The air inside the A-tier portal was thick with the scent of ozone and rotting vegetation. In the center of the cavernous realm, Raizen was moving like a blur. He backflipped through the air, narrowly dodging a massive, slime-coated tentacle that smashed into the ground where he had been standing a millisecond prior.
"Damn, this one's feisty!" Raizen let out a jagged laugh, his eyes bright with adrenaline. He tightened his grip on his signature weapon: a six-foot technological marvel of an axe. Its edge hummed with a serrated blue light that vibrated so fast it hissed. With a fluid, practiced motion, he pivoted and brought the blade down, cleaving through a cluster of tentacles. The monster's shriek echoed off the jagged cavern walls.
"You hear that, Akihito? Isn't this fun?" Raizen shouted over his shoulder.
At the portal's entrance, Akihito stood perfectly still. His SHIELD coat didn't have a single speck of dust on it. He watched the chaos with a flat, bored expression. "You've got company," he said, his voice level and devoid of emotion.
From the shadows of the red-lit cave, three more hulking shapes emerged—identical to the first beast, their many eyes locked onto Raizen.
"Oh? I guess that scream was a cry for help," Raizen grinned, shifting his stance. "This is getting interesting."
One of the new arrivals lunged, its limbs whipping through the air. Raizen didn't just dodge; he launched himself twenty feet straight up. Before he could even begin to descend, another giant sent five tentacles whistling toward him. Raizen kicked off the cavern wall with sonic speed, a literal "boom" echoing as he blurred past the first four attacks. He swung his axe mid-air, slicing through the fifth limb like a hot knife through butter.
The sheer force of their clash sent massive boulders tumbling across the realm. A few jagged rocks hurtled toward Akihito, who simply sidestepped them without looking, his eyes never leaving the fight.
"Could you perhaps take it easy?" Akihito asked softly.
"Is that supposed to be a trick question?" Raizen yelled back. He drove his axe into the head of the first monster, splitting it vertically. Using the falling corpse as a platform, he leaped higher and slammed a button on the axe's hilt. The blade glowed white-hot. With one wide, searing arc, he decapitated the next two monsters in a spray of dark ichor.
"One left. Let's keep the momentum going!" Raizen charged the final beast.
Terrified, the last monster let out a deafening roar. In a desperate move, its tentacles began absorbing the remains of its fallen kin. Its flesh knitted together, its height doubling and then tripling until it towered over the cavern, a mountain of mutated muscle.
Raizen skidded to a halt, looking up. "Oh wow. He's a big boy now."
Akihito took a single step forward, his gaze sharpening. "Want me to step in?"
Raizen laughed, ducking under a swing that shattered the floor beneath him. "Are you crazy? Stay out of this!"
Raizen vaulted into the air one last time, hitting a secondary trigger on his weapon. The axe frame groaned and expanded, the technological components sliding and locking until the blade was six times its original size. With a primal shout, Raizen swung the massive, glowing weapon with one hand. The superheated edge carved through the monster's entire torso in a single, clean sweep.
As the two halves of the beast hit the floor, Raizen landed lightly next to Akihito, exhaling a cloud of steam. "Okay, now that the big guys are settled... how about you take out the trash?"
He pointed toward the horizon. Hundreds of thousands of "extras"—smaller, swarming versions of the monsters—were carpet-bombing the floor as they rushed toward them.
Akihito sighed, finally reaching behind his back. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
The heavy metal bracelets on Akihito's wrists began to beep rhythmically. In a flash of shifting plates, they expanded and merged, forming a massive, sleek kinetic cannon. He pulled the trigger once. A blinding beam of pure energy erupted, the sheer recoil cracking the ground beneath his boots. The blast didn't just vaporize the swarm; it tore through the very fabric of the portal realm, burning the monsters' world to cinders.
A moment later, the two men stepped out of the collapsing rift and back into the cool night air of the city. As the portal flickered and died behind them, they pulled on their official SHIELD coats. The gold embroidery on their shoulders caught the light: Rank #5 for Raizen and Rank #6 for Akihito.
"Damn, I need a bath. I'm covered in this stuff," Raizen muttered, wiping blue blood off his face.
"You know," Akihito said, his expression cold as he stared straight ahead, "if you keep jumping into portals that weren't assigned to us, the next time won't be 'fun.' You'll be leaving in a body bag."
Raizen laughed and gave Akihito a heavy slap on the back. "You're a riot! It was just an A-tier. I'm not stupid enough to solo an S-rank. Besides, I'm one of the Elite Ten. I don't need the Guild to tell me where I can go."
