The old clock on the wall ticked loudly.
Tick.Tick.Tick.
Kenji Watanabe paused at the entrance of the small wooden house, his hand hovering over the sliding door. The sky outside had already darkened, the last traces of sunset swallowed by the night. A faint chill lingered in the air.
He was late.
Again.
Slowly, Kenji slid the door open.
The smell of warm rice and simmering soup drifted out, comforting yet heavy. Inside, the lights were dim, but the room was clean and orderly. His grandparents sat at the low table—his grandfather reading an old newspaper, his grandmother folding laundry with steady, practiced movements.
"You're late," his grandfather said without looking up.
Kenji lowered his head. "Sorry."
No shouting followed. No anger. Only a quiet sigh.
"Go wash your hands," his grandmother said gently. "Dinner's still warm."
Kenji nodded and hurried inside.
This was his life.
Simple. Quiet. Unremarkable.
And to the outside world—worthless.The World of War Spirits
On the Skybound Continent, martial arts reigned supreme.
The strong walked above the clouds, commanding fear and respect, while the weak struggled at the bottom, crushed beneath invisible pressure. Strength decided everything—status, dignity, survival.
At the heart of martial cultivation lay War Spirits.
War Spirits were innate manifestations of the soul. When a cultivator opened their Spirit Gate, their War Spirit would awaken, granting them power beyond ordinary humans.
Some manifested as:
Blazing swords
Colossal beasts
Elemental forces
Ancient bloodline phantoms
Dragons. Tigers. Spears. Flames. Storms.
No two were exactly the same.
War Spirits were divided into seven ranks:
Red → Orange → Yellow → Green → Cyan → Blue → Purple
Red-rank spirits were common, barely above ordinary humans.
Purple-rank spirits were legends.
Between them lay an insurmountable gulf.The Cruel Truth
Without awakening a War Spirit, one could never truly step onto the martial path.
Effort meant little. Talent meant everything.
And Kenji Watanabe had none.A Public Failure
Kenji attended a normal public school in the outskirts of Hoshino City.
No ancient formations.No hidden elders.No sacred altars.
Just cracked training grounds, outdated manuals, and instructors who taught the same basic drills year after year.
Spirit Gate awakenings occurred at age fifteen.
By sixteen, most students had already awakened.
Kenji had not.
At school, whispers followed him.
"Still nothing?""He's already sixteen.""The Watanabe kid is a Null."
Even students weaker than him physically looked down on him.
Teachers stopped calling on him.
Classmates stopped hiding their mockery.
Kenji endured it all in silence.The Watanabe Household
Kenji lived with his grandparents while attending school.
They were old—but not weak.
His grandfather still walked every morning, back slightly bent but steps steady. His grandmother's hair was silver, her hands wrinkled, yet her eyes remained sharp.
They never treated Kenji as useless.
They never praised him excessively either.
They simply lived.
His parents were alive.
They were not heartless.
But they were far away—working, struggling, trying to rebuild their lives after years of failure. Kenji would eventually return to them.
Just not yet.That Night
After dinner, Kenji returned to his small room.
Bare walls.A thin mattress.A single desk cluttered with old textbooks and training notes.
He sat down, clenched his fists, and exhaled slowly.
"Again… nothing."
He had tried countless times to sense the Spirit Gate.
Meditation.Breathing techniques.Pain tolerance drills.
Nothing responded.What the World Doesn't Know
War Spirits are reflections of the soul.
And Kenji's soul had been tempered by years of humiliation, restraint, and silent endurance.
He was not empty.
He was sealed.Elsewhere — The Strong Are Born
Far from Kenji's quiet home, in the Aoyama District, a grand stone altar stood beneath the open sky.
Runes carved into the ground glowed with blinding light.
Several youths sat cross-legged atop the altar, their bodies surrounded by swirling energy. Elders stood around them, casting hand seals as spiritual pressure filled the air.
"Open the Spirit Gate!"
An elder roared.
Beams of light descended from the heavens, enveloping the youths one by one.
Gasps erupted.
"A Yellow-rank Blade Spirit!""Another Green-rank Beast Spirit!"
A beautiful girl stood at the center, her figure bathed in crimson-gold radiance. Behind her, the phantom of a Flame Phoenix spread its wings, releasing overwhelming pressure.
Cheers shook the altar.
"She's awakened a Green-rank War Spirit!""The Takahashi family will rise!"
She smiled.
The world recognized her.Back to Kenji
Kenji lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
Outside, the wind rustled the trees.
He clenched his jaw.
"One day…"
No one heard him.
But the silence did
Kenji Watanabe went to sleep that night as:
A failure
A nobody
A boy without a War Spirit
The world had already decided his fate.
It was wrong.