A new week begins in Guarly. It's three in the morning. Several guards at the station are tired after their rounds, making sure their only prisoner is secure while they wait for the vehicle that will take him to prison today. The central corridor in front of the armory is usually well lit. An officer says goodbye to his colleague who's doing inventory. Even though the corridor lights are flickering, he continues toward the entrance, leaving his uniform behind and carrying only his badge and weapon. He greets the woman at reception: "See you tomorrow, Johnson." Receiving no answer, he goes inside the reception area where his partner should be. There she lies on the floor, covered in blood. He checks her pulse — there's nothing. She's dead. He grabs a radio and his weapon. Through the reception glass he sees a dark-skinned man with messy white hair and a small mustache. The officer takes aim, but the man has already vanished. He alerts over the radio, then returns to the station corridor and sees a trail of blood leading toward the cells. He switches on a flashlight and follows it. On the way he finds the armory door open and the body of one of his colleagues. The guard checks his pulse: also dead, throat slit. He runs to the cell block, but the bloody footprints have disappeared. He reaches the cell that held Maximus. The man is wiping sweat from his face when he feels something metallic enter his back and exit his abdomen. His strength drains; he sees a huge blade suddenly emerge and then falls as the green-haired man smiles — before he can see his attacker, a machete pierces his skull.
Maximus (happy): "Thanks for coming, boss — I knew you wouldn't abandon me!"
?: wiping the blade of his weapon: "Were the sword users strong, the ones you mentioned?"
Maximus (smiling): "You have no idea. The last thing I remember before waking up here is that they hit me and I flew into something!"
?: smiling: "I get excited just thinking about facing them." He draws another machete.
Maximus: "Yes, boss — you'll make them experience hell while they're alive!"
?: cutting the cell lock: "Yes. Although that was part of the deal I made with that Director's captain — that you'd come to this city, hehe."
Maximus tries to leave his cell, but his boss kicks him, sending him crashing into the wall. The big man's joy disappears when he sees the smile on the white-haired leader's face. Maximus trembles as the leader says, "Oh, Maximus — I didn't come to free you. I came to make sure you don't compromise the contract." Screams resound through the station. Blood and entrails stain the walls and ceiling, accompanied by the audible sounds of metal flaying flesh.
By six in the morning, the entire station is cordoned off. Matias Surgiri enters and finds forensic investigators photographing the corpses. He simply puts on his aviator glasses and follows an officer to the real scene — the cells. Standing in front of the cell that once contained Maximus, he is horrified and disgusted. He ignores the dead officer and focuses on the prisoner's body, which has been horrifically opened up: the skin peeled back to reveal muscles, the abdomen exposing stomach and intestines. A thud behind him — the coroner has fainted at the atrocity. Matias notices the cell's lock has been cleanly cut with a sharp object and thinks, "Jayden — I hope you didn't do this, bastard."
Later that afternoon, after getting off the bus, the adolescents walk toward the warrior's cabin. Along the way the brown-haired girl notices her friend looking discouraged, so she gently taps his shoulder. Tyron doesn't turn, so she pokes him again. Still no response, so she prods him with a finger — Tyron spins around angrily: "What's wrong?!" scaring Emily, who hides behind Alexa and Francesca, who scold Tyron with their looks. He apologizes and asks kindly, "Really, sorry Emi — what's wrong?" The girl answers tenderly: "I'm worried because you look sad when you're usually the most cheerful of us." Tyron sighs, shoulders hunched, and replies, "Antonio's mother transferred him to a school for troubled boys — well, you know — and she forbade me from approaching him. She blamed me for my best friend becoming an addict." He feels a warm touch on his shoulder. Lifting his head, he meets the huge bright blue eyes of the blonde. She smiles: "Come on! Don't be depressed. After all, you helped him — you were honest and in the end you saved him." The weight on his chest eases; he recovers strength as the others nod and smile.
Alexa (to make Emily come out from behind her): "Even so, I don't understand how the detective let you take Antonio home when he's so strict about explanations."
The boy sinks deeper into sadness. Francesca casts the dark-haired girl a killer look, so Alexa closes her eyes, scratches the back of her head and gently bites her tongue. The blonde shakes Tyron hard and slaps him twice. "Stop being depressed! Realize it's only a matter of time before the woman notices and stops being mad at you." Tyron only sighs: "That's not the problem. The detective made me promise that for three months I have to go to his house after training to clean his patrol car — and every weekend to clean his house." Alexa and Francesca bop him, tossing him to the ground. They continue toward the cabin while Emily gives him pats and helps him up. Tyron thinks of his best friend during the walk and remembers his teacher saying, "Your glasses-wearing friend — don't worry; he'll get stronger." The thought makes Tyron wonder if he even deserves to be the warrior's student. He recalls that Jayden warned: if the redhead grows strong, he'll seek revenge. Tyron scolds himself — had he been more present, maybe Antonio would never have become Erinios.
Francesca, touching Tyron's shoulder: "If you feel you failed, remember we're a team. If you feel you messed up, we all do. Share some of that burden with us."
Tyron sees how his friends support him and can't help smiling as he shares his mistakes on the way. In the warrior's backyard the trainees walk a tightrope; each must balance an egg on their head without holding it. The warrior watches every move carefully. The kids steal glances at the hourglass to see when the trial ends. With one minute left, the adult produces a clay clone for each of them and starts an attack. The adolescents must dodge to avoid being hit and dropping the egg; the heavy garments they wear force them to exert unprecedented effort in jumps, flips and evasions. When the minute ends, they finally step down from the ropes and remove their weights on Jayden's orders. The four drink water while the man enters his cabin and comes out holding a katana. "I think it's time you learn powerful attacks," he says. The dark-haired boy asks, "What are 'powerful attacks'?" The warrior answers, "The most powerful technique in your arsenal. Now come with me." The four follow him to training dummies, each colored to match them.
