The purple-haired Francis said, "Let's start the battle," and flew toward Hei Shun, who stood on his winged snake. The other two, stopping their quarrel, charged toward Lady Caldwell. As the purple-haired Francis neared Hei Shun, he attacked with a whip, and the snake spat a corroding poison mist, which enveloped the purple-haired Francis.
Meanwhile, as the other two clones approached Lady Caldwell, the wings behind her shot ice beams from every feather. Before the beams could touch the two clones, the silver-haired clone conjured a large mirror, and all the ice beams vanished upon hitting the mirror's surface. Another mirror formed behind Lady Caldwell, and her own attack hit her in the back, causing her to fall. However, before crashing to the ground, she stabilized herself.
In the meantime, the two clones, now both wielding wooden staffs, closed in on Lady Caldwell, preparing to attack. Suddenly, the Ice Tiger floating in the air let out a roar and fired an ice beam at the two clones, forcing them to step back and giving Lady Caldwell a moment to regain her composure.
Rain turned his attention to the other battle and found the head of the Hei family, along with his winged energy snake, attacking the purple-haired clone in perfect sync. The purple-haired clone was only defending, as the duo didn't give him any chance to attack. As Rain watched this part of the video carefully, he noticed that the head of the Hei family and the snake were attacking non-stop, but all their attacks seemed to land on thin air, nowhere near the purple-haired Francis clone. But Francis stood still in the same position but their attack landed everywhere near him except on him, he only move because of the aftermath of their attack.
Suddenly, the head of the Hei family, Hei Shun, and the winged snake stopped attacking and backed away from Francis. Rain sensed that they must have realized none of their attacks were landing on the clone. Hei Shun used his energy to form arrows and shot them at Francis's clone and the surrounding area, while the snake released the corroding poison mist once again. A mirror appeared in front of the incoming attacks, absorbing them before reflecting them back in the direction from which they came.
Seeing their own attacks coming toward them, the snake opened its mouth like a black hole, swallowing all of them. Rain thought the battle was turning into a stalemate for the head of the Hei family, and to win, Hei Shun would need to come up with a new strategy to gain an advantage.
Rain then noticed in the video the sound of a crashing building, which drew the attention of both the head of the Hei family and the purple-haired Francis clone.
Rain also turned his attention to the other battle and saw the two clones of Francis flying in the air, with the Ice Tiger standing at a distance. Lady Caldwell was nowhere in sight. The video then panned downward, revealing the rubble of a destroyed building, where Lady Caldwell lay injured. Rain noticed that the energy Ice Tiger Lady Caldwell had summoned wasn't in sync with her—it was frozen in place, floating in the air, while Lady Caldwell lay injured among the debris.
Rain reflected on the contrast between the two. Hei Shun and his energy snake moved in perfect sync, acting as two distinct yet harmonious entities. In comparison, Lady Caldwell and her Ice Tiger seemed out of alignment. As he observed the battle, he noticed that the Ice Tiger remained mostly frozen in place, attacking only occasionally. During those moments, Lady Caldwell herself stayed still, as if unable to act simultaneously with her beast. This led Rain to suspect that this lack of synchronization was one of the key differences between C-rank and B-rank genetic warriors.
The black-haired clone sneered, "I told you to take this seriously, and now you're paying the price."
The silver-haired clone smirked, "She thinks we haven't noticed that she's already broken through to B-rank."
Black-haired clone, with a scowl, replied, "She didn't take us seriously because of *your* weak performance earlier."
"What did you just say?" the silver-haired clone shouted, his voice rising.
With a cold glare, the black-haired clone snapped, "When we return to the main body, I'll tell him how you embarrassed us. I'll make sure he destroys you and never summons you again."
"I've had enough of your nonsense!" the silver-haired clone shouted before lunging at the black-haired one. The two tumbled through the air, fighting like children, pulling each other's hair in a ridiculous display.
Then suddenly a light beam attacks the two sending them crashing from the air. Rain found the light beam came from the purple hair clone who angrily," Quickly finished her, we do not have much energy to remain."
Meanwhile, Lady Caldwell stood up, her injuries seemingly healed. Rain watched as a light beam sent the clones flying, and Lady Caldwell appeared to freeze in ice. The ice shattered, revealing her completely unharmed, with golden streaks now running through her light blue hair and glowing in her pupils.
At the same time, the Ice Tiger, previously frozen in midair, was encased in ice. As the ice broke away, a two-headed tiger emerged—its right head a white tiger, the left a golden tiger, and its body split down the middle, one side white, the other golden. Rain recognized it as a B-rank Frozen light double headed Tiger, a powerful genetic beast.
The two-headed tiger let out a fierce roar, moving in perfect sync with Lady Caldwell as they charged toward the clones. The tiger engaged the black-haired clone, while Lady Caldwell targeted the silver-haired one.
