Reto didn't even have time to blink.
Forge Monk's foot hit his chest like a cannon.
One second, Reto was standing in front of him the next, he was flying straight through the cave wall. Stone shattered, and he was gone in a blur.
Milo yelled, "RETO !"
Before Reto could even hit the next cliff, Forge Monk was already there. The old man appeared out of thin air, grabbed him by the collar mid , and slammed both feet into the mountain side, stopping the fall.
The whole mountain shook.
Forge Monk set Reto down like nothing happened. "You'd be paste if I didn't catch you. Don't test my patience."
Reto coughed hard, trying to stand. "Bro what the hell was that for!?"
"To remind you where you are," the monk said flat. "This isn't a dojo. You walk into my forge, I assume you're here to die or fight."
Taz and Milo caught up, panting. "We we're not enemies!" Milo said quick. "We came to talk!"
Forge Monk turned his head, eyes half open. "Talk fast, then."
Reto straightened up. "Name's Reto Kopi. We're on the run from Spectrum Patrol. I can… copy echoes. Moves, abilities, techniques if I see it once, I can use it."
Forge Monk's eyebrow twitched. "Copy… echoes?"
Reto nodded. "Yeah. But it's unstable. Kaien Sura came for me. Almost killed me. I need someone who can help me control it."
The monk stared at him for a long second, silent. Then he walked past them, deeper into the cave. "Follow me."
They did.
He led them through a side tunnel that opened into a massive chamber filled with broken forges, glowing crystals, and old tech wired together in ways that shouldn't have worked.
"This is where I was supposed to train the first generation of Saints," Forge Monk said. "Before the Council decided I was too dangerous."
Taz looked around. "Yeah, I see why."
Forge Monk turned back to Reto. "You want training? Fine. But I don't waste time on talk. I need to see if you're worth it."
Reto frowned. "Meaning?"
Forge Monk cracked his knuckles. "Meaning, I need to evaluate you first."Forge Monk pointed at the line of busted Liuasamaniam dummies.
"Show me what you've got. Don't hold back."
Milo stepped up first. His echo sparked light blue, fast and rough. He hit the dummy with a focused palm strike that caved its chest in.
"Average," Forge Monk said. "Your power leaks too much. Learn control."
Taz went next. His echo was red, wild. Three fast kicks each one harder than the last. The dummy's head rolled off.
"Too flashy," Forge Monk said. "But you've got good reaction."
Then he looked at Reto. "Your turn, copy boy."
Reto cracked his neck. "Bet."
Forge Monk raised one hand and threw a quick echo burst basic level, Reto copied the motion instantly and sent it back, stronger. The dummy exploded backward.
Forge Monk didn't blink. "Again."
He tossed a stronger one. Reto copied it, returned it with double force.
The monk nodded once. "Alright. Now let's see the limit."
He didn't warn him this time. A Saint class echo fired straight from his palm. It ripped through the air like lightning clean, silent, too fast to read.
Reto locked in, trying to copy the pulse pattern, but it was gone before his brain caught up. The dummy behind him split in half.
Forge Monk crossed his arms. "Couldn't copy it, huh?"
Reto gritted his teeth. "Didn't have a chance."
"That's the difference," the monk said. "You can copy what exists inside your level. Saint level echoes don't fit in that level. They're tied to the soul, not just motion and without training of coping you won't ever be able to copy anything other than movements
."
Reto didn't answer. He hated how right that sounded.
Forge Monk looked between the three of them. "Milo and Taz basic builds. You'll grow fine with work. Reto you're dangerous. You can rise fast, or burn fast. No in between."
He walked over to an old shelf near the forge wall and picked up a mask.
Black steel, covered in faint spiral lines that twisted on their own.
He turned it slowly in his hand. "You're not the first echo copier. That mask your belongs to him it's the striker mask it helped him copy to healthier and better limits "
Reto's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"There was one before you," Forge Monk said. "Name was Varan Kaze. I forged this mask for him."
The room went quiet.
"He mastered copying better than anyone. Could replicate anything abilities, souls, even matter. But he went too far. Copied things no human should touch."
Reto stepped closer. "What happened to him?"
Forge Monk looked up, face cold.
"He stopped being human. Varan Kaze lives beyond space and time now. A Void Singularity. He's not a person anymore just an echo of everything he ever copied."
Taz swallowed. "You're saying he's still alive?"
Forge Monk set the mask back down. "Alive isn't the word. Existing, maybe. Watching, definitely. And if your power keeps growing like his did…"
He looked at Reto dead on.
"…you'll end up just like him."