"Since when did you start keeping so many greens in your stock?" Blake asked, eyeing the refrigerator now filled with fresh vegetables instead of canned food and boxed pizza.
"Can’t you tell? I’m getting back in shape," Kyle replied, glancing at his reflection in the mirror across the bed.
Blake rolled his eyes. "Let’s see how long that lasts." He grabbed a bundle of long noodles and began dicing vegetables.
"I hope no one else but Amanda knows about your little secret identity," Blake added, slicing through the stalk with practiced ease.
Kyle sighed. "Well... there’s a good chance Layena figured it out too during the incident."
Blake paused and looked over his shoulder, glaring at him. "So I’m the third person to know? You might as well have told a stranger before your own brother."
Kyle went quiet. He hadn’t planned on telling Blake at all... but what if he had to admit that a stranger learned the truth before him?
Scoffing, he said, "At this rate, everyone’s going to find out sooner or later."
Blake turned back to the counter. "If you keep acting all flashy and heroic, then yes."
Kyle grinned. "You heard about it? I beat them down and dominated the whole battlefield."
"And in the process, attracted the attention of the central authority too."
"Why do you always focus on the negatives?"
"Because glory doesn’t last. Imprisonnt does."
Kyle rolled his eyes. "And you wonder why I didn’t tell you?"
Blake snickered and slid the noodles into the pot, letting them cook.
After a mont of silence, he asked, "So what exactly is your ability? And how much do you actually know about your powers?"
Kyle leaned back, resting his weight on his hands. "I can use a mythical bow that fires arrows endlessly, as long as I have Genesis. And I know a fair bit about the Aether world."
Veronica and Amanda had explained enough about how things worked on the other side of society. At the very least, he understood the dangers and the loopholes he could exploit.
"Tell sothing. How co I never noticed Mom, Dad, or even you being... supernatural?" Kyle asked, watching Blake’s back.
Seeing him in an apron over formal clothes was oddly amusing. Kyle quietly snapped a picture and sent it to Corella.
"Because before I was trained to wield a weapon, I was taught how to hide it," Blake replied. "Not just from others, but from you too. It’s a fundantal law across the world to keep non-awakened people away from the Aether world."
"Then where did you even train?" Kyle asked. Blake never went out much. It was always ho to school, then straight back ho, just like him.
"Instructors ca to the house," Blake said. "There’s a basent in the mansion." He suddenly glanced over his shoulder, his gaze sharp. "Don’t even think about going there."
Turning back, he continued, "That’s where the clan raises Nightmares year-round. They’re fed with humans and nurtured to grow stronger."
Kyle raised a brow. "You can actually make Nightmares stronger?"
Blake nodded, asuring how much his brother really knew. "Yes. They grow by feeding on negative emotions. Criminals are ideal since they carry enough of it to push Nightmares beyond normal limits."
Kyle let out a quiet hum. "Then central prisons must be heaven for them."
"No," Blake replied. "CPV officers regularly cleanse those areas. If a Nightmare grows too strong, it can beco a temporary bridge and open a small rift."
Kyle nodded, taking it in. Sothing new to learn.
Blake heated the pan, poured in so oil, and tossed the vegetables into it.
As he stirred them, Kyle asked, "So the Astortia family doesn’t work for the governnt?"
"We’re a separate entity," Blake replied calmly. "We don’t take direct orders, but we do maintain close alliances with them. Every clan, like Astortia or Amanda’s Maylith, is assigned a specific area. Within that zone, we manage rifts, cooperate with the Paranormal Suppression Corps, and provide military support if needed."
"We have a military unit?" Kyle asked, surprised.
"Not a large one," Blake said, still cooking, "but we do train a few battalions. They’re stationed across different regions of Fortis."
"Hmm... that’s actually pretty cool." Kyle nodded, impressed. His clan was far more influential than he had imagined.
Then sothing clicked.
"Wait... doesn’t that an you’ve always had an unfair advantage over ? With your supernatural abilities and all?"
Blake smirked. "Nah. Genesis had nothing to do with it. My competition was just too incompetent."
Kyle narrowed his eyes, already scanning the room for sothing to throw at the smug bastard.
"Anyway," Blake continued, stopping Kyle mid-way of reaching a chair, "tell about the attack you used on those Ghouls."
"I just dumped a large amount of Genesis and wiped them out," Kyle replied casually.
Blake paused for a mont. "That must’ve taken an absurd amount of Genesis to take down four Ghouls at once."
When he had read the report about the resort incident, he had been stunned. Soone had not only eliminated four Ghouls in one go but still had enough strength left to escape afterward.
A strong special-grade Nightwalker might be able to overwhelm multiple enemies with raw Genesis alone.
Even Blake wasn’t confident he could pull that off himself, despite being regarded as one of the strongest Nightwalkers on the continent.
And yet... soone who had only recently awakened had done exactly that.
Of course, Blake had no intention of telling that brat just how impressive it really was.
"So it’s not really your skill, but your Genesis reserves?" Blake wondered aloud.
"Yep. And isn’t that the best way? Genesis is poisonous to them. I just overload them until they drop."
Blake shook his head. "You know that won’t work forever." He let out a sigh. "Genesis isn’t ant to be used so recklessly, no matter how large your reserves are. You need better control over it. Otherwise, one day you’ll push yourself too far and end up in a vegetative state, unable to even deal with a minor Nightmare."
Kyle gave a wry smile. "You’re making that up, aren’t you?"
Blake rolled his eyes and turned toward him. Holding up an egg, he said, "When you force your body to release too much Genesis, your circuits co under extre pressure." He tightened his grip around the egg. "I don’t need to explain what happens if that pressure keeps building."
Kyle snorted. "You really were born with poison in your mouth, weren’t you? I swear, the day you see your first child, you won’t smile. You’ll stare at it like a failed project and go, ’Hmm... defective. Return and try again.’"
Blake shook his head and went back to cooking.
It didn’t take long before Blake finished the noodles and set the bowl down in front of the starving brat.
Kyle was practically drooling at the sight, the rich aroma making his stomach twist in anticipation.
The mont the bowl touched the table, he dug in, slurping the noodles without a care for the heat or spice.
Blake watched him quietly, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Grown up and independent?
All he could see was the sa easy to please kid.
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