Due to the ongoing war between humans and the Dalki, every individual — no matter how weak — was required to attend Military School.
The Dalki were abominable creatures that could never be trusted. Their hunger for power had no end. Tensions were so high now that both races were racing to conquer more planets, desperate to gather resources to survive the inevitable.
Even Quinn, a powerless Level 1, had no choice. He boarded the military bus parked outside his apartment building. As he stepped in, he saw new faces — students just like him, most of them chatting, laughing, filled with excitement.
For a moment, Quinn felt a flicker of hope. Maybe this would be different. A fresh start. No bullies. No power levels deciding your worth.
Just maybe.
Then Sergeant Griff stepped onto the bus.
The moment he shut the door behind him, the entire bus fell silent. One cold stare from him was all it took.
The bus roared to life and began moving through the city. As the road stretched on, Quinn suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to sleep — his eyelids grew heavy, his body sluggish.
Within moments, silence blanketed the bus.
Everyone had fallen asleep.
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Quinn's senses slowly returned.
Pain shot through his body.
His eyes barely opened against the blinding sunlight. His head throbbed. He felt something warm trickling down his face — blood. His clothes were soaked in dirt and stained with red.
He tried to move, but his body was pinned. Glass shards stuck into his forearms as he lay crushed between the bus window and a broken seat.
The bus had flipped.
All around him, students were either unconscious or worse. Some had already bled out. Others groaned, waking up just like him.
The effect of the gas had worn off, but the pain had just begun.
Quinn struggled, forcing his body to move through the ache. Slowly, he crawled out of the broken wreckage.
As he stepped out, his legs trembled beneath him.
Then he saw it.
A towering figure, muscular and monstrous, with hardened skin and eyes like a beast —A Dalki.
The Dalkis were a lot taller than an average human but not too big that they looked like giants. This one, in particular, stood around 7 feet tall. However, their body frames where different. Just like humans, they walked on two feet and had two arms, but their muscle structure was magnificent.
Nearly every muscle fiber on their body could be seen.
Just like the humans as well, they wore beast gear to increase their power and right now this one had only a set of bottoms and boots on. While his top part was open and free.
The Dalki were a race that looked similar to dragons in human myths, only more human. They had scale-like features running from the side of their body running up to the top of their neck. Their eyes were slightly pointed and more oval-shaped, and their hands were shaped like claws with a tail sticking from its behind.
The figure of a Dalki was etched into the minds of every human alive — a symbol of fear, war, and destruction.
Their power was shown by the number of spikes on their back. Even a one spike Dalki was enough to require a team of highly skilled, high-level ability users to take down.
And right now, that same Dalki was standing directly far from Quinn, one step between him and death.