The day started like any other.
Kael and Yumi had met at their usual training spot behind the bakery, snuck in a few drills, and spent the rest of the afternoon raiding a food cart for sweet buns and melon soda. Yuto had grunted at them when they returned home, buried in his phone, barely looking up.
Kael had hoped — foolishly — that today might be normal.
But the city had other plans.
…
It happened just after dusk.
Kael was on his way to pick up extra rice for his aunt when the explosion rocked the block.
The sound shattered the quiet: a deafening BOOM followed by crumbling masonry and screaming. Kael dropped the bag of coins he carried and sprinted toward the noise.
Smoke rose from a storefront nearby — a tech shop torn open like a ripped envelope. Shards of metal and glass littered the street. Sirens hadn't arrived yet.
But something else had.
A man stood in the rubble, his face obscured by a cracked mask, long black coat fluttering in the heat. His arm was raised — and from his hand bloomed a twisting mass of black and red energy, like liquid shadow shaped into claws.
Kael knew immediately: this wasn't a low-level thug.
This was a real villain.
"Back off, kid," the man said coldly. "Unless you wanna be fertilizer."
Kael didn't move.
He could feel it — that pressure. The villain's Quirk wasn't just powerful. It was unstable. The shadows writhed and curled like serpents, dragging cracks through the pavement beneath him. A wrong move could tear the block in half.
But there were still civilians inside.
Kael could hear them. Crying. Coughing.
He clenched his fists.
"I'm not a kid," he said softly. "I'm the one… whose going to defeat you!"
The villain blinked. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"
Kael charged.
The villain swung.
A lash of shadow burst from his arm — Kael dodged, barely, the black whip slicing the air inches from his face. He rolled, summoned Ren's crystal Quirk to harden his forearms, and deflected the second strike.
CRACK.
Glass met darkness. The impact sent Kael skidding backwards.
Too strong, he thought. I can't keep blocking.
The villain grinned. "Not bad. You've got a Quirk after all."
Kael didn't answer.
Instead, he moved — darting in under the next strike, using momentum to throw himself forward and grab the villain's wrist.
Contact.
For a moment, time froze.
Kael felt it — like falling into a black ocean.
The villain's Quirk screamed as it entered him. It didn't come quietly. It kicked and clawed its way into his soul, fighting him. Writhing like it had a will of its own.
Darkbind. That was its name. He felt it.
It generated weaponized shadow matter — claws, armor, whips — but it thrived on emotion. On rage. The stronger Kael's anger, the more powerful the Quirk became.
And the harder it became to control.
Kael gasped, stumbled back—
The villain's arm spasmed.
He blinked, trying to summon the shadows again.
Nothing.
"What—?"
Kael stood, swaying, eyes glowing with red-black energy.
"My turn."
He barely had time to think before the Quirk responded.
Black claws erupted from his arms — too fast, too sharp. One sliced clean through a street lamp. The energy flooded his veins, begging to be used, whispering for destruction.
"Control it," Kael whispered to himself. "Control it."
The villain lunged at him in desperation.
Kael raised his hand — the shadow whipped forward like a spear.
CRASH.
The villain was thrown into the wall, crumpling in a heap. Unconscious.
But Kael couldn't stop.
The claws kept growing, warping, extending from his arms and back like wings of living shadow. His breath came in gasps. His heart pounded too fast. He wasn't in control anymore.
He was the Quirk.
"KAEL!"
A voice cut through the haze.
Yumi.
She ran toward him from the alley, hands glowing with solar heat, worry carved into her face.
"Breathe! You're being overloaded— that Quirk is feeding off you!"
Kael dropped to one knee, shadows thrashing around him.
"I—I can't—!"
She grabbed his face. Pressed her forehead to his.
"You can. You're not the power. You're you."
Her voice cracked through the storm. A heartbeat later — Kael forced it down. Gripped the Quirk like a wild animal and pulled it back into its cage.
The shadows shrank.
The claws retracted.
And Kael collapsed into Yumi's arms, shaking.
…
Later, the police arrived.
Yumi made sure the villain was cuffed. Kael stayed hidden in a nearby alley while she explained the situation — claiming the villain overloaded his own Quirk.
It wasn't a total lie.
But the damage was done.
Kael had tasted a Quirk that could consume him. And he knew now: some powers came with a price.
…
From the rooftop above, Yuto had seen it all. He watched Kael summon the shadow claws. He watched the villain fall. He watched Yumi hold him like he was worth protecting. And all Yuto could think about was the potential.
Not for justice.
For money.
Fame.
Power.
He pulled out his phone and tapped in a number he wasn't supposed to have.
"It's me," he said. "You wanted proof? You've got it."
…