For a while, neither Lady Caldwell nor the tiger could land a hit on the clones, who skilfully dodged and deflected every attack. But then, unexpectedly, both clones were struck as they turned their heads, distracted by something happening on the other battlefield.
Rain, noticing this, also shifted his attention to the other part of the video. The purple-haired clone had disappeared, and in its place stood a dark green snake upright, now with two hands—one gripping a whip. Suddenly, the snake burst into a brilliant light. When the light faded, Rain saw the head of the Hei family, panting and exhausted, as he crashed into a building.
Rain thought, "What was that move? It must have taken a heavy toll on the head of the Hei family." As the video showed the aftermath, the battle involving Hei Shun and his Winged Snake vanished from the screen, signalling its conclusion. Now, only the fight between Lady Caldwell and the two clones remained.
Rain noticed that Lady Caldwell, realizing her attacks and those of her tiger were ineffective against the clones, paused. Both she and the tiger took a step back, seemingly recalibrating their strategy. The two clones smirked at her helplessness. Suddenly, the two-headed tiger let out a roar and began to enlarge, and Lady Caldwell entered the energy body of the tiger. Now, the two-headed tiger stood upright on its hind legs, with its front paws transformed into human-like hands, each holding an ice sword. The wings that had once been on Lady Caldwell's back were now on the tiger's, much larger and more formidable in size.
Rain observed that the tiger no longer appeared as if it was formed from genetic energy but rather seemed like a flesh-and-blood beast. A white mist sprayed from the tiger, enveloping the area where the Francis clones stood. A few seconds later, the mist vanished, revealing the surroundings—buildings, rooftop parks, roads, and bridges—all encased in ice. Even the ceiling of the factory floor was frozen where the mist had spread. Yet, the clones and the two-headed tiger with Lady Caldwell were nowhere in sight.
As the camera zoomed in on a railing of a frozen bridge, Lady Caldwell stood with her wings behind her, looking utterly exhausted. With that, the video ended.
Damian said, "Amazing."
Lily sighed, "When will I reach B-rank?"
Siobhan added, "Me too."
Rain nodded, still processing the video and the power displayed by Lady Caldwell and the head of the Hei family. It fuelled his own dreams of achieving that kind of strength. "I'm still confused about why neither Lady Caldwell nor the head of the Hei family could land a hit on Francis's clones, even when they were sometimes standing still in midair without moving," Rain remarked, guessing it might have been an illusion mystery but unsure.
"I was confused about that too," Siobhan agreed.
Before Damian or Lily could answer, Sky's voice came from the door of the office. "It's because of the mystery of illusion."
They all turned toward her.
"Good morning, Teacher Sky," Siobhan greeted.
Rain followed, "Good morning, Leader Sky."
Lily, ever curious, asked, "What was the meeting about?"
Sky explained, "It was an analysis of Francis's strength, taken from what we saw of his clone, and how many mysteries he has comprehended."
Damian leaned forward, eager for more details. "Yeah?" he prompted.
Sky continued, "Primarily, Francis has mastered the mystery of illusion and the mystery of life, specifically life transformation."
Lily interjected, "You didn't mention the mystery of wood." Rain had thought the same, recalling the giant tree and wooden gorilla from the fight.
Sky clarified, "No, it's the mystery of life. He can create the tree and the gorilla using other material. The life mystery is closely related to wood, making it easier to manipulate natural elements like that. That's why he chose them."
Damian asked, "So, the factory floor returned to normal?"
Sky shook her head solemnly. "How could it? It's impossible to restore things in just one day. More than 10,000 people died during the unrest, and yesterday's battle destroyed much of the infrastructure, especially in the center. The buildings can be rebuilt in a week, but the loss of life will leave a scar on our city forever."
Rain hadn't felt much initially, but hearing about the massive loss of life weighed heavily on him, leaving a sense of sadness.
Siobhan asked, "Teacher, has the culprit responsible for letting Francis's clone into the city been caught?"
Sky hesitated for a moment, clearly knowing more than she was willing to share. Finally, she said, "No. I'm heading to my office. You all can take a case from the special list or stay here until your shift ends."
Rain asked, "Leader Sky, can I go train at the virtual realism center?"
Sky nodded, "Yes, you can go."
"I'll join you," Siobhan added.
Sky gave her approval before heading into her office.
Rain turned to Damian, raising an eyebrow to silently ask what he planned to do.
"I'm going to sleep at my desk," Damian said nonchalantly, standing up, walking over to his desk, and promptly putting his head down to sleep.
Lily smiled, "I'm going to read a book." She, too, went to her desk, closing her eyes to read a book from her BIT.
Rain turned to Siobhan, "Let's go," he said, and together they walked out of the office.