**Volume 2: Upper World**

  **Chapter 83: Metal Era Training**

  January 4th, 2:17 a.m. – Hidden Lower Level (Ruined Stadium)

  Leo stood alone in the dim maintenance corridor, blood dripping slowly from the raw stumps where her bat wings used to be. She had ripped them off herself earlier — claws tearing through muscle and bone in a single, deliberate motion. The pain had been sharp, clean, almost cleansing. Now she wiped the black-red blood from the stumps with a rag, face expressionless.

  Ray watched her from the doorway, purple eyes calm.

  Leo spoke without looking up.

  “Josh’s soul… it could take the body back, right? If we let it.”

  Ray stepped inside, voice low.

  “Yes. But only when the soul fully awakens. Until then, it’s just a passenger.”

  Leo tossed the bloody rag aside.

  “So we wait.”

  Ray walked past her, deeper into the old attic storage room. He knelt, opened a rusted metal box, and pulled out a small, ancient-looking knife — blade dark, handle wrapped in faded black thread.

  “This would be too low,” he murmured, almost to himself. “It has to be when Josh’s soul is awake. Only then can we force the switch.”

  Leo followed him out of the attic. Jason was already there, lounging on a broken couch, watching an old horror movie on a cracked portable screen. Jaylee sat beside him, threads idly dancing between her fingers. Andrew (800 years old, looked 20) leaned against the wall, black eyes vacant. Luka (500 years old, looked 16–23) sat cross-legged on the floor, silver hair floating slightly, smiling at nothing.

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  Jason didn’t look up from the screen.

  “I could easily kill them all while sitting on this couch watching a horror movie.”

  Jaylee smirked, threads wrapping around her finger.

  “Same. They’re getting cocky.”

  Ray glanced at Jane.

  Jane was in the kitchen area, washing his hands. Blood — dark, thick — ran down his forearms, swirling in the sink. He scrubbed slowly, methodically, like he was washing away something deeper than blood.

  “The kid… they’re getting stronger,” Jane said quietly, voice almost thoughtful. “It’s time to go all out. Like the metal era.”

  He turned off the faucet, looked at his clean hands, then at Ray.

  Ray nodded.

  Josh — now in Cam’s body — stepped forward, grinning with Cam’s face.

  “I can make Max shocked. Then you guys kill him?”

  Ray smiled faintly.

  “Yeah. But we have until July 4th. So we should train.”

  Ray raised his hand — purple energy flaring.

  He set up a private 1v1 tournament in the lower levels — small, brutal, no audience.

  First match: Jason vs Josh (in Cam’s body).

  Jason moved at 600 frames per second — a supersonic blur of orange-black aura. Projection Sovereign activated instantly — he enforced 24 fps on Josh, making him move in choppy, laggy steps. Jason punched fast and hard — fists blurring, each hit landing with bone-cracking force. Josh tried to kick — Jason used 24 frames to back up, then pushed him into a glass wall. The glass shattered. Josh turned into glass himself, used 5 frames to counter — but Jason kicked him into a metal pole with devastating force.

  Jason won.

  The other matches followed quickly:

  - Jaylee vs Andrew → Jaylee won (threads slicing Andrew apart).

  - Reiji vs Luka → Reiji won (crimson dismantle overwhelming her mercury-like aura).

  - Leo vs Jason (rematch) → Jason won again.

  Ray watched every fight in silence.

  A week later — February 12th.

  The main cast gathered on the rebuilt training field behind the academy.

  Sky stood in the center — baggy white pants, blue shirt, Reaper now strapped to his back. His light blue aura was stable, stronger than before. He moved at 600 fps in short bursts, dodging Max’s shadows with perfect precision.

  Frosty had a new technique: **Frost Sovereign** — she could now freeze entire areas in a 24-fps frame, making enemies move in laggy, predictable steps while her ice nails struck at infinite speed.

  Kira had fully awakened **Projection Sovereign** — she was moving at 600 fps, projecting frame locks onto training dummies, rewinding their attacks, chaining delayed vein slashes. Her eyes glowed faint red — Blood Vein heritage finally unlocked.

  Max had pushed his jackpot state further — he could now maintain 600 fps for longer, healing instantly while stacking infinite echoes. His shadows had evolved into “Echo Sovereign” — clones that operated at different frame rates simultaneously.

  They trained hard — no smiles, no jokes. Just focused, cold determination.

  Sky looked at them — his remaining family — and felt the weight of July 4th pressing down.

  The chapter ended.

  To be continued…