The sun rose over the Western Ghats with an indifferent beauty, its golden rays washing over the scarred earth of the Section D headquarters. The air was finally clear of the copper tang of blood and the heavy, necrotic hum of the night before. Inside the clinic—a humble room filled with the scent of dried herbs and antiseptic—Chandru slowly blinked his eyes open.

  His vision was a watery blur. He saw a silhouette sitting by his bed, bathed in the morning light.

  "Are you alright?" a voice asked. It was Surya.

  Chandru let out a long, dry breath, his body feeling like it had been crushed between two millstones. "Yeah... I’m fine. Have I been asleep for long?"

  "Yeah," Surya said with a tired smile. "Actually, you collapsed just seconds after we finished Heera. You’ve been out since the moon set."

  Chandru shifted, a sharp jolt of pain radiating from his midsection. He looked down at the bandages wrapping his torso. "Oh, I see. And you? Did you sustain any injuries?"

  Surya shrugged, looking at his own scraped knuckles. "Just some scratches. Some haven’t even bled. I’m mostly just... empty. It’s a strange feeling."

  "That’s Good," Chandru whispered, genuinely relieved. He turned his head to the right and noticed Rohan in the adjacent bed, propped up against a mountain of pillows and sipping on a glass of juice. "Rohan? Your head... it’s wrapped like a mummy."

  Rohan managed a weak grin. "A bone-staff to the temple will do that to you. I learned that I can stop six clones at once, but I can't stop a tombstone from the side." He proceeded to recount the harrowing battle at the churchyard—the endless clones of the Gravesage and the terrifying moment his shield failed.The door creaked open, and Guru Pedro stepped in. He looked weary, but his presence was as commanding as ever. He walked to the foot of Chandru’s bed, his spurs jingling softly.

  "So, you’ve decided to join the living again," Pedro said, his voice dropping into a stern tone. "It seems you’re doing well for someone who experienced a fractured hip and a punctured gut. Now, tell me... who in their right mind asked you to face a Pure-blood in your weakest form on a No Moon night?"

  Chandru exhaled, looking at the ceiling. "I decided to go because he was a Pure-blood. I thought if I could just manage him for a few hours until sunrise, the wards would hold. I was wrong. I underestimated his spite."

  "Those miscalculations cost lives, Chandru," Pedro said, though his eyes softened slightly. "However, your breach of protocol has been reported to the Head Office. They’ve awarded you penal points for recklessness. Congratulations—your rank has dropped to 8th. You’re barely clinging to the elite circle now."

  Pedro then turned to Surya, his expression shifting to one of grim respect. "And you. Congratulations are in order. You’ve been officially included in the Elite list of Rising Stars within the Blink Association. As of this morning, you’ve been assigned 17th rank."

  Surya sat bolt upright, his eyes wide. "17th? Me? That’s... that’s incredible."

  "Don't let it go to your head," Pedro warned. "Learn the teachings from Chandru, but do not mimic his behavior. Discipline is more important than raw power. If you lose your head, you lose your life."

  With that final piece of advice, Pedro left the room. Chandru waited for the door to close before looking at Surya. "Surya, I need you to go to the administrative room. Reclassify the data on your official application."

  Surya looked confused. "Reclassify? Why? I’m an Elemental Fire Vessel."

  "No," Chandru said, his voice dropping to a serious whisper. "I watched your strikes on Heera. The marks didn't heal. Pure-bloods can regenerate from almost any Elemental attack unless the user forms a perfect chakra layer over their hit. But you didn't do that. You just punched. You didn't use fire, Surya. You used Solar energy."

  Surya’s heart skipped a beat. "Solar? What’s the difference?"

  "You aren't drawing energy from heat or wood. You are a Celestial Vessel," Chandru explained. "Your body drinks from the sun itself. That’s why your energy feels different—it’s purer, more absolute."

  Rohan nearly choked on his juice. "Wait... that makes Surya the third Celestial Vessel ever discovered?"

  Surya looked at his hands, which were still stained with the grey ash of a Pure-blood. "That’s impossible," he whispered. "But if that be the case, it’s you, Chandru, and me... who is the other one? It has to be Bhishma, right?"

  "No," Chandru replied. "Bhishma is an elemental Vessel, user of atomic energy. Celestial Vessels are a new evolution found only in this generation. Currently, there are only three of us: me, you... and Pahal, also known as the 'Cosmic Bolt' from Division Arya."

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  Surya sat in stunned silence. He had spent years feeling like a failure, a boy who couldn't even light a candle, only to find out he belonged to a category of warriors so rare they could be counted on one hand.Later that morning, the Medicine Lady arrived with a tray of steaming tea. Vaishu followed her in, looking pale and restless. She immediately checked on Rohan and Chandru, her eyes darting between them.

  "You saved me, Vaishu," Rohan said, gesturing to his head. "Surya said you did the things we learned."

  Vaishu bit her lip, looking at the floor. "I didn't save everyone, Rohan. I failed. My Magnum Teleportation—the Kolam—it fell apart. If Guru Pedro hadn’t arrived, Pari and Subha would have been killed. I’m not... I’m not as strong as you guys think."

  Surya stood up and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. You’ll do it next time. You saved the one person who needed saving right then. That's a victory, Vaishu. Next time, the Kolam will hold."

