Two months later…
The penthouse.
——
Ren stepped out of the bathroom, towel slung low around his waist, steam still clinging to his skin. His white fluffy slippers made soft, almost judgmental flap flap sounds as he shuffled toward the mirror.
He stopped. Blinked. Then smirked.
"Okay… okay."
He angled his torso slightly. Flexed—subtly. Admired the abs.
"Not bad," he muttered. "Where did you come from?"
His jawline looked sharper, too. Maybe. Or maybe it was just the lighting. Either way, he nodded in approval.
"I look good, don't I?" he said, whistling to himself as he headed to the closet.
To be fair, it had been two months of training for Ren.
Well—hardcore training, to be precise.
During the first month alone, he endured Aika relentlessly slamming her foot into his gut, dodging death-by-beheading more times than he cared to count—usually by narrowly avoiding one of her brutal spinning kicks. There were days he honestly wondered if she just didn't like his face.
Aika wasn't just brutal—she was strict. From the very start, she placed heavy restrictions on him. The first? No suspended restoration.
She said it was a waste of time, especially since no one could predict how long they'd be stuck in that state.
If they wanted to make the most of their time, healing had to run its natural course.
Which meant Ren spent most of the training period in pain. Eventually, broken ribs stopped bothering him. Which… was weird, if he was being honest.
The second restriction wasn't too bad: no derivative usage until he fully understood his perks.
He didn't like it at first—it stripped away his only edge. But in hindsight, it helped. More than he'd expected.
For one, he finally figured out how to shift his weight. Turns out, his body already knew how to do it—he just had to stop overthinking and start listening. Since he'd done it once before, he focused on recalling the feeling, clinging to it until he could do it consciously.
He'd also figured out how to redirect force—a total game changer, especially considering he was basically Aika's personal punching bag.
Now, instead of absorbing the full brunt of a strike in one spot, he could distribute the impact across his entire body. It didn't make the pain disappear, but it hurt a hell of a lot less.
And he'd made another discovery.
Near his element, his body could recover faster—noticeably faster—than it normally would. But not automatically. Like changing his weight or redirecting force, it required Vira. As long as he actively channeled it into his wounds, they would mend—just enough to dull the pain and keep him moving. Still, it wasn't passive or efficient. The moment he stopped, healing slowed to its natural pace. And keeping it up for hours drained too much.
Another perk he'd gotten better at using was his Siren's Perception. It wasn't as distracting anymore. Now that he was more familiar with his body, he could combine both perks—perception and weight-shifting—to react faster.
He could actually dodge blows now without dying instantly from being too slow. That was… progress.
The only downside? Siren's Perception required a constant flow of Vira to stay active. And well… keeping it on all the time wasn't exactly efficient. So he only used it when he needed to. Smartly. Strategically. Or at least that's what he told himself.
It was still a stretch to call him a good fighter—but at least he could last longer than ten minutes now. Maybe even fifteen, on a good day.
There were a few things he'd noticed during his training sessions with Aika.
For one—he couldn't make her bleed. No matter how hard he hit, even after shifting his weight to make his strikes heavier, it never left a mark.
It frustrated him at first. Made him feel like he wasn't making any real progress.
But Aika explained it simply: Vira reshapes the body over time.
The larger someone's vessel—and the more Vira they hold—the harder they are to hurt.
In other words, his attacks weren't weak.
His vessel was just too small, and as a result, his body wasn't strong enough to do her any real damage.
Maybe once he gathered enough Vira—or advanced to the next stage—things would change.
Maybe then, he'd finally land a hit that mattered.
Aika, after all, was a Shaper at the peak of her stage. And he was still far below her level.
As for his derivative, he'd begun training with it after the first month.
Well—not just training. Studying it too, just like Aika had told him to.
And the more he studied, the more interesting things he discovered—especially about its laws.
His derivative itself was powerful. He could summon water around him, or create it anywhere within his sensory field—and that was thirty meters.
