-Flashback-

Val asked, looking straight at him, "So, how is the purple fire related to my brothers who're currently unconscious?"

"Hmmm. Let's have this, your ability right now is called Void. It exists everywhere, but at the same time, it doesn't. This means that you have the ability to erase anything in existence, but...once you erase it, you can no longer bring it back. Also, not all can contain this power, only those who have the purple fire can contain and control it. Now, if you are wondering where this purple fire comes from, it was created by the Primordials themselves. When they had seen the cruelty of humans, they thought of erasing human existence but, one of them opposed it and decided to create a fire that can burn souls."

The shadow kept on floating around Val and continued, "So, the Primordials had created the purple fire, a fire different from the normal fire. This fire will not burn a physical body but will burn the souls of every living creature. When it was created, they decided to execute the humans with the purple fire to burn their souls. One of the Primordials simply cannot take to keep burning the humans, so one of the Primordials decided to appoint a human that can handle the purple fire. The purple fire can detect if the soul is greedily evil and will immediately burn the soul. They agreed to appoint one human and when they did, an accident happened. The Primordial who supposedly passed on the purple fire to the human they have chosen, also passed on a portion of the void. However, they can no longer retract the void ability as it was somehow intertwined with the purple fire. In addition, they feared that humans in the future might abuse this power. So, they had the human swear an Ancient Oath, this oath is different than the Mana Oath. If the Mana Oath will only affect the person who had taken the oath, the Ancient Oath will affect not just the person who has taken the oath, but will also have a curse."

Val frowned at this and asked, "Curse?"

The shadow nodded and continued, "The curse will be if he will violate the Ancient Oath, aside from having the person being affected physically, his soul will be affected making him erased from existence."

"If that happens, will the people being left behind be able to remember?"

The shadow stared at him for a moment, and said, "When I say his existence will be erased, that means, the people left behind...", he slowly walked towards Val and said, "Will.Have.No.Memories.Of.That.Person.", then slowly stepped back.

Val slightly widened his eyes in horror when he heard it.

The shadow continued, "And so, going back, the chosen human had sworn the Ancient Oath, that is, if they chose a successor to contain these dual abilities, he needs to burn a portion of his soul. They also made the human swear that he can only choose ONE out of the many children he will have. The rest of the siblings will ONLY have the purple fire. If by any chance any harm will be done to the chosen child, the void will act to protect the owner, if any malicious intent will be felt. However, if none, they will fall unconscious. That was the arrangement done by that Primordial and the very first human, which you can say, your ancestor in ancient times."

Val was listening to the shadow's story intently, and when it ended, he said, "Wow. So, that's why the purple fire is not a widespread ability.", and looked down, contemplating the story he heard.

Val had a serious expression on his face and threw a series of questions.

"Was there an instance where one of my previous ancestors had passed on the purple fire to you know a non-relative? If there is, what happened to them? Do you remember them too? Are you able to talk to them like me? And, why do I have this kind of seal on my eye?"

The shadow was stumped and sighed, he said, "Now now. I'll slowly answer questions. Let's go with the one on your eye. Those are magic seals. It helps you control the two from clashing until you can fully control it.",

"Why?"

"Why you ask? When the very first human had the two abilities, he could not control them properly at first. However, he had found a way to control it."

"The magic seals?"

"Yes, and do you know? There are different magic seals in there.", the shadow stood in front of Val, pointing to his left eye.

Val frowned, and was about to say something when the shadow turned around away from him and continued, "Let me ask you something, what comes first into your mind when you saw the black sphere earlier?"

Val tilted his head and pondered, but the shadow asked again, "To better put it, try making a sphere as big as the one earlier, and go inside."

"Will I disappear?", Val shouted, but the shadow snorted, and said, "Just do it."

Val was hesitant but was urged by the shadow to make a black sphere. He lifted his one hand and a small black sphere appeared, then he concentrated to make it big. The black sphere gradually gets bigger and slowly floats in midair.

