As Daphne crossed the room, her gaze swept instinctively over the space—then caught on something. The reinforced storage unit against the far wall was slightly off-center, its anchoring marks scraped. Like it had been moved. Recently.
For a fleeting moment, Daphne's brow creased. That thing wasn't meant to budge without a grav-loader. But she dismissed it as quickly as the thought came. Probably nothing. Lysara was known for her strength—far beyond that of even other Warladies. If she'd gotten impatient and kicked it out of irritation? Entirely plausible. No one knew the full extent of the High Commander's abilities, only that her tier was… undisclosed.
Daphne let it go. For now.
Lysara's tone cut through the quiet. "You asked for a private meeting. I'm listening." She gestured at the empty chair beside Zaeryn. "Sit."
Zaeryn waited for her to sit down, and then with faked calmness, he asked. "Why did you want me to be present? What's this about?"
Daphne didn't look at him, her eyes fixed on Lysara, her body stiff. "I sent my official report fifteen minutes ago, but something bugged me. I did another test—alone, without my team. Because the first results didn't make sense, and I was curious."
Lysara raised an eyebrow, her tone calm but curious. "Didn't make sense how?"
Daphne tapped her wrist console, and a holo-screen lit up the room with a red glow. It showed Zaeryn's blood sample, a web of cells swirling like fire, bright and strange. "For starters: his blood isn't just different," she said, her voice low but heavy. "It breaks every rule we know."
The screen changed, showing two images: thin, weak strands labeled Male Baseline next to Zaeryn's thick, glowing cells. "As we know," Daphne began, her tone precise, "every male carries M-degradation." She tapped the weak strands. "The flaw that makes them fragile—susceptible to disease, unable to survive direct contact with Vitae."." Her finger slid to the glowing lattice. "But Zaeryn? He has none. Zero. His cells aren't just healthy—they're reinforced, structured more like a Warlady's than any man alive."
Lysara's gaze was steady, but her voice held a subtle disappointment. "We established this already. Is there more, or are you wasting my time?"
Daphne's lips curved faintly. "No. I'm catching you up—because what I'm about to show you, will change everything. It will blow your mind."
Zaeryn sat still, his face blank, but his heart raced. 'She found out even more. Someth mind blowing? This is getting worrying!'
Lysara nodded, her face steady. "Keep going."
Daphne's fingers moved on the console, zooming in on the glowing web of cells. "After running the standard analysis, I noticed something… strange. His blood reacted to ambient Vitae in the lab—trace levels from our own instruments. Male cells don't do that. In fact, not even female cells do—unless they belong to someone capable of mimicking other people's abilities. It shouldn't be possible."
Her violet gaze flicked briefly to Zaeryn, sharp as a blade, before she continued, voice dipping lower. "Vitae is the energy warladies use for their powers, held steady by their bodies. Zaeryn's cells were already breaking all the rules, so I wondered: could they handle Vitae on purpose? So, I took a sample and tested it with a Vitae pulse, like we do to check warlady recruits."
The holo-screen shifted, showing a time-lapse: Zaeryn's cells glowing brighter, their structures weaving into new patterns. "It absorbed it," Daphne said softly. "Completely. Not only that—it rewrote its own architecture to hold the energy."
Lysara's fingers tapped the table once, a tell in her otherwise calm mask. "Meaning?"
Daphne's voice was cold, deliberate. "Meaning Zaeryn doesn't just lack M-degradation. His biology can assimilate Vitae. Given the right conditions, he could mimic Warlady abilities."
Zaeryn's heart skipped a beat. Shit. She's got it. He never wanted that to be revealed. Right now he was annoyed at Daphne and he shot her a look.
"Hmm, interesting," Lysara murmured, her gaze sliding to him like the edge of a blade. "And that explains the super strength."
Daphne blinked, her brows drawing together. "The… super strength?"
"Yes," Lysara said smoothly, almost amused. "Mr. Noctis here can casually lift things that would snap a grav-loader in half." Her tone was calm, but her eyes never left his. "He demonstrated as much a few minutes ago."
Daphne's head turned sharply toward him, surprise visible by the way her lips hang open, and then her violet eyes narrowing with sudden interest. "Did he, now?" After processing it, she wasn't very surprised at all.
Lysaras eyes, which had been impassive moments before, now gleamed with a cold, almost predatory calculation. The amusement that had touched her lips earlier vanished, replaced by a profound gravity. This was no longer about a simple anomaly; this was a paradigm shift. A male capable of wielding Vitae... it was unheard of, a direct challenge to the very foundation of their society.
Zaeryn's heart hammered against his ribs, but his face stayed a mask of calm—borderline boredom. Still, the weight of the situation wasn't lost on him. He'd kept his true ability hidden for a reason. Super strength was one thing; society could stomach that. But a male who could mimic powers? That wasn't just rare—it was terrifying.
"This is far more serious than we anticipated," Lysara said evenly.
Daphne's violet eyes gleamed with scientific hunger. "Imagine what could be done if we understood this—if we could replicate it." she said enthusiastically, "I think we shoud be given permission to do more serious tests than the one we did so far."
Lysara didn't look away from Zaeryn. "Replicate a male Warlady? That is… a proposition fraught with complications, Chief Scientist." Her voice dripped with cold irony. "You claimed your immunity came from strength. Now it seems your strength comes from something far more volatile—a capacity for Vitae assimilation. Tell me, Mr. Noctis… when you offered your terms, did you already know this? Did you lie?"
Zaeryn met her gaze, unflinching, even as her eyes promised consequences he didn't want to imagine. "I knew I was stronger than normal," he said smoothly, letting his glance flicker to the container he'd lifted minutes ago. "But the rest? I didn't have the scientific terms, Commander. That's why I brought it to you. And this part about copying abilities… I'm only hearing it now."
"Liar. I think you knew," Lysara said flatly, her voice slicing through the air.