But it didn't stop there. He could see through the water. Even speak through it, turning every droplet into an extension of himself.
This was especially cool for him—because even on the fighting grounds, he no longer had blind spots.
In fact, it was safe to call it what it was: absolute perception. As long as there was water in the area—even a suspended droplet—he could track, react, and respond instantly.
His hunch about the Law of Drowning was soon confirmed—more than confirmed, really. He could decide who breathed underwater, whether human or Viran.
He could strip a water Viran of their ability to survive beneath the surface… or grant that same ability to someone who never had it.
But the Law of Dread quickly became his favorite.
It let him mess with people's minds however he pleased.
Sure, he could invoke dread—that deep, gnawing sense of impending and inescapable doom.
He could plant that gut-twisting fear in someone's core—the kind that made people freeze, sweat, or break.
But that wasn't all.
This power was deeply psychological. It was more than just emotion—it was perception.
He could alter how people saw him, twisting their view of reality.
Anyone who laid eyes on him might see a monster… their worst fear… or something far worse.
As long as there was water nearby, he could even slip into their mind—feeding them the darkest corners of their own fear.
And just as easily, he could take it all away.
Then, there was his most versatile—and most dangerous—Law: the Law of Depth.
This one… felt endless. Like it held secrets he hadn't even begun to touch.
At a basic level, it let him manipulate pressure. Even ankle-deep water could become crushing, like the weight of the ocean pressing down. But that was just the beginning.
As the name suggests, he could actually manipulate depth.
For instance, he could dive into a shallow patch of water and make it seem extremely deep or even bottomless by changing its depth.
He'd done it once—watched the surface twist like glass as he sank into a space that felt infinite.
However, he quickly realized a critical limitation: for now, he could only manipulate this kind of depth for himself. Pulling anything else with him into an abyss—especially through shallow water—demanded far more Vira than he could safely manage. Worse, attempting to drag someone else into that false depth could kill him outright, consumed by the overwhelming cost.
Still, it wasn't a bad tradeoff. It gave him mobility—and an escape route. He could dive into even the shallowest patch of water to slip away, reposition, or hide entirely. In the right moment, it could mean the difference between survival and death.
That notwithstanding, manipulating false depth—even just for himself—demanded an immense amount of Vira. Far more than he could afford in a real fight. At his current level, he could only remain submerged for a few seconds before the strain forced him out.
So for now, he treated it like a trump card. A last resort. A game-changer, used only when absolutely necessary.
Experimenting with his laws made him realize something: being the source didn't make him immune—it just meant the laws affected him differently. If he increased the water pressure to a crushing extreme, he wouldn't feel the force himself. But anyone else caught in it would be flattened instantly.
Another thing he discovered while experimenting with his derivative was that he could stack his Laws.
If someone were in a pool, for example, he could drag them under with simple water manipulation. Then, by invoking the Law of Depth, he'd make movement impossible—as if the water itself had turned to stone. With the Law of Dread, he could twist their perception, making them feel like they were sinking into an endless abyss. And finally, through the Law of Drowning, he could seal their fate completely—cutting off their ability to breathe.
When Ren discovered this, just the thought of what he could do—and how he could play around with his Laws—made him giddy. His power was brutal—yes. Terrifying, even. But definitely effective.
For now, though, he could only stack two Laws at a time. His Vira capacity just wasn't high enough. Even that much left him completely drained. His vessel was still too small. Still a limitation.
And he was tired of it.
Fortunately, now was the perfect time to fix that, since he had some time off with Aika away.
By the end of the second month, Aika had been called away—urgent work in another district. She'd be gone for over a month, and Ren had no intention of wasting that time.
He planned to spend that time growing his vessel.
But not in the physical world—no, he was going to do it inside his realm: Siren's Abyssal Sanctuary, while in the resonance state.
He wasn't entirely certain how time shifted between the two dimensions, but he had a suspicion: it flowed faster inside the realm. And inside it, his vessel grew more than twice as fast.
