Part I: The Scholar of Sector 16
The sky over Didi Island was a brilliant, endless blue, dotted only by a few lazy clouds and the morning chorus of birds. In the heart of the island's capital, a massive skyscraper reached toward the heavens. Inside Apartment 17, a stopwatch shrilled.
A hand reached out from under the covers to kill the noise. Ifint sat up, rubbing his yellow eyes as the morning light flooded his room. He was a teenager on scholarship at Hiper City Academy, but the prestige felt more like a weight. Having spent only a few weeks in the capital, he already knew the truth: life here was a special kind of hell for someone like him.
Running late, he bolted for the subway. The mechanical voice of the station warned him to stay clear of the tracks as the sleek train slid to a halt. He stepped in, his mind already drifting to the long day ahead.
At the school gates, the atmosphere changed. As he walked toward class, a girl in glasses passed him. She didn't say a word, but their eyes met for a fraction of a second.
"Ifint!" a voice called out. It was Aizen, his first and only friend. They had met during a scholarship dinner after literally tripping over each other.
"Morning," Aizen grinned. "Did you catch the fight over the weekend? Roes and Seth? Seth got beaten to a pulp."
Ifint shrugged. "Just some crazy dudes."
But the peace didn't last. In the cafeteria, Ifint accidentally bumped into a mountain of a person. It was Roes—the school's resident rich bully.
"You just stained my classic blend shirt," Roes growled, grabbing Aizen by the collar. "You're going to pay for that, nerd."
"Leave him alone," Ifint said, his voice low.
Roes dropped Aizen and turned his malice toward Ifint. Just as Roes's two bodyguards moved to grab Ifint's arms, the world seemed to stutter. Time slowed to a crawl. The girl in glasses from the morning walked calmly through the frozen crowd. She leaned in close to Ifint.
"Meet me at the court after school," she whispered, then vanished.
When time snapped back, Roes was standing frozen, his face pale as a canvas. He didn't know why, but terror gripped him so hard he couldn't move. Ifint walked away, leaving the bully trembling.
Part II: The Sky Falls
After school, Ifint found the girl near a food stall called Bod's Ramen.
"I'm Nue," she said simply.
"I'm Ifint. You're the girl from school."
They sat and ate, two outsiders in a city of glass. But the quiet was shattered by a thundering bang near the shore. A boulder the size of a car came hurtling toward them. Ifint reacted instantly, grabbing Nue and pulling her clear as the rock smashed into the street.
High above the city, a man floated in the clouds. "The time has come!" he roared. "Behold the power of rage!"
With a wave of his hand, objects began to levitate. Boulders from the coast rose into the air and began raining down on the capital.
"I have to go," Nue said, her eyes flashing with a hidden fire. She sprinted toward the chaos. Ifint tried to follow, but she disappeared into a thick plume of smoke.
Far out at sea, inside the command deck of a massive warship, alarms began to blare. A man sat before a wall of monitors, watching the destruction.
"Sir, a disturbance in the capital," he reported.
A cold voice answered from the shadows: "Deploy the Emergers."
Part III: The Body Filter
Nue reached the city square just as the "Weak Lord" launched a barrage of flaming boulders at a group of civilians. She didn't hesitate. A flaming aura erupted around her, and she blasted forward with light-speed, intercepting the rocks mid-air.
"I'm just the beginning," the man sneered. "He is coming."
He raised his hands, and the ground itself shattered. Nue fought with everything she had, summoning a sword and a "night wing" of blue fire. But the man was "boosted"—his power level was far beyond a normal lord. With a dark outburst of energy, he threw Nue back, her aura fading as she hit the ground.
"Now you die," the man said, preparing a final blast.
Swoosh.
Ifint appeared from the smoke, standing between the man and Nue. He held Nue's sword, his yellow eyes glowing with a terrifying intensity.
"For a human, you should have been smashed to bits," the man hissed.
"Lucky me," Ifint replied, dropping into a fighting stance. "Let's dance."
The man transformed, his body expanding into a "Hulk Beast" of shadow and muscle. He lunged with blinding speed, but Ifint was faster.
"Body Filter," Ifint whispered.
He moved like a streak of lightning, his form blurring as he bypassed the beast's defenses. With a single, concentrated strike of immense force, he drove his hand through the beast's chest. A hole opened in the monster's torso, and it began to disintegrate into ash.
Ifint landed softly as the threat vanished. He knelt down and picked up the unconscious Nue, carrying her away from the ruins.
On a nearby rooftop, five shadows stood silently.
"Target neutralized," one of them whispered into a comms unit. "Emerger detected."
"Fall back," the voice on the other end commanded.
"Yes, sir."
The shadows vanished, leaving Ifint alone in the settling dust of the city he was destined to protect.