The training chamber's doors sealed behind them with a heavy clang.
Metal walls thrummed faintly, alive with the hum of dormant seals. A vast circular room stretched around them, lined with runic conduits that shimmered faintly like veins of light beneath the floor. Every inch of this place had been built to contain unleashed power — and to remind those inside that nothing escaped.
Benson stood outside the containment glass above, arms folded behind his back. His expression was carved from stone. "You two will begin when ready. The chamber is reinforced with tier-five suppression runes. Don't hold back."
Kaison exhaled slowly, his breath fogging in the cold air. Across from him, Alice drew her sword — not the wooden one from practice, but the real thing. A pale, silver-edged weapon etched with sigils that pulsed faintly in rhythm with her heartbeat.
Her eyes met his — calm, sharp, unyielding.
"Don't think I'll go easy because we're partners," she said.
Kaison smirked faintly. "Wouldn't want you to."
Chains whispered around his arm as his seal began to stir, the sigil glowing faintly across his forearm — black with flickers of pale light. Each link shimmered as if alive, coiling and uncoiling in anticipation.
*Sea of Chains… respond.*
The floor beneath his feet darkened, like ink spreading through water. A faint metallic scent filled the air. Alice raised her sword in answer, the light of her seal — a radiant crimson — blooming from her palm and racing up the blade. The chamber vibrated.
"Begin," Benson's voice thundered.
---
They moved at the same time.
Alice's form blurred — a streak of red steel cutting across the room. Kaison's chains erupted in response, a dozen links shooting up like serpents, weaving into a wall between them.
Her sword struck the barrier with a sound like shattering glass. Sparks flew. The wall bent but didn't break. Kaison twisted his wrist — the chains split apart, coiling around her blade to trap it.
But Alice pivoted, letting the weapon slide from her grasp, spinning on her heel. With a pulse of crimson light, another sword formed in her hand — conjured directly from her seal's energy.
*She can summon another weapon instantly…* Kaison thought, barely ducking as her strike sliced through the air where his head had been.
He retaliated — chains burst from his shoulders, wrapping around his forearms like living armor. He charged, every movement heavy and deliberate. Alice met him, her sword flashing in clean arcs. Each impact sent shockwaves rippling across the chamber floor.
To any observer, it was chaos.
To Benson, watching above, it was progress.
---
Alice's blade slipped past his guard, grazing his shoulder. Kaison hissed — not from pain, but from anger at his own slowness. The chains rippled, tightening around his arms. He extended his hand, and several links shot outward again, wrapping around her leg.
Alice reacted instantly, plunging her sword into the ground. Crimson energy pulsed through the runes on the floor, and the chains recoiled as though burned. The backlash sent Kaison staggering back, smoke curling from the ends of his weapon.
Her voice was calm but taunting.
"Still reacting too late."
He laughed — short and sharp. "And you're still predictable."
He slammed his palm against the ground.
The Sea of Chains *roared to life.*
Dozens of dark chains erupted around him, swirling like a vortex, each one glowing faintly with the same eerie pulse. The chamber dimmed as if the light itself was being drawn into that storm. Alice's eyes widened, the temperature dropping around them.
"Second Layer Activation," Kaison murmured, his voice low.
The chains moved like living beings now, responding not to command, but to intent. They swirled protectively, an extension of his heartbeat. Kaison felt them — the weight, the rhythm, the pull — and for the first time, they didn't resist him.
*So this… is the beginning of the next phase.*
---
Alice smiled faintly. "Then let's see it."
She pressed two fingers to her sword. "Seal Resonance — *Radiant Field*!"
A circle of crimson sigils burst beneath her feet, expanding outward. The light hit the chains and they shuddered violently, their surfaces cracking under the purifying glow. Her sword burned brighter, an unrelenting flare against his growing storm.
The impact of their powers meeting again shook the chamber walls.
