Joe’s special trait , the thing that made him superhuman , was super healing.
He was the first to realize it, and he realized it quickly. The others figured it out soon after, but Joe understood it immediately because of everything he’d put his body through during training.
Back when he fought Aron , the moment when he finally unlocked the power of the Vow , Joe had been in a terrible state. Out of everyone, he had been the most injured. Aron’s attacks weren’t random or shallow. They were meant to terrify Joe, to make him break from the inside out.
Aron had stabbed him several times. The wounds had cut deep, deeper than they should have for someone still able to move afterward.
Normally, wounds like that would take far longer than a week to heal. Even with medical attention, with rest, with luck... his body shouldn’t have recovered that fast. But Joe’s wounds had healed within days , inside the time frame where scars should have still been raw.
And now, while fighting, the same thing was happening again.
Even when hit hard , hit in ways that made the crowd wince , his body was healing, constantly repairing itself beneath the skin.
Wolf had been the first to confirm it. Through his observations, through his new ability to break people down and evaluate them, he noticed what Joe’s body was doing.
It made Wolf wonder why their powers had awakened the way they had.
Was Joe’s trait tied to the extreme situation he unlocked the Vow in?
When he had been stabbed repeatedly , was his body screaming for a way to survive?
Had it responded by tearing open a limit that had always existed inside him?
Joe had always excelled in endurance. All the running, all the training, all the days he pushed himself until he collapsed , maybe his body naturally leaned toward survival.
Maybe the Vow didn’t "grant" powers , maybe it simply revealed a hidden potential lying inside them all.
Not a magical blessing.
Not a mutation.
Just the absolute peak of what a human body could become , unlocked.
Wolf didn’t know the exact truth. No one did.
But he couldn’t help wondering whether, by studying themselves, they might eventually learn how to guide the unlocking of a superhuman trait.
’Now his body can take quite a beating,’ Wolf thought, glancing over at Joe, ’but I still don’t think it’s a good idea for him to get used to getting hit like that. Maybe at some point he has to test the limits of the power... but he needs to know how to use it, not just tank everything.’
When Joe returned, several fighters walked over to him, patting him on the back or nodding at him with newfound respect. They had seen how he walked into the fight area, blood-soaked and wild-eyed, fists drenched in crimson. They didn’t know the details , but they knew he hadn’t gone down easily.
Joe dropped into a seat beside Wolf and let out a massive sigh.
"That... hurt... that really hurt..." Joe groaned, grabbing the side of his head.
Wolf snorted a laugh.
"Well, no wonder. You’re still going to feel pain," he said. "Even if you were bluffing down there, telling them it didn’t hurt... What? Were you trying to look cool?"
Joe’s face flushed bright red.
"Arghhh, shut up..." he muttered. "You know exactly what unlocked inside me. And as you said, it doesn’t really stop the pain. My body is amazing, yeah, and it can withstand it... but it still hurts."
He exhaled again, gripping his ribs gently.
"I have to tell myself it doesn’t hurt. Otherwise I’d curl up and quit. At least I’ll be fine by the next fight."
He leaned his head back.
"I can’t wait to tell Max everything we’ve been through. This... this really hurts."
"Right, right," Wolf replied lightly. "Don’t worry too much. I’m sure we’ll get paid well for this. Knowing Max, if everything goes well, he might even give us a percentage of the winnings today."
Neither of them knew how much money had been handed to Chad to bet on them. But judging from the venue, from the crowd, from the stakes involved...
Both boys imagined a payday big enough to make all this bruising worthwhile.
The next set of fights began. They were the kind of matches that would normally make Joe nervous , fast fighters, heavy hitters, unpredictable movements , but right now, he had time to rest.
Enough time for his body to recover. Enough time for the Vow to work.
While Joe healed, he and Wolf remained mostly silent.
Until Wolf suddenly turned to him and said:
"I give you a U rank."
Joe blinked twice.
"A U rank...? I haven’t heard that one before."
He knew about Wolf’s ranking system. Everyone close to Max, everyone at the Fortis Group, everyone connected to the Billion Bloodline , they all knew it. Wolf’s rankings determined pay, positions, even respect. Joe had heard many letters before...
But never U.
"Most of my rankings come from a rare card game," Wolf explained. "But this one? It’s pulled from the UK school system."
Joe tilted his head.
"U ranking is the lowest grade you can get," Wolf said.
"...Oh. Thanks," Joe muttered sarcastically. "Appreciate it. What did I do to deserve that one?"
Wolf smirked , clearly expecting that reaction.
"It has another meaning," he continued. "In test results, U means ungradable. It means the work was so far off the criteria that they couldn’t even mark it. But I’m using it differently."
He pointed at Joe’s ribs.
"You, my friend, are ungradable because of your special trait. It’s powerful enough to turn the tables in almost any situation I can imagine you in. Your endurance... your recovery... it’s something that changes battles completely."
Joe’s eyes widened slightly.
"Joe," Wolf said quietly, "you might think you’re the weakest of the rangers... but I don’t think that’s true anymore."
Wolf stood up. His name hadn’t been called yet, but something in his stance shifted.
And just as he rose, The giant screen flickered.
And Wolf’s picture appeared.