081 THE ONE
Damen tapped the screen again, frowning.
The readings didn't make sense at all — Kairo's Command score had dropped.
"What the hell?" Damen muttered. "Why the drop in command all of a sudden?"
He scrolled back through the readings. Then he realized that the data was live and not static. It was reacting in real time and could change due to circumstances.
"But what circumstances caused Kairo's Command score to drop?"
Damen thought quickly.
"Is it because Kairo is angry? He's Exhausted? Or… he's burning too much meta energy?"
Then he remembered Dorin telling him: "The stronger the range meta, the more it drains from your command."
Damen's lips curled.
"He's wasting his energy trying to shoot me blind."
A low laugh escaped him. "Hahaha… so that's your weakness, bastard."
That single word made Kairo snap.
His veins stood out on his neck. For as long as he lived, that word—bastard—was the curse he could never escape.
"I'll kill you, Damen Dark for calling me names!" Kairo screamed, his voice trembling with rage.
"Then come get me if you dare, Bastard of Zetheris!" Damen shouted back.
He knew Kairo wouldn't dare close the distance. The boy was a long-range specialist, not a close-quarters fighter. In hand-to-hand, Damen would shred him in seconds.
"Kill him now! What are you waiting for, you bastard!" Shawn Zetheris yelled from the pavilion, his face red with fury.
The insult only drove Kairo further into madness.
He fired again and again, beams of brilliance slashing through the air—wild, inaccurate, and becoming weaker with every shot.
Damen weaved between them easily.
The crowd gasped as the blinding rays faded, losing color and heat.
On Damen's phone, the numbers continued to fall. Command: 82… 74… 59… until its below E-Rank. His grin widened. "Now's the time."
He kicked off the ground, dashing forward.
The distance was long. He couldn't reach Kairo in one go.
"Ray of Brilliance!" Kairo screamed one last time, his hands trembling.
The golden rays struck Damen head-on, but they barely singed his suit. The Rank D armor absorbed the brunt of the damage, the rest burning harmlessly into the ground.
Damen emerged from the light, smoke curling off his clothes.
"Bye-bye."
His foot slammed into Kairo's jaw with a sickening crack on his second dash.
The crowd gasped as Kairo reeled back with blood splattering.
"This is a massacre."
"Even the genius of the school is not the match of the Demon."
Damen didn't stop. He pressed forward, fists and elbows striking in perfect rhythm—clean, efficient, and most of all merciless.
Each blow landed heavier than the last, crushing any defense Kairo tried to raise.
Finally, with one last punch to the gut, Kairo collapsed.
The golden light in his eyes faded.
Silence filled the arena.
Damen stood over him, breathing evenly. "Congratulations to me," he said quietly, brushing dust off his sleeve. "I win."
-----
"Wow… you're invincible," Zairgid said, approaching Damen with a wide grin.
"No, I'm not," Damen replied, brushing off the compliment.
"You don't need to be shy. You defeated even the school's top genius—a full rank meta above you. If you're not invincible, who else is?" Zairgid asked, eyes gleaming with excitement.
Damen paused, reflecting on his battle.
He had flattened dozens of Rank E students with ease and even bested a Rank D meta—Kairo Zetheris. Yet he wasn't blind to the reality: this victory meant little in the real world.
The enemies outside were vicious and experienced, honed through real fights. Their power came from sweat, blood, and relentless training.
On the other hand, the students he had defeated were strong only on paper, their stats inflated by GenSyn injections and meta amplifier theatres, not hard-won skill.
"I've booked a whole suite in the Black Owl," Zairgid said. "You've made me a fortune with my bets—you must come celebrate."
"Maybe next time. I'm exhausted," Damen replied.
He moved toward the teachers and the display table, where vials of GenSyn Genomics and medals gleamed under the lights.
Principal Misk stepped forward, snapping a picture of Damen holding his School Challenge medal and several large containers of the liquid boosters.
"Can I take the medicine now?" Damen asked.
"Erm… we brought them out just for the photo," a nurse stammered.
"Are you sure you don't want the school to keep these for you? You could come by the clinic anytime to take your doses," Principal Misk suggested.
"I'll be taking them with me. Saves you the trouble," Damen said firmly.
Without another word, he grabbed two containers, shoved two toward Zairgid, and carried the rest himself, walking back to his dormitory.
-----
Zairgid soon left Damen alone with the containers of GenSyn Genomics. He didn't question why Damen had to take the medicine home—he was too busy prepping himself for the party later.
Damen pulled out a syringe and examined the liquid while scrolling through the instructions on his data pad.
"It says… take no more than 20 milliliters a day," he muttered, frowning. Then he looked at the stack of containers before him. "Hell… this is going to take me ages to finish all of these."
He groaned. "I shouldn't have taken this home. I should've left it with the nurses."
Then an idea struck him.
"Maybe the mining app can tell me more about this medicine," he said.
He pulled out his phone and aimed it at the containers. The app's glyphs glowed and scanned the liquid.
Name: GenSyn Genomics Strength Promoter Agent
Description: A synthetic meta-promoting agent developed by GenSyn Industries, designed to enhance Strength attributes in meta users.
Usage dosage: 20 milliliters per day
"The description matches the brochure," Damen said.
Then he noticed something strange—a glowing button had appeared on the app when he scanned the liquid.
Assimilate
"What the hell… can I assimilate this with the app?" he whispered, both intrigued and wary.
He hesitated for a moment before pressing the button.
Instantly, the container floated into the air, sparks of energy dancing across its surface as streams of essence flowed toward his phone before it was transferred into him.
Assimilating… 10%
Assimilating… 30%
Assimilating… 60%
-----
[Somewhere over an asteroid in space]
Three meta-humans hovered above the enormous asteroid X-34502.
From this distance, the sun still burned with its usual brilliance—but none of them were watching it. Their attention was fixed on a planet far below.
A blue planet.
One of them raised his hand. A violent distortion rippled outward, space itself bending as the asteroid shuddered and drifted from its ancient path.
"A little more force to the right," another said.
She was a woman whose eyes were sharper than the most advanced telescope, able to measure distances across light-years with a glance.
The man complied, pushing again. The asteroid moved—its trajectory, unchanged for billions of years, finally broken.
It had a new destination.
Earth.
"Do you think this will actually destroy that damn planet?" the space bender asked.
"The League of Heroes will try to stop it," the woman replied coolly. "If they notice the altered orbit in time."
"And what if they do?" the space-bender scoffed. "There are still eight or nine months before impact. Coming all the way out here would be a waste of effort."
"That won't be a problem," the third of them said. "Quantum will ensure no telescope, no sensor, no predictive model detects the deviation—until it's already closing in on Earth."
The space-bender frowned. "Even so, this asteroid won't destroy the planet."
The third paused, then smiled. "You're right."
"But it will keep the League busy. Very busy. Long enough that they won't interfere with our work in Melrose City."
"Melrose City?" the space-bender asked. "Of all the cities on Earth—or in space—why is Quantum interested in such a remote, primitive place?"
The woman's lips curved into a knowing smile.
"Because the One has finally emerged in Melrose City."
"The One?" the space-bender echoed.
"Yes," the third meta-human said softly.
"The One."
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