Chloe led them toward a massive gate of polished chrome and frosted glass. Before they could even approach, it sensed their arrival and slid open with a pressurized hiss, revealing an imposing man who seemed forged from steel and ice.
He was clad in striking, articulated blue armor that pulsed with a low, resonant hum, the visible conduits within it circulating pale blue Aether like coolant. He was flanked by two other guards in identical attire, their mere presence forming a wall of disciplined, lethal power. The man's gaze—cold, sharp, and analytical—swept over the group, barely registering the siblings before locking onto Elysia.
"Young Madam," his voice was a low baritone, vibrating with the power thrumming through his armor. It was respectful, but utterly inflexible. "You had us worried. You must exercise more caution when arranging to meet with Lord Blazer."
"It was a minor matter, Magnus," Elysia waved him off, her own haughty disdain returning in full force, a shield against his scrutiny. "Prepare two guest suites. Orion and Lyra will be staying here."
For the first time, the commander, Magnus, truly looked at the siblings. It was not an assessment; it was a dismissal. His eyes narrowed in undisguised, profound contempt.
"You are bringing these... Sump rats... into the Wintercroft Estate? Why?"
"Relax, Magnus!" Lisanna chirped, bouncing forward, the only warmth in the frigid confrontation. "Ellie found some incredible new talent for the family's security force. They're diamonds in the rough! Literally!"
A harsh, derisive scoff escaped one of the flanking guards. He stepped forward half a pace, his posture radiating an arrogance built on a foundation of proven power. "To even qualify as a Bronze-Rank guard in this household, one requires an above-average D-Rank Aether Core purity and must be certified capable of suppressing two designated D-Rank villains simultaneously. These... slum rats... cannot possibly cut it."
The guard's words hung in the air, thick and heavy. Orion's System, ever-present in his mind, immediately provided chilling context.
Aether Core Purity was the measure of a Core's inherent quality—its divine blueprint. A high-purity core could absorb and process ambient Aether far more efficiently, leading to terrifyingly rapid growth, vastly higher power ceilings, and a denser, more potent energy output.
A D-Rank villain wasn't some petty street thug. They were Talented individuals whose powers could cause widespread, catastrophic destruction—leveling city blocks, tearing avenues apart. They had seen one just hours ago: the man called Tremor, whose earth-shaking power had nearly brought down an entire sector if not for the intervention of Captain Comet.
These guards, the lowest rank in the household, claimed they could handle two such threats at once.
"This is my decision, Magnus," Elysia's voice turned glacial, dropping several degrees. "Are you questioning my authority?"
The commander was caught. His primary duty was to protect the estate from all threats, and his senses screamed that the two newcomers were an unknown, polluted variable. But his absolute loyalty was to the Wintercroft line, and specifically to Elysia.
"Come on, Magnus," Lisanna added gently, sensing the dangerous stalemate. Her voice was light, but her words were politically sharp. "Ellie's pride is well-known, but so is her prudence. She would never do anything without a sound reason."
A silent standoff commenced, the air crackling with the latent Aether from the guards and the frigid indignation from Elysia. Neither side was willing to back down.
And in that frozen moment, a dangerous glint surged in Orion's eyes.
"He's right, though," Orion spoke. His voice, calm and clear, sliced through the oppressive tension.
Everyone turned to him. The smug guard smirked, believing his point was validated.
"Talk is cheap," Orion continued, locking his gaze directly onto the arrogant guard. "If my sister and I can overpower you, will that be enough to prove our worth?"
There was a beat of stunned silence, as if a dog had just offered to solve a physics equation. Then, the guards erupted in booming, mocking laughter.
"Overpower us?" the guard spat. "Boy, we fight high-tier D-Rank villains for a warm-up. We could crush gutter trash like you with a single stray thought!"
"Orion, that's not necessary—" Elysia started, frustrated that he was escalating this.
She was cut off by a loud, predatory sigh from Lyra.
