The commander's gaze lingered on him, sharp and unreadable.
"Keep what happened between us," he said at last, his voice a low murmur that carried weight. "Continue with the trials… we'll see what kind of man he really is."
"Yes, sir," came the reply, but the words seemed to dissolve into the hiss of water rising somewhere unseen.
Bubbles drifted upward, slow and deliberate, shattering the heavy silence. The cold crept across Leo, numbing his fingers, his toes. He stirred, groggy, tasting the metallic sting of water at the back of his throat. With a shuddering gasp, he jerked upright—only to find himself submerged.
Water surrounded him on all sides, endless and pressing, flooding into every corner of the chamber. It looked like a pool, but deeper—far deeper. Panic tightened around his ribs as he felt his body sinking, gravity pulling him down into the abyss. He glanced upward, vision fractured by the wavering surface. A dark silhouette sat above, watching.
"Welcome back, my friend," the man's voice echoed through the chamber, calm and detached, as though addressing a pet—or a toy. "You've rested long enough. Now begins the second trial. You have five minutes… find your way out. The time starts now."
A click. Then a roar.
Water surged violently, slamming against him. In seconds it was up to his chest. Terror knotted in Leo's gut, his heart hammering against his ribs like a caged bird. He thrashed toward the edge, arms cutting through the water in frantic strokes, searching for escape.
That was when he felt it.
A pull at his ankles. The metallic bite of chains. His eyes went wide with horror as he looked down and saw the shackles pinning him to the bottom. His head snapped back up toward the man above—Christopher—whose expression remained as cold and still as the water itself.
"Please!" Leo's voice broke, ragged with desperation. "I… I can't swim! I'm going to drown!"
Christopher's gaze never wavered.
"Then," he said softly, "it's time you learned."
The water rose mercilessly, He thrashed against his restraints, wrists straining, but his strength faltered. His limbs felt heavy, sluggish, betraying him when he needed them most. He floated for a fleeting moment, then sank again, trapped in a cruel cycle of desperation. His mouth opened against his will, gulping at vanishing air, only to find nothing but water pressing in.
And then, with his body surrendering and his mind fading, Leo broke. The last fragments of resistance slipped away as water invaded his lungs. Darkness closed over him like a shroud.
Above, Christopher remained motionless, watching as if observing an insect pinned beneath glass. When Leo's body finally sagged in defeat, drifting lifeless in the fourth minute, Christopher snapped his watch shut and rose from his chair.
"I suppose I was wrong to doubt him," he murmured, turning to leave.
But the story did not end there.
At that final threshold, when life itself threatened to abandon him, something stirred. Leo's eyes flared open, glowing with an otherworldly light—a searing yellow, sharp and unnatural. Then, from deep within his chest, fire awakened.
Not red. Not gold. But black—black flames that crackled with a violent hunger. They surged from his hands, igniting the water around him. Heat exploded outward in a furious wave. The pool boiled, steam rising in clouds, until in the span of mere seconds the water was gone—burned, evaporated, devoured.
The chains that had shackled him only moments before disintegrated into dust, undone by that unholy fire.
And Leo stood at the bottom of the empty basin, unbowed, his figure wreathed in black fire. His gaze rose slowly, deliberately, until his eyes locked onto Christopher's retreating figure.
Hatred burned there—raw, unmasked, and unquenchable.
But Christopher did nothing at first—only stared. His lips curled into a slow, icy smile.
"Well, well… what do we have here?" he murmured, as though Leo's awakening power were nothing more than another curiosity in his endless game.
Adjusting his glasses with deliberate calm, he added, "Congratulations on passing, my friend." His tone was laced with mocking amusement, a cruel edge that made it clear the ordeal had been mere entertainment for him.
Rage boiled inside Leo, raw and uncontrollable. Before thought could catch up, his body surged forward, fists clenched, black fire still flickering faintly around his skin. He launched his attack—but Christopher moved with inhuman grace. In a blink, he slipped past Leo's strike, his form blurring as he reappeared behind him.
A sudden chill brushed Leo's throat. A blade, cold and merciless, pressed lightly against his skin. He froze, his breath hitching as Christopher's voice coiled into his ear, a venomous whisper:
"Don't mistake my congratulations for mercy," he said, tone as soft as it was lethal. "If you wish to keep your head, lower your guard."
Leo tried to twist free, but his captor anticipated the move. With ruthless precision, Christopher's fist drove into his gut. The impact stole the air from his lungs, pain exploding through his body. He collapsed to the ground, vision spinning, the world dissolving into darkness.
The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was Christopher's cold voice echoing like a sentence carved into stone:
"Our trials are far from over, boy. Rest—for the next begins soon."
From the shadows of the doorway, a figure stirred. Veronica had been watching all along, her eyes glinting with an unreadable expression.
"So," she said smoothly, her voice carrying a faint trace of amusement. "What do you think? Does he have what it takes to join us?"
Christopher's head turned sharply, irritation flashing in his gaze. "And what are you doing here?" he retorted with biting disdain.
Veronica's smile widened, almost playful. "That boy… he's my new experiment. Don't kill him. I know you enjoy breaking your trainees until they're nothing—but this one is different."
Christopher shifted, throwing Leo's limp body over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing. His eyes hardened, his voice low and final.
"He's mine now. Best not to meddle in matters that don't concern you."
A dry, exasperated laugh slipped from her lips as she leaned against the doorframe.
"We'll see about that."