Brando flinched. Bianca had appeared out of nowhere, standing a few meters from his bed. He hadn't heard the door open or the sound of footsteps. She was simply there, as if she had always been part of the room's shadows. The monitor next to the bed accelerated its beeping for an instant, betraying his surprise. The puppy, which until that moment had been dozing at his feet, perked up its ears and opened all three eyes.

  In any case, the entire situation was surreal. An Ultima rank deigning to interact with a Zeta rank? The world turned upside down. It was as if a deity had decided to entertain itself with an insect. In the Academy's rigid hierarchy, the mere idea that Bianca Ruggeri might waste her time on the lowest of the low was as absurd as finding a vegetarian Glacial.

  Brando adjusted himself on the bed, seeking a comfortable position. "How did you find me?" his voice was hoarse again.

  Bianca moved the fingers of her right hand in an almost imperceptible gesture. "I followed you that night."

  "Why?" Brando clenched his fists on the sheets, trying to ignore the surreal situation.

  "I knew Ripa would look for you." She moved around the room with that unnatural grace of hers. "I understood it from his eyes the first time I met him."

  The puppy rose slowly, its paws moving cautiously on the mattress. Its three eyes were fixed on Bianca, but there was no fear in its gaze, rather a strange form of recognition. Its tail began to move slowly, almost timidly.

  "Did you heal me?" Brando asked.

  "Yes." She replied, staring at the puppy.

  "Why?"

  "Because I see something in you." She turned to Brando. "Something different. Like this puppy. It was mutating abnormally; I sensed it immediately." Then Bianca approached the bed, and the puppy reached toward her without hesitation.

  "I stabilized it." She extended a hand toward the creature, which pressed its muzzle against her fingers without any fear. "Just as I stabilized you."

  Brando shook his head, feeling the world oscillate slightly. The medicines still flowing into his veins through the IV made everything blurry at the edges. "I don't understand. You're an Ultima rank. You're at the top of everything. I'm just..."

  "An anomaly?" A hint of a smile creased her lips, but there was no cruelty in it. "Like me. Except that I'm a different anomaly than you."

  The puppy made a small sound, as if agreeing with her words.

  "Don't pity me." Brando straightened up on the bed, showing a clear expression of dissent. "I don't understand you. Do you really have the nerve to compare yourself to me? You have everything. The power, the rank..."

  "And a family that shouldn't exist." Her tone was flat, but her fingers tightened imperceptibly in the puppy's fur. "The Ruggeris are nobody, yet here I am. At the top, as you say. In any case, Brando Casadei, you don't know my story. You don't know who I am."

  Brando, at that moment, saw Bianca Ruggeri's expression change markedly. The mysterious aura that this girl emanated suddenly became much stronger. She was right: what did Brando know about her? He knew well how Nea-Polis worked. Those at the margins fought to reach the top, and those at the top fought to stay there. In a world where no one was truly safe, anyone could have a difficult past behind them.

  Bianca then moved toward the KryoWatch on the nightstand. The display mercilessly showed that he had very little time left.

  "Two days to reach [Violet One] Stage." Bianca touched the KryoWatch display with a finger. "After what happened, your chances are practically zero."

  "I know..." Brando replied with an expression of pure discouragement.

  "Unless..." Bianca turned toward him, her uniform rustling with the movement.

  "Unless what?"

  The puppy suddenly moved, jumping off the bed to sniff the air. Its three eyes moved independently, as if searching for something only it could perceive.

  Bianca extracted something from her uniform pocket. A small holographic disc no larger than the palm of a hand. "There's a place. Under the Academy."

  "What are you talking about?" Brando said, leaning forward.

  "The Daedalus." She rotated the disc between her fingers, and light danced on its surface like water. "Four levels dug into Vesuvius. The only place where you might reach [Violet One] Stage in time."

  The puppy emitted a low sound, almost a growl, but not threatening. Its eyes were fixed on the disc as if hypnotized.

  "I've never heard of—"

  "Obviously." Bianca interrupted him. "Only Delta ranks and above can access it. It's reserved for the best."

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  The monitor next to the bed emitted a longer beep than usual. Brando's heartbeat had accelerated.

  "Then why are you telling me about it?"

  "On the fourth level, there's a particular room." Bianca approached the bed, placing the disc on the white sheet. "Jason's Chamber. One hour in there equals days of normal training."

  The puppy approached the disc, cautiously sniffing it. All three of its eyes dilated in unison.

  "How do you know these things?"

  "I know many things I shouldn't know." She turned toward the window. "Just as I know that Esposito won't give you another chance."

  "So what are you proposing?"

  "This pass." She indicated the disc with a precise gesture of her hand. "It will give you access to the Chamber for six hours."

  "And in exchange?"

  Bianca's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "I don't want something in exchange. The only thing I ask is that you don't tell Giordano anything."

  Brando frowned. "Why shouldn't I tell Giordano?"

  "The Volpes have eyes everywhere." Bianca slid the disc between her fingers, and the light danced on its surface like liquid mercury. "Even the disowned ones."

  "I don't trust this." The IV in his arm pulsed when he moved, reminding him that he wasn't yet in top condition.

  "I'm not asking you to trust." Her tone was flat, professional. "I'm offering you the only chance you have. Six hours in the Daedalus. Or expulsion."

