Morning light spilled through the high windows of the training hall, carving long streaks of gold across the steel floor. Dust floated in the beams, lazy and unhurried — a stark contrast to the tension that hung between Kaison and Alice.
Their seals still shimmered faintly from the trials of the day before. Each pulse beneath their skin felt heavier now, deeper, as if something ancient had stirred within them and refused to fall silent again.
Benson stood before them, hands clasped behind his back, his expression unreadable.
"Yesterday, you faced your inner seas," he said, voice steady as thunder in the distance. "Today, you'll try to make them sing together."
Kaison frowned. "Sing?"
Benson's eyes flicked toward him, sharp and dry. "Resonance. The synchronization of intent, will, and energy. When two seals share rhythm, they stop fighting. They flow."
Alice crossed her arms. "And if they don't?"
"Then they drown each other."
The silence that followed was enough to make even the chains beneath Kaison's skin rattle faintly.
---
" The Circle"
Benson drew a wide circle on the ground with his heel, its lines glowing faintly as they formed. Inside it, two smaller seals appeared — one shaped like interlocking swords, the other a spiraling chain.
"Stand inside," he ordered.
They stepped in, facing each other. The moment their feet crossed the glowing line, a low hum filled the air. The floor beneath them rippled like disturbed water.
"Now," Benson said, his tone lower, almost a growl. "You will open your seas — not to face them, but to let them breathe. Slowly. Carefully. If you resist each other, you'll break the circle. If you force control, you'll shatter yourselves."
Kaison closed his eyes first, inhaling deeply. The sound of rattling links filled his mind again, the metallic ocean rolling beneath his consciousness. But this time, he didn't sink. He simply stood at its edge, feeling the rhythm of its movement — heavy, deliberate, alive.
Across from him, Alice's mind filled with light. Her marble sea, her endless expanse of order and reflection, stretched outward. The sword at its center shimmered with quiet strength.
And then, like two storms meeting at the horizon, their worlds touched.
---
Kaison's Sea of Chains clashed against Alice's Sea of Blades, dark against light, chaos against precision. At first, there was rejection — sparks of energy snapping at the boundary where their powers met. The very air around them trembled.
Kaison gritted his teeth. "Feels like trying to mix fire and lightning."
"Because you're forcing it," Alice snapped back. Sweat beaded her forehead. "Stop pulling!"
"I'm not pulling, you're—"
The ground beneath them cracked, arcs of white and black light exploding outward. Benson didn't move. He simply watched, eyes narrowed, as the circle flickered and wavered.
Then, something inside Kaison clicked.
He stopped resisting. The chains around him loosened, shifting like they were listening. He didn't push them toward Alice. He just let them move — natural, patient.
Across from him, Alice felt the change. The light in her sea softened. Her sword stopped trembling.
And then, their energies began to hum together.
It started as a faint vibration, like two notes tuning into harmony. Slowly, the discord faded, replaced by a single shared resonance — half wild, half pure.
For a moment, their surroundings vanished. There was only sound. A deep, thrumming pulse that beat in time with their hearts.
Kaison saw flashes — glimpses of Alice's world through her seal. The shining marble pillars, the blinding clarity of her intent.
Alice, in turn, saw Kaison's — the endless sea of chains that writhed like living metal, but now with an undercurrent of calm purpose.
Opposite forces. But not enemies.
---
### The Fusion Spark
Benson raised his voice, cutting through the growing hum.
"Now," he said. "Don't just share. Fuse it. Create something between you."
The light around them surged. Chains erupted from Kaison's arm, glowing white at the edges, while Alice's blade formed in her grip, its edge burning black.
The two powers twisted together, orbiting each other in a spiral of dark and light. When they touched —
BOOM.
A pulse of energy exploded outward, cracking the floor and shaking the walls. The glowing circle shattered into fragments of light that faded into the air.
Smoke filled the hall.
Kaison stumbled backward, coughing. His arm still glowed faintly, threads of light coiling up to his shoulder. Alice's blade was gone — no, not gone. It was fused to one of his chains, a luminous edge running along the metal.
For a heartbeat, it was beautiful. Balanced. Perfect.
Then it flickered, and the harmony snapped. The chain reverted to black iron, clattering to the floor.
Alice dropped to one knee, panting. "That was…"
"Too unstable," Kaison muttered.
Benson walked forward, boots echoing in the silence. He studied the cracks in the floor, then their exhausted faces.
"You lasted longer than expected," he said simply.
Kaison looked up, startled. "That was… good?"
"For a first attempt," Benson said. "You created resonance. That means your seals have begun to recognize each other. But remember — fusion is not power. It's acceptance. Until your hearts stop fighting, your seas will never merge."
Alice exhaled slowly, closing her eyes. "Acceptance. Easier said than done."
"Which," Benson added, "is why you'll have company soon."
---
### The New Arrival
Both of them looked up.
Benson stepped aside as the doors to the training hall opened. A tall figure walked in — long black coat, golden insignia glowing faintly at the collar. His eyes were calm but sharp, and his seal shimmered in the shape of broken wings.
"This," Benson said, "is Kael. He will assist in your synchronization."
Kael gave a curt nod. "I'm a resonance conduit. My seal's purpose is to stabilize frequencies between others. I've been ordered to guide your fusion… and report any anomalies to the Council."
Kaison frowned. "Council?"
Benson's gaze darkened. "You'll understand soon. Just know that your recent resonance didn't go unnoticed."
Alice's eyes narrowed. "You mean someone was watching us."
"Someone always is," Kael said simply. "When seals begin to evolve, the balance of the kingdoms trembles. Your power may awaken more than just yourselves."
For a brief moment, the hall grew colder.
Kaison felt it — that same hum, far beneath the ground. The pulse of something vast, ancient, and buried.
Benson turned away. "Enough for today. Rest. Tomorrow, Kael will begin resonance conditioning. You've only seen what your fusion can do when you force it. Let's see what happens when you trust it."
---
" Nightfall"
Kaison sat on the academy roof later that night, watching the silver moon ripple over the horizon. The world below was quiet — too quiet.
He held out his hand, letting a single chain unwind from his wrist. It shimmered faintly white for a second before returning to black.
"Acceptance, huh?" he murmured. "Guess I'm not good at that."
Behind him, footsteps.
Alice sat down beside him without a word. She didn't look at him — just at the moon. The silence between them wasn't heavy anymore. It was… familiar.
"You almost had it," she said quietly.
"So did you."
They sat for a while, the night breeze carrying the faint hum of distant chains.
Then Alice spoke again, her voice lower. "When our seas touched… I saw something. A shape in your ocean. Not the chains. Something beneath."
Kaison froze. "You too?"
She nodded. "It was… glowing red."
Kaison's hand tightened around the chain. He had seen it too — deep beneath his Sea of Chains, a faint red pulse, beating like a buried heart.
For a moment, neither spoke. Then Alice turned to him, her tone sharp again. "Don't hide it. Whatever that is, it's tied to Gachigakade."
Kaison forced a smile. "I figured you'd say that."
"I mean it, Kaison."
He looked at her then — really looked. The fire in her eyes, the calm strength that masked her fear.
"Then," he said softly, "let's find out together."
---
"The Deep Pulse"
Far below the academy, beneath layers of sealed stone and forgotten machinery, something stirred.
Chains, ancient and rusted, trembled faintly. And within their cold embrace, a faint red glow pulsed once… twice… like a heartbeat remembering how to live.
The Sea of Chains had begun to awaken.
---