The grand hall was a cavern of obsidian and gold, lit by torches that burned with a strange, flickering blue flame. Ren felt the cold of the stone floor through his thin sneakers. Everyone was watching. The King sat on a throne that seemed to be made of dragon bone, his eyes sharp and unforgiving.
"Step forward," the King commanded, his voice echoing against the high ceiling.
The three bullies—Kaito, Lucas, and Riven—didn't wait. They pushed their way to the front. Kaito, always the leader, stepped up to the glowing pedestal first. He looked back at Ren and the others with a smirk that said he already knew he was better than them. He placed his hand on the Stone of Truth.
The stone didn't just glow; it roared. A violent, scorching red light filled the hall, making the guards shield their eyes.
"Kaito!" the Head Summoner shouted, his voice trembling with excitement. "A power level of 4,952! An amplitude of Fire! Truly, a warrior born for the front lines!"
Kaito puffed out his chest. He looked at Lucas and Riven, who followed quickly. Lucas's hand brought out a swirling green light of Air with a power of 2,221, and Riven summoned a steady blue flow of Water at 2,501. They weren't as strong as Kaito, but the King nodded in approval. They were usable tools.
Then came John. He was quiet, his face pale, but when he touched the stone, a heavy brown light signaled an Earth power of 3,000. The soldiers whispered to each other—this group of students was becoming one of the strongest summoned batches in a century.
Then, Miya stepped forward.
The atmosphere in the room shifted. It felt as though the air itself was bowing to her. When her fingers touched the obsidian, the hall vanished in a flash of pure, blinding white. It was like a second sun had been born inside the castle.
"Gods have mercy!" the Summoner cried, falling to his knees. "Power Level: 10,050! An amplitude of Rare Light! This... this is the level of an Elite Knight from the age of legends! Only two people in our history have ever touched this number!"
The King stood up from his throne, his eyes wide with greed and hope. "A Saintess," he whispered. "A goddess among mortals."
Kaito's face turned a dark, ugly shade of purple. He had expected to be the king of this world, but Miya had doubled his power without even trying. He glared at her back, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. Jealousy was already poisoning the "Hero" team.
Sera followed, her power level hitting 4,500 with Elite Healing magic. The kingdom had found its protectors. They had found their hope.
"And now, the final one," the King said, his voice turning cold as he looked at Ren.
Ren walked forward. The students—his classmates—looked at him. Some were still high on their own power; others, like Lucas, were already snickering. Ren felt the weight of their judgment. He reached out and touched the stone.
The stone did nothing.
A faint, dull grey light flickered deep inside the rock, looking like a dying spark in a pile of ash. The Summoner leaned in close, his face twisting into a mask of pure disgust.
"Ren," the Summoner spat the name like it was poison. "Amplitude... none. He has no affinity for magic. And his power level... it is 120."
A silence deeper than the grave filled the hall. Then, the laughter started. It began with Lucas and Riven, then spread to the other students who were desperate to feel superior.
"120?" Kaito laughed, the jealousy he felt toward Miya being redirected as hate toward Ren. "I have almost five thousand! He's not a hero. He's a bug."
"Your Majesty," the Summoner said, turning to the King. "This is a defect. A 'Null.' His power is lower than a common child of this world. To waste our mana and resources on him is an insult to the ritual."
The King's face was like stone. He walked down the stairs, his heavy armor clanking. He stopped inches from Ren, looking down at him as if he were a piece of trash stuck to his boot.
"You are a mistake," the King said. The words were quiet, but they cut deeper than any blade. "We summoned Heroes. We summoned legends to save our people from the Demon Lord. We did not summon a useless boy who cannot even light a candle."
"I... I can still try," Ren whispered, his voice cracking. "I can train harder than them."
"Train?" the King sneered. "You cannot train a rock to fly, boy. To keep you here would be a waste of our food and our time. We have no room for defects in this castle."
The King turned to the guards. "Remove the Null. Strip him of the summoning robe. Take him to the gates of the Dead Forest and cast him out. If he survives the night, it is by the whim of the gods. But he shall never set foot in this kingdom again."
"No! Wait!" Ren cried out as two massive guards grabbed his arms. Their grip was like iron, crushing his skin.
He looked at his classmates for help. John looked away, ashamed to watch. Sera was busy listening to the priests. Miya... Ren looked at Miya. She was standing in her golden light, the center of everyone's world. She saw him being dragged away. For a second, her eyes met his—and then she looked down at her own hands. She chose the King. She chose the power.
"Let me go!" Ren struggled, his sneakers squeaking on the marble floor.
The guards dragged him out of the hall and through the long, dark corridors of the palace. They didn't speak to him. To them, he was already dead. They reached the massive, iron-bound outer gates. Beyond them, the sky was a bruised purple, and the trees looked like twisted skeletons reaching for the moon.
"Here is your new home, defect," one guard said. He gave Ren a violent kick to the stomach, sending him flying out into the dirt and mud.
The gates slammed shut. The sound of the heavy locks sliding into place echoed through the silent forest.
Ren lay in the mud, gasping for air, his hands bleeding from the fall. He was alone in a world of monsters with a power level of 120. He looked at the closed gate, then at his own trembling hands.
The "fake" smile he always used at school slowly returned to his face, but this time, it was different. It was cold. It was the smile of someone who had truly lost everything and had nothing left to fear.
"120," Ren whispered, standing up in the darkness. "You think that's nothing? I've survived on less my whole life."
He turned his back on the castle and walked into the dark trees.