The orphanage has never felt more "normal," which, for the Prodigies, is still absolutely insane.
The younger kids are playing tag in the yard, completely oblivious to the fact that the teenager sitting on the porch reading a book is currently holding the "Delete" button for eighty multiverses. Joseph flips a page of his novel, his eyes glowing that glitchy grey as he simultaneously monitors a civil war in Galaxy 4 and a black hole collapse in a parallel dimension.
Inside his head, the Clones are screaming for release. Joseph just sighs. "Partition 4.2 is leaking again. Be quiet, or I'll throttle your processing speed to zero," he mutters internally, not even looking up from his book.
The Training Grind
The rest of the brothers are back to their "tuff" routine:
• Tae is levitating in the center of the garden, his Buddha aura creating a field of peace so strong the grass is literally turning into crystal.
• Kd is practicing "Micro-Chaos," flickering out of existence and reappearing in the shadows, his obsidian fire controlled and cold.
• Ethan is juggling orbs of Anti-Matter, condensing them until they're the size of marbles but have the weight of mountains.
• Jax is sitting on the roof, his skin glowing like a white dwarf star as he pulls solar flares directly from the sun to upgrade his internal battery.
And then there's Ayden. He's a silver blur, running laps around the entire property so fast he's creating a continuous vacuum seal. He zips past Joseph, stealing a bookmark, then zips past Kd, blowing out his cigarette, all while shouting jokes.
"Hey Jo! If you're reading a book and watching 80 universes, does that mean you're technically failing 81 things at once?" Ayden shouts, his voice trailing behind him because he's already three miles away.
The "Newbie" Interrupts
A sleek, high-tech motorcycle screeches to a halt at the orphanage gates. A guy in glowing neon armor steps off, looking like he walked out of a high-budget sci-fi movie. He struts into the yard, looking at the "kids" with a condescending smirk.
"Is this the place?" the guy brags, crossing his arms. "I heard there were some 'talented' kids here. But let's be real—none of you can keep up with me. I'm the Speed-King. I broke the sound barrier at twelve, and last week? I hit Light Speed. I'm the fastest thing this world has ever seen."
The yard goes dead silent.
Kd stops flickering and just stares. Tae opens one golden eye. Joseph actually closes his book.
Then, the laughter starts. It starts with Jax on the roof and spreads like a wildfire.
"Light speed?" Jax wheezes, clutching his stomach. "Man, I used to hit light speed just to get to school on time back in the 7th grade!"
"I literally ran past the concept of 'Time' this morning because I forgot where I put my keys," Ayden says, suddenly standing right behind the guy, leaning on his shoulder before the guy can even blink. "Light speed is so... 2024. We were faster than light years ago, buddy. You're moving in slow motion."
Joseph looks the guy up and down, his grey eyes scanning the guy's molecular structure. "You're vibrating at Mach 85. That's cute. I currently have a sub-process in my brain that moves at the speed of Thought, and it's currently bored of this conversation."
Kd lights a fresh cigarette, the obsidian flame making the "Speed-King's" neon armor look like a toy. "You're in the wrong house, kid. We don't measure speed in 'miles per hour' here. We measure it in 'how many multiverses can I cross before my cigarette ash hits the floor'."
The "Speed-King" doesn't even see it coming. He lunges at Ayden, his neon armor sparking as he tries to break the sound barrier in a single punch.
Ayden doesn't even transform. He just yawns, slips the punch with a millimeter of clearance, and delivers a flurry of palm strikes so fast they sound like a single, continuous clap. Before the guy can realize he's been hit, Ayden grabs him by the collar and tosses him out the front gate like a piece of trash.
"Light speed? More like 'Light weight,'" Ayden chuckles, zooming over to Kd and flicking his forehead. "Hey, King of Chaos, you're getting slow. I saw you blink twice during that. You getting old?"
"Keep testing me, Ayden," Kd growls, his obsidian eyes flaring as he tries to grab Ayden's wrist. "I'll banish your shoes to the Pandemonium Realm."
The Arrival
As they bicker, the air suddenly shifts. Joseph drops his book, his glitchy grey eyes narrowing. Tae descends from his meditation, his golden aura humming a warning. Two massive, unfamiliar mana signatures are approaching—heavy, refined, and completely different from anything they've felt.
Two guys walk through the gate, looking completely unfazed by the insane power radiating from the house.
1. Marcos: Tall, shredded, and moving with the fluid grace of a pro athlete. He's wearing a jersey and shorts, spinning a soccer ball on one finger that seems to be humming with kinetic energy.
