The group sat at the massive oak table right in the heart of the slums, the heavy silence inside contrasting sharply with the morning chaos of the Bazaar drifting through the windows. Outside, the Ward began to wake as market traders shouted, carts rattled over broken cobblestones, and the distant echo of the Gear Rats plying their trade filled the air. Inside the hideout, the air felt thick, almost sacred, held still by the weight of Juro’s unfolding tale and the steady rhythm of Beat’s pulse. The early sun cast a soft, amber light across the room, bathing the scene in a fragile peace.
Miki sat on the left, her golden hair catching the morning sun as she carefully sliced an apple for the little fire cub. The creature stood with its front paws resting on her lap, purring softly while tiny sparks escaped its fur. Next to her sat young Ren, tracing lazy circles in his bowl of oatmeal with a dreamy gaze, completely unaware of Koda, the massive bear, lying like a thick rug on the floor behind his chair. At the head of the table sat Silarias, cradling a steaming mug of tea, his eyes fixed on the distant horizon outside the window as a royal calm radiated from his posture. He watched the light filter through the grime of the window, thinking of the fragile nature of their current peace, knowing that the calm before a storm was always the thinnest illusion. Nyx sat beside him, her silver eyes watchful and alert as she cut the crust off a piece of bread for Luna, who lay with her head resting on her arm, utterly exhausted from her recent transformation. At the far end of the table, Kael kept his fingers moving with nimble precision, completely focused on polishing a small mechanical part. In the furthest, quietest corner sat Aurelius and Jane. They were close, their fingers tightly intertwined, sharing a soft laugh as Aurelius whispered something private into her ear, a fleeting moment of romance between two people who believed they had finally left their past behind.
Then, the energy in the room shifted. Juro, who had been sitting motionless in the shadows, slowly placed his hands on the hilts of his Ashen Old King swords, sending a cold, gray shiver through the room. Across from him, Beat began to channel his power.
At sixty beats per minute, a deep, resonating bass thundered through the floorboards. Aurelius and Jane froze mid smile, the tenderness between them dying an instant death, replaced by an icy seriousness. As Juro exhaled smoke from his black cigar, the vapor mingled with the ash energy of the Old King, twisting into hyper detailed images of the Chrono Cradle. Within the ash gray smoke, the group recognized the exact chemical symbols and the soaring architecture of the Federation’s floating cathedrals, recognizing it not as a myth, but as a forbidden dossier from the highest ranks of the elite.
At one hundred and twenty beats per minute, the rhythm swelled into a heavy, industrial waltz that dictated the very heartbeats of everyone at the table. The smoke shifted to reveal the gruesome precision of the alchemists, displaying a boy being encased layer by layer in brass and copper. Jane gripped Aurelius’s hand so hard her knuckles turned white, recognizing the slender figures wrapped in liquid silk performing the operation, familiar shadows from the cruel, arrogant caste they once belonged to. She looked at the smoke, her mind racing with the realization that no matter how far they fled, the bloodline they carried linked them eternally to the horrors being projected before their eyes.
At one hundred and forty beats per minute, the sonic and visual violence reached its climax, leaving no room for whispers as the entire hall was swallowed by the ash gray memory. The Outcasts watched the boy’s tears turn into silver pearls, each one hitting the ground with a crystal clear tone that cut straight through bone and marrow. When the music finally stopped, Aurelius and Jane remained pale and stunned, the warmth entirely gone from their faces, replaced by a painful realization that their own lineage stained their hands with the shadows of that past. They looked at Beat, who sat motionless with his new, human heartbeat, knowing the sins of the Federation ran deeper than they had ever dared to admit.
The heavy, iron clad door of the hideout suddenly flew open with enough force to make the hinges shriek. Zephyr stood in the doorway, his breathing heavy and irregular, carrying the limp body of Sir Ouroboros in his arms. The once mighty knight was completely unconscious, overcome not by physical wounds, but by a veil of pure, black despair covering his face.
Zephyr forced the words out, gasping, "It has begun..."
In that exact moment, the Second Flash occurred. An unnatural, blinding white light exploded in the sky above the Bazaar, a cold, judging radiance that sliced through the hideout walls as if they were made of glass. Everyone at the table froze, and Silarias dropped his mug, letting it shatter into a thousand pieces on the stone floor. Outside, high above the clouds of the Ward, a giant, translucent hourglass appeared, its internal sand burning like liquid fire as it began to trickle down relentlessly. Numbers etched themselves into reality itself across the sky, marking a countdown of five years. The arrival of the Septem Peccata, the Holy knight Sins of the Federation, had officially begun.