"Finally," she groaned, rolling her shoulders and cracking her knuckles, the sound like popping gravel. "Enough talking. My fists were getting bored." A predatory light danced in her eyes, a burning, visceral need to shatter the arrogance radiating from the armored men.
[System Notification: Threat Analysis Complete.]
[Targets: Wintercroft Bronze-Rank Guards (x2)]
[Aether Core Purity: D-Rank (High)]
[Projected Combat Output: Superior to Host's current parameters.]
[System Analysis: Host's nascent Aether Core, enhanced by [Symbiotic Fusion], contains sufficient potential to fulfill the condition. However, Subject Lyra's core is insufficient. She will fail.]
The cold logic of the System was absolute. Lyra's raw power was not enough to breach the gap in purity and training.
'How do we win?' Orion thought, his external demeanor never shifting from its placid calm.
[System Solution: Direct Bloodline Connection detected. Host and Subject Lyra share Progenitor markers. By establishing physical contact, the System can create a temporary Aetheric Link, amplifying Subject Lyra's Aether Core output by 700% for five seconds.]
Orion's mind cleared. The path was set.
The two flanking guards stepped forward, their expressions dripping with condescending pity. "Fine, brats. If you can so much as crack our Frost-Ward Shields, we'll shut our mouths."
"You can do it!" Lisanna cheered from the side, already bouncing with anticipation.
Elysia simply sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, and stepped back, standing beside a disdainful-looking Magnus.
With a unified grunt, the two guards slammed their gauntleted fists together. Aether flared around them, and the ambient temperature of the subterranean bay plummeted instantly. Condensation flashed into frost on the chrome walls. Two massive, interlocking shields of crystalline blue ice erupted from the ground before them. They were not mere walls of frozen water; they were semi-transparent constructs of pure, solidified energy.
Deep within their structure, intricate, glowing patterns like frost on a windowpane swirled and interconnected, runes of defensive law radiating an aura of absolute defense.
"Even a military-grade plasma grenade wouldn't scratch those shields," Magnus stated flatly, his arms crossed.
Orion stepped up beside Lyra, casually placing a hand on her shoulder as if offering brotherly support.
The instant his skin touched hers, Lyra gasped, her eyes flying wide.
It was not a torrent. It was a deluge. An unimaginable ocean of pure, pristine, impossibly refined energy flooded her system, bypassing her own core's limitations entirely. It was a sensation like being plugged directly into a lightning storm.
Her own Aether Core, usually a steady, angry hum, roared to life like a supernova, force-fed a power so dense it threatened to tear her energy pathways apart.
Orion didn't tap into the Cryokinesis he had copied. That would be playing their game. Instead, he activated [Cognitive Acceleration].
The world slowed to a crawl. He saw the smug, confident looks on the guards' faces. He saw the swirling, complex runes within the ice shields. He saw the concerned glint in Lisanna's eyes and the resigned annoyance on Elysia's.
He focused inward, commanding his entire being—every drop of power in his newly formed core, every iota of the potential granted by the [Symbiotic Fusion]—to surge not into a complex ability, but into a singular, overwhelming expression of pure, conceptual force. He synchronized his intent with the god-like power now roaring through his sister.
"Now!" he commanded, both aloud and within their linked minds.
They moved as one. It wasn't a fancy technique, no complex martial stance. It was a simple, straight punch.
But the result was anything but simple.
From their fists erupted a blinding, conjoined torrent of raw, uncolored Aether. It was not ice. It was not vibration. It was the fundamental, primal energy of Aether itself, compressed, weaponized, and unleashed.
The very air screamed as it was torn apart, a violent pressure wave tearing across the atmosphere. The courtyard was instantly bleached of all color, consumed by a sun-like brilliance that erased all shadows and sensory input.
