Veil of Corruption

Turrets pointed toward Seth and Malo.

Seth grinned, unbothered, his hand tightly gripping Malo by the hair. From his palm, invisible currents of aether poured into Malo's body like venom into a vein.

Malo convulsed. His muscles bulged, skin tearing in places, bone shifting—he was becoming something monstrous with each passing second.

The turret capacitors whined, locking on, seconds from firing.

Seth stopped.

He released the flow of Aether.

The transformation halted, arrested mid-grotesquery.

Seth let go. Malo collapsed to the ground, smoke rising from his skin, body twitching as it slowly unraveled back into human form—bones settling, skin knitting itself closed.

High above, Jaden slammed the override, freezing turret systems just as they were about to fire.

Seth looked down at Malo's motionless form, then glanced toward the observation deck. His smirk didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Nothing personal, kid."

Seth left.

The heavy door slid shut behind him with a mechanical hiss.

A moment later—racing footsteps echoed down the corridor, urgent and thunderous.

From the dim hallway behind, a man in a military garment lunged at Seth—too fast to be seen clearly. The air shimmered.

With a burst of light and pressure, both vanished.

Two men appeared through sudden discharge from the air in a courtyard—empty, desolate, buried in a blanket of snow.

Wind howled between broken columns.

The man didn't waste a second. He threw Seth across the courtyard. Seth hit the snow but shifted with the motion, palms to the ground—he flipped into a somersault and landed lightly on his feet.

Unshaken.

He turned to face the man, brushing frost from his sleeve.

Then, slowly—he bowed.

A gesture that could be mockery or perhaps gratitude, acknowledging their presence. Like a performer appreciating his audience.

Jaden gritted his teeth and shouted, "Bastard! Why did you do that?!" His thunderous voice shook the snow-covered leaves, sending flakes tumbling down, and the trees shuddered, piling large heaps of snow beneath them.

"I needed to gauge the boy's level. Special grades aren't on the same playing field, you know," Seth said, his expression unchanging.

Even if Seth's little experiment had failed and Malo had to be neutralized as a monster, it still worked in his favor. The destruction of the military's soon-to-be bioweapon would undoubtedly have consequences for the higher-ups. This only made Jaden angrier.

Jaden didn't waste any more words. He lunged at Seth again, though this time Seth was ready. But things weren't so simple. Jaden was now using his Aether. Seth's eyes widened in surprise—he hadn't expected Jaden to resort to Aether.

'Aether, seriously? Aether. Why does he like that boy so much?'

In response, Seth activated his Aether. In a battle between two Aether forces, the stronger one always prevails—it's as simple as that. Jaden was on the verge of breaking through Seth's defenses and might even kill him. While this would ultimately harm Jaden in the long run, it was preferable to letting a lunatic run wild. But if it were that simple, Seth wouldn't still be alive. He had not only survived against opponents who were stronger, more vicious, and more brutal than him, but he also thrived among them, mocking their so-called power.

Jaden was about to tear through the Aether shielding Seth, but something unexpected happened—his own Aether began to unravel. Before he could grasp what was happening, a vicious Aether attack struck his back, ripping through his defenses. Stumbling backward, Jaden groaned in pain and confusion.

Seth smirked and asked, "You alright?"

Jaden's pained expression deepened. "What did you do, bastard?!"

"You know about my powers, so why are you asking?"

Jaden did know about Seth's powers. He knew Seth was a benevolent man who had saved countless people from dying in fractures. He was a good man, albeit a strange one. So, he couldn't understand why Seth had done what he did to Malo.

"You mimicked External Aether Manipulation?"

Seth chuckled. "Nope, that was before I met you."

Jaden looked at Seth with a dubious expression, then it suddenly clicked.

"You copied teleportation? From the relic?"

Seth nodded in amusement.

Seth's abilities revolve around mimicking other powers from sundered to chaos monsters, though he can only mimic and use one at a time. If he wants a different ability, he has to give up the previous one. This is one of the reasons he was chosen as Malo's instructor. Since Malo couldn't even identify his own ability, Seth could overcome that by simply mimicking and teaching him his own ability.

A massive swarm of Sundered encircled the courtyard.

Reinforcements arrived as soon as Aether usage was detected. However, the detectors were not efficient enough to pick up small concentrations of Aether. If they had been, the relic's use would have been detected, and reinforcements would have intervened before Aether could be used in combat.

Both of them raised their hands, sensing troops nearby.

..............

Jaden found himself surrounded by the same white room he had seen countless times on his monitor, where a small child sat in the center. Though the room was small and cramped, it was identical in every detail, from the reflective walls to the bright light that eliminated all shadows.

Soon, a door opened, and a woman wearing a suit of Vanta black armor entered the room. She uncuffed the man and ordered him to follow her.

The man complied. They soon arrived at a hallway—the very same hallway where he had once walked freely. Though uncuffed, he was not free.

Eventually, he saw the same door he was scheduled to enter a week later, but now he was here two days early and had to be escorted.

The door opened to reveal a tall, bronze-skinned woman seated on a wobbly chair that strained under her weight. Her legs were not resting on the desk this time, nor were papers scattered across its surface. The desk was clean and orderly, giving the room a more ominous feel.

The woman in armor exits, the door shutting behind her.

After a brief silence, words finally echoed through the room.

"Good morning, Captain."