"Go in.", the shadow urged him with his hand.

He slowly touched the sphere and was shocked when his hand passed through it. He slowly went in and when his whole body is inside the sphere, the shadow asked again, "Now, you're inside it, what do you see?"

Val didn't answer, or rather, he couldn't hear the shadow. After a few minutes, Val went out and turned around, he said, "I couldn't see anything, or...or, feel or hear anything. I was shouting inside, but...I don't know whether I was really shouting or not."

"That's the void. It messes up one's senses, and that's the five layers in your eyes. Earlier, I did mention that the first person who had this ability, he wasn't able to control it right?"

Val just nodded, and the shadow continued, flying around Val, he said, "Initially, when he was not able to control the two abilities, it affected all of his senses. And so, he decided to make a magic seal in which his senses will not be affected. However, he would always fail, and so, over time, he thought that if he can't have all senses not be affected, he decided to create a seal where one would not be affected and sacrifice the rest of his senses. So, this continued in the next generations where different senses were not affected whenever they create a seal and it covered the previous seal layer by layer until the previous Bellator...", he stopped in front of Val, and said, "Reinhart."

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-Flashback End-

While Dr. Lewis and Val are walking towards the laboratory, the shadow suddenly speaks in his mind. "You know, we can talk like this, you don't need to do some yoga pose to talk to me."

Val doesn't know whether to be mad or be relieved by what the shadow said, he glanced at the doctor, and replied to the shadow inwardly, "You should have told me that earlier!" He felt that the shadow shrugged and said, "You didn't ask." Val just rolled his eyes at the shadow's reply.

And so, the door slides open and the two older males, looked in their direction. "Val", they said in unison, and they were about to get up but then a sting was felt with their heads.

"You both can't get up yet, just lie down there, and Val here will explain to you what really happened.", is what the doctor said, when they arrived in between the two older males.

All three were looking at Val, who turned around and sat on the sofa. He sighed, and said, "When you both touched me at that time, that was also the time, I had an encounter with my second ability. Don't worry, you're fine."

"Also,", Val closed his eyes, then opened them again, and the magic seal had appeared on his left eye, but this time, no blood is dripping down. All three of them were in shock, and the two older Bellators were about to get up from bed, when Val raised his hand, motioning them to stop.

"This", Val pointed to his left eye, and continued, "is a magic seal. At the moment, this helps me control my second ability. If this will be undone, my second ability would run amok, and I would die from Mana Overload.", he didn't explain further that there are 5 different magic seals.

Exeo is the one who spoke first, he asked in a serious expression, "How did you know all this?" They didn't know that Val could talk to his second ability, the shadow. Val was in silence, he was actually asking the shadow if he could tell them about the shadow. It said, "You can't really say that I can talk to you. Based on their expression, their abilities don't talk. So, it's better not to tell them that I can talk. You can instead tell them that a series of images and words were shown to you when you were trying to awaken fully your second ability."

Val said nervously "I knew about this, because...there were a series of images and words that were shown to me when I was doing it earlier."

"So, that's how it is.", is what Exeo had just said.

This time, it was Ember who asked, "I know it's not proper to ask you this, but I'll still ask, what is your ability, Val?"

Val didn't answer immediately, but instead, was looking around inside the room, and noticed a bottle of water on top of the bedside table, which is currently in between the two. He walked towards it and picked it up. He walked back but didn't sit down, instead, he turned around to face all three of them, and said, "This is.", he was holding the bottle of water, and a black sphere suddenly emerged and devoured the bottle of water, then it shrank in a blink of an eye, with the bottle of water nowhere to be found.

Ember and Exeo flinched slightly when they saw this, while the doctor, who was just standing still, suddenly walked forward and was looking where it had been. The doctor asked, "Where did it go?"

Val shook his head, and said, "I don't know, I can't get it back anymore." The doctor asked with a frown, "What do you mean you can't get it back anymore?"