2. Diego: Semi-tall and built like a tank. He has a sharp, calculating look in his eyes similar to Joseph's, but there's a smirk on his face that suggests he's already found three things about the orphanage to make fun of.
"So this is the spot," Diego says, adjusting his sleeve. "I expected more... aesthetic. It looks like a daycare for gods." He looks at Joseph. "Nice eyes. Did you get the 'Double-Vision' DLC?"
"We're cousins," Marcos adds, his voice confident and booming. "Looking for a group that actually knows how to throw hands. We heard the Prodigies were the only ones worth talking to."
The Test: Kd vs. Marcos
Kd steps forward, his duster fluttering. "Cousins, huh? We don't take walk-ins. You want in? You gotta prove you won't die in the first five seconds of a real fight."
Kd vanishes into a shadow and reappears behind Marcos, launching a kick draped in obsidian fire.
THWACK.
Marcos doesn't even turn around. He redirects his soccer ball with a back-heel flick, meeting Kd's shin with the ball. The impact creates a shockwave that shatters the windows of the training shed. Kd is actually pushed back three steps, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Not bad, Chaos King," Marcos smirks, the ball now glued to his feet as he performs a lightning-fast step-over.
"My technique is called 'The Absolute Pitch.' I don't just play soccer; I turn the entire battlefield into a stadium. Every bit of mana I have is condensed into this ball. The more I 'dribble,' the more kinetic energy I build. By the time I take the shot, I'm not just kicking a ball—I'm kicking a meteor with the weight of a planet."
Marcos starts juggling the ball, each touch sounding like a cannon blast, his speed increasing until he's a blur of athletic motion. Kd actually has to flare his Beast of Chaos aura just to keep track of the ball's movement.
Diego leans against the fence, watching them with a grin. "Watch out, big guy. If he hits 'Extra Time,' you're going to need a new duster."
The training yard becomes a war zone. Kd is laughing—that dark, jagged laugh that only comes out when he's found a way to bleed. He doesn't even dodge Marcos's kinetic strikes; he lets the soccer ball's shockwaves tear at his duster, his obsidian flames growing hotter with every impact.
"Yeah! That's it!" Kd bellows, his Beast of Chaos wings snapping open. "Keep building that energy, soccer boy! I want to see if that 'meteor' can actually dent a King!"
The Real Threat
While the yard is exploding with kinetic force, Joseph isn't watching the fight. His glitchy grey eyes are locked on Diego. He notices a subtle, dark mist swirling around the brothers—the residue of their anger, their exhaustion, and the lingering stress of the Clones. It's all being siphoned toward Diego's palms.
"Marcos is the distraction," Joseph says, his voice cutting through the noise like a blade. "Stop it, Diego. You're feeding off our shadows. You're not just smart; you're a Psychological Parasite."
Diego's comedic smirk shifts into something sharper. "Took you long enough, 'Archive.' I was wondering when the smartest guy in the room would wake up."
The Archer of the Mind
Diego doesn't wait for a reply. He reaches into the air, and just like how Tae manifests his katana, a sleek, translucent Bow made of dark thought-energy appears in Diego's grip.
"My turn," Diego says.
He fires three arrows in a single motion. They don't move in straight lines—they curve, banking off the "Logos" barriers Tae left behind, tracking the heat of Joseph's aura. Joseph tries to delete them from reality, but the arrows are made of Pure Emotion; you can't code away a feeling.
Joseph teleports, but an arrow grazes his cheek, drawing blood. Diego doesn't miss. Every shot is calculated based on how Joseph thinks he's going to move.
The Shift: From Code to Combat
Fed up with the mental games, Joseph snaps his fingers, creating a Logic-Vacuum that sucks the bow right out of Diego's hands, shattering the weapon into digital dust.
"No more toys," Joseph growls, dropping into a low, predatory stance.
Diego doesn't panic. He just cracks his neck. "Good. The bow is for long-range bores. I prefer the personal touch."
Suddenly, Diego moves. It's not the flashy speed of the "Speed-King"; it's the refined, brutal efficiency of Ayden. Diego closes the gap, throwing a combination of strikes that are so technically perfect they bypass Joseph's initial defenses. He's targeting pressure points, his fists huming with the "Negative Energy" he just stole.
For a moment, Diego is actually pushing the "Prideful Killer" back. He's fighting with a genius-level combat IQ that rivals the brothers' best.
The 10% Threshold
Joseph catches Diego's final punch in his palm. The ground beneath them shatters from the force, but Joseph doesn't budge. His grey eyes flare with a terrifying, absolute light.
