"Lord Second," the man spoke, peeking his head into the room.

A large, grandiose, yet minimalistic room.

In front of him stood a tall man, staring at the skies on the opposite side of the room. Around five feet tall, with a broad back and a well-defined build. His commanding presence made him seem taller than he was, even more so with the blue, cotton-made coat he wore.

The lower half of his body was not visible, blocked by the sleek, beige-colored wooden desk.

"What is it?" the Second spoke, in a carefree voice.

"We have just received news from Sector Six."

'News from Sector Six? Ah, must be Ashen. Just a day or two ago I received word they had been attacked. They probably need reinforcements, after all—the enemies far outnumbered the soldiers stationed there,' he concluded.

"Go on."

"Well, they've won."

The Second turned around. Walking up to his chair, he let out a quiet laugh and said, "I see. Tell Ashen to send a detailed report here."

"Understood, Lord Second!" the man chimed.

Ryo slowly woke up from his near twelve-hour sleep. His body strangely felt even worse. His arms were dangling, with barely any strength. The muscles of his body screeched in agony, with almost his entire body colored in a shade of deep red, contrasting his pale skin.

The back of his head hurt horribly—so much so that even lying on the soft pillow hurt. His chest hurt, felt itchy from all the burns that had been etched onto him.

The fingers of his hand were relaxing and tightening every passing second. Sometimes his fist trembled when it tightened, nails digging and scratching the skin.

His toes curled and locked in, tightening the leg muscles.

Since he was inside a tent, it made things even worse. Body covered in sweat, his entire body felt itchy—oily, slimy, and smelly.

It felt horrible.

His eyes blinked rapidly.

Suddenly, his hands moved, dragging themselves. He held the sides of the bed with all the power that could be mustered up in his current state. As he did so, his jaws clenched as his entire body tightened.

'ARGH! IT HURTS—' He drew a long breath, closing his eyes before jolting upright.

Just a simple, singular action was enough for him to be out of breath now. It made his once-firm arms tremble and shake uncontrollably.

His gaze cast down. He slowly drew another breath, closing his eyes once more.

And then, he screamed.

A silent scream. Unheard, because he had no voice. Unseen, because there was not a single soul watching him.

Cough! Cough! As a few moments passed, he began loudly coughing—possibly because even if it was a silent scream, it still strained his throat.

The grip of his arms slowly loosened as his body fell back.

"Hmm, Mori. Call Amir here," Lux ordered, waving his hand at him.

'Amir? Isn't he the next test supervisor? What could he even be thinking of doing right now?' He pondered for a while before giving up.

"Right, I'll do that now," he said, walking out of the room to complete the orders that had been given to him.

---

Ashen slowly lifted the tent's flap, entering the dark, dimly lit tent.

In front of him lay Ryo, facing the opposite side of Ashen, soundly asleep. He stood still for a minute or longer before stopping and taking four or five steps.

Coming to a stop in front of Ryo, he slowly patted Ryo's back and whispered, "Lux... Lux, get up. It's urgent."

There were no signs of him waking up, until a few minutes passed and a faint, broken groaning sound came.

"Ugh."

Ryo's tightly lidded eyes slowly opened once again, staring at the walls of the tent. It took him a few seconds to be fully awake and realize that Ashen was behind him.

He slowly turned around, making a few sounds of pain while doing so.

Facing Ashen, he mouthed the words, 'What is it?'

Such a thing took Ashen aback, leaving him stunned for a moment as his body froze and eyes locked onto Ryo. He shook his head in a violent fashion and regained his composure.

"Lord Second is coming to visit the camp," he informed, in his usual tone.

'But then again, there is also the fact that Lord Second and Ashen were very close friends. Maybe it's because of that that he is visiting us,' Ryo concluded and nodded.

"You don't need to worry about anything. I called him here. He's coming with a few healers too—for you."

Noticing the concerned expression on Ashen's face, Ryo couldn't help but feel pathetic. He slowly raised his hand, tapping Ashen's arm as though reassuring him that it'll be fine.

But because of the past behavior of Lux, it was hard for him to believe. Even so, he masked his concern and began walking out.

"It'll be fine, Lux," he said, sounding empathetic, before he left.

'Fine, huh. This... this was just a minor fight. Compared to the scale of wars that are occurring in real time, this was nothing. Weyr and Kaits... both had Genesis Euphoria, but in today's time almost no Genesis user faces a lowly 'issue.' or rather a disease like 'Genesis Euphoria,' even if they did, it can be overcome very easily. If this is how I am during this... minor battle... then what will happen to me in an actual war...?' His thoughts strayed toward concern.

'I guess... my end will be whatever fate dictates it to be,' he thought to himself, before falling back into slumber.