Jack: "I think we are far enough."
He says to Lenny.
Jack and Lenny skid to a halt, breath fogging in the cool shade of a deserted alley. Henry sprints after them, footfalls echoing, then slows as he closes the distance.
Henry: "Next time warn me, alright?"
Jack: "There will be no next time; from here, our paths part."
Henry stops short, stunned.
Henry: "WHAT? WHY! The officers have already seen me with you; there is no point in separating."
For the first time on his journey, Henry thought he'd found friends. The idea of losing them now twists in his chest.
Jack: "Yeah, but you would only drag us down."
Heat spikes in Henry's eyes; he draws breath to retort—
Henry: "I—"
Lenny interrupts,
Lenny: "I don't think he will drag us down, big bro; in fact, I think he would be of great help."
Jack: "Shut up, Lenny, you are the reason we are in this mess anyways."
Henry steps between them, trying to steady the moment.
Henry: "That's right, but I mean, thanks to the explosion, the officers will leave us alone for now, I think."
Jack weighs it, tension easing a fraction.
Jack: "You're right."
???: "It was a masterpiece, right?"
The voice slithers from the sewer at their feet—oily, amused, and cruel. Mud bulges through the grate, swelling and shaping into a man. The same man. The killer.
Man: "It really was a masterpiece!" ,
He says with his evil smirking face.
Henry's shoulders are square.
Henry: "Who are you?"
Man: "Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself; my name's Balte."
Jack: "Alright, baltee, what do you want?"
Balte: "The kid there has something I want; give him to me."
Balte points at Lenny.
Jack steps forward, voice cool as steel.
Jack: "Nope, can't do."
He responds in his cool-guy tone.
Balte: "Thought so."
His right hand liquefies, swells, and hardens—a wrecking ball on a chain of mud. It whistles through the air toward Lenny. Henry lunges to cover him, but Jack is faster, shouldering in and taking the blow.
Balte's grin falters. No damage. His gaze snaps to Jack's arm—now sheathed in black, reptilian scales, the flesh from hand to shoulder transformed into a dragon's limb.
Balte: "I never thought I would meet someone like you here of all places."
Jack: "What, scared of what you are seeing?"
Balte: "Can't say that I'm totally happy fighting someone with a dragon-beast."
Behind Jack, Henry's eyes blaze with awe.
Henry: "WOW JACK, YOU HAVE A BEAST?"
Jack: "I thought you would be more shocked."
The moment stretches—then Henry's instincts scream.
Henry: "WATCH OUT!"
He shouts before shoving Jack aside and bracing up. The wrecking ball drops from above, slamming into Henry.
Jack, Balte, and Lenny stare. The impact spiderwebs the cobbles under Henry's boots; his body doesn't budge. No blood. No bruise. He absorbs it—and hurls the ball away.
Balte: "Impossible"
Lenny: "W-WHAT?"
Jack: "But how? I can't sense you using soul energy."
The wrecking ball collapses back into mud. Henry surges forward and drives a punch straight at Balte's face.
Henry: "W-What?"
His fist sinks through cheek and jaw as if striking a puddle. Balte's head ripples; not even a flinch.
Balte: "What's the matter, shocked by my Awakening?"
He says mockingly,
Henry: "Not really, but it seems you didn't take any damage."
Balte's left arm swells, reshaping into a hammer. He swings. The blow smashes Henry into the alley wall, stone cracking in a brutal halo around his body.
Balte: "That's the effect of my ability; my mud awakening means if you're weak, I won't take damage."
Jack answers with a leap, dragon scales flashing.
Jack: "Take that!"
The hammer crashes into Jack's scaled fist—a shockwave booming down the alley. Jack's jaw splits and lengthens; fangs flash. He roars—an ancient, thunderous sound—and a spear of purple lightning erupts from his mouth, streaking toward Balte.
Balte: "Uh-oh."
He says, and throws up a mud shield. Useless. The lightning pierces clean through, scorches his chest, and blasts him backward.
Smoke floods the alley. Henry blinks grit from his eyes, still wedged in the cracked wall.
Henry: "Jack? Lenny? Where are you?"
His voice cuts through the haze.