Val was about to say something, when Ember, spoke with a serious expression face, as if realizing something, "You, Val...That is a Void ability...isn't it?"

"Oooh, your brother seems smart." The shadow chimed in, who was currently listening to their conversation, Val replied in his mind, 'Shut up.', and Val just nodded to what Ember had said.

The doctor who realized it suddenly laughed and soon stopped, he sighed, "You know, we were researching further on other abilities, from ancient times up until the present.", He walked towards the sofa and sat down, continued to give out more information, "One of the results we found was that, during ancient times, these abilities people have right now didn't exist before. What we have found interesting is that Primordial Beings are the only ones who are supposed to have these abilities. This means Val,", he looked up at Val who is now currently standing, "Your ability, was from the Primordial era."

"Oh! That guy's good." The shadow reacted to what the doctor said, and the doctor continued, "We have not found any results from our research on how there are now so many abilities and as to why there are no primordial abilities. We can only guess for now. Also, this means, it can either be a good or bad thing, which depends on how you use it.", the doctor just chuckled in disbelief.

"I know...I know how dangerous it is. That's why, I can't reveal my second ability.", Val said with a serious expression.

"So, what do you plan to do now, Ember, Exeo?", Dr. Lewis sighed and looked to the both of them, waiting for their decision.

Ember just sighed and lay down, with one of his arms on top of his head, while Exeo, sighed as well, but answered, "You can put Val in Aurum rank, same as us, but, I will talk to the higher-ups regarding the purple and black evaluations. Em, you will be with me on that meeting.", Ember hummed in response and closed his eyes.

The doctor nodded in agreement, and said, "You both rest well, I'll get going.", he stood up and walked out the door.

The three Bellators are the only ones left in the room, and Val soon decided to sit on the sofa. He asked his two older brothers, "How are you both feeling?"

"Good", they both replied in unison, Val just nodded, and said, "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't expect that you two would be unconscious.", pursing his lips while looking down at the floor. Both were frantic when their youngest was apologizing, Ember tries to get up nut was pushed back when Val hugged him.

Ember who was shocked glanced at Exeo who only shrugged, but soon changed his expression to that of a loving brother. He could hear some sniffs, so he patted Val's back, and said, "Now, now. We're okay, Val. See?", he spread his arms, reassuring Val it didn't affect his body, with Exeo who also spread his arms to make sure Val sees it.

Val released Ember from the hug, stared at them both left and right, and sighed. He said, "Okay if you say so.", he stood up and walked towards the door. He looked back at them with their arms now down, he said, "Get well soon, big brothers.", he smiled at them and walked out of the room.

Once Val was out of the room, Ember said listlessly, "I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this. I guess this time, the plan to make a team will soon be in motion eh, brother?"

Exeo rubbed his temples, and sighed, "I didn't expect it but yes, it might be sooner than we thought. I don't know how the higher-ups would take this news, but, I guess, the sooner the better to make the team."

"Will Val accept this?" Ember asked in worry. "We'll talk with him on this soon. Let's just first plan it step by step." Ember just hummed in response and soon, both of them decided to rest and deal with the matters at hand at a later time.

After a few days of rest, both Exeo and Ember were quite busy due to the plans they have talked about previous nights as well as talking to the higher-ups regarding Val's ability evaluation and ranking.

After a series of meetings, only select higher-ups knew that the youngest Bellator also had a second ability, even those select higher-ups were no exception with the Mana Oath.

It has also been decided that the ceremony for Valens Bellator would be held privately, one, as his life is still targeted, and two, to keep the secret that he had already joined the military.

Among the people who were invited to this private ceremony were only a very few higher-ups who had made the Mana Oath, and two of the newly recruited 'soon-to-be' members carefully selected by Exeo and Ember. And so, the ceremony finished peacefully and quietly.

Thus, things will get busier from now on for the three redheaded brothers.