Inside the fortress, time lost all meaning.Hours became days, days became months… and months stretched into an eternity of iron and screams.
It had been just over a year since Elian's abduction. During that time, the routine hardly changed: one day of infernal training—where few died anymore, because only the toughest had survived this long—then a "child's game" twisted into sadism, and the next day, one-on-one battles.
The rules were always the same: if you failed, you suffered.If you survived, you suffered too.
Hide-and-seek, for instance, had become a slaughterhouse. If you were found, S himself would torture you until everyone was caught. In musical chairs, the one left without a seat was beaten by the rest.It was a cycle so absurd that even hell seemed to follow a schedule.
Elian, now ten years old, had changed. He no longer cried as much. He had learned to look with anger. He clung to a single idea: hate S.He had attacked him more than once—weak, desperate punches that did nothing—but they were all that kept him sane. He had even learned to insult him, using the same colorful vocabulary he'd picked up from S and the guards.
Over the year, he made friends… but none lasted long.First was Lía (1298), a Novalyth who hadn't yet awakened her Elyth. They were friends for two weeks, until S decided to play hide-and-seek—and killed her the moment she was found.Then came Randy (1245), a kind boy who helped him during fights, teaching him how to dodge and block. He was the first to prove that something like kindness could still exist. He lasted one day. S chose him as "experimental material."
Six friends fell that year.Every time S killed one, he looked straight at Elian, waiting for the reaction. When he saw the boy break, he laughed in delight.
By then, only forty-two children remained—including Elian.And S refused to kill him. Not out of mercy. Not out of affection. Simply because he enjoyed watching him endure.
With time, Elian abandoned his mother's teachings.The first time he struck back, his hand trembled. But then he understood something: to live, he had to fight. He learned to dodge, to lessen the blows, to endure pain. He wasn't strong, but his body refused to fall.He had developed something new—a survival instinct.And with it, a growing, sharper desire: to become strong enough to kill S.
Everything changed on August 20th, Year 290 D.G.C.The fortress loudspeakers screeched, followed by the unmistakable voice of their torturer.
"BRATS!" shouted S with fake cheer. "Today is elective testing day! Pick your suffering!"
Elian chose the intellect test on floor -1.
The room looked like a classroom—if classrooms had portraits of S posing like a dictator, smirking like a messiah in a spotless white uniform. Each desk held a quantum physics test—deliberately flawed, unsolvable equations. S insisted they all had answers.
Then his manic voice returned, bursting with excitement."TODAY'S THE DAY!" he roared. "Today I'll choose ONE of you for the Great Final Test! Your data has been properly collected… and now, I present the list of my most compatible candidates!"
The screens flickered and displayed a ranking:
"S's Top 10"Top 1: 1230 — Female, 13 — Elyth: Obsidian Hardening (her body coats itself in armor black as stone).Top 2: 1316 — Male, 10 — Elyth: Tiger Transformation.Top 3: 1290 — Male, 10 — Elyth: Earth Manipulation.Top 4: 1300 — Female, 15 — Elyth: Twin Slash.Top 5: 1299 — Female, 14 — Elyth: Counterclock (can mimic another's movements from the last 10 seconds).Top 6: 1305 — Male, 14 — Elyth: Mirage.Top 7: 1240 — Male, 11 — Elyth: Predator's Eye.Top 8: 1190 — Male, 11 — Elyth: Division.Top 9: 1220 — Female, 9 — Elyth: Dead Point (nullifies the senses of someone nearby).Top 10: 1314 — Male, 14 — Elyth: Fiery Body.
S went silent for a few seconds. Then came his laughter.
"Buuuut…" he said, dragging the word like a knife, "there's one more child."
The screen glitched. The Top 1 slot slid down, and a new line appeared above all others:
Top 0: 1317 — Male, 10 — Elyth: 'Useless Failure Without Elyth.'
Elian felt his stomach twist. He didn't know if it was mockery or recognition. In S's deranged mind, being ranked above everyone could only mean one thing: S planned to make him suffer more.
"Yeah, yeah… shut up, you smiling idiot," he muttered under his breath, wishing he could hit him.
The other children glared at him with hate.Being "Top 0" meant S saw him as the most important. But they all knew Elian was weak, slow, clumsy. None of the tests favored him—he wasn't the strongest, fastest, or smartest. Yet he was still alive.
That very afternoon, S announced the beginning of the Great Final Test.Training stopped. There would be no more games. No more routine.
Only silence… and the echo of screams leaking from the laboratory.
All were taken to the theater on Level -5. They were told to wait there until S arrived.
Number 1230, the girl ranked Top 1, was taken first—into a hidden room S revealed had always been there.
The others listened to her screams for hours.Then came a dull, heavy thud… and S's laughter.
When he emerged, his white coat was soaked in fresh blood.
"Ha… that brat wasn't the one," he said casually, his eternal smile untouched, wiping his hands clean with a towel.
No one dared ask. They all understood what it meant: the Final Test was a matter of life and death.
And S wasn't looking for a survivor.He was looking for a reflection.
Someone who could resemble him—no matter the cost.And he still had forty-one children left to try.