Jack: "ARGHH"
Jack shouts in pain.
Henry: "JACK!!"
The smoke thins. In the center of the alley, Jack hangs above the ground—torso cocooned in crushing mud. Balte holds him aloft with both arms liquefied, like a cruel child suspending a toy.
Balte: "How do you like that?"
His chest and jaw are charred and crusted from the lightning, but his smirk survives. Pressure builds; bones creak. It's unbearable.
Jack: "AARGH"
He screams in pain.
Henry launches from the wall, a blur, and drives a sucker punch into the side of Balte's head. The mud ripples again—no purchase, no pain.
Balte: "I told you already, you are too weak to damage me."
He flings Jack aside and whips both arms into long, snapping lashes. Henry vaults the first, snatches the second—his heels gouge fresh cracks into the stone—then the line yanks him off his feet and slams him into another wall.
Balte: "You just had to give me the boy."
He says with a mocking tone.
Behind him, Lenny charges, fists balled. He drives punches into Balte's back—only for his hands to sink and stick as the surface turns viscous, then hardens around him. The mud pulls, swallowing his wrists.
Balte: "There you are."
He says to Lenny again in his mocking tone.
Balte's whole body becomes mud while holding a human outline. One hand plunges into his own stomach, groping through his liquid core. He captures Lenny's trapped arms from within and drags the boy through his body—front to back—until Lenny dangles, helpless, before him.
Balte: "Alright, boy, where's the stone?"
Lenny trembles. In his mind, everyone is gone. No help. No hope.
Balte: "Come on now, your friends are already dead; just give me the stone."
He leans in, that same unbearable smirk carving his face.
Henry: "Who says that I'm dead?"
Henry says.
Lenny: "HENRY"
Lenny shouts in happiness. Gaining all his hope back.
Henry steps from the dust, eyes blazing. Dirt streaks his cheeks; veins thrum along his fists, about to burst.
Balte: "Boy, stop trying, alright?"
Henry: "Let him go."
Balte: "Boy, did you just ignore me?"
Henry: "I said let him GO."
Rage ignites. Henry explodes forward.
Balte: "Here we go again."
He says mockingly and tosses Lenny to the side.
Henry's fist cocks back. Balte, smug, allows the hit—inviting the inevitable futility.
But something changes. A crack in the world. Before knuckles meet cheek, a surge tears through Henry—ancient, brilliant, rare beyond myth.
A phenomenon so scarce it has been documented only once in the history of the Great Empire. A secret people would build monopolies on, worth trillions in proof.
To awaken an Awakening.
It happens in that heartbeat. Henry's power blossoms mid-strike. His entire arm erupts in bright, celestial blue—pure, searing, alive.
The punch lands.
Balte's head jerks; his body doesn't liquefy fast enough. The blow detonates him through the alley wall, then the next building, and the next—stone and timber bursting into daylight. What remains is a receding chain of holes and settling dust.
Henry stares at his arm, still cloaked in that radiant energy—then it fades, leaving ordinary flesh behind. Exhaustion crashes over him. He sinks to the ground, wiping sweat from his brow.
Lenny: "Whoa, an Awakening."
The word barely leaves his lips before fear returns.
Lenny: "BIG BRO"
He sprints to Jack, who lies broken on the cobbles. Henry staggers after him.
Henry: "JACK"
A soft hiss rises. Smoke unfurls from Jack's body, curling like steam off hot iron. Wounds fade as if dissolving, skin knitting under a veil of vapor.
Jack stirs. Lenny collapses onto him, sobbing with relief.
Lenny: "BIG BROO"
He says while crying and hugging Jack.
Jack: "I'm fine, Lenny. What happened to that mud guy?"
He asks, confused about the situation they are in.
Lenny: "We won big, bro; Henry ended him with a MASSIVE punch with his Awakening, launching him through BUILDINGS."
Jack: "An Awakening? You? You have one?"
Henry: "Since now"
Lenny: "Isn't that cool?"
Lenny laughs and hugs Jack, joy spilling out after terror's long grip. Jack and Henry start laughing too—shaky, breathless, and victorious. They never lost hope. Not even when the alley filled with smoke and mud and death.