Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.
.....
The missile hit before Lynn even realized what he was looking at.
A blinding flash, shattering roar and the rooftop of the ten-story building bloomed into fire and smoke.
The blast tore through the sky, sending fragments of concrete and metal scattering like confetti in a storm.
The kid, who had been standing on the same rooftop seconds ago, was already on the ground, landing in front of the building gate with effortless grace.
He brushed imaginary dust from his sleeve, squinting up at the blazing ruin.
"Guess one missile isn't enough to help you reach the ground floor," he muttered, almost disappointed.
Through the haze and dust above, a shape stirred.
Lynn was on one knee, head lowered, smoke rising around him like a cloak.
The shockwave had cracked the concrete beneath his foot.
He wasn't hurt,at least not visibly but the impact had rung through his bones like a hammer strike.
His hair hung messily over his eyes, ash and heat flickering across his white shirt.
For a moment, he looked more like a ghost than a man.
"You little prick…" His voice was low, uneven from the ringing in his ears. "Where the hell are—"
He blinked. "—you?"
The dust began to settle. And then the sky opened again.
One missile.
Then another.
Then dozens,screaming down from the clouds in bright arcs of white and red.
Lynn barely had time to lift his head before they struck.
Each explosion shattered another floor. The building convulsed like a dying beast, flames spilling through broken windows, glass raining like stars.
The roar rolled through the city—
floor after floor collapsing in a chain of thunder.
From the ground, the kid tilted his head back, watching the destruction with an expression that was almost childlike wonder.
The building folded in on itself, swallowed by fire.
He gave a small, satisfied hum.
"Looks like fireworks. Expensive ones."
Then,a final explosion cracked through the air, and something heavy crashed through the collapsing debris, plummeting straight down like a meteor into water.
The ground shuddered under the impact, throwing a cloud of dust that swallowed the gate and the boy alike.
When it cleared, the street was cracked, the front of the building half gone and in the center of the crater lay a dark shape, motionless.
The kid squinted, shading his eyes with one hand.
"You alive… Lynnyy?"
No answer.
Only the hiss of cooling metal and the soft crackle of fire from what used to be a rooftop.
A beat passed. The kid's grin returned.
"Guess I'll take that as a maybe."
The dust still hung thick in the air, curling up from the crater like smoke from a pyre.
At first, he couldn't see anything.
Just the faint orange glow of burning steel.
Then—movement.
A hand.
A single, ash-covered hand rose from the pit, trembling at first, then steadying mid-air, its fingers spread wide and pointed directly at him.
The kid froze. The grin on his face wilted.
"Ooooyyyee…" he called out, voice cracking slightly.
"You still alive…?"
The hand didn't move.
It just stayed there,locked and deliberate.
Even through the flickering smoke, he could feel the pressure from that gesture, the hum in the air shifting from silence to something sharp, heavy, electric.
Then realization hit him.
"Oh crap."
The ground beneath kid's feet vibrated. Heat coiled around the crater like a living thing, and a faint blue shimmer started building around Lynn's arm.
His voice carried through the smoke
steady, calm, almost too quiet for the destruction it promised.
"Mana Burst"
The world went white.
A shockwave tore across the street in a perfect line raw, energy compressed into a single blast.
The ground cracked open like glass. Every car, signpost, and fragment of concrete caught in its path was obliterated in an instant, vaporized before it could even hit the ground.
The force didn't explode—it carved.
A straight, devastating streak of annihilation stretched from the crater through the gate and far beyond, cutting the air with the sound of an echo.
Dust drifted like snow.
The crater pulsed once, faintly, as if exhaling.
The street was silent—just the hiss of burning rubble and the distant echo of that single devastating strike.
From the crater's center, Lynn slowly lowered his arm.
His grey eyes, half-shadowed by ash, flicked toward the smoking line that stretched far beyond the wreckage.
For a few moments, there was nothing. No voice. No sound.
Then—
"Nice shot."
