The year was 7405 A.E. (After Evolution). Humanity had expanded beyond Earth, colonizing planets, bending matter, and enhancing minds. Technology had reached divinity, and yet, martial arts—ancient, raw, and primal—remained the most revered form of combat and philosophy. In this age of hyper-advancement, martial disciplines fused with cybernetics, elemental science, and quantum force. And at the center of it all stood Lord Zeus City—the pride of the Earth sector.
Towering into the skies and descending deep into the crust, Lord Zeus City was split into layers. The Upper Sector housed nobles, megatech lords, and ascended martial artists. The Mid Sector thrived with scientists, military forces, and bureaucrats. But the Lower Sector... that was where the forgotten rotted. Gangs ruled. Light rarely touched the metal slums. And survival came only to those smart enough or strong enough.
Ely Zoan was both.
At just 14 years old, he had already survived a decade of the Lower Sector's chaos. Orphaned at 4 when his parents—fugitive martial scientists—were killed by an unknown force, Ely had grown up scavenging, stealing, and learning the intricate power dynamics of the ghetto. He was street-smart, quick-witted, and unnaturally observant. From age 5, he'd studied gang hierarchies, back-alley fights, and the flow of black-market tech like a seasoned tactician.
He had no formal education, but he could dismantle a plasma rifle, hotwire a hoverbike, and even imitate beginner chi-channeling techniques just from watching washed-up martial monks practicing in alleyways.
But perhaps the most shocking thing about Ely wasn't his intellect—it was his body.
He had a very tough look. His muscles were incredibly well-built for his age—lean, sharp, and tightly packed with power. He looked more like a miniature war machine than a teenage orphan. Despite never having trained in any formal martial arts, his physique was already at its peak. Unknown to him, this was due to a serum—code-named Prime Origin—that his parents had secretly injected into him as an infant. A one-in-a-quadrillion genetic enhancement compound, perfected only once in all of known science.
The serum was unstable, forbidden, and powerful beyond measure. It silently restructured his cells, enhanced his nervous system, and refined his body far beyond human limitations. Ely didn't know. No one did. Not even the mysterious forces that hunted down and eliminated his parents were aware they had left behind the most precious creation of all.
He wore a patched-up cloak made from synth-fiber trash, kept a dagger carved from a fallen meteorite, and had modified his shoes with shock-absorption tech stolen from a scrapped exo-suit. People called him "Rat." But he was more than that.
He was lightning waiting to strike.