Akihito stopped walking and turned to him. "That's the problem. That was a 'Minor' A-tier. If it had been an 'Apex' A-tier—one bordering on S-rank—you wouldn't have known until it was too late. We have scouts and wave-sensing tech for a reason. You can't judge a threat just by the color of the gate."
Raizen rolled his eyes and sighed. "Okay, look, I don't need the lecture. I go where the fun is."
"By all means, do that," Akihito replied instantly. "Just keep me out of it. That's all I ask."
Raizen grinned and wrapped a heavy arm around Akihito's neck, dragging him along. "Not a chance, buddy. Where I go, you go!"
As Raizen's booming laughter echoed down the street, a stern voice cut through the air from the shadows ahead of them:
"And where, exactly, have you two been?"
Raizen and Akihito froze. Standing just a few yards away, leaning against a sleek black pillar, was Kuro. The silver embroidery on his dark trench coat was impossible to miss: Rank #2. His presence alone seemed to drop the temperature of the street by ten degrees.
"I've been looking for you two everywhere," Kuro said, his voice like grinding stones. "I figured I could track the energy signatures of your weapons. Imagine my surprise when the trail led to an unauthorized portal site."
Raizen took a cautious step forward, rubbing the back of his neck. "Whoa, take it easy, Mr. Second-in-Command. Since when do we have business with you? No offense, but the only time you ever need the 'lower' elites is for an S-tier raid. And I highly doubt another S-tier just popped up a week after we cleared the last one. The mana density required for that kind of summoning would be—"
"Shut up. Do you ever stop talking?" Kuro interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose in visible frustration. "Every member of the Ten Elite is required to be at the SHIELD headquarters today to oversee the National Exams. It's a direct order from Number One himself."
Raizen blinked, his confident smirk faltering. "What? That doesn't make any sense. We never attend the stupid exams. Why start now?"
Kuro let out a heavy sigh and turned to leave, his coat billowing behind him. "You moron. It's Ayumu's sister's day. She turns eighteen this year, which means she's eligible to test. Ayumu expects the entire lineup to be there to witness it."
Akihito, who had been silent as usual, tilted his head slightly. "The Number One's sister... right. I almost forgot about her."
"Well, you could've just led with that!" Raizen called out, suddenly energized as he trotted after Kuro. "We'll be there, no problem!"
Kuro stopped and looked back over his shoulder, his eyes trailing over Raizen's stained clothes with pure disgust. "First off, go bathe. You smell like a rotting carcass. Akihito, you look presentable, but freshen up if you must. Just don't be late."
Kuro vanished into the crowd, leaving the two of them standing in the street.
The Exam Gates
Across the city, a different kind of tension was brewing.
Ren sat bolt upright on a hard wooden bench, gasping for air. His head spun as he looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Where... where am I?" He groaned, trying to push himself up, but a firm hand slammed him back down.
"Sit down and shut up," Zen muttered, leaning back with his arms crossed. "You just woke up. If you start wandering around now, your brain is going to leak out of your ears."
Ren blinked, clutching his throbbing forehead. "I don't get it. Last thing I remember, we were at the house and everything just felt... heavy."
Zen sighed, looking exhausted. "You want to know what happened? You fainted because you haven't slept in days and you've been training like a maniac. I had to drag your sorry self—and all your gear—all the way to the arena. Did I mention we're currently sitting outside the SHIELD Exam Hall?"
Ren's eyes widened. He looked past Zen to see a massive, shimmering stadium. Thousands of hopeful candidates—young teenagers, grizzled veterans, and ambitious warriors—were filing through the gates under a massive glowing logo.
Ren looked at his hands, then back at Zen. His face flushed a deep red as he looked away, embarrassed. "You carried me all the way here? ...Thanks."
Zen looked surprised for a second, then a small, smug smile played on his lips. "Just try not to fail. We have forty minutes before the gates close. Here."
Zen tossed a small pouch at Ren. "This is your share of the money."
Ren opened the pouch and frowned. "Wait, mom gave us two hundred Zeths. Why am I only seeing 50₰? Where's the other fifty, you asshole?"
Zen folded his arms, his smile growing wider. "Remind me again who carried you through three districts so he didn't miss his life's ambition?"
Ren opened his mouth to argue, but his shoulders slumped in defeat. He knew he couldn't win this one.
"Fine," Ren grumbled, tucking the fifty Zeths into his pocket. "Fifty is enough to get through the day anyway."
"Good. Now get moving," Zen said.
The two brothers split up, heading toward their desired location . They were so focused on the exam that neither of them noticed a hooded figure standing in the shadow of a nearby archway. The stranger's gaze didn't linger on the stadium; instead, it remained fixed on Zen's back, following him silently into the crowd.