Lynn didn't even turn.
A breath later, the kid's voice came again-closer, teasing.
"Though you missed me by about… this much."
He turned his head slightly, and there he was.
The same boy standing behind him, grinning ear to ear, perfectly unharmed, like he'd just walked through the flames for fun.
"Can you just get hit already—" Lynn began, his tone low, cautious.
"Hey Lynn…You know,for someone who just got hit by a missile, your temper's doing great."
---
The city had gone eerily still.
No sirens. No people.
Just the low rumble of fire eating through what was left of the skyline.
Then—Lynn vanished.
A pulse of distortion rippled through the crater he'd left behind, and in the next blink, he stood at the center of an empty three-way intersection.
Cracked asphalt spread beneath his boots, smoke swirling upward from the ruins around him.
The air itself trembled with residual mana, bending faintly like heat haze.
The kid's voice carried through the silence, casual, teasing, and way too confident.
"Just tell me if you're planning on giving up, Lynn."
Lynn turned his head slowly, his voice flat but sharp.
"Why, kid? You getting tired already?"
"Huh? No way."
The kid's grin was audible.
"Just tell me you're done, so I've got one more reason to mock your ass into the air."
Lynn's mouth curved faintly, his tone dry.
"What was that thing that hit me, kid?"
"Oh, that?" The kid appeared at the far end of the road, perched on a toppled streetlight like it was a throne.
"You liked it? That's my world's version of Mana Burst. But we also have something called an atom bomb.
I'll hit you with that too,but a little later."
Lynn straightened, rolling his shoulder. "I've got plenty of things to show too."
His hand ignited.
Flames coiled upward, wrapping around his arm like molten chains, feeding on nothing but the air itself.
He waited.
Just standing there giving the kid a chance to prepare, like a predator toying with its prey.
The kid tilted his head, smirking.
"You waiting for applause, or—oh, never mind."
The air behind the boy rippled.
Four humanoid figures formed out of steam and flickering light.
Each wearing the unmistakable helmets of firefighters.
They dragged massive water tanks behind them, the old-fashioned industrial kind that groaned under pressure.
"Okay guys, sneeze that spark down in one go." the kid said, spreading his hands in mock ceremony.
Lynn's eyes narrowed.
"Just burn the fuck off."
He thrust his arm forward.
A wave of fire roared from his palm like a collapsing sun, the blast tearing through the road and turning everything in its path into incandescent rubble.
The shockwave shattered windows for entire blocks, flames curling upward like the sky itself was burning.
"Counter it, boys," the kid ordered.
"Put out his fire along with his ass."
The firefights moved instantly.
Two figures instantly put up a shield even bigger than them and covered the kid.
The other ones cracked open the tanks massive industrial cylinders that hissed with pressure and released torrents of water.
The streams twisted in perfect arcs, merging midair into a single colossal surge that crashed forward like a tsunami.
The collision was instantaneous and catastrophic.
Fire met water with a deafening roar. Steam exploded outward in a blinding flash, swallowing half the street.
The heat was so intense that concrete warped and metal sagged like wax.
For an instant, the entire intersection was pure white, a sphere of fire and steam locked in violent equilibrium.
Lynn stood his ground, his eyes glowing behind the wave of flame.
The kid's mirrored doubles held steady, the tanks groaning, their hands gripping the valves as jets of pressurized water screamed forward.
The clash pushed the firefighters back flame against flood.
It was like raw mana against physics itself.
Finally, the blast snapped,an eruption of vapor that shot into the clouds, turning the air into a fog bank.
When the mist cleared, Lynn was still standing, smoke rising from his hand. Across from him, the firefights fizzled out, fading back into steam.
The kid clapped slowly, impressed.
"Even match," he said, grinning.
"Not bad."
Lynn exhaled quietly, the glow around him flaring hotter.
"Even match? Who...." he repeated softly.
The kid sighed.
"Okay fine, you won that one.
Let's go again."