The way back was longer or at least it felt like it was. Slava was frustrated. He couldn't do anything, he was helpless, just like back then, he could only watch on. Following behind Sasha, he clenched his fists.

"Will Serena be okay?" Sasha suddenly asked, breaking the silence. From his point of view, she wasn't struggling when they left, although her opponent seemed to counter her perfectly. He still had doubts about her, but Kolya…

"She'll be fine, don't worry, she can't die." She what? She couldn't die? What did that mean? He waited for Sasha to ask further, but she never did so he restrained himself. She probably learned something from their spar.

"So, can we keep these?" He heard her ask after some time. It seemed she was disappointed with herself. He also wanted to keep the suits. He wanted to train, he wanted to improve. He didn't want to feel dejected like this ever again, but he knew it was impossible.

"Yeah, sure, they're yours, but I need the extensions." He raised his eyebrows, shocked. He was expecting him to reject the idea. These were probably extremely expensive to make, not to mention the consequences of the authorities getting their hands on them. Now that he thought about it wasn’t Sasha against this suit at first?

"What if we get caught?" She grit her teeth, "and what about… the company?" it seemed like she was too curious to scrutinize him. This was a one-in-a-million chance for her to improve. If there was one thing she wanted more than her uncle's respect, it was to surpass him.

"Don't worry about it," he said stepping into the abandoned subway station. The surroundings lit up as he climbed onto a platform slowly rising from the ground. Extending his arms, he let the extensions of his suit slowly detach themselves from his frame. The process was amazing to watch. Two pillars rose from the ground and began circling him. Opening up, they revealed empty compartments. Like magnets, they captured the pieces of armor before they could fall. When they closed and retreated back into the ground, a towel rack rose from the ground. Grabbing one, his suit began glowing blood red. At the same time, his exosuit began retreating from his limbs until it reached his back where it slowly melded into his skin. His glowing tattoo became more and more visible. Eventually, the suit disappeared completely followed by the tattoo.

Turning back around Kolya smiled, the towel now around his waist. "See?"

So these suits were modular, he'd never seen something like this before. Was it because of the domains? Kolya's suit looked like it had retreated into his back, while at the same time masking his tattoo. Was it hiding under his skin? He was about to question Kolya when he witnessed Sasha climb onto the stage. When she did, another set of pillars rose and the same thing happened except when Kolya's suit had flared up hers didn't.

"Send your domain through your body, just like you did when you recalled your weapon," he said his back slightly glowing making his suit appear on top of it. "Just this time, send that feeling to every part of your body," he continued making it disappear once more.

Following his instructions, Sasha's suit began retreating and eventually she also stood there naked with only a towel covering her bare body. Climbing back down she joined Kolya.

"Seeing how you use your suit, I don't believe there is much explaining for me to do is there?" Kolya asked, crossing his arms.

Sighing, Slava stepped forward. Before the pillars had even started to rise, he closed his eyes. Letting his suit morph into its original form, he stepped onto the platform. Like for the others, the extensions detached themselves, but when it came time for him to retract his suit something strange happened.

Instead of retreating to his back, the suit seeped into his skin. Seeing this alarm flashed across Kolya's eyes.

"Slava what are you doing…" he exclaimed but Slava didn't let him finish. Raising his hand to stop him he tilted his head back, focussing.

He didn't know what the suits did to vanish into their backs, but if he took that movement and spread it over his whole body, he could…

"Argh!" He screamed, the suit was just hitting his nerves. Just ignore it, it's just pain. White lightning was swirling around him. He was beginning to see purple sparks in the periphery of his vision. He closed his eyes. There was some force stopping him from moving it. The more it pulled, the more it pulled back. Seeing it wasn't working, he tried to push. Against his expectations, there was no resistance, instead, he felt himself fall into an endless purple ocean. Its vastness was astounding until he realized he was suffocating, not from the water but from an unbearable pressure bearing down on him.

He could feel an unfathomable gaze staring him down. Purple irises staring through his entire being. It was nothing like he'd ever felt before. Serena would be but an ant to this existence. He was about to go limb when he felt something grab onto his shoulder. As soon as he felt this presence, the pressure disappeared. Opening his eyes, he looked to his side. His gaze landed on a frowning Sasha, purple sparks flying around her clashing with his.

"What are you doing? Don't give up now," she said, smirking, not opening her eyes. Nodding he closed his eyes again, the sparks intensifying around them, creating a bright pink color.

This time, when he tried to pull on the strange force, there was little to no resistance. Spreading it over his body, he felt a sense of relief wash over him. Weakly blinking, he fell to his knees.

"This was a lot harder than I thought," he laughed. Clenching his forearm he saw the suit appear on its surface. Satisfied, he slowly stood back up. Before he could do anything else, he felt a strong grip on his other shoulder.

"What you just did was extremely dangerous," said Kolya, releasing his grip. "Every exosuit is connected to what we call the purple sea, a seemingly endless source of energy that powers every single one of them," listening attentively, Slava turned around to face him. When their eyes met, he suddenly paused. "You should probably cover yourself before I continue." Looking down, Slava was presented with his manhood dangling for all to see. Swiftly, he extended his hand to the side, the corners of his eyes glowing white. From his fingers, his suit extended. Grabbing a towel, he hastily covered himself. Hearing Sasha laugh beside him, he ignored her, focusing his eyes on Kolya instead.

"Extensions have similar 'Seas' of smaller sizes." That was probably what he felt when he tried to save Valerie. "That's where they get their power. Honestly, they look and feel like artificial domains to me, but their origins are unclear," he said dejectedly. "Nobody has ever successfully followed a link and came back alive." Yeah, it was linked to a greater source that he could follow. But…

"The purple sea is different in that sense, it feels omnipresent," said Kolya, voicing his thoughts. He couldn't get that suffocating feeling out of his head. "I don't know how Sasha was able to pull you out, but you would've been dead if she didn't. Your connection to your domain was withering away." He continued. "Do you know how many people died to bypass Expance's security protocols?" He looked up. "It took decades and hundreds of lives to perfect the suit you're wearing now. Thankfully, the suits don't change much with each generation." He looked over at Sasha.

"I really don't know how you did that." His voice was full of doubt, he seemed to believe she was hiding something. It was indeed odd, it was like she had harmonized with the force suppressing him.

"I saw…" Seeing some movement out of the corner of his eye, Slava turned his head just in time to see Sasha stumble back, holding her head.