Velrith burned in chaos.
Not the ordinary chaos of clashing commerce or bureaucratic red tape, but a scream of stone and steel bending beneath forces it was never meant to contain. The Rift tore open near the northern sector, a yawning black maw that swallowed the streetlights and spat forth creatures of nightmare. Their limbs were twisted, their eyes like molten metal, and they moved with a hunger that was terrifyingly methodical. Civilians fled blindly, screaming, their terror mingling with the rumble of collapsing masonry.
Lucien Rael stepped onto the cracked pavement with the poise of a man born to command. Every gaze in the square turned toward him — S+ rank, flawless, untouchable. His black coat, tailored to exact perfection, flared around him as if to shield the world itself. Not a hair out of place. Not a muscle misaligned. The chaos of Velrith bowed to his presence.
The monsters froze at the edge of their momentum, instinctive hesitation in the presence of him. Reverence, fear, or some unnameable recognition — it was impossible to say. One heartbeat. That was all Lucien needed.
"Caius, flank left. Seraphine, predict their next move." His voice was calm, measured, a metronome cutting through the pandemonium.
"Yes, S+," Seraphine Vale replied, her eyes sharp, scanning the battlefield like a living map of probability. With Chrono-Sight, she glimpsed the future in fleeting shards — every monstrous swing, every crumbling building — and calculated their team's counterstrike.
Orin Kaelith crouched behind a crumbling wall, a sphere of localized gravity distorting around his hands. He hurled a boulder the size of a small car at a hulking brume, watching it arc perfectly into the monster's skull. "We've got this," he muttered, his voice void of fear, though the city screamed around him. Faith in Lucien ran through them like lifeblood.
Lucien's gaze swept the battlefield, noting every angle, every potential threat. And then he felt it: a flare unlike any monster's, a golden heat cutting across the chaos.
Kael Ryven.
He appeared at the far side of the square, his team in disorganized formation, flames licking the edges of his gauntlets. His aura was raw, untamed — an S-rank force that was impossible to ignore. His golden hair shimmered under the Rift's eerie light, and every movement radiated confidence, arrogance, and danger. He was everything Lucien was not: impulsive, reckless, human. And maddeningly alive.
Kael's gaze met Lucien's, sharp as molten steel. "You're late, Rael," he called, voice carrying across the battlefield. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Thought the city might need a hero other than you for once."
Lucien's lips barely twitched — not a smile, not anger. Just… awareness. A spark of something he refused to name. Dangerous. Forbidden.
The Rift shuddered, and the monsters surged again. Lucien's eyes narrowed. He raised a hand, shadow coiling around his fingers, a ripple of energy that bent reality in the air itself. The first brume swung its claw, and it was as if time itself hesitated. The attack faltered, redirected by his dominion.
Kael, undeterred, ignited his flames, letting them blaze along his gauntlets in brilliant arcs. He leapt into the fray, scattering smaller abominations with Solar Flare. The heat singed the asphalt, black smoke curling toward the Rift.
For a heartbeat, they moved like opposite poles: shadow and fire, control and chaos, untouchable precision against unrestrained fury. And in that instant, as the city burned and the monsters roared, their rivalry became alive — an electric current that neither wanted to sever.
"Keep your head, Kael. You'll hurt someone — maybe yourself," Lucien said, voice low but cutting through the din.
Kael's grin widened. "Wouldn't be the first time you almost let me die, Rael. Don't act like you care."
Lucien ignored him, eyes scanning, calculating, already three steps ahead. But beneath the perfection, something stirred — the faintest tremor of unease, a whisper of the darkness he buried deep inside.
This was only the beginning.
The war for Velrith had begun.