Astraea Combat Academy (Future Scene)
The sky above Astraea Combat Academy was the color of dying embers.
Cracks of violet lightning tore across the clouds, illuminating the shattered battlefield below. Towers that once symbolized humanity's strength now leaned like broken spears. The academy's grand coliseum a place meant for honorable duels had become a graveyard of scorched stone and twisted steel.
Students, instructors, elite knights… all lay scattered across the ground.
Some unconscious.
Some unable to move.
Some no longer breathing.
At the center of it all stood a single boy.
Thin.
Blood-soaked.
Barely standing.
Yorio.
His academy uniform was torn beyond recognition. One sleeve hung by threads. The Astraea emblem on his chest was stained so deeply red it looked painted on. Blood dripped from his fingertips, pattering onto the cracked marble beneath him.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Across from him, something enormous stirred.
A creature that should not exist in this world.
Its body was a fusion of shadow and bone, towering higher than the academy's gates. Dozens of glowing eyes opened along its torso, each one radiating malice. Jagged limbs dug into the earth, leaving trenches like claw marks across reality itself.
With every breath it took, the air trembled.
Students called it many things.
Calamity.
Abyss Spawn.
End-Class Threat.
But none of those names truly captured what it was.
It was destruction given form.
And yet…
It had stopped moving.
All of its countless eyes were fixed on the boy in front of it.
Yorio swayed slightly, as if even standing was difficult.
Honestly, it was.
His left arm hung uselessly at his side, clearly broken. One leg bent at an unnatural angle. Bruises blackened his neck. Blood ran from his forehead, slipping past his eye and down his cheek.
He looked less like a hero…
…and more like someone who should already be dead.
A gust of wind swept through the ruined courtyard, lifting dust and ash into the air.
Somewhere behind him, a surviving student whispered with trembling lips:
"W-Why… why is it not attacking…?"
Another voice answered weakly:
"Because… because he's there…"
Fear wasn't directed at the monster.
It was directed at Yorio.
From the very first day he entered Astraea Combat Academy, rumors had followed him like a shadow.
The orphan who survived an impossible disaster.
The boy who defeated the top third-year without lifting a finger.
The emotionless prodigy.
The hidden monster.
The one no one walked away from unscathed.
But none of those rumors mentioned how he looked right now.
Exhausted.
Confused.
In pain.
Yorio lifted his working hand and wiped blood from his eye. He stared at the red staining his fingers with mild annoyance, as if it were an inconvenience rather than a life-threatening condition.
Then he sighed.
A small, tired sound that somehow carried across the battlefield.
"Seriously…"
His voice was quiet.
Almost ordinary.
"I'm weak."
Silence.
Even the monster didn't move.
Somewhere behind him, a girl who had once been ranked among the academy's elite stared in disbelief.
Weak?
WEAK?
The boy standing alone against a world-ending creature… was calling himself weak?
Yorio shifted his weight.
Pain exploded through his body instantly.
His vision flickered white.
Ah.
That hurt.
A faint, translucent blue window appeared before his eyes invisible to everyone else.
⚙️ Pain Ascension System
Condition: Critical Damage Achieved
Injury Ratio: 92%
Pain Threshold: EXCEEDED
➡️ Temporary Physical Output: × 137
➡️ Defensive Resistance: × 112
➡️ Regeneration: MINIMAL
➡️ Survival Probability: Uncertain
Warning: Further damage may result in death.
Yorio stared at the numbers for a moment.
"…Only one hundred thirty-seven?"
He sounded disappointed.
Behind him, several conscious students shuddered.
They couldn't see the system.
All they saw was a boy murmuring to himself after surviving attacks that had obliterated entire squads.
The monster let out a low, grinding roar.
Space warped around its jaws as it opened its mouth. A sphere of condensed darkness began forming, swallowing light itself, an attack that had wiped out Astraea's elite defense unit minutes earlier.
Someone screamed:
"MOVE!!!"
Yorio didn't move.
Not because he was brave.
Not because he was confident.
But because moving hurt too much.
He looked up at the descending annihilation with dull eyes.
"…This again."
He lifted his broken arm slightly.
Bone grated.
Pain shot through his nerves like lightning.
The system reacted instantly.
Injury Level Increased➡️ Physical Output: × 154
The air around him distorted.
Stone cracked beneath his feet.
Wind exploded outward in a circular shockwave.
Several students were thrown backward just from the pressure.
The monster hesitated.
For the first time since it appeared…
…it showed fear.
Yorio blinked.
"Huh."
He took a small step forward.
The ground shattered under that single step.
Fragments of marble lifted into the air as if gravity had briefly forgotten how to work.
He didn't look powerful.
He didn't shout.
He didn't pose dramatically.
He just walked.
Limping.
Dragging one broken leg.
Each step left a crater.
Behind him, someone whispered in horror:
"He's… getting stronger…"
Another student choked out:
"That's not possible… he's barely alive…"
Yorio raised his hand toward the incoming sphere of darkness.
To him, it looked very large.
Very dangerous.
Very annoying.
"Can this day just end already…"
The attack struck.
Light vanished.
Sound disappeared.
The world turned black.
For a split second, everything ceased to exist.
Then
A thunderous shockwave tore the clouds apart.
The darkness shattered like glass.
At the center of the explosion stood Yorio, arm extended, body trembling violently.
Blood sprayed from new wounds across his skin.
His uniform burned away in places.
He coughed weakly.
"…Ow."
Injury Level Increased➡️ Physical Output: × 201
A ripple passed through the battlefield.
Not wind.
Not sound.
Something heavier.
The monster recoiled.
Its massive body slid backward, carving trenches into the earth.
Several of its glowing eyes dimmed.
Yorio lowered his arm slowly.
He looked more exhausted than ever.
"See…?"
he muttered faintly.
"I told you…"
He swayed.
For a terrifying moment, it looked like he would collapse.
Then he steadied himself.
"…I'm weak."
To the watching survivors, those words sounded less like humility…
…and more like something monstrous trying to imitate a human.
Because everything about him right now contradicted them.
He wasn't radiating heroic determination.
He wasn't blazing with righteous fury.
He just looked tired.
Tired of pain.
Tired of fighting.
Tired of being misunderstood.
High above, another crack of lightning illuminated his face.
Blank.
Empty.
Unreadable.
The same expression he had worn on the day he first stepped into Astraea Combat Academy…
…the day everything began.
1 year Earlier
At the academy's towering front gates, a thin orphan boy looked up at the massive structure with uncertain eyes.
He clutched a small enrollment letter in his hand.
Wind tugged at his worn clothes.
Students passed by, laughing, confident, powerful.
He swallowed quietly.
"…This place looks dangerous."
No one heard him.
He stepped forward anyway.
And with that single step…
…the legend of Astraea's "Misunderstood Monster" began.