The tension between the men was inescapable. With one of their own mysteriously torn from their ranks, the Sailor Soldiers were weary to continue training under Maddox. However, while Maddox had seriously lost the trust and respect that he had barely sufficed to earn, it was Cole who was secretly scorned at.

Used to resting on a five legged house, the foundation of the Soldiers' morale was on the verge of collapse and no one was willing to pick up the pieces. Matt's location was unbeknownst to all, but Cole hoped with all of his heart that it was not in vain.

It was also Cole who soon took it upon himself to become powerful enough to fill the gap Mars rudely left behind. His training became exponentially more intense and his determination and drive was indisputably the most valiant.

The room was filled with a haze that cooled his inferno of a body. With his scepter clutched firmly in his grip, Cole summoned an overwhelming blaze of energy at the metallic sphere. In this exercise, Cole was required to destroy the large ornament in with one, quite potent, blow. Every time he would make an impact on it, however, it would immediately recover to full strength. Maddox's new twist on this activity, to Cole's partial chagrin, was that this sphere was only as powerful as Cole's most recent, personal best.

A long stream of sweat trickled down his throat as the sphere hovered tauntingly before him. Cole could only give a crazed glare of fatigue; five hours had passed.

"Saturn…," he groaned, "Nuclear Armageddon!"

The small replication of Saturn sprouted from his palm as Cole angrily thrust it at the metal target. It was time for Cole to demonstrate his newest talents. In the prime of a second Cole quickly concentrated on the explosive ray of energy he had released. A neon glow glazed the surface of his hand; Cole now had an entirely new level of control of kinetic energy. With a swift movement of his hand, Cole could tame as well as contain the blast. He slyly directed attack to the center of the unfortunate sphere and quickly before impact he shielded himself from the backlash with a mysterious dome he mustered from the ground.

The Armageddon Missile devoured the entire chamber with deadly radiation and nuclear rays. The dome shielded Cole protectively from his own assault. When the right moment approached Cole clutched his neon fist shut. All symptoms of the blast vanished at once.

Cole had shut his eyes optimistically, hoping that he had crushed the annoyance once and for all. Slowly he let them open. Alas, he had failed once again. The sixth hour was approaching. Virtually in tears, he let the dome shatter into pieces.

He had made a silent agreement with himself that he would reserve the purity chalice as a last resort, but he was becoming increasingly desperate. The fatigue of this entire event was unbearable and he would gladly take any other task over this. Against his better judgment he threw his hands towards the heavens.

The dimensional barriers between the worlds abruptly ripped apart, and the traditional bolt of lightning pushed itself beneath its conjuror's flesh. His white soldier uniform collapsed to the ground, exposing his raw body as his large muscles pulsated under the pressure. The long white gloves began to wrap themselves around Cole's wrists and the heavenly wings also began to sprout from his back and flap around his bare corpse.

It was at this moment that he could feel the hands of death around his neck. It snapped with ease and he fell into the ground.

In an instant the chamber faded away into a very small well-lit room where Maddox tended to the lifeless boy. He held his head off the ground and injected his torn neck with a strange serum. Maddox positioned his large hand over Cole's heart and seemed to be thrusting life back into his veins. With a mother's precision, Maddox gently realigned Cole on the ground and brushed his damp hair from his eyes. Quickly Maddox stood back up and rushed to the back of the room inconspicuously.

Cole opened his eyes and touched the side of his neck; it was completely normal. He felt as if he arisen from a deep sleep and soon noticed Maddox looking down at him with a suspiciously cold glance.

"I'm afraid to say that you failed your task, Cole." Maddox muttered "But you knew that." Cole nodded shamefully.

"I am so sorry Maddox." Cole pleaded "I failed myself when I failed to exceed my current best. That was absolutely disgraceful," Cole bitterly spat "and it will not happen again."

Maddox approached Cole with a disciplined amount of concern. "Cole, I am not going to lie to you, you did exceed your last known best." He paused "In fact you increased by three point four times. You failed when you merely collapsed in the brink of it."

Cole's expression was overcome with utter hysteria. Tears uncontrollably rolled down his cheeks. "Ma-Maddox! If I became stronger than I ever have why did that damn sphere not explode? WHY?"

"Cole, I did not want to end your session until you were at a certain level of strength---"

"NO! You lied Maddox! I was going at that damn Christmas tree ornament for hours on end! A-And you were just going to let me go at it for as long as you wanted! I-I…" Cole was on the verge of a complete breakdown. "I HATE YOU! I hate fucking everybody now!" Cole roared "And everybody fucking hates me! I cannot take it anymore! I am falling apart, my team—my family is falling apart and when I am trying to become strong enough for all of us you just screw with me!" Cole rose from the ground angrily. "I'll meet you in hell!"

Maddox merely did not bother to reason with Cole in this state. Luckily it was not the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last in the final moments of this world altering training.