Once, all humans were ordinary.
No powers. No magic. Just life as we knew it.
But then, everything changed.
A spark ignited.
Strange, unique humans began to emerge — each with abilities the world had never seen.
Soon, 99% of all humanity developed supernatural powers.
But these powers weren't random.
They traced back to the very first —
The original ten.
The first to awaken.
Known as the Guardians of Magic, each one possessed a unique trait.
Together, their abilities formed the blueprint of all supernatural power known today.
But not all power stayed in balance.
One of them turned.
The Guardian Flame — once a symbol of light and leadership — was cast out.
Consumed by bitterness and isolation, his power twisted and darkened.
In time, he became a creature of vengeance… a monstrous being known only as the Beast.
He returned with wrath, wielding corrupted power, determined to destroy the others.
The war that followed shook the world.
It ended with the Beast sealed away…
But the price was unimaginable.
The Guardians were gone. Every last one.
And though their essence lived on in the powers of generations,
The age of the originals had ended.
Years passed.
Legends faded.
Magic evolved.
But not a single fire-borne soul had risen again…
Until now
"Yo… I guess this is where I'm supposed to say my name, crack a dumb joke, and tell you about my normal Awakening day, right?
Yeah… that's not happening.
Name's Nesshou Genta. And my Awakening?
It didn't go the way it was supposed to.
See, for everyone else, turning sixteen is like a party — the Bloom, the magic, the cheers, the photos.
For me?
It was panic.
Shouting.
The kind of fear you can smell in the air.
I didn't wake up surrounded by friends.
I woke up surrounded by flames… and bodies.
They say everyone's magic shows up on the Bloom test.
Mine didn't.
Not a spark. Not a flicker. Nothing.
And yet… when it came, it came like it had been waiting for centuries to burn through me.
Now people are looking at me like I'm something that shouldn't exist.
Like I'm a mistake.
Like I'm dangerous.
Maybe they're right.
But if I'm a mistake…
I'm going to be the kind that no one can ignore."
Previously on Class 24…
Obaa-sama came in, fussing over us like kids. "Rest those bodies before they fall apart," she said, handing each of us something to heal faster. Then she left, muttering to herself.
Ibuki stood up first.
"We're not done," I told him.
"I am," he said, and walked out. Reiji followed. Kurai told me, "Rest while you can." Hanari smirked, "Don't burn out too fast, Flame-boy," before leaving too.
I thought for a while, then left the infirmary myself.
Back in Class 24, I walked in last — all eyes on me. Daichi told me to take my seat. Kenzo grinned and asked him, "How'd you know they'd all come right away?"
Daichi's reply was calm but sharp: "Some things you don't ignore."
Then came the introductions — name after name until the room felt heavier than before.
The next morning in Class 24 wasn't calm — it was tense.
Whispers darted from desk to desk like tiny sparks. Flame-boy. Pink-hair Seer. That smirking guy. The air felt heavier than usual, but no one wanted to be the first to break it.
The door slammed open.
Kenzo strolled in like he owned the place, clapping his hands once. Instantly, thirty heads turned.
"Alright, kids," he said with that mischievous grin. "Today, no desks, no theory, no boring lectures. We're going to the Grand Nexus for something I like to call… the Team Trial."
Ibuki leaned back in his chair, smirk tugging at his lips. "Sounds like a waste of time."
Kenzo's grin only widened. "Oh, it'll waste you if you're not careful."
Daichi entered from the side door, arms folded. "You'll be split into teams. Your task is simple — get to the core together. Not fastest. Together. Fail, and you start over until you get it right."
The holographic assignment board lit up, casting a pale blue glow over their faces.
Nesshou's eyes stopped at his team list — Ibuki, Reiji, Kurai, Hanari. All five newcomers together.
"Convenient," he muttered.
The labyrinth's entrance loomed like the throat of some enormous beast, walls of shifting black stone pulsing faintly.
A low mechanical hum vibrated through the floor under their boots.
"Remember," Daichi's voice came through a comm above, "stay together."
"Or don't," Kenzo added, "and give me a reason to laugh."
The door slid shut behind them, sealing them in. Immediately, the ground shifted — tiles sliding like puzzle pieces, corridors re-forming before their eyes.
"Left," Reiji called, already analyzing the moving walls.
They turned — barely in time to avoid a section of floor dropping into a yawning pit.
Kurai stopped suddenly, her pink hair brushing against her cheek as she tilted her head. "There's… movement," she murmured.
"Movement?" Nesshou asked, but the wall beside them slammed shut, separating them from Reiji.
"Move!" Hanari grabbed Nesshou's sleeve, and they shoved forward into another corridor — just as Reiji burst through a sliding panel ahead, pulling himself back into formation without a word.
Halfway through, Nesshou froze.
The air shifted. Thickened.
"Shadows move ahead of schedule… your fire won't be enough."
The voice wasn't real — it couldn't be — but it was too clear to ignore.
"Nesshou?" Hanari's voice was distant, like she was speaking through water.
He blinked — and Ibuki was gone.
"Where—" Nesshou started, but the boy reappeared a heartbeat later, brushing past them with an unreadable look.
"Keep moving," Ibuki said flatly, eyes locked forward.
Above, Daichi and Kenzo stood behind the observation glass.
"You saw that?" Kenzo muttered.
"I saw it," Daichi replied, voice low. "And I don't like it."
