Echo stumbled away from the training grounds, his mind a jagged haze of grey. His right arm felt like a dead weight, swinging at his side like a heavy pendulum. The "Unbreakable" property hadn't fully receded; the skin from his fingertips to his elbow remained a dull, matte grey, cold as a tombstone.
"Echo! Stop!"
A figure blurred out of the shadows. It was Nate. The red-haired boy looked frantic, his eyes darting to the metallic sheen on Echo's skin. "Echo, look at yourself! You have to snap out of it! Kyle is killing you!"
Nate reached out, grabbing Echo's shoulders and shaking him, trying to force him back to his senses. But to Echo, the world felt muffled, as if he were underwater. In his distorted state, Nate's touch felt like an attack.
Without a word, Echo's instincts—honed by hours of Kyle's brutal hammering—took over. His hand blurred toward the practice sword at his hip. He drew it in one fluid, mechanical motion, swinging a lethal arc directly aimed at Nate's head. There was no hesitation, no mercy—only the cold logic of a weapon.
"No!" Nate screamed, flinching as he braced for death.
CLANG.
The blade stopped an inch from Nate's temple. Kyle had appeared out of nowhere, his bare hand clamped tightly around the edge of Echo's sword. Blood trickled down Kyle's palm, but he didn't flinch.
"Run," Kyle growled at Nate, his voice vibrating with a terrifying intensity.
Nate didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled backward, tripped, scrambled up again, and bolted down the hallway, the sound of his frantic footsteps echoing until they faded into silence.
Kyle let go of the blade and turned to Echo. The boy's eyes were vacant, fixed on nothing. Kyle's gaze drifted down to Echo's right arm. He reached out and tapped the grey skin with his knuckle. It made a solid, metallic clink.
"Still transformed..." Kyle whispered. A shadow of genuine concern finally crossed his face, replacing the predatory ambition. "Even without the sword in your hand, the iron remains. You're staying 'locked,' Echo."
Echo blinked, his vision slowly clearing, but the feeling in his arm didn't return. "Sir... I can't... I can't feel my fingers. Why won't it go away?"
Kyle looked around the darkening hallway. If the other teachers—or worse, the President's observers—saw Echo in this state, the boy would be hauled off to a lab before the sun went down.
"Don't go home tonight," Kyle commanded, his voice low and urgent. "If anyone see you like this, they will try to stop the training, and if you stop now while the transformation is mid-way, you might stay a statue forever."
Kyle gripped Echo's "normal" shoulder, steering him toward a hidden door behind the equipment racks. "We're staying here, away from everyone. We have to force the blood back into that arm before the metal reaches your heart."
The door slammed shut with a heavy thud, sealing them in the dim, torch-lit training hall. Echo's mind was a static-filled void. The iron was no longer just on his skin; it was beginning to crawl up his shoulder, a slow, freezing tide that threatened to lock his chest in place.
"Stay back!" Echo screamed, his voice sounding unnervingly like metal scraping against stone. Driven by a blind, primal panic, he lunged at Kyle, swinging his practice sword with a strength that cracked the floorboards beneath his feet.
Kyle didn't even flinch. He moved with a speed that defied his heavy armor, his hand flashing out to catch the blade. With a sharp twist of his wrist, Kyle shattered the "unbreakable" sword into dust. "I'm trying to save you, you stubborn fool!" Kyle roared.
But the destruction of the sword didn't stop the transformation. If anything, it accelerated it. The grey sheen surged past Echo's shoulder, heading for his neck.
Kyle went into a frantic, desperate frenzy, He dragged Echo to the forge, thrusting the metallic arm toward the white-hot coals to try and "melt" the iron back into the blood. Echo's screams were bone-chilling, but the grey skin didn't even redden; it just glowed with a dull, terrifying heat.
In a moment of pure desperation, Kyle raised his Level 5 greatsword. "Better a stump than a statue," he hissed, swinging for Echo's shoulder. The master-tier blade struck with the force of a falling star, but instead of cutting, it bounced off with a deafening clang that sent sparks flying across the room.
He even tried wrapping the arm in soft, enchanted silks to draw out the essence, but the fabric simply turned brittle and crumbled into grey ash.
"Nothing... nothing is stopping the flow," Kyle whispered, his face pale with a fear Echo had never seen before. He looked at Echo, whose breathing was becoming shallow as the iron began to constrict his lungs.
"You left me no choice, boy," Kyle said, his voice dropping to a grim, determined register.
