Percy is lying on the ground of a gym, naked upper body, sweating and panting, with a wooden sword lying a few steps away. Over him stands an old man, also wearing no shirt and holding another wooden sword.

  Suddenly the attention from both men is drawn to the entrance. There stands Lucius, clapping, while entering.

  "Wow! You're doing better than I hoped."

  The man bows down as Lucius approaches.

  "Welcome, Master Lucius. What brings you here?"

  "Maximus, old friend, no need for formalities."

  He hugs the old man before patting his shoulder.

  "I'm here for Percy."

  "I understand. I guess it is better if I leave then."

  "Certainly."

  Maximus walks towards the locker rooms. In the meantime, Percy sits up and crosses his legs. Lucius sits down in front of him.

  "What do you want, sir?"

  "I'm here to give you something."

  His hand reaches behind his back and under his shirt. As it returns into Percy's sight, it holds a knife made out of the jawbone of an ancient animal. Percy musters his interest and instinctively reaches to grab it.

  "What is this?"

  Lucius abruptly pulls the knife away again.

  "Parcival Pendragon!"

  Percy winces strongly at the sound of his full name. Lucius's voice calms again.

  "This is the first blade."

  "And I'm supposed to know what that is?"

  Lucius sighs.

  "This is the weapon Cain used to kill his brother Abel."

  "You're joking with me, right? This is just a story, nothing real."

  "Believe it or not."

  Lucius reaches his hand out again, letting Percy grab the blade.

  "Listen, don't ever use it. Just store it."

  Percy stares confused at him.

  "Why do you give it to me if I'm not allowed to use it?!"

  "There is no safer place for it than in your arsenal."

  "Safe from whom?"

  "Doesn't matter. All you need to know is that you're not allowed to use it under any circumstances."

  The man's gaze is fixed on the knife in Percy's hand.

  "It's way too dangerous!"

  Percy nods before reaching into the air beside him. His hand and blade disappear for a moment before the hand returns alone.

  "Happy?"

  Lucius smirks.

  "Very much."

  The room falls silent for a short period of time before Percy speaks up again."

  "H...how are the others doing?"

  "All are making great progress."

  Smiling, Percy reaches for the wooden sword and stands up.

  "Was that all?"

  Lucius follows his lead and stands up as well.

  "You lack a bit of respect, young man! And no, that wasn't all."

  Percy rolls his eyes and waits for Lucius to continue speaking.

  "The first blade is not the only real mythical weapon. Start researching and find them."

  "Can't you just tell me where they are?"

  "I don't know either. But every mythos has something true to it, so maybe some reveal locations?"

  With that, Lucius leaves the gym. Percy watches him for a moment before making his way to the locker rooms.

  Far away on Lucius Island Teon flies backwards through the air before crashing through a boulder. He struggles to stand up while watching Kai struggle to hold Rumi in place."

  "Now, Teon!"

  Reacting to his friend's call, Teon reaches out, aiming with his fingers at Rumi. Bloodstreams shoot out, Kai dodges out of their way, and they connect with Rumi. She ignores the attack, and while they continue to connect with her, she walks towards Teon.

  "Still too weak, Teon!"

  Teon ducks down and avoids Rumi's fist hitting him in the face. Before she can attack him again, a human-sized tornado slams into her side, sending her flying. Rumi looks surprised and confused before landing on her feet again. The weird tornado starts to slam into her from many sides in rapid succession. At first she blocks the attacks, but after a while she starts to learn the timing of the attacks. After learning them, she swings right into the incoming attack. Her fist connects right with Kai's face, causing him to stumble backwards and the tornado to disappear.

  "Nice technique!"

  "Thank you."

  Kai wipes blood from his nose while Teon walks up beside him. Together they get ready to attack Rumi again.

  Inside the Souls-Corp base, on the training field, are Lloyd, Max, and Kaia, sparring against Cole.

  "They improve fast!"

  Cole thinks to himself before using a flash step, appearing behind Lloyd. The boy, unable to react fast enough, takes a hit in the back. While Lloyd stumbles over, Cole moves to the girls. Before they can attack him, Cole grabs both of them by the head and slams them face-first into the ground. Suddenly he feels a sharp pain in his leg. Turning around, he sees Lloyd standing behind him, a bone blade pierced through his left calf. Cole glares at the boy before 4 hits connect where Cole hit him earlier in the back. Lloyd grits his teeth but remains standing.

  In this moment Nova walks on the field.

  "Enough of this! There is a nightmare sighting. Threat level perfect for you three; get ready to go. New suits are prepared for in your room."

  Max and Kaia stand up quickly, unscathed from getting their faces slammed into the ground. Cole watches them surprised, then clenches his teeth as Lloyd slowly pulls his blade out of his leg. After apologizing to Cole, Lloyd follows his friends.

  "You are aware that they were holding back."

  Cole nods while sitting down on the ground.

  "I figured that."

  "Stop holding back yourself, or things like this will happen again."

  She points at the injury on his leg. Without another word, she leaves the training field.

  "This damn woman... She could've at least helped me get up."

  Minutes later the three, all wearing the new battle suits, are standing in the hangar of the base. Kaia fastens it slightly while speaking.

  "This is the fifth mission for only us three."

  "Hopefully as successful as the others."

  Max replies as the three leave the hangar.

  Arriving at the city, they immediately see a nightmare. Lloyd dashes forward, crying out as a long blade grows out of his arm; he cuts it down. It instantly dissolves into black sand. He looks around searching for more monsters.

  "That wasn't all, right?"

  "No way. Nova wouldn't send us for something so inferior."

  Max responds. Suddenly they hear a loud scream. Shocked, they all look in the direction it came from.

  "Why is the area not completely evacuated?!"