The silence that followed was suffocating. The youngest children, orphans of the Ward taken in by the Outcasts, tugged anxiously at Miki’s and Jane’s sleeves. One of them looked up, eyes wide with fear, and whispered, "Miki... why is the sky ticking?"
Nobody answered until Juro stood up, looking Silarias straight in the eye. In a perfect, terrifying harmony, they shouted in unison, "TIME TO TRAIN NOW!"
Suddenly, the space filled with a new, stifling power as the auras of Vespera and Moria broke loose. The two dark deities, who had been waiting in the shadows, let out a raw, hungry laugh that echoed through the hideout, shouting, "HAHA-HAHA! FINALLY!"
Looking at each other, they nodded with cruel resolve, black lightning crackling through the air around them. Moria hissed, shadows clawing at her feet, "Five years of training, and our revenge on our families will be sweeter than the blood they stole from us."
As the hourglass ticked on, the Outcasts stopped looking to the past, turning their eyes toward the five years separating them from total destruction or ultimate retribution. Aurelius and Jane exchanged one last look with the rest of the group before vanishing into the shadows of the corridors, knowing that the time for hiding had ended and the era of preparation had come.
Beat stepped into the center of the room, the sub bass radiating from his body splitting the wooden floorboards. He stood there, feeling the resonance of his own chest, thinking how the world only listened to those who forced their own rhythm upon existence. His voice sounded like a distorted radio broadcast from the future, commanding, "COMMANDMENTS... UNITE!"
Ren and Kael stepped forward with determination, their faces no longer looking like those of children. Ren stated unshakably, "We want to become stronger. We want to be useful in the next war."
Beat lifted his head slightly, the shadow of his sombrero falling over his glowing eyes, and murmured, "The rhythm of the future isn’t written with notes, but with the teeth of those who dare to bite into time."
The circle closed, and the formation was reborn as the call rang out a second time, more powerful than before, shouting, "UNITE!"
The five Commandments were formed, consisting of Silarias, Nyx, Beat, Ren, and Kael.
The journey from the hideout to the desk of the Adventurer Guild became a triumphal procession. The Ward Bazaar, usually a place of deep suspicion, held its breath, the old loathing completely burned away and replaced by a loyal, devoted respect. Arriving at the desk, they slammed the S tier mission documents onto the counter. Silarias locked eyes with his team, an exchange made of pure steel, before coldly telling the receptionist, "S class missions. Dungeons. Now. Give us a week’s worth. We have five years."
The desk man counted out three times the agreed amount in gold coins, then leaned forward to pull open a hidden drawer. He whispered, "I have missions here that aren’t on the board. Secret Forges. They give the rarest Antings..." He gave a conspicuous wink.
Silarias, Nyx, and Beat grinned simultaneously, replying, "Hehehe, no idea what you’re talking about..."
"SSssssttt..." Beat hissed casually from under the rim of his sombrero, as tiny electric sparks jumped from his shoulders. "You know us, right? Or maybe you know Beat from the Goated Outcasts?"
The desk man burst out laughing. "Ha-haha! Who doesn’t know the legend? The myth of the man who forces time to dance..."
Before the man could even finish his sentence, Beat lifted his sombrero a fraction, revealing his true, divine aura for a single second, and said with a look that froze the man in his tracks, "SENSEI BEAT....."
A brutal bark tore through the guild house, accompanied by a vibration that made the floor ripple until the Boar, the giant Toji in his beast form, came storming into the building. The beast stopped right in front of the group. Beat quickly grabbed the stack of S tier Secret Forge missions, and with a fluid motion, the five Commandments leaped onto its broad back. The Boar gave a nonchalant, deep grunt, turned around, and walked casually out of the building.
Galahad stood in the shadows, his voice barely louder than a breath, muttering, "Who... are..."
Outside in the streets of the Ward, the populace watched the unforgettable silhouette of the massive Boar and the five Commandments seated like gods on the way to their own trial. But behind them, deep within the corridors of the guild house, a scream of pure disbelief and incomprehension echoed through the entire street, shouting a word directed at them, with an frantic, roaring echo, "YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
The hunt was on, the training had begun, and the hourglass ticked relentlessly for the next five years.