"KAAAI!!!"

  Teon screams and shoots up in a hospital bed. Sweat running down his face, terror written all over his features. Panting and in full panic mode, he looks around and realizes that he is in a room of the Corps' base hospital wing. Around him in the other beds lay his friends. All awake except for Kai. Max is the first to speak up.

  "Calm down, dude. Everything is alright."

  In this moment, Lucius.

  "He will survive, Teon."

  After he sighs relieved, he looks at Lucius and gets angry.

  "Why didn't you tell us where the missing corps member was, and why didn't you step in?!"

  "Calm down. There is no need to be so aggressive."

  Rumi enters the room, holding Ragnar up with one arm by the back of his shirt.

  "We didn't act because this one told us not to!"

  The group looks confused.

  "Who is this clown?"

  Max blurs out. Teon's eyes widen as he recognizes Ragnar.

  "He killed the nightmare."

  Rumi rolls her eyes, annoyed. While she still holds Ragnar in the air, he crosses his arms in front of his chest as well as his legs while pouting like a little kid.

  "That's my husband."

  The group stares at Rumi before their eyes wander between her and the man she is holding. Teon notices that Ragnar wears a ring that looks identical to Rumi's.

  "Would you let me down now... please?"

  "Shut it. I let you down after you explained why you didn't contact me at all!"

  Ragnar's gaze wanders over to Lucius before it falls back on his wife. He stays quiet. Rumi sighs in response.

  "I'll explain that later."

  Lucius speaks up. Rumi scoffs before letting go of Ragnar's shirt. He falls on his butt and stays seated on the floor.

  "W...what's going on...who is this?"

  As they hear his voice, everyone looks over at Kai, who is slowly waking up.

  "Kai!"

  Teon jumps out of his bed, and despite his injuries, he runs to Kai, hugging him tight.

  "Ufff... not so rough, man..."

  Kai hugs his best friend back. After a few moments Teon lets go of Kai and turns to the rest. Lucius smiles before his expression turns more serious again.

  He starts explaining why Ragnar didn't contact Rumi. After the first speaking nightmare appeared and after what he said, Lucius asked Ragnar to travel around the universe to check for any life, which Ragnar couldn't find. Only planets where life once existed, that are now in ruins.

  Rumi looks down at her husband, who grins up at her stupidly.

  "That's impossible."

  Percy says. Lloyd nods agreeingly.

  "Even if he were stronger than Lucius, it should still be impossible."

  He looks at Lucius.

  "Or can you do that?"

  Lucius chuckles and shakes his head.

  "No, sadly, I can't."

  Rumi looks over at Teon and Kai.

  "Do you two remember our conversation?"

  After they nod, she asks that they recall what she said.

  "If I remember correctly, you said if everyone would stand on a ladder that shows their strength, you'd stand on the fourth highest..."

  Teon starts before Kai takes over.

  "And your husband would be beyond it."

  Rumi nods, happy that they remembered it so well.

  "Exactly. This man..."

  She looks down at her husband, a small shimmer of pride in her eyes.

  "It is the strongest living being we know of."

  The room is silent for a long while before Kaia breaks it.

  "If he is so powerful, why do we need anyone else to fight nightmares?"

  "That is a justified question, but the answer is the same as before. He is not immortal; one day he will die. And then humanity needs new fighters."

  Lucius says.

  "Enough now; everything is explained. Now rest again."

  He walks out of the room. Ragnar stands up from the floor and moves towards the exit.

  "I have something to do as well. I felt little Dane's soul energy and wanted to say hi. See you guys."

  He tries to sneak past Rumi. She grabs him by the shirt, picking him up again.

  "Like hell you do. You come with me!"

  Carrying him the same way the two entered, Rumi exits.

  "Did you hear that? Little Dane."

  Max says, giggling, while Kaia and Lloyd smile amused. Teon climbs from Kais bed back to his own and sits down on the edge. After seconds of silence, he speaks up.

  "Want to catch up about what we've done the last few weeks?"

  The others nod in excitement. Percy begins; while speaking, he shows his friends all the mythological weapons he found: the trident of Poseidon, the bow of Odysseus, and many more.

  After that, he tells them about his swordmaster and his strange conversation with Lucius.

  "Lucius also gave me this."

  He pulls out the first blade. The others look at it confused.

  "He told me to never use it, but not why."

  Percy puts the blade back. After him, Max starts speaking, telling the three that were not training with her how they got to meet Dane and that he has the rank of hyper-lethal number 5.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Means I'm the only one who hasn't trained with a Hyper-Lethal yet."

  Percy says "quite." Max smirks at his comment.

