After the day the Shadow came, the world didn't forget them.
But Numbers didn't give it the chance.
She took them to a place beyond Arcane's maps — a timeless zone suspended between numbers and nature. The world she created was made of shifting fractals and solid dreams.
It was not a home.
It was a forge.
---
> "You're all weak," she said on Day 1, smiling.
> "Respectfully—" Tiny began.
> "Hush," she replied, and gravity flipped him upside down until he learned silence.
Thus began their training.
---
Year One: Break
Tiny was trained in Discipline of Chaos Compression, where belief doesn't just fuel power, but refines it. He learned to fold explosions into paper. Speak backwards to cast forward. His nickname "One Tiny Girl" now had bite.
Yukie was forced to fight in a dream that never ended — her ability to induce sleep was turned inward. Every hour, she woke in another fight. Another version of herself. Until she learned to command even in subconscious.
As for Biji?
Numbers didn't teach her anything.
She watched her.
---
Biji lifted weights.
Ran across sand that shifted beneath her.
Was denied food until she could "believe in being full."
But as the months passed…
She grew faster.
Stronger.
Sharper.
Without effort.
Numbers noticed.
Biji never cast magic.
Never used a skill.
She simply existed — and the world bent a little to accommodate her.
That scared even Numbers.
---
Year Two: Break More
Tiny developed a new technique: Inverse Counterfold — the belief that if he was hit, the enemy would feel it more than he did. It only worked if he truly believed he deserved to win.
Yukie learned Temporal Drift Nap — by closing her eyes for 3 seconds, she could rest for an hour in a microplane. She could now fight for days without fatigue.
Biji?
Still no known ability.
Still growing.
Her punches broke harder material each week.
Her silence became a kind of presence.
She never failed. Not once.
> "She's starting to overwrite the rules," Numbers muttered one night, staring into a mirror made of formula.
---
Year Three: Realization
They were all stronger now.
Tiny could crush a minor warlord.
Yukie could control armies in their sleep.
But Biji?
She once touched a stone out of boredom — and it turned to crystal.
She once jumped too high — and never came down until she willed it.
She didn't train to grow.
She grew because she existed.
---
One day, Numbers pulled her aside.
> "Biji… what do you believe in, truly?"
Biji tilted her head.
> "That I can adapt. Overcome. I always have."
> "That's not a power," Numbers whispered.
"That's… destiny playing chess."
For the first time in centuries, the 7th-strongest being in Arcane looked nervous.
---
The final day of training came.
Numbers summoned the three.
> "You are now strong enough to survive in the new age. But the world is changing again. It has seen what you can do. It will react."
> "Will we meet the Shadow again?" Tiny asked.
> "No," Numbers said.
Then she looked at Biji.
> "You'll meet something worse."
---
And with that, she sent them back — out of her realm, back into the world of Arcane.
Where peace had died.
And war had started to whisper.
---