After being forced to sit through the entire lecture about his own combat power, Hondo and Kara both went to their version of a Squad room to gather their equipment. Along the way, the two Chosen talked but it became painfully obvious to Fen that they weren't taking the Task very seriously.
"Jeez, I can't wait for this whole Program to be over," Hondo groaned while stretching his body. "They're having us do the same thing over and over again as if we don't already understand what they're saying. I mean, come on! I'm already at the same Stage as most of the Executioners, and yet, they think they can order us around..."
He scoffed, "Who do they think we are, a bunch of Opfer? We were taught everything before-"
"You know, you say the same thing over and over again, but you don't see me complaining about having to listen to your annoying voice." Despite her harsh tone, there was a smile on Kara's face. "It's just a few more months and then we're home free, even if it's an entirely new world we come back to. When we're home we won't have to listen to anybody but ourselves! And there'll be handsome elves waiting for me there too..."
Her words made Hondo frown. "Hey, you've got a perfectly handsome guy right in front of you! What's wrong with me?"
"What's right with you?" She snorted in response. "For one, you're annoying as hell, and your voice just grates against my skull at the worst moments-"
"Alright, alright, I get it. Jeez, that kinda hurt my feelings..." He pouted, making her laugh at his mockery of an anguished expression.
If it was anyone else who said those words, Hondo would have long since cleaved them apart with his axe, but Kara was allowed to because of their relationship. Even though Kara was much more talented than him back when they first got assigned into a Chosen group as kids, she was just as stubborn as he was when it came to getting stronger. While he took the easiest path of becoming a Warrior and mastering his own body's natural power to increase his personal strength, she decided to take a risky operation that would enable her to manipulate the living energy, Vitality.
At the time, Hondo already achieved Stage two as a Warrior and formed the Aura core that enabled him to manipulate and control his energy while she was still trying to convince her family that the operation would be worth it. Her family was so worried that she'd die that they forbid her from becoming a Knight, but when Kara refused to become any other Class they finally relented and allowed the operation.
The two of them fought almost constantly on her decision to undergo the procedure and nearly destroyed their relationship; Hondo didn't want to lose his best friend to an operation that might not even work, but she only saw his attempts at saving her as restricting her free will.
Finally, on the day of the operation, one of Hondo's biggest regret was not being there when she first started the operation. When he heard about what was happening, he rushed over and pushed everything aside, even neglecting his duties as one of the Chosen in the Program.
By the time he arrived, she had already gone into surgery.
Fortunately, Kara was so stubborn that even after several complications in the surgery to alter her body, she not only managed to survive but even managed became a Stage one Knight immediately after. He still remembered the night that she came home, wrapped in bandages and in a wheelchair, but the smile on her face made all those minor details fade away until everyone else shared in her happiness.
Hondo remembered those memories so vividly every time he looked at her that Fen was bombarded with the same images repeatedly until he finally managed to figure out what they meant, and why that moment specifically was so important to the Stage three Warrior: That was the exact moment that he realized he was in love with his best friend.
His love for her made Fen so nauseous that he had to temporarily exit the memory space just to clear his head before Hondo's emotions polluted his own. Fen never felt anything when he watched a romantic moment in a movie but when he was literally experiencing it for himself in another person's memories, it was extremely... confusing.
Fen didn't even know Kara but the feelings inside Hondo's memories were so strong that even his mental barrier was starting to waver against those emotions. It was fortunate that he was already in love with Miko, otherwise, he might've been infected with Hondo's emotions.
He refocused his attention on the memory to see that the pair had finally reached the Task room with Yuki inside waiting for them. Like the last time she saw a Chosen, the Foundation member shivered before turning her attention away and hiding behind her mobile interface device. They didn't make any attempts at conversation with each other because of Yuki's presence, so Hondo got extremely bored to the point that he started sharpening his axe, making the grating sound of metal on metal from him grinding his specially made whetstone made from Class three materials, the bare minimum of quality required to even affect his equipment.
Every time the metal scaped against his whetstone, he could see Yuki flinch and close her eyes as if she was imagining his weapon cleaving her head from her body. The sight of her made him quietly chuckle before refocusing on his weapon and the girl next to him.