  "Looks like it."

  Interested, Kai asks for Dane's innate ability.

  "We don't know the name, but he can summon mythological creatures."

  At last Teon and Kai start to tell the other what they did the last few weeks.

  Somewhere else in the base, Rumi walks through the halls, still carrying Ragnar.

  "You can let me down, my love. I can walk by myself."

  "Don't call me like that after you left again without telling me why. Do you trust Lucius more than me?!"

  Rumi's eyes start to tear up a bit.

  "I messed up real bad this time."

  Ragnar thinks to himself as he sees the tears welling up in Rumi's eyes.

  "Look, I'm really sorry, my love. I can't promise that it won't happen again, but I'll stay in contact with you as well. Okay?"

  After a moment of silence and just looking her husband in the eyes, Rumi nods and sets him down. He smiles at her before speaking up again.

  "Change of subject, I have a question."

  "What is it?"

  "This girl, Kaia. Something about her soul is off."

  Rumi nods.

  "Yeah, we noticed that quick, and since then Lucius set up Nova to have an extra eye on her."

  A big smile spreads across Ragnar's features at the mentioning of Nova.

  "Nova, hmmm... Where is she?"

  "As top of the Soul-Corps, she is on a mission to eliminate all speaking nightmares that might appear."

  Ragnar's smile brightens.

  "So she finally reached the top. When I see her the next time, I tell her that I'm proud."

  "You know she's going to hate hearing that from you."

  Rumi responds with a chuckle. Her man nods, a pained smile on his face.

  "I know, but still, it's the job of an older brother to tell his younger siblings that he's proud of them."

  While they speak, they come closer and closer to the training field. Ragnar wrinkles his nose.

  "Wet dog..."

  The door of the training field opens, and the two step through. In the middle of the field lies Fenrir, and on top of him, staring at the sky, lies Dane.

  "Stop right there, Ragnar."

  "Come on, how do you know it's me?"

  Without looking at him, Dane points at Ragnar.

  "I can recognize your soul energy even when you're wearing this suppressor ring!"

  Ragnar looks surprised and turns his head to look at his wife.

  "Can you do that too?"

  Rumi shakes her head and explains that Dane's reconnaissance skills are better than hers.

  "I noticed you the moment you entered our solar system."

  Dane says, interrupting Rumi. Ragnar nods, impressed.

  "Maybe I need a new ring."

  "No, you don't! That's our wedding ring!"

  Rumi scolds and slaps Ragnar on the back of his head. Ragnar rubs it and apologizes to her.

  Dane sighs annoyed, sits up, and directs his gaze to Ragnar and Rumi.

  "What do you want, Ragnar?!"

  Ragnar answers with a played sad pout.

  "I just wanted to say hello; we haven't seen each other in so long. Don't you like me or what?"

  "Exactly! I can't stand you!"

  Ragnar smirks to himself and turns around on the spot.

  "Still the same. It was nice to see you."

  Ragnar waves while leaving the field again. Rumi follows him closely.

  Late at night Kai is still awake, while the rest of his friends sleep in their hospital beds.

  "Please work! It has to!"

  Something inside his closed hands lights up but dies down quickly.

  "Goddamnit!"

  He winces at his own voice and looks around to see if he might have woken up someone.

  "What are you doing?"

  Kaia says, kneeling right beside his bed. Kai winces in surprise.

  "I... try something. Safety measures. So that nothing like the events with the speaking nightmare will ever happen again."

  "Did it work?"

  "No... but it will."

  Kai looks at her for a moment.

  "Why are you awake, Kaia?"

  "I can't sleep; everything that happened... it stresses me out."

  "You mean the time you passed out and we found you in the molten ruins?"

  Kaia nods. He sighs and looks at his lap.

  "Try to get some sleep, Kaia."

  "You too."

  She responds before limping back to her bed and lying down. Kai waits until he hears Kaias breath calm before hiding under his blanket and going back to experimenting.

  3 weeks later Lloyd, Max, and Kaia are back on their feet again. Training with Dane, while the other three sit on the side, watching.

  "Seeing them train gives me the urge to join."

  Percy rolls his eyes.

  "You battle addict. Your injuries are way too bad to train for the next few weeks."

  "I know, I know. I just can't help myself. I want to fight him at his best."

  Dane laughs and looks over to the ones on the side.

  "You couldn't even beat Nove when she goes all out. As long as you can't beat her, I would never go all out against you."

  Kai pouts while Percy and Teon giggle. Dane continues sparring with the other three.

  "Don't laugh at him. You two are no different, if not weaker."

  Their laughter dies down. In this moment Kai starts laughing.