The cratered earth stretched for miles, a grey wasteland of ash and broken stone. Sasha stood at the center, her arms crossed, her expression calm. Derek, Leo, and Jordan formed a loose semicircle around her, their bodies tense, their focus absolute.
"Again," Sasha said.
Derek moved first. Blood Rush surged through him, Pulse Amplification following close behind—his body hardened, his veins bulged, his strength multiplied. He threw a punch aimed at Sasha's chest. She sidestepped, her movements fluid, unhurried.
He tried again. And again. Each strike faster, harder, more precise.
The form he'd used last night—the transformation that had made him a god for twenty minutes—was still out of reach. He could feel it, taste it, but it wouldn't come. Not yet.
Leo's lightning crackled around him, red and hungry. He moved like a storm given form, arcs of electricity trailing behind him. He tried to corner Sasha, force her into a position where she couldn't dodge.
She slipped through every opening.
Jordan was a blur—his speed enhanced, his body shifting between forms. The smiling devil transformation flickered across his features, the split cheeks appearing and disappearing as he struggled to maintain it.
They were fast. Strong. Coordinated.
Sasha was faster.
She moved like she wasn't even trying—ducking under punches, sidestepping kicks, redirecting strikes with a touch. Her Infinity was active, her body refracting every attack into countless micro-paths, none of them landing.
"You're holding back," she said. "Stop it."
───
On the other side of the crater, Ab 2 Eva sat cross-legged, her hands pressed against Eva's back. The Pulse flowed from her—steady, warm, endless—into Eva's broken body.
Eva's bones knitted. Her muscles repaired. Her wounds sealed.
Two minutes. That's all it took. She stood up, her body whole, her strength restored.
Ab 2 Eva rose, her expression unchanged. She looked at Wolfen, who was standing apart, watching the training.
"Your turn."
Wolfen blinked. "What?"
"Your turn." Ab 2 Eva's voice was flat. "You've been sitting around long enough."
Wolfen opened his mouth to argue. She was already moving toward him.
───
"Again."
Wolfen threw a punch. Ab 2 Eva caught it, twisted, sent him flying.
He landed hard, rolled, came up swinging. She was already there, her palm against his chest, shoving him back.
"Faster."
He moved faster. She moved faster.
"Harder."
He hit harder. She didn't flinch.
"Again."
Sweat dripped from his brow. His muscles burned. His Pulse was draining faster than it could regenerate. But Ab 2 Eva showed no signs of stopping.
She was going harder on him than Sasha was on the others. Rougher. More brutal.
And she was doing it on purpose.
Wolfen felt it building—the frustration, the anger, the helplessness.
His fists clenched. His teeth ground together.
"Faster," Ab 2 Eva said.
He hit her. She stepped back.
"Harder."
He hit her again. She caught his fist.
"Again."
He couldn't do it. His body was giving out. His Pulse was almost gone.
She looked at him. Her expression was cold, dismissive.
"Pathetic."
Wolfen's eye twitched. Something inside him snapped.
The Pulse he'd absorbed from Goliath surged forward—not the slow trickle of before, but a flood. It burned through his veins, through his bones, through every cell in his body. His form shifted. The solar lava that had been his strongest transformation was nothing compared to this.
Frost blue flames erupted around him.
His eyes changed. His hair changed. The energy surged around him like a living thing, crackling and cold and impossibly bright.
Ab 2 Eva stepped back. For the first time, something flickered across her face.
Wolfen's new form multiplied his base power by five hundred times. Solar lava only made him 100 times stronger then his base form but frost blue made it 500 times.The frost blue flames licked at the air, freezing everything they touched. The ground beneath him cracked. The temperature dropped. The sky itself seemed to darken.
He looked at Ab 2 Eva.
"Again," he said.
She smiled. Just a little.
"Finally."