The academy's shadow stretched long behind Ryu as he made his way toward the plains. Neo-Tokyo's skyline glittered in the distance, its towers pulsing with Aethrium energy that flowed through every circuit, every light, every heartbeat of the massive city. Here, in the space between civilization and the ancient impact site, the world felt different—quieter, more dangerous.
Ryu adjusted his backpack and quickened his pace. The sooner he reached home, the sooner he could lock himself away from the world's judgment. His parents would ask about his day with forced cheerfulness, pretending not to notice the fresh bruises or the way his shoulders had learned to curve inward, protecting what little dignity he had left.
The path wound through scattered boulders and weathered stone formations, remnants of the great impact that had reshaped not just the landscape, but the very essence of life itself. Aethrium fragments, some no larger than pebbles, others the size of cars, lay half-buried in the earth. Most had been harvested decades ago for research and industrial use, but smaller pieces still surfaced after heavy rains, glowing faintly in the twilight.
Ryu was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed the sound of footsteps behind him.
Almost.
He turned to see five familiar figures emerging from behind the larger boulders, their movements coordinated with the precision of predators who had planned this moment carefully. His stomach dropped as recognition set in—Daichi Yamamoto, the academy's star fire manipulator, flanked by his usual crew of sycophants and sadists.
"Well, well," Daichi's voice carried across the empty plains, dripping with false friendliness. "If it isn't the academy's biggest disappointment. Did you really think you could avoid us forever, Ember Boy?"
Ryu's hand instinctively went to his phone, but Kenji Frost was already there, ice crystals forming around the device and rendering it useless. The blue-haired boy's smile was as cold as his power.
"No calling for help today," Kenji said, his breath visible in the suddenly frigid air around him. "Just you, us, and a nice, private conversation."
Hiroshi Earthshaper stepped forward, the ground beneath his feet reshaping itself with each movement. At A-rank, he was the strongest of the group, his power capable of moving mountains if he chose. Against Ryu's pathetic flame, he might as well have been a god.
"You know what your problem is, Takeshi?" Daichi continued, flames beginning to dance around his fingertips. "You exist in our world. You breathe our air. You take up space that could be used by someone who actually matters."
The other two—Masa and Jin, both enhancement-type fighters with B-rank strength—cracked their knuckles in unison. They didn't need flashy elemental powers; their Aethrium-enhanced bodies could punch through concrete.
"P-please," Ryu stammered, hating himself for the tremor in his voice. "I haven't done anything to you. I just want to go home."
"That's exactly the problem," Daichi snarled, his flames roaring higher. "You want. You think you deserve things. You think you have the right to want anything in a world where power determines worth."
What followed was not a fight.
It was systematic destruction.
Daichi's flames came first, controlled burns that seared flesh without killing—he was too smart to leave permanent evidence. The fire licked across Ryu's arms and face, each touch a lesson in agony that left him gasping and stumbling.
Kenji's ice followed, sharp crystals that cut shallow but painful wounds, precise enough to cause maximum suffering without hitting anything vital. The contrast between burning and freezing sent Ryu's nervous system into chaos.
"Show us that famous flame of yours, Ember Boy!" Daichi taunted as Ryu desperately tried to summon even his pathetic spark. "Come on! Fight back!"
But terror had frozen Ryu's already minimal power. His hands shook as he tried to concentrate, tried to find even the smallest ember within himself, but there was nothing. There had never been anything.
Hiroshi raised his hand, and the earth itself became a weapon. Stone restraints erupted from the ground, holding Ryu in place as Masa and Jin took their turns. Enhanced fists broke ribs with surgical precision. Each blow was calculated, designed to cause maximum pain while keeping their victim conscious and aware.
"You know what the funny thing is?" Daichi continued his monologue between bouts of torture. "My little sister is only twelve, and she's already D-rank. My twelve-year-old sister has more power in her pinky than you have in your entire body. How does that make you feel?"
Ryu couldn't answer. Blood filled his mouth, and his vision was starting to blur. The world tilted dangerously as his body began to shut down from the trauma.
"I asked you a question!" Daichi's flames roared higher, and this time they weren't controlled. Third-degree burns blossomed across Ryu's chest as he screamed.
The beating continued for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. When they finally grew bored, Ryu was barely conscious, held upright only by Hiroshi's stone bonds.
"You know what?" Daichi said, studying their handiwork with satisfaction. "I don't think you've learned your lesson yet. Maybe if we leave you out here overnight, you'll have time to really think about your place in the world."