The shifting walls spat them out into the final chamber — a circular platform glowing faintly in the center.
They stepped toward it… and the lights snapped out. The hum died. The maze fell silent.
"That… normal?" Hanari asked.
"No," Nesshou said, every hair on his arms rising.
From the farthest shadow, something peeled away from the darkness itself. It moved wrong — too slow, then too fast, like it couldn't decide what shape to take.
That same suffocating energy poured over him, pulling him back to the desert — to his grandfather's side.
A single voice rumbled from the figure, deep and cold:
"Found you."
The voice cut through the darkness like a blade — cold, certain.
From the edge of the chamber, the shadows rippled unnaturally, bending in ways the light shouldn't allow.
Then he stepped out of them.
One moment, the space was empty. The next, the Commander stood there — tall, long coat brushing against his boots, sharp eyes locking instantly on Nesshou. His presence filled the room with the same suffocating pressure Nesshou remembered… and hated.
Hanari's hand twitched toward her weapon.
Before she could draw, the Commander's figure melted back into the darkness — gone.
A whisper grazed Nesshou's ear from behind. "You've been running a long time, Flame."
He spun, but the space was empty again.
Another flicker, and the Commander was at the far side of the platform, watching, every movement deliberate, every step echoing like a countdown.
"This time," he said, voice steady but edged with something dangerous, "you're not walking away."
The glow beneath the platform surged, casting jagged shadows that stretched toward him — and the Commander smiled, stepping into one and vanishing again.
From the farthest edge of the chamber, the shadows rippled unnaturally, folding and stretching until a tall figure stepped out as if the darkness itself had released him.
The Commander.
His long coat swept the floor as he walked, but his eyes never moved from Nesshou.
The rest of the team tightened instinctively — Hanari's feet shifted into a dancer's stance, faint glimmers of light beginning to flicker around her.
Kurai's single active eye shimmered faintly, her gaze tracking movements no one else could see.
Reiji's hand gripped his Shinen sword, knuckles pale, while Ibuki's shadow stretched slightly at his feet like it was alive.
"You've been running a long time, Flame," the Commander said, voice deliberate, unhurried.
Nesshou's voice cut through the silence, sharp and unsteady. "Where's my grandfather?"
The Commander's smirk was cold. "Old man put up a fight. Thought I'd ended him before… but he hung on. Pathetic. I made sure this time."
The air warped around Nesshou as heat shimmered off him, the floor beneath his boots beginning to char.
"I see it now," the Commander said, tilting his head slightly, "same eyes before he fell. That moment when rage burns out the man… and leaves the beast."
His body collapsed into shadow — and vanished.
A flicker — he was behind them.
Reiji turned, sword swinging in a heavy arc, but the Commander was already gone. Another flicker — high on the wall, crouched in a knot of darkness. Gone again.
Ibuki stepped forward, his own shadow pooling beneath him. Then — snap — he was gone, reappearing in the same shadow the Commander emerged from.
The two collided mid-air, steel against shadow-blade, before both vanished in different directions.
Hanari darted between them, spinning into a graceful leap. A glowing petal formed in her hand and she flung it like a knife — it detonated in a burst of light when it struck the floor, briefly illuminating the entire chamber.
The Commander's form flashed in the glare before he slid back into the dark.
Kurai's voice was calm but urgent. "He's weaving false shadows." She activated the Eye of Seal, the glow in her pupil sharpening — locking one of the Commander's blade forms away for a precious thirty seconds.
The Commander appeared low at Nesshou's left, shadow-blade raised. Reiji was there first, his sword intercepting with a loud clang.
The force sent a shiver up his arm, but he held the block until Ibuki flickered in behind the Commander, dagger poised. The strike cut through his coat — but hit nothing solid.
"Guess that makes me your family's undertaker," the Commander's voice murmured directly into Nesshou's ear as he reappeared behind him.
Flames burst from Nesshou's skin in a violent surge, heat pushing everyone back.
Up in the observation deck, Daichi's eyes narrowed. "It's starting."
Kenzo's grin was gone. "Then call the Knights. Now."
A deep klaxon roared through the Nexus. Massive gates somewhere beyond the maze slid open with a grinding shriek.
Red warning light flooded the corridors as the heavy march of armored boots echoed closer — the Knights of Ssub were on their way.
But the Commander struck before they could arrive. He dropped from the ceiling shadow with speed that blurred him into streaks of black. Reiji swung, but the blow glanced off empty air.
Hanari's second petal shot past him, exploding in a shield of light that forced the Commander to cover his eyes for a heartbeat — long enough for
Ibuki to reappear at his side and drive him back with a flurry of dagger strikes.
The Commander slid away into the wall-shadow and came out at Nesshou's front. His smile was thin. "Let's see it. The fire they all fear."
Nesshou's body shook, the flames twisting unnaturally into clawed shapes, a fanged silhouette curling in the air around him. His eyes snapped open — molten red-orange, pupils narrowing to slits.
The Commander stopped moving. Watching. Waiting.
The platform erupted — fire roaring upward, shadows spearing downward, petals igniting mid-air, Kurai's sealing glow still burning in her eye, Reiji bracing his sword, Ibuki vanishing and reappearing in the chaos.
For one breath, the world was only heat, darkness, and the sound of something alive inside the blaze.
Then—
Black.
NESSGEEORIGINAL