Reto hit the alley roof hard and rolled.
Behind him, shouts erupted from the classroom. The Spectrum Corps weren't wasting time already vaulting through the same window, blue light cutting through the morning sunrise.
Reto sprinted across the rooftops, feet slipping on rusted metal. He jumped a ten foot gap, landed wrong, and almost slid off the edge. A chain of blue light shot past his shoulder, slicing into the wall beside him. Stone hissed and melted.
"Freeze, student!" one of the officers shouted.
"Yeah, why the hell would I do that!" Reto yelled back, breath ragged.
He ducked under another chain, his body moving before his brain did. their attacks hit his nerves, and his instinct copied them step,by step, counter. He threw his hand up without thinking, gold light flashing across his palm.
A second chain formed his own this time and met the blue one midair. The collision shattered both. The blast threw him off balance, sending him crashing through a skylight into the floor of an old warehouse.
He hit the ground hard, wind knocked out of him. Broken glass was all around him from the drop.
"Reto!" a familiar voice hissed.
He looked up Milo and Taz stood in the doorway, wide eyed.
Taz ran over, helping him up. "Man, what the hell did you do? The Corps are everywhere!"
"Long story," Reto gasped. "Short version? I copied something I wasn't supposed to."
Milo stared at the faint gold flickers around Reto's hands. "That's Kaien's color pattern, bro. You're glowing like a crazy."
"Yeah, thanks for the observation," Reto said, brushing off glass. "We need to go."
They bolted through the warehouse, against the floor. Outside, sirens wailed Kaien's private alert frequency. Even the sound felt heavier,
"Where are we going?" Milo shouted.
"Old Forge line," Reto said. "No scanners down there."
They turned a corner and ran right into another Corps officer. This one wore heavier armor, his badge etched with the Tri Color Emblem a captain. The air around him shimmered with three overlapping lights.
He didn't raise his weapon immediately. He just looked at Reto and said,
"You really shouldn't have done that."
Reto swallowed. "Yeah, I get that a lot."
The captain sighed, almost tired. "Lord Kaien wanted to test your frequency peacefully. But since you ran…"
Three spectral chains bloomed from his hands red, blue, and violet spinning together like a cyclone.
Reto's instincts roared. His own echo surged in response, gold lightning crawling down his arms. The rhythm of the captain's movement reached him clean, perfect and his body started to match it, bar for bar.
Don't think. Just move.
When the first chain snapped forward, Reto stepped into it and threw his own punch, the copied rhythm magnified a thousandfold.
The collision shook the street.
Light flared so bright it burned through the fog.
The captain staggered back, armor cracked across the chestplate.
Reto's ears rang. His hands smoked. Milo and Taz stared at him like they'd just watched the impossible.
Reto turned, breathless. "We need to go. Now!"
Behind him, the captain rose, fury in his eyes and blue fire wrapping his fists.
The air trembled. The city's hum deepened as if Lord Kaien himself had noticed.
The captain's armor was cracked,
Reto didn't wait. He dragged Milo and Taz behind a truck, eyes locked on the officer. "Run when I say go."
"Bro, we're not leaving you "
"Not arguing right now!" Reto snapped.
The captain's voice boomed. "You don't even know what you are, boy. Give up before you burn yourself out."
Reto clenched his fists. "Guess I'll find out the hard way."
The captain's chains shot forward. Reto dodged left, then right.He knew the timing for the dodges before his brain did.
He swung once. Gold sparks flew.
The captain blocked easily. "Too slow."
Reto smirked. "Maybe."
He copied the block, twisted, and countered the exact same way but harder.
The hit connected. The shockwave blew the captain through a wall.
Reto staggered, panting. His hands were shaking, glowing brighter than before. Each second he fought, more light crawled up his arms like it wanted out.
The captain climbed from the rubble, coughing blood. "That ability… Kaien was right."
He raised one hand to his comm badge. "Target confirmed. Activating prism lock coordinates "
Reto moved before he finished the sentence.
One punch.The badge shattered.
Sirens screamed in the distance. Whole blocks started flashing red.
He looked at Milo and Taz. "We're out of time."
They ran. Down alleys, over pipes, through the smoke.
Reto's whole body burned. His vision blurred. The city's lights
He stumbled to a stop near the old Echo Forge an abandoned workshop carved into the cliffside. Inside, rusted tools and broken resonance plates lay scattered.
He dropped to his knees, chest heaving. "Can't… keep this up."
Milo crouched next to him. "You're bleeding light, man."
Reto opened his hands. Gold light was spilling out, steady and alive, like something trying to crawl free.
"Kaien wants me for this," he said quietly. "This thing inside me."
Taz looked toward the tower. "Then you better figure it out before he shows up himself."
The ground shook.
The light in Reto's hands started blurring and his vision started slurring and his then he was in memory. Dozens of faint, golden rings spinning inside him every fight he'd ever copied, stored and waiting.
He stared. "What… is this?"
A voice echoed inside his head.
Echo Vault activated.
Reto's vision went white. For a moment, he wasn't in Cindervale. He was standing in a void made of sound and light, surrounded by all the techniques he'd ever seen each one frozen like data waiting to be played.
Then he snapped back, gasping. The glow faded.
Milo grabbed him. "You good?"
Reto looked at his hands. "Better than good."
He stood, shaky but smiling. "I think I just found how I can maximize my power."
Outside, sirens kept wailing.
Kaien's voice echoed through the city loudspeakers cold, calm, and too close.
"Reto Kopi. "Fast Copy." You've taken what's mine. I'm coming to take it back."
Reto glanced at the tower's glow. He answered
"Then come get it."