He'd confirmed it with Aika after his first time—his body could survive the resonance without food. That was good, because he had no intention of coming back until he'd pushed his limits as far as they would go. One month in there would do him more good than two months out here.
It would be boring. Lonely. A test of endurance as much as anything else.
But he was ready.
And today was the day he was going back into his realm.
***
Ren walked to his closet. He pulled on his favorite uniform: a blue hoodie and oversized black sweatpants. Then he walked across the room to his nightstand.
The digital clock beside his bed read:
6:37 p.m.
He picked up his phone, still lying on its side, and tapped out a few quick messages—one to Marie, one to Sami, and another to Aika—letting them know he was entering his resonant state, and would be unreachable for a while.
He didn't really need to tell them—his physical body wasn't going anywhere, and they were all busy with work. Still, he figured it was only right to let them know.
As for Anya—he had already seen her earlier today, as he did every day.
She was doing better now—physically and emotionally. She even smiled again, and every time she did, it made Ren's heart flutter. After the District 6 incident a few months ago, her smile had vanished. But ever since he'd taken away her fears, it had slowly begun to return.
She laughed more now. Talked more.
But even without fear, the sadness remained. She was still grieving—especially when it came to their parents. So Ren stayed by her side, not to fix things, but simply to be there. To help her carry the weight, even when it was silent.
Earlier today, he had explained everything to her—that he'd be going into a deep trance again, like the last time she found him.
To his surprise, she'd taken it well.
He didn't have to worry.
Marie visited her daily, and Sami checked in whenever he could. She would be okay in his absence.
Now, sitting on the edge of his bed, he typed one last message to her:
[I'm going now.]
A few seconds later, a reply came through. Just a single word:
[Sure.]
He smiled softly, then placed the phone beside his pillow and walked to the corner of the room—his usual meditation spot—right beside the tall glass fish tank that softly lit the walls in shifting waves of blue.
He sat cross-legged. Took a deep breath.
Then he began drawing in Vira.
Minutes passed.
Then hours.
The world dulled, blurred—until nothing remained but the quiet thrum of his pulse and the slow swell of power in his chest.
Stillness swallowed everything.
Until—
A sound tore through it.
A growl—so violent, so primal, so close.
It wasn't just loud. It was unholy. Raw.
It tore through the silence like a jagged crack of thunder.
And worst of all…
It came from right behind him.
***
Hours later…
Still in the penthouse.
——
Ren's phone buzzed and lit up beside his pillow.
A message from Sami.
[yo fish boy.
just saw your message—sorry, work got a little explody (long story)
wait—you're entering your resonant state?? now?? why??]
A pause, then another message:
[uhh… did you at least run it by Aika first?? please tell me you did.
she's brilliant but she skips steps like a psychopath.
and the wane of our realms is not somewhere you want to wing it.
if you ran it by Aika and she said it's okay for you to go, then… maaaybe?]
Then:
[seriously—be careful alright? don't die in there. i mean it!
ok? cool.
anyway, good luck.
see you when you return.]
Another message popped in right after. It was Marie.
[Hey, love. Are you sure this is a good idea? I heard it could get dangerous after the first time… Sami mentioned something like that when he first went in after his initiation. I don't really know how all of this works, but just—please be careful. I really hope you're okay.]
Shortly after Marie's message, another one popped up. This time, it was from Aika.
[Hey. Listen to me—don't you dare. Don't do it. I'm serious. You're only two months in. No one enters resonance this early after initiation. Plus, you walk the path of the siren. It may not be safe. You could die. I'm not joking.]
A second later:
[I should've told you earlier. I forgot. Damn it—Ren, STOP.]
The phone rang.
Then—
[Pick up your damn phone. Answer me.]
[REN!!!]
A few seconds passed. Nothing.
[Ren. Please don't tell me you've already gone in.]
Then after a long pause—
[…Shit.]
The phone dimmed again, the soft blue light fading into the dark.