The smug expressions on the guards' faces collapsed. They vanished, replaced by a mask of pure, unadulterated shock that bordered on terror. They roared, their training taking over, pouring every ounce of their own potent D-Rank Aether into their shields. The blue ice glowed furiously, the frost-runes swirling into a vortex of defensive energy, trying desperately to repulse the attack.
It didn't matter.
The moment the twin beams of pure, primal Aether struck the shields, there was no contest. There was no struggle, no grinding attrition. There was only annihilation.
The Frost-Ward Shields, touted as unbreakable by grenades and the benchmark of Bronze-Rank power, didn't just crack. They didn't shatter.
They vaporized. They were erased from existence in a silent, violent flash, the very laws that held them together negated and undone.
The concussive force of the blast—the pure, kinetic backlash of that much energy being unmade—slammed into the guards like a physical hammer blow from a giant.
They were thrown backwards, tumbling through the air like discarded dolls. Their armored forms flew nearly a hundred feet, crashing into the courtyard stones and carving deep trenches into the pristine surface before they finally skidded to a halt at the foot of the manor's grand entrance doors. They slumped, their armor cracked and smoking from Aetheric overload, their faces pale masks of stunned disbelief.
The Aetheric link severed. Lyra stumbled, a harsh gasp escaping her as she panted, the sudden withdrawal of godhood leaving her dizzy and trembling.
The courtyard was deathly silent, the air thick with the sharp, electric smell of ozone.
Lisanna's mouth was wide open, her cheer forgotten. Chloe's professional calm was broken, her eyes wide with undisguised shock. Even Elysia's carefully constructed composure had shattered, her ice-blue eyes fixed on the point of impact, her expression one of sheer, unadulterated astonishment.
Magnus's arms had uncrossed. His eyes were narrowed, the disdain completely gone, replaced by a sharp, dangerous, analytical focus. He had felt it. The sheer, terrifying purity of the Aether they had just unleashed was unlike anything he had ever witnessed, not from a newcomer, not even from the registered C-Ranks.
Orion slowly lowered his fist, his breathing steady, though his core ached from the expenditure. He looked across the ruined courtyard at the commander.
"Not too bad for Sump rats, eh?"
Lyra scoffed, regaining her balance and crossing her arms to hide the tremor in her hands. "Narrowing your eyes won't change the truth you just saw."
One of the downed guards struggled to push himself up on an elbow. "That... that wasn't a real fight! A cheap trick—an Aether spike—"
"Enough," Magnus commanded, his voice a flat, hard blade that cut the guard's protest short. He waved an arm, and the guard fell silent, lowering his head in shame.
The commander looked from the siblings, to the smoking armor of his subordinates, and finally back to Elysia.
"As it is the Young Madam's order, we cannot refuse entry." His gaze hardened, the analytical light within it turning grim. "However. I must report this display, in its entirety, to the Master of the house."
Elysia, recovering from her shock, lifted her chin, her coolness returning like a shroud. "I would expect nothing less."
"Truly special!" Lisanna shrieked, her voice returning as she rushed over to them, eyes sparkling. "That was amazing! You just—whoosh! And they just—bam!"
Lyra just grunted, secretly annoyed the "fight" had ended so quickly. She had barely gotten to savor the power.
Orion, however, felt a wave of profound relief. He knew that had been a one-shot gambit. A single, overwhelming blast that had consumed nearly everything in his nascent core. In a real, prolonged battle, their lack of experience and undeveloped energy reserves would have been a fatal disadvantage.
But this would soon change. All they needed was time, resources, and a place to train. All they needed was to let his System work as intended. The snowball had been pushed from the peak. Now, it just needed to roll.
"Chloe, if you would," Elysia instructed, turning toward the entrance where her guards were now shamefully picking themselves up.
As Chloe began to lead the group into the manor, one of the guards spoke to their commander in a hushed, urgent, terrified tone. "Sir, that purity... is this really happening?"
Magnus watched the siblings walk away, his expression dark as a storm front.
"Yes," he said. "And I am reporting it. Now."