram blinked, and a picture of a tall man in a crisp white lab coat and glasses reflecting the light appeared. His name flashed beneath the photo: Isaac Technovaire.

  "Your target," Guido continued. "The Head of the Technovaire Family. Too great of a threat for the world to remain alive."

  The image was then followed by a vast underground server room, which was busy with supercomputers humming away and filled with encrypted data.

  "And not only will you eliminate him," Guido told him, "but you will upload all of the data of the Master Computer owned by the Technovaire Family into my servers. Every blueprint, every secret, every project-everything."

  Kai's glared. He knew what Isaac Technovaire meant: an incredible scientist, a brilliant innovator-and possibly a man who could help him escape Guido's grasp.

  "Disappointment is not an option, Kai. Good luck," the hologram flickered and disappeared.

  Kai stared at the empty space where Guido's image had been, his fingers curling into a fist.

  Then, without even a second thought, he crushed the device in his palm, disintegrating it into ash with a mere pulse of his flames.