Very quickly, the forces of the hero department grew. Heroes, young and old flooded to sign up, relinquishing what had once been private; their secret identity. Of course, to the public, these identities have been mainly kept under the wraps, but with just a little digging, it wasn't hard to figure out who lay underneath the mask.
"Say, why don't villains just go kill the heroes if they know who they are?" Atlas asked out of curiosity as Cain explained the hero department to him.
"If they couldn't beat them then, how do you expect them to beat them now?" Vin mocked.
"Hmm, then they can take their family hostage?" Iris suggested.
"That…" Cain paused with a troubled expression. "A villain cannot kill a hero's family or loved one."
""Why?"" Both Atlas and Iris echoed.
Before Cain could say anything, Victoria answered their question with a mocking grin, "Because only third rated villains go after the family."
The twins tilted their heads in confusion.
Cain was not sharing his vision with Victoria at the moment but she had somehow managed to sense their confusion. "The only reason to kill the hero's family is if you were too dumb or weak to defeat the hero yourself. As such, only a third rate villain would kill the family instead out of vexation and cowardice"
Vin thought about it and raised a question, "But what's wrong with that? Isn't a villain's job to cause distress and chaos no matter the reason behind the action?"
Victoria simply giggled and pat Vin his head. "When you watch a movie and the villain kidnaps the hero's family, do you think that they are cool or smart for doing so?"
The three kids shook their heads.
"They're kinda pathetic." Vin admitted.
"Kuh-, your fists may be fast but will it reach me in time or will this knife slice your beloved girl's neck first. Kuahhahahahahha!!!" Atlas imitated with a laugh.
"D-don't come any closer! Or say goodbye to your mum!" Iris joined, giggling.
"Exactly." Victoria spoke smugly. "And when you watch a movie where the villain is cool and awesome, what do they do?"
"Fight the hero head on!" Atlas answered with a hand raised up.
"Use their brain and an ingenious plan." Vin added.
"That's right! That's why Father is so cool! He doesn't have to resort to petty threats to win, because he is strong!"
"""Ooohh""" The three nodded in understanding.
"Milady…" Cain sighed. "Can you not mislead your younger siblings?"
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Obviously that you are tricking them." The previously absent Albert walked into the living room carrying Cotton and a basket of fruits. He sighed and turned to the gullible kids, "Don't trust what Victoria is saying okay?"
"But what she said makes sense?"
"Uhh, it's true but not at the same time?" Albert displayed a troubled smiled. "The hero will get stronger if you kill their family after all."
The trio blinked in confusion. Albert could just sense the incoming bombard of 'why', like seagulls screaming at the beach.
"I don't really know why, ask Cain." He diverted.
Their gazes shifted to Cain.
"*Ahem*, well, it's just a theory but it's said that heroes get stronger when a loved one dies to a villain. There have been myriads of instances wherein heroes get a sudden boost in strength after enduring loss and more often than not, the villain responsible for it is put to an end."
"…I don't get it." Vin voiced, "how does loss have anything to do with power? We didn't have parents in the past but that didn't make us any stronger."
Cain's face scrunched up. "Uhh, well, that's related to yet another theory."
""What theory?""
"That a person's ability changes in accordance to their desires."
All the children were intrigued.
"Since forever, it was commonly believed that abilities are set for life and is totally random. This is due to us being able to use our abilities since, well, being a baby." Cain continued. "However, researchers noticed that people with certain abilities tended to have similar personalities. For example, those with fire type abilities were usually hot headed and those with water abilities were cool and logical. As such, many began to question whether or not your ability affects your personality."
"You're surprisingly knowledgeable about this, Cain." Albert commented.
"They intrigue me after all." Cain flashed a grin. "Anyhow, a researcher that had dedicated his life to this question raised a theory; 'One's ability is assigned randomly at birth but their personality and desires is what forms it.' In other words, you yourself can affect how your ability grows."
The children fell mute, pondering.
"But I wanted to my clothes to transform with me when I use my ability, but they still don't." Atlas pointed out.
"That's not really how it works, its more like your desires give your ability a general path to follow and it achieves that the best it can. Like, someone who wants to protect themselves can nurture their ability into that of a defensive orientated one and vice versa."
"…Then my plant growing ability can become stronger in battles?" Albert cautiously inquired.
Cain was hesitant in answering. "This is still all just a theory and there hasn't been enough evidence to prove it to be true."
The light that gleamed in Albert's eyes sort of faded.
"B-But, it hasn't been proven false either. There is a chance that it could work."
All the children looked at Cain with shining eyes. The idea of being able to influence the growth of their ability excited them. They fell mute, thinking about how'd they like it to develop.
"Cough, we went on quite a tangent back there. The whole point of me explaining that was to explain why experienced villains don't go after a hero's family. The rage and extreme sense of loss usually leads to a sudden increase in offensive power in their ability and, well, yeah, the villain loses."