Chapter 1 — The Day of Awakening
The world had changed.
Powers were no longer fantasy. Every child, when they reached fourteen, stood on the edge of revelation. Some would awaken with fire, steel, wind, or light. Others with subtler gifts — healing, barriers, illusions. The strong rose. The weak became shadows. And corruption thrived between the two.
Hikari Renka stood among the crowd of new students, the white walls of the Academy gleaming like a shrine. He wore the plain uniform of the orphans, black trimmed with gray. Nothing about him stood out. That was how he wanted it.
No one knew.
No one could know.
Renka had awakened years ago. Long before this day. Long before he was supposed to.
His true power was a darkness without end. Eternal Darkness.
It whispered at the edges of his mind, silent, endless. He could reach into others, steal what they felt, and shape it into crystal hearts. Joy, grief, love, hatred — all could be taken, eaten, saved, shattered. And the world never noticed.
If he wished, no one ever would.
Beside him, Mizuki Aoi smiled. Her black hair caught the sun, her eyes alive with fire. Daughter of wealth, born to a powerful family, she shone like the very thing Renka could never hold. They had grown together, despite their difference. She was light. He was shadow. Yet she clung to him, and he followed her.
"Ready, Renka?" she asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," he said, voice flat.
Today the Academy would awaken their powers officially. The ceremony, the test, the judgment. The government watched every spark.
One by one, the students stepped into the circle. Energy burned, elements bloomed, cheers rang. A boy with lightning, a girl with steel, another with wind. A ranking flashed over each head — C, B, A, S. Strength meant future. Weakness meant chains.
Then Aoi stepped forward. Flames curled from her hands, brilliant, alive. The crystal above her burned crimson. S-Class. Fire.
The hall erupted.
Renka's turn came last. He stepped into the circle, let the false light wash over him, and drew only what he wished them to see. The crystal glowed faint, calm. Support-type. Boost ability. A-Class.
Murmurs spread. A respectable gift, strong enough, but not divine. Not fire. Not eternity.
Renka lowered his eyes, hiding the truth.
Inside, the Eternal Darkness stirred.
Hungry. Silent. Waiting.
And so the game began.