Jayden, in front of the light-brown dummy, taking the basic Védelem stance: "All right, Miedosa, pay attention. These are the steps of your technique."
The warrior, arms folded but holding the sword, launches a right elbow strike to the dummy's chin, quickly follows with a left elbow to the ribs, spins and delivers a shallow cut to the dummy's left shoulder, then slams the upper abdomen hard, pushing it away and returning to the basic stance. The brown-haired girl swallows: that technique would certainly injure an opponent. Before she refuses, the warrior says, "Calm down — it's a shallow cut. Modify the technique so the blow matters. See — the last blow must go here, at the lower center of the rib cage. It can be lethal, but that's what practice is for: to learn when you want a technique to be lethal and when not."
Jayden, taking the basic Chakama stance: "Mentirosa, watch the cut directions."
The warrior jumps behind the dummy and makes two deep cuts behind the knee, jumps and slices deeply through the shoulders, and finishes with two deep cuts at the elbows before returning to the original position. Alexa nods; she understands the technique, but only when the dummy's arms and legs fall off from the cuts does she grasp its usefulness.
Jayden, taking the basic Derin Kesim stance: "Tonto — this is a fast, direct technique that can end a fight in a second."
The warrior plants his feet, leaning his weight into his legs, makes a shallow cut from the left shoulder to the right waist, then quickly turns the weapon to make a deep cut where the first one was, repeating from left waist to right shoulder — leaving an enormous X at least two centimeters deep on the dummy.
Jayden, taking the basic Ukunemba stance: "Patética — this is a thrust with a twist. Learn it."
He relaxes his arms, thrusts the blade through the dummy's abdomen, twists and withdraws the sword, leaving a large, gaping wound.
Jayden (serious): "Remember: these techniques can be lethal. As warriors we must train them until we master them to the point of using them in any situation or circumstance."
Each student paired with a clone goes into the forest to practice. After an hour, the blonde — completely sweaty — removes her weights having destroyed her opponent copy using the technique. She sits, looks up at the radiant sky, and gets an idea; she goes in search of the dark-haired girl. A few meters later she finds her on the ground, face flushed. She kicks the side of her teammate, which prompts a scolding complaint from Alexa, but the blonde ignores it and offers her hand to help up. The dark-haired girl asks: "What's up? Don't tell me you pulled off the palm strike already."
Francesca nods: "But I sought you because I'm interested in something only you can teach me."
Alexa (surprised): "What?"
Francesca (serious): "Teach me that palm strike you do."
Alexa, practicing on the master's dummy: "Why should I? Why do you—" (she motions at the cuts on the shoulders) "—want that?"
Francesca (serious): "So the team doesn't have to rely so much on your special attack."
Alexa sighs, removing her wristweights. "Fine. I'll do it once. If you understand it, great. If not, leave."
The two girls walk to a huge rock. Alexa extends her arm: "Okay. To make that strike, you need to concentrate the Fiu sensation in your palm — only the palm. Once you do that, hold it and strike." A small explosion happens, leaving a crater about thirty-two centimeters wide. Francesca concentrates the warmth sensation in her palm, holds it, and hits. Alexa returns to the clone, saying, "It's normal if it doesn't work. It took me months…" Another explosion sounds; when the dust clears the rock shows a new crater about forty centimeters across. The green-eyed girl turns to the blonde: "It's impossi—!" Francesca hushes her: "Shh." She concentrates the Fiu again, this time into a smaller point, holding it until contact — then she releases all the Fiu through her palm, producing an explosion that sends every bird nearby flying away.
Alexa, mouth open in astonishment: "You stopped halfway! I can't do that!"
Francesca (calm): "It's easy: concentrate the Fiu in a point, and when you impact, spread the Fiu through your palm and — boom."
Alexa (surprised): "How? Repeat."
Francesca (confident): "Sorry, I only said it once."
The blonde heads back to the cabin, leaving the dark-haired girl gaping and the four-meter rock reduced to two. Francesca sits in the cabin clearing until dusk, when the others return exhausted. They gather their things and head to the bus stop. Jayden goes inside his home and closes the door. "What's up, Matias?" he asks. The detective slides a photo across the table: "Do you know anything about this?" Jayden answers: "It's a set of barred doors cut. I'm not a locksmith — ask someone else." Matias presses on: "Jayden — did you have anything to do with this?" The warrior replies coldly: "No. Those cuts aren't mine." The detective, irritated, stands up: "Oh, please don't say that. We both know you're the only one who could do this in the city."
Jayden (angry): "Me?! Ha! That's a machete cut. I use swords. Don't even imagine I'd go into the city and slaughter so many officers just to free a prisoner."
Matias: "How do you know?"
Jayden points to a wall: "I remind you — I have the internet."
Matias: "Right. Then in your experience, who could do this?"
Jayden (serious): "A cut like that — it was done by a knife user. The machete is a derivative. I know a bit about that art, but very little."
Matias: "Do you think—?"
Jayden (serious): "A master or someone from the Directorate? I don't think so. This feels more like a mercenary job."
The two men debate what's coming to Guarly. Times of peace will soon change into moments of pain and agony for the citizens. Meanwhile, in a large house, a brown-haired mother opens the door with her short–pink-and-purple-streaked daughter nearby. While the adult checks on a moving crew, the girl goes upstairs, opens a window and shouts, "I'm back!"