  "How do I know it's not a trap?"

  "You don't." A hint of an icy smile creased her lips. "But do you have alternatives?"

  Bianca was exactly right. There are moments in life when you can't do anything but take a risk, and Brando knew it well. This was an opportunity to seize.

  Brando's silence meant yes to Bianca. So she moved toward the window, making the holographic disc reflect in the sunlight. "There's something you should know about the Daedalus. Jason's Chamber isn't normal."

  "In what way?"

  "You might simply not come out the same as before." She stopped, searching for the right words to continue. "You probably won't come out at all."

  The puppy suddenly became agitated, emitting a low sound.

  "Is it that dangerous?" Brando asked, furrowing his brows.

  "All places in the Daedalus are." She turned toward him. "But the Chamber is different. It has effects on the body and mind. Some withstand the pressure, others don't."

  "What kind of effects?"

  "Pain. Hallucinations. Time distorts." She said, trying to recall the information to mind. "That's why only Alphas, Omegas, and Ultimas can use it."

  Brando gripped the sheets. "And you want me to stay in there for six hours?"

  "No." She stared at him. "I want to see if you're capable of surviving six hours."

  "You're sending me to my suicide. And what makes you think I can do it?"

  "Because there's something in you. I felt it while I was healing you." She approached the bed. "Like an echo. A resonance that shouldn't exist."

  The heart monitor accelerated its beeping, betraying Brando's agitation. "A resonance? What exactly do you mean?"

  Bianca hesitated for the first time.

  "A resonance with the Artifact."

  The silence that followed was so dense it seemed to have physical weight. The puppy pressed harder against Brando, as if seeking protection.

  "Is that why the puppy reacts like this with you?" Brando asked with a hoarse voice. "You have the same... resonance?"

  "No." Her voice was sharp now. "For me, it's different..."

  She stopped abruptly. Outside the window, a cloud obscured the sun, casting the room into sudden dimness. The disc between her fingers seemed to absorb the darkness, shining with its own light.

  "So this is the experiment?" Brando's voice was bitter. "You want to see if I die in the Chamber?"

  "I want to see if you're really what I think." She looked him straight in the eyes. "An anomaly that could change everything."

  "The Artifact..." Brando stiffened so abruptly that the IV trembled. The electrodes on his chest detected his accelerated heartbeat. "I saw something a few days ago."

  The change in Bianca was instantaneous. She spun around, and for the first time, her mask of control completely slipped. The disc almost fell from her hands.

  "What did you see?"

  "An eye." Brando swallowed, the memory still freezing the blood in his veins. "Red. It was staring at me."

  She moved so quickly that she almost seemed to teleport next to the bed. "Are you sure?"

  "The puppy saw it too." Brando extended a hand to calm the creature. "It trembled for hours afterward."

  Bianca leaned down, studying the puppy with an almost predatory intensity. The creature held her gaze and kept all three eyes fixed on Bianca's.

  "This changes things." Bianca straightened up with a triumphant expression on her face.

  "In what way?"

  "You're not the first to see something like that in the Artifact." She began to move back and forth across the room. "But you're the first Zeta rank."

  "Who else has seen it?"

  "The Protector, for instance." She stopped abruptly, so suddenly that her uniform rippled. "And me."

  The air in the room seemed to become denser, heavier. The heart monitor accelerated its beeping. The Protector? Why had Bianca mentioned the Protector?

  "And what does it mean?" Brando asked curiously.

  "It means I was right about you." Her tone had changed now. There was a hidden urgency, something almost feverish. "And that now it's even more important that you enter that Chamber."

  "Why?"

  "Because Cold Veins aren't what we think." She approached the bed, every movement charged with an almost electric intensity. "And you could be the proof."

  "The proof of what?"

  "That the system is wrong." Her green eyes shone with an impossible light. "That the ranks, the lineage... it's all based on a lie."

  The puppy emitted a sharp sound, making them both jump. The air had become so heavy that breathing was difficult.

  "There are a lot of things you're not telling me," Brando stated.

  "Yes." She didn't try to deny it. She placed the disc on the nightstand with a precise movement. "But I can't tell you much. Not yet, at least."

  "Why not?"

  "Because if you survive the Chamber, you'll be worthy of having answers." She straightened up, returning to that creature of ice and control she had always been. "And if you don't survive... it won't matter anyway."

  She headed toward the door with that unnatural grace of hers. She stopped at the threshold, backlit by the light from the corridor.

  "If you decide to use it, the pass works only once. Six hours." Her tone had turned cold again. "Go to the fourth level and look for Jason's Chamber. You'll find it easily. And Brando..."

  "Yes?"

  She turned one last time, and for a moment, she almost seemed to be on his side. "If you survive, we'll have much to talk about."

  Then she disappeared, as silent as she had arrived. The puppy emitted a low sound, almost a lament, staring at the spot where she had vanished.

  Brando remained alone with the holographic disc that glowed on the nightstand. The monitor continued its regular beeping, marking time that seemed to pass too quickly.

  With a sharp movement, he tore the electrodes from his arm. The monitor emitted a long sound of protest before shutting off.

  It was time to discover if the Daedalus was real. And above all, if he was truly the anomaly that Bianca thought he was.