Kara snorted at his actions before she too got bored. She sighed and started sorting through her equipment, giving her armor and weapons one final check all while wondering where the hell their Opfer opponent was.
Seeing Yuki in such a nervous state because of their actions was starting to affect them too, wearing down on their nerves while time passed slowly.
Every time Fen saw a glimpse of Yuki through Hondo's eyes, he could see her legs wobbling like her knees were about to give out, a detail that somehow managed to escape his notice.
The change in perspective between different people made it obvious that Fen's attention was limited in regards to his surroundings. It was hard to admit, but Fen only paid attention to others when he was in dangerous situations like a fierce battle or risking his life. Otherwise, he barely gave other people a second glance unless he saw something that interested him. It was a trait that he had as a kid when he still saw people as less than nothing, and now that Miko wasn't here it came back fiercer than ever and tricked his mind into sliding his gaze past people like they were nothing but tools. He only noted everything that might be significant and then stored that information for later use, putting everything else aside.
The only 'real' people in his life before he entered the Program were his sister Alex, his mom, his dad, and Miko. That was it. Everyone else had proved that he didn't need to give them any respect. Whether it was his beatings as a kid or the social rejection, Fen learned to stop caring.
Most of the time, that method of seeing others was effective. In the Void Spawn invasion, Yuki was little more than a tool to him to find his Squadmates no matter how useful she was. Unless he owed them something like the Executioners who escorted him to the Task room, other people weren't worth his attention.
Finally, long after Hondo stopped sharpening his axe and started pacing around the room and staring at the walls in boredom, Fen walked into the room.
His appearance was very similar to how he looked in the first Task with a large bag hung around his shoulder with the red-brown Tymine armor, with the only difference being the drastic change that affected his physical features.
The picture the Foundation had on his file was completely inaccurate; the only detail that it got right was his dark and vicious eyes that looked at the world as an obstacle to be crushed; even Fen had to admit that he exuded a 'don't fuck with me' aura.
...If he had to admit it, he liked it. At least he was being honest.
What Fen wished that he didn't notice was the small seed of jealousy that sprouted in Hondo's chest, a direct effect from the fact that Kara's eyes took much longer than they should've to appreciate Fen's refined appearance, especially his face. He could do without knowing that the woman he killed was attracted to him, but the knowledge that she wouldn't have hesitated to kill him had their positions been changed relieved the strange uncomfortable feeling in his gut.
For his part, Hondo squished the feeling of jealousy with an inward reprimand of his own childishness.
After Fen refused to make any conversation with them and stepped into the Scenario space with a flash of golden light, the Chosen quickly put on their armor and strapped their equipment to their bodies while discussing the basic plan.
"I'll distract him with my Aura; if he's any smart he'll head in the opposite direction, so... just ambush him. What's your effective range, give or take?" Hondo asked while running a wisp of Aura down the handle of the axe and appreciating how the weapon responded to his energy.
She responded, "If I compress my Vitality to a small dagger-like this," suddenly a small green dart appeared in her hand, "then I should be able to reach three hundred meters with pretty decent accuracy. But using a single dart takes up a lot of concentration, so I'll send a signal to you on whether or not I hit anything."
"Good. Alright, then that's the plan." Hondo smiled and pat her on the back before taking a confident step towards the interface and placing his hand on the golden glowing particles. With a shimmer of golden light, his body disappeared from the Task room and he reappeared in a forest devoid of all life. He waited a moment for Kara to enter the Scenario space before releasing his Aura into the air around him, instantly decimating a few trees around him as the energy surged outwards.
This was the first time that the Warrior utilized his energy, and Fen didn't forget to take advantage of the memory to analyze the new type of energy, feeling the differences between it and Vitality as it circulated through Hondo's body.
And although the Warrior's senses were different than his own, Fen was able to find out a few things about Aura.
Firstly, it wasn't that much different from Vitality in how it enhanced the bodies of Empowered.
His own understanding of Vital energy was slightly lacking, but he knew that it worked by providing his body with endless 'fuel' to create more power than ordinary people, or, at least that was how it worked as a Stage one Knight. At Stage two, that system of enhancement changed with the addition of the Vital core. The core worked to streamline the natural Vitality his body produced, which meant that the Vitality he had would enhance and nurture his cells much more than before, if you simplified everything a lot.
