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Chapter 7 - 7.“Two Years Later”

The world never stopped changing.

Two years after that rooftop pact, everything had evolved — cities, spirits, tech, and the students of U.H.A. Academy.

The once-ordinary teenagers?

Now they stood taller, sharper, and battle-worn — not heroes yet, but no longer kids.

The academy itself expanded — new towers, heavier security, and more dangerous zones designed to test advanced powers. The threat of monsters beyond the barrier was growing. Spirit readings spiked weekly.

It was no longer about surviving class.

It was about surviving, period.

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💪 Scene 1 – Training Grounds, Year 3

David slammed into the reinforced wall with a punch that cracked the energy shell around it. The instructor staggered back in shock.

"Again," David growled, wiping blood from his lip. His eyes burned. Muscles rippled. Every move was precise — evolved from pure brawler into a calculated tank.

"You're going to kill that machine," the instructor said, checking vitals.

"I'm not trying to break it," David replied. "I'm trying to surpass it."

Nearby, Niko and Alcino blurred through an agility dome, phasing between blinks.

"Race you to the ceiling grid!" Niko shouted, already halfway up.

"You wish!" Alcino smirked, twisting in mid-air and reappearing behind him.

They'd mastered their movement — not just fast, but untouchable. Tag-team demons.

Hayk worked in silence. A single panel hovered in front of him, his eyes flicking lines of code while spectral energy floated in his hands — he was combining thought and spirit, reality and programming.

Declan? A walking armory now. His jacket pulsed with high-grade nanotech, deploying floating drones, auto-defense walls, and energy blades at will.

But they all stopped when Brian entered.

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😐 Scene 2 – Brian the Masked God

He looked the same — calm, soft-spoken, focused.

But something was off.

The instructors couldn't read him. The sensors didn't detect him. No spirit activity. No energy signature.

But then why did half the monster simulations shut down when he walked in?

Why did everything go silent?

Brian sparred with David casually.

One punch. Blocked.

Another. Dodged.

David charged in full speed.

Brian didn't flinch.

With one hand, he pushed David back five meters with no visible power.

Everyone froze.

David stood up, shook his head. "You been holding back way too much."

Brian just smiled. "Guess I'm eating more protein now."

> "You manipulate them well," Infinity said in his head. "But they're getting stronger. Time is closing."

"I'm watching," Brian replied inwardly. "I'll let them grow. But I'm the ceiling they'll never break."

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👤 Scene 3 – Kendall (Alone, but Present)

Kendall Burke didn't train with them.

She trained alone. She still wasn't part of their friend group.

But over the years, she noticed.

Their potential. Their bond. Their changes.

She didn't say a word about it, but she watched Brian the most.

There was something wrong with him.

She could feel it in the way he blinked late. The way his voice never cracked. The way everyone forgot how quiet he really was.

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🔄 Scene 4 – New Spirit Protocol

Now, every student in Year 3 was registered as a full-bonded spirit user.

They had individual domains — Niko's field bent speed physics, Hayk controlled simulation-space layers, David's strength broke natural limits.

Brian's record?

No spirit bond.

Academy status: "Human-normal."

No one questioned it anymore.

But they should have.

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