Kenji laughed, the sound sharp as breaking glass. "If the exposure doesn't get him, maybe one of the wild Aethrium beasts will. Either way, problem solved."
Hiroshi released his restraints, and Ryu collapsed to the ground like a broken doll. The five bullies stood over him for a moment, admiring their work, before walking away into the gathering darkness.
"Oh, and Takeshi?" Daichi called over his shoulder. "If you somehow survive this and think about telling anyone what happened... remember that we know where you live. We know where your parents work. Accidents happen to powerless people all the time."
Their laughter echoed across the plains long after they disappeared.
Ryu lay in the dirt, each breath a monumental effort. His ribs were broken, his burns were severe, and internal bleeding was slowly shutting down his organs. In the distance, he could see the lights of Neo-Tokyo, a reminder of the world that had rejected him so completely.
"Mom... Dad..." he whispered to the darkening sky. "I'm sorry I couldn't... be stronger..."
His blood seeped into the ancient earth beneath him, drawn downward by gravity and the strange magnetic properties that still lingered around the old impact sites. Drop by drop, it filtered through soil and stone, following paths carved by sixty-five million years of geological change.
And far below, in a cavern that had never known sunlight, something stirred.
The fragment was massive—easily the size of a building, its crystalline structure more complex and pure than any Aethrium sample in recorded history. It had been waiting, dormant, since the day it fell from the stars carrying the blueprint for humanity's transformation.
But it had been incomplete. Missing the final component needed to fulfill its true purpose.
Blood. Human blood. Not just any human, but one whose genetic structure matched the precise parameters encoded within the crystal's quantum matrix sixty-five million years ago.
Ryu's blood touched the fragment's surface, and the reaction was instantaneous.
Power erupted upward through the earth like a geyser of pure energy. The ground beneath Ryu began to glow with brilliant blue-white light as Aethrium energy more concentrated than anything in human history surged into his dying body.
His wounds began to heal—not gradually, but with visible speed. Broken bones fused themselves back together. Burned flesh regenerated without scarring. Internal bleeding stopped and reversed itself as his cellular structure was rewritten at the molecular level.
But the changes went far deeper than mere healing.
His blood, now infused with pure Aethrium energy, carried power through his veins like liquid lightning. His nervous system rewired itself to handle energy loads that would have killed anyone else. His brain expanded its capacity to process information and power flows that defied every known law of physics.
"What... what is happening to me?!" Ryu gasped as consciousness returned with overwhelming intensity.
The fragment beneath the earth pulsed once more, and knowledge flooded his mind—not memories, but understanding. The truth about the meteor. The truth about humanity's transformation. The truth about what he was becoming.
For the first time in human history, an X-rank was awakening.
The Aethrium classification system went from F-rank to S-rank, with theoretical discussions of a mythical X-rank that could reshape reality itself. Those discussions had always assumed such power was impossible—that the human body simply couldn't contain or channel that much energy.
They had been wrong.
Ryu stood, his eyes now glowing with Aethrium energy so intense it distorted the air around him. The very fabric of space-time seemed to bend in his presence, and the ground beneath his feet began to crack from the sheer force of his aura.
In Neo-Tokyo, every Aethrium detector in the city began screaming warnings. Emergency sirens wailed as sensors registered power levels that broke their measurement scales. The Aethrium Council's headquarters erupted into chaos as their most sophisticated equipment simply displayed "ERROR - READINGS EXCEED MAXIMUM PARAMETERS."
Ryu looked back toward the city where his tormentors had returned, probably laughing about what they had done to him. His expression was calm, almost serene, but the power radiating from him made the air itself tremble.
"They wanted to see real power," he said, his voice carrying across the plains with unnatural clarity. "I'll show them what real power looks like."
The meteor that had changed humanity's fate sixty-five million years ago hadn't been an accident. It had been sent by a civilization that had transcended physical existence, seeded across the galaxy to prepare suitable species for ascension.
Humanity had been judged and found wanting—too violent, too primitive, too obsessed with hierarchy and power over others.
But there was always one. One individual in each species who could carry the true gift. One who had suffered enough, endured enough, been broken enough to understand what power should really be used for.
Ryu began walking back toward Neo-Tokyo, each step leaving glowing footprints in the earth. Behind him, the ancient fragment pulsed with satisfaction, its purpose finally fulfilled after eons of waiting.
The age of human limitation was over.
The age of the X-rank had begun.
To be continued in Chapter 3: The Reckoning...