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  Kaia yells as they all three run in that direction. They arrive on a large main road, and in the middle of it runs a little boy, crying. Behind him, slowly following him, is a rather small humanoid-looking nightmare. Standing in the air, they watch for a moment.

  "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

  "Yes... why does this thing look like a human?!"

  "We can't let this distract us. Kaia, get the boy and get him to a safe place, while Max and I distract and kill the nightmare."

  "Understood!"

  Using a flash step, Max and Lloyd cut off the nightmare's path. It stops and musters them confused. Lloyd grits his teeth as a full-body bone armor starts to slowly grow out of his skin. At the same time Kaia appears right next to the little boy, picking him up and starting to run.

  "Are you hurt?"

  The boy shakes his head while wiping tears from his face and clinging to Kaia.

  "Don't worry. I'm going to get you out of here and somewhere safe. Do you know where your parents are?"

  The boy nods slightly as he sobs into Kaias armor.

  "Okay, and where?"

  "Dead..."

  He whispers while pointing in the direction of the nightmare. Kaias face goes pale.

  Suddenly Lloyd flies past her, crashing into the wall of a skyscraper, his left forearm ripped off. Kaia stops abruptly in her tracks and stares at her unconscious friend for seconds before turning around. She watches terrified as her best friend falls face-first into a puddle of her own blood.

  The nightmare, completely unscathed, looks at Kaia and smirks. Before she can even think about running away or fighting, the nightmare rushes past and stops 1 meter behind her. Kaia looks down at herself.

  "Nothing happened... I'm not injured..."

  She looks slightly to the side where she holds the little boy, just to see that there is only blood left in her arms.

  Screaming terrified, she turns around and looks at the nightmare, its clawed hands covered in blood. Walking backwards, she trips over rubble and falls on her butt. The nightmare looks down at her, still smirking. Then it opens its mouth.

  "Enough life has perished."

  Kaias eyes widen in shock. She couldn't believe her eyes nor ears. Never in the history of mankind were there any mentionings of a nightmare speaking.

  "The barrier is weakened. I'm just the first of stronger nightmares to come, putting this universe to its end!"

  After speaking, the nightmare swings for Kaias head. Her vision turns dark.

  Lucius sits on the front porch of his estate, watching the sea and sky; suddenly his calm expression turns worried, and less than a second later his phone rings. Right after picking up and hearing the first words, he disappears from his seat and reappears at the island's training field.

  "Stop now. Something happened to your friends on a mission!"

  Kai and Teon look shocked before following Lucius as quickly as they can. Rumi, who also felt the catastrophe seconds ago, follows as well. Arriving at the city, they see Nova and a team of Soul-Corps medics already attending to Max and Lloyd's injuries. Lucius lands next to Nova.

  "What happened here?!"

  Lloyd looks up at him and murmurs.

  "There was a humanoid nightmare. Stronger than anything we've ever faced."

  While the others listen to Lloyd, Teon looks around, unable to find Kaia or the nightmare anywhere; panic spreads through his body.

  "Hey... where is Kaia?"

  Lucius looks up at the panicking boy and notices that there is also no sign of black sand anywhere near.

  "Go search for her!"

  Without wasting any time, Kai and Teon start running. After just seconds they reach another part of the city. The boys can't believe their eyes, as they see what were massive skyscrapers either completely melteddown or nearly so, with hot molten metal and concrete dripping from their remains.

  "Teon, do you think this was the nightmare?"

  Before Teon can answer, he spots Kaias's unconscious body lying in the middle of all this destruction. She is completely uninjured, and black sand is scattered around her. Teon carefully picks her up with both arms before they fly back to the others. Arriving there, everyone enters a transport helicopter.

  Back at the Souls-Corp base, Kaia wakes up in the hospital wing. After slowly sitting up, she looks around. With her in the room, on the other bed lay Max and Lloyd. At the same time, Teon sits between Kaias's and Max's bags on the ground, while Kai sits on the edge of Lloyds. As Kais turns her gaze at the end of her bed, her eyes fall on a worried Lucius and, next to him, a just as, if not more, worried Rumi.

  Lucius's face lights up slightly as he sees her moving.

  "Ahh, you're awake..."

  Before he can say anything else, Kaia cuts him off.

  "What happened?"

  "We would like to hear that from you."

  Kaia looks confused at Rumi, who just spoke.

  "Who... are you?"

  "That doesn't matter right now..."

  Lucius interrupts.

  "We already heard Lloyd's and Max's point of view from the event. But we still need to hear yours."

  "Start from the moment you were the last one conscious."

  Rumi adds, trying not to overwhelm Kaia. After Kaia finishes telling what she could still remember, everything is silent for a moment.

  "It... it spoke?"

  Lucius stutters before getting a nod from Kaia as a response. Rumi stares blankly into the air.

  "What did it say?"

  After a moment of thinking, Kaia looks at Lucius and quotes what the nightmare said to her. Everyone in the room looks confused and slightly scared at the same time.

  "And you really don't remember what happened after you lost consciousness?"

  Kai asks.

  "No, nothing."

  Lucius and Rumi leave the room. Kai and Teon stand up in sync; while Kai walks directly to the door and waits there, Teon gently pats Max's head. She doesn't react at all because she has already fallen asleep again.

  "Get well quickly."

  He whispers before closing the door behind him and Kai. In the hallway they see Lucius talking on a device slightly similar to a phone.

  "Yes... that's what the nightmare said, according to her..."

  He turns his head and sees the two boys.

  "Ohh... sorry, I have to hang up... just... please do what I asked of you... thank you."

  The man hangs up and puts the device in his pocket.

  "Do you need something, boys?"

  Teon stares at the pocket.

  "Who were you talking to?"

  "That's nothing of importance for you. Go rest; from now on you have to train even harder. Now back to the island!"