He hoisted the half-stiffened Echo onto his back. He didn't head for the school infirmary—he knew the President's men would seize a "living weapon" like Echo in a heartbeat. Instead, he kicked open the back service door and sprinted toward the dark, twisted treeline of the forbidden woods. Kyle sprinted into the thickening shadows of the woods, his boots heavy against the damp earth. Echo's body felt wrong in his arms—too heavy, too cold, like he was carrying a fallen pillar rather than a boy. I have to save him, Kyle's mind raced, a rare flicker of desperation in his eyes. I can't let them have him. I can't let him become another hollow weapon for the President. It's my fault... I pushed him too far.
Suddenly, the air in front of them shimmered. Out of thin air, a tall figure materialized, blocking the path. He had a perfectly symmetrical face, eyes burning with a cold, blue intensity, and wore the dark red robes of the higher-tier classes. Without a word of greeting, the newcomer struck.
Kyle barely pivoted in time, the force of the blow whistling past his ear. "Lazarus!" Kyle rasped, his voice cracking. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" Lazarus countered, his voice dripping with venom. He didn't drop his combat stance. "The real question is why are you out here in the middle of the night, and why is Echo looking like a corpse?"
"I'm trying to save him from himself!" Kyle roared, trying to push past, but Lazarus was a wall of focused kinetic energy. "We have no time to waste, move!"
Lazarus slipped the shove with effortless grace, his eyes never leaving Echo's grey, metallic skin. "Tell me exactly what happened to him," he demanded, his voice trembling with a deadly determination.
"He has the ability to make a weapon indestructible," Kyle explained hurriedly, his breath hitching. "But the cost was always his own physical strength. Today, it mutated. He turned his own body indestructible. He's lost control, he's locking up! I'm trying to do the only thing left that can save him!"
Lazarus looked at his brother—at the tiny cracks forming on Echo's stone-like skin—and his heart shattered. "I'm coming with you!" he commanded.
Kyle stopped. He looked at the older brother, then back at the dark, forbidden path behind him. "You can't go where I'm going, Lazarus. If you want yourself and Echo to live, then let me pass... and never, ever follow us."
Lazarus stood frozen, the blue glow of his eyes flickering as he weighed the life of his brother against the trust of a man everyone called a monster. "I'll let you go but you better save him!"
Kyle's lungs burned as he sprinted deeper into the untamed wilderness. Every minute felt like a drop of life leaking out of Echo's cold, stone-like form. Finally, the trees thinned, revealing the mouth of a hidden, moss-covered cavern.
Inside, the air was heavy with the scent of ancient incense and ozone. Two figures sat shrouded in the shadows: the Kanes.
"Mr. and Miss Kane," Kyle gasped, lowering his head in a deep, respectful bow. "I need to save this boy. Please... help him, and I will owe you anything you ask."
The old man, Mr. Kane, rose slowly. His eyes, milky with age but sharp with power, scanned Echo's stiffened body. He tapped the boy's chest; it made a sound like a hammer hitting a boulder. "He is long gone, Kyle," the wizard murmured. "The iron has reached the marrow. I'm afraid I cannot do anything for a soul already encased in a tomb."
"What do you mean you can't?" Kyle's voice cracked. "You are the only wizard I know of! There has to be a way!"
"There is one way," Kane replied, his voice turning grave. "But you won't like the price. It involves a transformation that cannot be undone."
"I'll do anything to save him," Kyle replied without a second of hesitation.
"Very well. Prepare yourself."
The wizard began to trace a complex, jagged magic circle on the stone floor with a glowing chalk. "Prepare your blood, Kyle. I will need a great deal of it to bridge the gap between life and the metal."
Kyle didn't hesitate. He drew a combat knife and made a deep, jagged slash across the palm of his hand. As the crimson liquid welled up, he leaned over Echo, squeezing his fist to let the warm blood drip directly into the boy's unmoving, grey mouth.
The magic circle ignited with a violent, crimson light. The cavern walls trembled as Echo's body began to levitate, suspended in the center of the ritual. The air grew cold—colder than the iron itself.
Kyle watched, his face a mask of terror and hope. "I hope he survives this," he whispered. "He's a strong boy... I know he can pull through."
Suddenly, the light peaked in a blinding flash. Echo's body dropped, hitting the ground with a soft, human thud. The grey metal didn't disappear, but it retreated, swirling like liquid mercury until it condensed into a single, permanent mark on the palm of Echo's hand. The light of the circle dimmed into nothingness.
"Congratulations," Mr. Kane said, his voice sounding tired and ancient. "You now have a fellow vampire to stand by your side forever." He looked at Kyle with a warning in his eyes. "But this is the last time I help you. You already owe me more than a man can pay. Take him and get out."
Kyle scooped up Echo. The boy was no longer a heavy statue; he felt light, though his skin was unnervingly pale. Kyle looked back at the wizard with a weary, grateful smile. "You know, your power is truly terrifying," Kyle said. "I hope we never become enemies."