Following the intense trials of Leo and Miller, the heavy steel doors of the command sector slid open. Jeena and Aditya walked side by side down the sterile corridor, their footsteps echoing before they entered the central meeting room. Aditya had called an emergency briefing regarding the upcoming high-stakes mission.
Inside, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense. A massive round table formed the center of the room, flanked by high-ranking global officers. Some sat physically in their leather chairs, while the holographic projections of overseas commanders flickered in blue light around the perimeter.
"I see the information on our new roster," Officer 1 spoke up immediately, his voice dripping with condescension. "It says here that you added an experiment boy to the main vanguard."
Aditya didn't even blink. He leaned forward, resting his hands flat on the table. "His name is Hope. Please call him by his name. And yes, I personally added him to the team."
"An unverified child?" Officer 1 scoffed, crossing his arms. "Why would you add him? He has absolutely zero field experience."
"For your kind information," Aditya replied, his voice deadly calm, "he is exceptionally talented, and his tactical IQ is completely off the charts. Just yesterday, he completely defeated Miller—a certified B-tier soldier."
Officer 2 leaned into the light of his hologram, a greedy smirk on his face. "That is fine, but if he is that special, we should run a few more experiments on him first. If we dissect his baseline data, we might finally learn how the system creates special-power children."
The room went dead silent.
Aditya stared directly into the hologram's eyes. "You are an idiot."
Officer 2 slammed his fist down across the digital line. "Watch your tongue, Aditya! You have no idea who you are talking to. Look at my rank!"
"I am sorry, but you speak like an absolute idiot," Aditya fired back, his tone cutting through the room like a blade. "Our ultimate goal is to protect humanity, not to kill it. I genuinely do not understand how you think you can protect humanity by destroying a child's life."
Aditya stood up, towering over the board members.
🌲 "What you are suggesting is exactly like cutting down a massive, ancient forest, building a tiny concrete park over the dead soil, and then bragging to the media that you made it to save the environment. It is completely backwards."
Total, paralyzed silence took over the room. No one dared to breathe. Aditya’s pure logic had completely shut down the corrupt high-ranking board.
Breaking the quiet, Mr. Jones—the senior director sitting at the head of the table—cleared his throat. "Let's look past the politics. Aditya, what about Hope's actual growth trajectory? What type of attribute user is he?"
"I have trained him for exactly four days," Aditya reported. "He is an anomaly. The most bizarre thing we noticed during his energy release test was his color. His elemental aura manifested as solid
Orange
."
Mr. Jones blinked in utter disbelief. "Orange? How is that remotely possible? The global system only recognizes four fundamental elemental colors. Orange does not exist on the charts."
Jeena stepped forward, pulling up the live testing data onto the main screen. "I was completely shocked at first too, Director. The machines technically register his energy output as a Fire-type, but his heat levels—the pure Celsius output—shatters every fire-type record we have on file. Human evolution is developing rapidly. In the future, more hidden attributes will unlock. We cannot control it; it is simply God's plan."
Jones stared at the data, a slow smile creeping onto his face. "An interesting way to put it. Right... God's plan."
"There is one more thing," Aditya added, dropping the final anchor. "And this shocked even me."
"Speak," Jones commanded.
"Hope is a
Flux Controller
. I witnessed him project a perfect, high-density kinetic shield around his entire surroundings using pure instinct. His cognitive processing speed is the only reason he survived."
The entire boardroom erupted into a chaotic gasp. Hologram feeds flickered as officers stood up in shock.
The reaction was violent for a simple reason: Flux Controllers were a mythic-tier rarity. Across the entire globe, only one Flux Controller is born in a single century. A Flux Controller possesses an extreme, terrifying level of raw flux energy. Their greatest advantage is the ability to literally manipulate the physical environment around them, releasing compressed energy through the microscopic pores of their skin to forge instant, lethal weapons.
Aditya swept his gaze across the room, capitalizing on their shock. "What is your final decision regarding Hope? Look at the global index data. Ever since the year 2000, supernatural criminal activity has increased by
10% every single year
. Our true enemies are no longer just the external Vectors. Our real enemies are corrupt humans who awaken superpowers and dream of controlling the world for money and power."
Aditya struck the table. "Hope is only 12 years old, but with his extreme talent, he is going to become our ultimate symbol of heroism in the future."
The automated voting panels lit up across the table. A few corrupt department heads—the ones who had inherited their powerful positions through family money and nepotism—voted against the proposal. But the sheer weight of the data was undeniable. The majority vote flashed green. Hope was officially approved for the command squad.
An hour later, the tension of the boardroom vanished as Aditya stepped into the concrete training room where the squad was waiting.
"Alright, listen up," Aditya shouted, pulling out a set of sleek, silver metallic badges from his pocket. "Your official Officer Badges are ready. Come collect them."
The squad stepped forward, eyes shining with pride as they took their insignias. Hope gripped his badge tightly, feeling the heavy weight of his new reality.
"Now, we have exactly 3 days left before the deployment," Aditya announced, his playful grin returning. "And I am not going to train you during these final days. The mission parameters are simple: you must independently learn a new, specialized attack. If you cannot master a unique technique in 3 days, you stay behind. Tell me what attacks you are targeting."
Leo stepped forward confidently. "I am mastering the
Big Volcanic Ball
—the same high-density projectile Hope used in his duel."
Miller smirked, cracking his knuckles. "I am unlocking the
Super Greeny Attack
. It’s a tactical wood-element move that forces massive roots to grow instantly, absorbing the enemy's kinetic energy and transferring it back to me."
Perry looked slightly nervous. "I haven't unlocked a massive named attack yet, but I have completely mastered the core fundamental flows under Jeena Miss's guidance. Is that approved?"
Aditya laughed, clapping Perry on the shoulder. "Approved! You see, Leo and Miller, you two are divided between boy and girl mechanics, but Perry focuses on the raw mechanics. He’s my favorite student, so I give him special favors!"
The room filled with brief, easy laughter, breaking the heavy pre-mission stress. Then, Aditya turned his sharp gaze to the 12-year-old prodigy. "What about you, Hope?"
Hope looked up, his eyes completely calm, carrying the cold focus of a true genius.
"I am going to learn
Vector Flux
."
The laughter instantly died. Leo, Miller, and Perry froze in absolute terror, their jaws dropping.
"Vector Flux?" Leo stammered, his voice shaking. "Are you insane? That is universally known as the single hardest, most impossible attack mechanism in the archive!"
Hope didn't blink. He just adjusted his badge. "I will do it."
Aditya’s grin widened into a sharp, proud smile. "Very well. Let’s see it."