"You're good, Diego. Maybe the best I've seen in a long time," Joseph says, his voice vibrating with the power of the Clones he's suppressing. "But you're still fighting a god with human muscles. I'm going to use 10% of my output. Don't die."
The air pressure in the yard triples. Joseph moves so fast it looks like he's walking through a frozen world. He delivers a single, surgical strike to Diego's solar plexus. The impact doesn't just knock the wind out of Diego—it shuts down his mana-circuitry instantly.
Diego flies backward, skidding across the dirt until he hits the orphanage wall. He coughs, the dark mist around him evaporating.
"Damn..." Diego wheezes, a shaky grin returning to his face. "10%? I think I... I think I like this group."
Marcos stops his "Absolute Pitch" build-up, looking at his cousin and then at the Prodigies. He kicks his soccer ball into the air and catches it. "I told you they were tuff, Diego."
The training yard falls into a heavy, expectant silence. Tae steps into the center of the lotus-cracked ground, his white coat fluttering. He doesn't transform into the Buddha yet, but his Logos aura begins to crystallize the very air around him.
"You've proven you can survive a scrap," Tae says, his eyes glowing with a calm, golden authority. "But the Prodigies aren't just a team; we're a single script. I need to see if you can handle the Director. 2v1. Don't hold back, because I won't."
The Opening Act
Marcos doesn't waste a second. He drops the soccer ball and kicks it with a thunderous boom, the kinetic energy instantly hitting Mach 5. At the same time, Diego manifests two daggers made of sharp, cynical thought-energy, weaving through the shadows to flank Tae's blind spot.
Tae moves like a ghost. He doesn't even draw his katana yet; he uses his hands to deflect the soccer ball with crystalline barriers while parrying Diego's strikes with surgical precision. For the first few minutes, Tae is dominating—he looks like a god playing with children.
"Is that the 'Prodigy' pace?" Diego snarls, his eyes flashing. "Marcos! Overtime!"
The Escalation
The vibe shifts. Marcos begins a "Infinite Dribble," moving in a geometric pattern that builds so much friction the ground turns to lava. He strikes the ball, and it doesn't just fly—it multiplies. A hundred kinetic meteors scream toward Tae.
Simultaneously, Diego unleashes his "Mind-Palace" technique. He forces Tae to perceive a distorted reality where the floor is made of glass and the sky is falling.
Tae is forced to react. He draws his Logos Katana, the blade shimmering with divine order. He's slicing through the kinetic meteors, but one slips through and grazes his shoulder, drawing blood. Diego appears from a rift in Tae's peripheral vision and lands a heavy kick to Tae's ribs.
Joseph actually stands up from his seat, his glitchy grey eyes wide. Jax leans over the roof, his solar aura flaring in excitement. "Yo, Tae's actually sweating! Look at that!"
The Climax: The Triple-Crossover
Tae wipes a streak of blood from his lip, a wild, rare grin appearing on his face. "Fine. Let's see how you handle the Final Edit."
Tae's aura explodes. He doesn't go full Buddha, but a massive, golden spectral arm manifests behind him, holding a brush made of pure light.
• Marcos's Ultimate: He launches his ball into the air, jumps three stories high, and delivers a "Supernova Strike." The ball becomes a burning star, aimed directly at Tae's heart.
• Diego's Ultimate: He pulls all the negative energy from the battle into a single, massive "Grief-Arrow," aiming it at the exact moment the soccer ball hits to shatter Tae's soul.
Tae doesn't dodge. He swings his spectral brush in a wide arc, shouting: "LOGOS: ABSOLUTE DRAFT!"
The Draw
The three powers collide in the center of the yard. The resulting explosion is so violent that Joseph has to deploy a triple-layered Time-Shield just to keep the orphanage from being vaporized.
When the smoke clears, the yard is a crater.
Tae is standing in the center, his coat torn, his katana chipped, and a deep bruise forming on his jaw. Marcos and Diego are both on their backs, gasping for air, their mana-reservoirs completely bone-dry.
Tae looks at the blood on his hand, then looks at the two cousins. He lets out a short, genuine laugh.
"A draw," Tae says, sheathing his broken blade. "I haven't been pushed like that since the Tundra. My script was missing two key characters... it looks like I just found them."
He reaches out a hand to help Marcos up, while Kd tosses a fresh cigarette to Diego.
"Welcome to the madhouse," Tae says, the golden glow returning to his eyes. "Get some rest. Tomorrow, we start hunting the things that even the Clones are afraid of."