The more complex answer was that there were infinitely many different types of Vitality; just like the limitless potential of evolution and biological progression, the specific Vital energy a living being produced differed not only by species, but even by the differences in your genetics that changed throughout your life.
Identical twins born with the same genes might have the same Vitality at birth, but as they grow up, their energy signatures will change with the shift in their genes from whatever genetic mutations or alterations occurred in their body. But, overall, an ordinary person's Vitality wouldn't significantly change no matter how long they lived.
Knights were different because of their ability to manipulate their Vitality, which meant that the change that occurred throughout a person's life could be manipulated to transform their body into a more powerful version.
The Vital core enhanced that process of change by strengthening the Vitality that your body produced, creating a positive feedback loop. Higher quality Vitality equaled stronger and more efficient cells which equaled further enhanced Vitality, from which then your Vital core would start the process all over again. That was the reason why Knights grew stronger with the passage of time and why higher Staged Knights grew stronger faster than before and why there was a limit of strength with each Stage.
This was the Law of Evolved Vitality, as taught by Raisen in the rare situation where he actually teaches.
What was similar between Aura and Vitality was that Aura also specifically enhanced an Empowered's cells, but while Vitality could be used on every living being no matter their species or molecular composition, Aura was completely specific to that Empowered. There was no 'universal' type of Aura because it could only be produced from the unique Aura core that Warriors had.
While Vitality became more 'unique' to the specific Knight as they experience more Stage Advancements, Aura is tailor-made from the beginning, making its enhancing effects much more effective. That was part of the reason why Warriors were so strong, stronger than any human Knight that barely finished their Stage Advancement into the same Stage.
But after more Stage Advancements, the difference between Aura and Vitality became much less defined because the more powerful the Vital core, the more unique the Vitality became. However, Vital energy was a much more stable form of energy (It wasn't called living energy for nothing) while Aura was more... aggressive, in nature. Aura's effects were focused entirely on enhancing a Warrior to the limit while Vital energy was much more versatile.
That was what Fen inferred based on his knowledge of energy and the effects of the Aura coursing through Hondo's body.
By the time his analysis finished Fen suddenly felt a surge of rage explode from the memory, washing over his mind like an endless bloodlust. As he directed his attention back to what was happening he saw his past self covered in blood standing over Kara's limp body, with her blown-off arm laying a few feet away from her.
The despair Hondo felt was strikingly similar to how he felt when he saw his imposter consoling his family before he was carried away into the Program, eroding away at his mind until a seething sea of rage was all that was left.
Fen pulled his attention away from what Hondo was seeing and instead focused his attention back on how the Warrior utilized his Aura inside his body, observing the similarities between it and his own Vital energy. Although they were technically different species, it wouldn't hurt to learn a little from the actions of someone with more experience and training and their body types weren't completely different anyway.
Both of them were humanoid, it was just that Fen's body was much more efficient and, overall, better. His muscles were stronger, his skin was tougher, and his senses were sharper. If he could learn the techniques that Hondo used in the memory, then his combat power would rise significantly as he could properly apply his strength into his actions rather than do what he thought was considered correct.
Fen concentrated completely on milking out every single last drop of combat knowledge from Hondo's memories, to the point where he didn't even get affected by the waves of despair and rage that filled the Warrior and motivated him to go to the extreme length of detonating his own energy to try and kill him.
That was his mistake. He should have paid more attention to the emotions the Warrior felt.
When the memory neared its end, he gained a lot of ideas and techniques that he immediately wanted to try out in the private Training Hall. But, he kept his greed in check by the thought that Kara might hold even more combat techniques inside her memories, and let his attention drift back into the end of Hondo's memories.
He watched from the Chosen's eyes as his past self dug into Kara's chest and pulled out her Vital core, trying his best to separate Hondo's feelings from his own. The rage that boiled inside the memory was so strong that Fen had to actively separate himself from it, otherwise, his own ego might be contaminated from the overbearing emotion.
But as if the world was laughing at his efforts, his mental barrier completely shattered and a sudden flood of despair and agony afflicted his mind, instantly making all the pain he experienced before seem like nothing compared to the anguish he was in right now.
The consequence of not paying attention to the emotion buried within memories caused Hondo's ego to invade his mind.