  She managed a small, forced smile, but her eyes remained clouded with a secret thought.

  Across the compound, in the heavy heat of the forge, Pari was working. The rhythmic clack-clink of metal on stone echoed through the yard. Subha approached him, watching as he held a pair of arm-blades over the glowing coals.

  "What are you doing, Pari?" she asked softly.

  "Welding the blades with a double layer," Pari replied, his voice flat. "I’m making them thicker. Stronger."

  Subha could see the tension in his shoulders. She knew the guilt was eating him. He was the leader of Section D, yet his weapon had shattered when his team needed him most. "Pari, you should rest. You’ve been here for hours."

  "It isn't time for rest," Pari said, his eyes fixed on the white-hot metal. "It’s time to evolve. We are facing new enemies, and the old ways aren't enough. We adapt, or we die." He plunged the glowing blade into a vat of water, the hiss of steam masking his frustration.By midday, the mood had lightened. After a communal breakfast, a courier arrived with a package for Rohan. It was a professional-grade camera from his parents. Excited, Rohan gathered everyone in the courtyard—Section D, Pedro, and even the Medicine Lady.

  "Everyone, smile!" Rohan chirped.

  The shutter clicked, capturing a moment of rare peace: Surya with his arm around Rohan, Subha and Vaishu standing together, and Pedro looking stoically into the distance. After the photo, Pedro produced a set of sacred red threads.

  "These were sent from the Head Office by Drona, the Principal of Blink," Pedro explained. He tied one around each of their wrists. "Consider these a reminder of your duty. You are no longer just students. You are a unit."

  That night, Around 2:00 AM, Chandru’s eyes snapped open. He sat up with a wince, his hip still tender, and looked across the room. Pari was already sitting on the edge of his bed, fully dressed in his tactical gear. Chandru gave a sharp nod.

  The two senior members of the team slipped out of the room, their footsteps nonexistent on the wooden floorboards. They moved down the dark corridor, but before they reached the stairwell, a small shadow detached itself from the wall behind them.

  "Not required to hide like that, Rohan," Pari said, his voice a low whisper, not even bothering to turn his head.

  Rohan jumped, nearly tripping over his own feet. He rubbed his eyes, acting as if he were in a trance. "Uh... what? Hide? No, I’m not hiding. I have a disease... it's sleep-walking. That’s it. I didn't even see you guys leave the room. My body just... walked here."

  Pari turned around, a rare, mocking smirk playing on his lips. "Sleep-walking, huh? And I think you have a disease called sleep-talking, too, because you’re doing a lot of it right now."

  "Fine," Rohan whispered, dropping the act. "But if there’s a secret meeting about Gravesages or Pure-bloods, I’m not staying behind to hear about it second-hand."

  Chandru sighed, checking the hallway once more. "Fine. But stay quiet. Surya needs his rest, and Sona hasn't been cleared for this information yet."

  They moved to the basement, where Pedro and Subha were already waiting in the shadows. The air was thick with the weight of unspoken plans.

  A few days passed. Rohan’s head wound healed, and he returned to training under Pari’s grueling supervision. Chandru, though still moving with a slight limp, continued to guide Surya, teaching him the finer points of regulating the "Solar Furnace." Pedro focused on the newcomers, Sona and Vaishu, pushing them to understand the true source of their abilities.

  However, beneath the surface of this newfound peace, a rot was festering.

  One evening, as a half-moon rose over the mountain, a low howl echoed from the Mongol Forest—the illusion-shrouded woods that bordered the HQ. A figure draped in a black raincoat moved through the mist, stepping over the threshold into the deep shadows where the light didn't reach.

  Tharag, the Mixed-blood vampire who had escaped the churchyard, stepped out from behind a tree. His eyes were burning with rage. He was joined by another survivor, his voice trembling as he hissed at the figure in the raincoat.

  "Your information was wrong!" Tharag roared. "Because of your lies, we lost Heera! A Pure-blood is dead!"

  A soft, humbled girl’s voice drifted from beneath the hood of the raincoat. "I said I was sorry. I didn't hide anything."

  "You told us Moonmask would be weak on the No Moon!" Tharag stepped closer, his claws extending. "But what about the other one? The sun-brat? I defeated that boy in minutes just weeks ago. How could he reach a level where he could kill Heera? How did you fail to notice his growth?"

  The girl looked up, her face still obscured. "He trained in a different location. I underestimated his progression and focused all my surveillance on Chandru. I didn't think a failure from Section D could ignite so quickly."

  "Why didn't you step up to save Heera?" Tharag demanded. "You were there! You could have signaled us!"

  The girl slowly reached up and pulled back her hood. The moonlight hit her face, revealing a calm, calculating expression that was a world away from the nervous girl who had cried in the clinic.

  It was Vaishu.

  "First," she said, her voice cold and devoid of its usual stutter, "the fight ended far more quickly than I anticipated. Secondly, they proved they are capable of killing a Pure-blood with their bare hands. With that much physical prowess, it’s hard for any vampire to stand against them. What was a goblin like me supposed to do? Blow my cover for a dead man?"

  She looked back toward the HQ, her eyes narrowing. "I have to go. They’ll start to wonder where I am if I’m gone much longer."