Chapter 58: What Are We Doing

Elias Hale stood motionless, his eyes locked onto Levi Blackwell, whose glowing red eyes barely flickered under the harsh, sterile lights. A command to engage still hung in the air, delivered by the Academy’s cold voice through the intercom. They obviously wanted a spectacle, a test of power, a demonstration of control. For Elias, this was just going to be another session. For Levi, it seemed like another distraction from the suffocating monotony of the Academy.

Levi’s body language was relaxed, almost too casual for the situation. Hands at his sides, shoulders slouched. He didn’t care. Elias could see it in his posture, in the deadpan expression on his face. This wasn’t going to be a challenge for Levi. It was going to be a joke. But that was fine—Elias wasn’t here for resistance. If he was going to play the Academy’s game, he may as well win it.

“Let’s get this over with,” Elias muttered, more to himself than to Levi.

Without waiting for a response, Elias extended his hand, a barely perceptible flick of his wrist initiating the molecular rearrangement of the space around Levi. His powers took hold with surgical precision, bending and compressing Levi’s form into something new, something absurd.

Within moments, Levi’s body crumpled and contorted, folding in on itself in an eerie, seamless way. His limbs disappeared, absorbed into his torso, until all that remained was a perfectly round, floating ball. Levi’s head—now comically perched on top of this ball-like body—remained untouched, his glowing eyes still visible and his mouth hanging open in an almost surreal expression of indifference.

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The transformation was odd and bizarre, but Elias didn’t need to make it pretty. He wasn’t here to impress anyone with theatrics. He was here to show control, and in that, he excelled.

Levi’s head blinked once, then again, slowly adjusting to his new spherical shape. His mouth twitched at the corners as if he were suppressing a smile.

“Well,” Levi said dryly, his voice coming out more monotone than ever. “This is… a new look.”

Elias raised an eyebrow, watching for any sign of discomfort, confusion, or even fear. Instead, Levi seemed completely unfazed. If anything, he appeared mildly entertained by the absurdity of his current form.

“Gotta say,” Levi continued, turning himself in a slow, lazy circle as if testing his balance. “Being a ball isn’t half bad. Might roll with this for a while.”

Elias couldn’t help the slight smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth. Levi was truly something else. He expected some screaming or demanding to be turned back by now. But not Levi. No, he was cracking jokes about being turned into a literal sphere.

“Your not even phased, huh?” Elias said back, crossing his arms as he observed Levi rolling experimentally around the room. “I’d even say that your amused.”

Levi rotated himself again, this time bumping lightly into one of the walls, his head spinning slightly as he turned to face Elias. “Tell you what, geometry boy” Levi said, voice as nonchalant as ever. “You should try it sometime. It’s a whole new feeling, being a ball. It… it makes you feel… free.”

The sarcasm in Levi’s voice was thick, but there was an underlying truth to his actions that Elias figured out. Levi was in his own way mocking the Academy, mocking the system that held them both in chains. He truly didn’t care. He didn’t care about the power being displayed or the control being exerted over him. It was all a joke to him.

Elias chuckled, shaking his head. “I think I’ll pass on being a ball for now, thanks. But hey, who knows? Maybe one day I’ll see what all the hype’s about.”

Levi continued to spin lazily in place, occasionally bumping into the walls or nudging himself forward with a casual roll. His eyes, though still glowing with that faint red hue, betrayed nothing. No frustration, no fear, just an ever-present look of amusement that made Elias feel both intrigued and uneasy.

The two of them stayed like that for a bit, the sterile room filled only with the faint hum of the air system and the occasional thud of Levi’s ball-shaped body bumping against the walls.

Finally, Elias sighed and glanced at Levi, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“I wonder what it’s like to be a ball.”

Levi let out a low chuckle, his floating form bobbing in response.