The city of Aurelia pulsed like a living beast.
Screens towered above the skyline, replaying the moment again and again—her moment. A girl, once mocked and trampled, catching a soldier's baton with one hand before hurling him away like a broken doll. The crowd had gasped. Phones had risen. Streams had gone viral.
And Seraphina Vale, the rat girl who had been invisible her entire life, was now the girl the city could not stop watching.
But Seraphina herself barely noticed the spectacle. Her focus was on the glowing phone in her trembling hands.
[Quest Progress: 978 / 1000 Followers][Authority Reward: Level 1 Influence Aura Pending]
Her breath came uneven. The ache in her body had dulled into a strange warmth, as though the system itself wrapped her wounds in invisible fire.
"What… what am I becoming?" she whispered.
"Seraphina Vale."
The voice slid through the smoke like a knife. Familiar. Sharp. Cruel.
Her stomach clenched. She knew that voice too well.
From the haze of tear gas, a figure strode forward. His followers' drones orbited him in perfect formation, casting beams of neon light across the ruined street. His tailored coat shimmered like liquid silver. His smirk was practiced, flawless, made for the cameras.
Damien Reeve.
Seraphina's chest tightened. The boy she had once whispered dreams to under broken streetlamps now stood before her as her declared enemy.
The system's golden letters blazed again:
[First Rival Identified: Damien Reeve][Crown Bearer Detected – Authority Level 3][Warning: Rival possesses 2.8M Followers]
Her throat went dry.
Two point eight million.
She barely had one thousand.
Damien stopped a few feet away, tilting his head as if studying an insect. His eyes flicked to the glowing phone in her hand, then back to her face.
"Well," he drawled, voice magnified for his audience, "this is a surprise. The rat learned a new trick."
His drones circled, broadcasting his words to millions of screens. Comments scrolled live across the air, projected from the swarm:
Who is she?Did she hack a system?Rat girl thinks she's special lolCrush her, Damien!
Seraphina's fists clenched until her nails dug into her palms.
Damien's smirk deepened. "Tell me, Vale. Do you actually think you can rise above your station? That gaining a few pity-follows makes you my equal?"
She said nothing. Her silence was her shield.
But inside, her blood burned.
[Quest Progress: 999 / 1000 Followers]
The number blinked, one short of the first reward. One heartbeat away from power.
Damien snapped his fingers. One of his drones projected an image above them: her, on her knees at the rooftop party earlier that night, covered in blood and champagne.
The crowd jeered.
Seraphina's chest twisted. The humiliation she thought she had left behind blazed anew, now magnified across the city for entertainment.
"Pathetic," Damien said. His voice was silk dipped in poison. "You'll always be beneath me."
Something inside her snapped.
"No," she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, but steady. "Not anymore."
[Quest Complete: 1000 / 1000 Followers][Reward Unlocked: Level 1 Influence Aura]
Golden fire exploded across her skin. The world seemed to bend.
Her eyes widened as threads of light laced through the air, connecting her to the glowing phones of her followers. She could feel them—thousands of strangers watching, judging, hoping. Their attention wasn't a burden. It was fuel.
The aura wrapped her like a crown of flame.
Damien's smirk faltered for the first time.
"What trick is this?" he demanded, his voice sharp now.
Seraphina raised her head, golden light reflecting in her eyes. Her pain had dulled, her cuts sealed, her fear burned away. For the first time, she felt taller than him.
Her words rolled out, low but clear:
"You humiliated me. You made me bleed. But now every eye that once mocked me will see you fall."
The comment streams flickered with shock:
She's glowing!Is this… another Crown Bearer?This is insane—Damien finally has competition!
Damien's drones swiveled, capturing her aura from every angle. His jaw tightened. "You dare challenge me, Vale?"
Seraphina's lips curved, not in a smile, but something sharper. "No. I promise to dethrone you."
Damien's aura surged. His silver drones converged, fusing into a gleaming staff. He grasped it, and the crowd screamed as arcs of neon energy lanced outward.
[Authority Skill: Viral Domination – Level 3]
The air rippled. Seraphina staggered as the weight of his influence crashed against her chest. Every word he spoke suddenly echoed louder in her mind, pressing against her thoughts, demanding she kneel.
"You're nothing without me," Damien intoned. "Your followers are borrowed pity. Mine are eternal."
Her knees buckled. Sweat poured down her back. The system screamed warnings.
[Warning: Influence Gap Detected][Survive Damien Reeve's Domination for 60 seconds][Failure Penalty: System Reset]
Sixty seconds.
If she broke before then, the Crown System would abandon her. She would lose everything—her strength, her chance, her one spark of freedom.
Leon's voice echoed in her memory. "Sera, what's happening?"
She grit her teeth. Not again. Not this time.
"I won't bow."
Her aura flared brighter. The weight pressing her down cracked like glass.
[Timer: 54 seconds remaining…]
Damien snarled, the perfect mask of charm fracturing. "Stubborn rat."
He raised his staff, neon threads whipping outward. They latched onto nearby drones, hijacking the feeds. Screens across the city filled with his face, his voice. His follower count surged higher, the number glowing above him like a crown of stars.
[Damien Reeve – 3,000,421 Followers]
The air thickened again, crushing. Seraphina's chest screamed for air.
[Timer: 39 seconds remaining…]
She dropped to one knee. Her phone trembled in her grip.
"Say it," Damien growled. "Say you are nothing."
Her vision blurred. Pain seared her skull. But through the haze, she saw something—golden threads connecting her to her followers, glowing stronger the more she resisted.
They weren't laughing. Not all of them. Some were whispering her name. Some were cheering.
Rise.
Fight.
Don't give up.
Her pulse thundered. She clutched those threads with her will, pulling, anchoring herself to their voices.
"I… am not nothing."
Her aura detonated like a sun.
[Timer: 0 seconds. Survival Complete.][Bonus Reward: Skill Unlocked – Voice of Defiance]
Her phone flashed:
[Voice of Defiance: Converts enemy influence into follower growth when resisting domination.]
Damien staggered back as golden sparks ripped free from his aura, drawn into hers. His follower count dipped, hers surged.
[Seraphina Vale – 12,844 Followers]
The crowd gasped.
She rose slowly, golden flames licking her skin, her gaze burning into Damien's.
"This is my voice," she said. Her tone carried, louder than the chaos, louder than his domination. "And I will make the world listen."
The streets erupted.
Damien's face twisted. "You dare steal from me?"
His staff blazed brighter, neon tendrils coiling like serpents. He lunged forward, power crackling.
Seraphina braced herself—
And the system screamed again:
[Warning: Rival preparing Authority Skill – Viral Execution][Immediate Danger: Fatal Strike Imminent]
Her breath caught. Fatal?
Her aura flared desperately. She raised her arms, golden light gathering—
The strike fell.
The world exploded in silver and gold.
When the dust cleared, Seraphina lay on one knee, her aura flickering. Her chest burned, her lungs raw. But she was alive.
Across from her, Damien staggered, eyes wide with fury. His attack hadn't finished her.
The system chimed softly in her ear:
[Hidden Quest Unlocked: Survive Your First Rival Duel][Reward: Influence Seed – To be revealed]
Seraphina's lips curved. Not in triumph—yet—but in defiance.
The girl who once knelt in broken glass now stood unbroken, glowing, and unafraid.
For the first time in her life, she saw fear flicker in Damien's eyes.
And that was worth every drop of blood.