The ruins of the Old Hero Academy stand like a ghost of glory — shattered halls where legends once walked, now silent beneath a canopy of vines and fractured glass.What was once the cradle of hope is now a graveyard of ideals. The statue of Ultra Man Urja lies broken, half-buried under ivy. Training arenas, once filled with laughter and flame, now hum faintly with dormant plasma lines.
It's here that Ignis brings the four vigilantes — The Sparks.No longer his enemies. Not yet his students.But fate has bound their paths by fire.
The Phoenix's Teachings
In the early mornings, the air still smells of ash. Ignis stands before them — cloaked in dim gold light, his flame pulsing faintly beneath the cracks of his skin.
"You want to fight Helios?" he says quietly. "Then stop fighting yourselves."
The lessons begin — not in strength, but in understanding.
Blitz
He trains to move without losing control.Ignis makes him sprint through collapsing structures while blindfolded, listening to the heartbeat of the storm rather than chasing it.Each time he fails, Ignis simply says:
"Speed is useless if you don't know where your heart is running."
In time, Blitz learns to focus his kinetic charge into precision — his lightning no longer wild, but rhythmic. A heartbeat of light.
Nira
Her telekinesis trembles with emotion. Fear is her anchor, guilt her chain.Ignis places her before a falling tower of debris and says:
"Don't stop it. Feel it. Control begins when fear ends."Her eyes glow — black dust and silver shards freeze midair. For the first time, her power flows without pain.
Echo
He learns that sound is not just chaos — it's connection.Ignis makes him sing through battle drills, using vibration to mend shattered glass, soothe fire, even heal minor burns.Echo's voice, once a weapon, becomes something more — a frequency of peace in the storm.
Kai
The youngest and quietest watches, learns, calculates. Ignis never orders him to fight — instead, he gives him a dead Helios drone and says:
"Understand your enemy before you destroy it."Kai disassembles it piece by piece — and discovers that every Helios drone carries a sleeper code connected to a hidden network called HelionNet, deep beneath the city's data core.
The Bond of Fire
As the days pass, the ruins begin to feel alive again.Echo's laughter echoes through the halls. Blitz races through shattered corridors leaving streaks of blue light. Nira hovers stones like petals. Kai projects holo-maps on cracked walls.
And Ignis watches — not as a god, but as a man reborn through teaching.
Each night, by the remnants of the academy's eternal flame, they sit around a campfire — its glow reflecting in their eyes like new stars.Ignis tells them stories — of the first heroes, of sacrifice, of the fire that can't be tamed.
"Power isn't something you wear," he tells them softly."It's something you understand."
They listen — because in his words, they hear not command, but belief.
The Shadow Within
Yet behind his calm, Ignis feels the storm growing.Each lesson drains him. Each use of his flame brings whispers — dark voices within the fire, murmuring in forgotten tongues.When he meditates, he sees flashes — visions of burning skies, of Vexar's essence, pulsing inside his veins.
One night, while the others sleep, he stares at his reflection in the cracked academy glass.For a heartbeat, the fire in his chest turns black — cold, consuming, endless.
"What are you becoming?" a voice echoes in his mind.It's not Urja. It's something older.
He falls to his knees as symbols of light and shadow flicker across his skin — ancient runes of the Eternal Flame Codex, the source of his rebirth.
Helios Strikes Back
While Ignis struggles with his inner fire, Helios Core tightens its grip.Director Lyra Vorn unveils the "Synthetic Hero Division", an army of artificial beings infused with diluted plasma — powered by energy siphoned from the same remnants that revived Ignis.
The Brandie Unit upgrades their armor, deploying Mark IV Exo-Sentinels with adaptive plasma nullifiers.In the underworld, rumors spread of "Project Helion" — a secret plan to merge human consciousness with plasma essence, creating gods under corporate control.
And in the shadows, Vineeton, the Disciple of Vexar, watches the flame rise again.
The Spark of Unity
When the Brandie drones finally locate their base, The Sparks refuse to run.Ignis steps forward — but Blitz stops him.
"You trained us to fight, not to hide. So let us burn too."
For the first time, Ignis smiles.Together, they move — not as individuals, but as one force: lightning, sound, thought, and fire converging in perfect motion.
The Helios drones fall in seconds.For the first time in years, the city witnesses a true battle for hope — not control.
And as the smoke clears, the citizens whisper in awe:
"The heroes have returned."
But Ignis knows this is just the beginning.As he looks at his students — the new generation of light — he feels the black flame stirring inside.The unburned have learned to rise.But the teacher… may soon fall.
Final Scene (Foreshadowing)
At the ruins' edge, Kai's holo-screen flickers. He's hacked into the HelionNet again — and what he finds freezes him cold.
A hidden file labeled: "PROJECT IGNIS: Phase II."
He turns toward Ronak.
"Sir… they didn't just bring you back.""They built something from you."
The night grows colder. The fire dims.And far across the city, a golden-black silhouette opens its eyes.