The runes lining the ceiling flared to life, absorbing the excess force as energy cracked through the air like thunder. Every swing, every clash of light and steel, sent shockwaves rippling outward. Sparks and chains tangled, light and shadow weaving in wild, chaotic beauty.
Alice lunged again. Kaison met her head-on, his chains coiling around her strike — but instead of binding, they *flowed* with her motion this time, redirecting the force to the ground. The resulting shockwave shattered a section of the floor plating.
Alice stumbled, caught off guard. Kaison didn't waste the moment — he snapped his arm forward, and the chains lashed out, not to bind, but to strike.
They wrapped around her wrist, stopping just before the blade reached his neck. The chain's edge hovered a hair's breadth from her pulse.
For a long, tense second — silence.
Alice breathed hard, her eyes locked on his. Then, slowly, she lowered her weapon.
---
From the observation deck, Benson's voice crackled through the speakers.
"Enough."
Kaison released the chain. It slithered back, vanishing into the glowing mark on his arm. The hum of energy faded until only their ragged breaths filled the chamber.
Benson entered moments later, descending the stairwell with the heavy sound of his boots echoing in the quiet.
He looked between them — Kaison standing, barely winded now; Alice, posture rigid but calm, her eyes still sharp even in defeat.
"That," Benson said, "was closer to harmony than I expected."
Kaison blinked. "Harmony?"
Benson nodded. "Your seals responded to one another without rejection. The chains flowed with her light instead of resisting it. You both touched the edge of synchronization."
Alice sheathed her sword, brow furrowed. "But we failed to maintain it."
"Of course," Benson replied simply. "Because you still fight to win. Fusion requires you to fight to *understand.* There's a difference."
He turned to Kaison. "You've awakened partial control of your Sea of Chains — a significant step toward your Second Phase. But do not mistake control for mastery. The chains have accepted you, not submitted to you."
Kaison's gaze dropped briefly to the faintly glowing seal on his arm. The words resonated in his chest like a pulse.
---
**Later That Night**
The moon hung pale over the academy spires. Kaison sat on the balcony outside his dorm, arms resting on his knees. The faint hum of his seal pulsed under his skin — steady, almost alive.
He stared at the sky, the cold light washing over his face. For a fleeting moment, his gaze lingered on the moon itself — that faint red hue that had always made the world look slightly off-color.
*Gachigakade.*
He didn't know why the name surfaced again — or why it always stirred something heavy inside him. He'd read about it once, buried in ancient records: a weapon sealed beyond reach, said to have nearly erased humanity once. But even the archives of Stormbringer didn't tell the full story.
And yet… he sometimes dreamed of it.
Chains coiling around a massive weapon buried in silence. A faint voice whispering through blood and steel.
*Do you seek strength… or freedom?*
He shivered.
A soft voice broke his thoughts. "Couldn't sleep either?"
Alice stood at the door, hair loose, dressed in simple academy robes. The glow of her seal faintly shimmered at her throat.
Kaison managed a small smile. "You too, huh?"
She nodded, stepping beside him. "It's strange. After that battle… I felt something different. Like our seals resonated beyond the surface."
He glanced at her. "Maybe that's what Benson meant. Harmony."
Alice was quiet for a long time. Then, softly:
"When our powers intertwined… I saw something. For a moment, your chains didn't just defend. They *protected* me. It was like they wanted to shield, not suffocate."
He blinked, unsure what to say.
"And you?" she asked. "What did you see?"
Kaison's eyes flicked to the moon again. "A weapon. Sealed. Waiting."
Alice frowned slightly. "You mean…?"
"Forget it," he said quickly. "Just a feeling."
She studied him for a moment longer, but didn't press. Instead, she leaned against the railing beside him, both staring at the faint red shimmer high above.
For the first time, the silence between them wasn't tense. It was almost… peaceful.
---
That night, neither of them spoke of Gachigakade again.
But as the moonlight spilled over the academy — tinged faintly in crimson — both their seals pulsed once, in rhythm with something far beyond their understanding.
Something ancient.
Something watching.
---