The air itself began to hum, thickening with the scent of ozone and cracked stone. At the center of the pressure, Taro's green aura erupted from him not like a flame, but a raging tide. With every pulse from the ring on his finger, the energy swelled, distorting the light around him and making the very ground tremble. It was a beacon of pure fury, visible for miles, a silent, screaming challenge to the heavens.
Words were ash in his mouth. His jaw locked so tight the muscles in his neck stood out like cables. Veins forked across his temples. His eyes, once bright with mischief, now burned a pure, animal green that promised only annihilation.
From the rooftop, a laugh sliced through the heavy air, sharp, mocking, and utterly unafraid.
"Haha… Woah!"
The Watcher spread his arms wide, cloak snapping in the wind Taro's aura kicked up, a showman greeting his crowd. "Look at you, having your little rage moment. Classic, really. Villain kills my friend, I get angry, power up, beat the bad guy… is that the script playing in your head right now?" He clicked his tongue, the sound wet and pitying. "Sorry to break it to you, kid, but reality doesn't run on shōnen rules—"
The sentence died in his throat.
Taro's boot slammed into the earth. The cobblestones didn't crack; they **vaporized**. A perfect circle of ground turned to powder and shrapnel, blasting outward in a ring of dust and green lightning. The aura crawled up his neck, licked across his clenched teeth, flared from his eyes like twin searchlights. In the space between one heartbeat and the next, he vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of the Watcher, Reibone already drawn, the blade wrapped in a screaming sheath of annihilating green light. The strike wasn't meant to wound. It was meant to erase.
TING.
The sound was insultingly small. A single open-handed slap met the edge of the Reibone and stopped it dead. The vibration shot up Taro's arm like a lightning bolt, numbing bone, but the Watcher didn't even shift his weight. He just smiled, slow and wide, like a parent indulging a tantrum.
Taro's breath hitched, not from fear, but from a deeper, hotter rage. He flowed into the next strike instantly, the aura around his blade flaring brighter, sharper, carving green scars into the air. Again the Watcher parried with one lazy palm, the clash exploding into emerald sparks that hissed against the stone.
"Don't you see?" the Watcher drawled, bored. "This is simply usele—"
THUD.
A knee drove into the back of his skull, snapping his head forward.
CRUNCH.
A heel crashed into the back of his knee, buckling it.
WHOOM.
An elbow slammed into his sternum, driving the air from his lungs in a violent cough.
SNAP.
A brutal parry cracked against his forearm, the bone creaking.
Taro became a storm with no pause, no breath, no mercy. Every strike carried the weight of a dying star, sending concentric rings of pressure that flattened barracks walls to dust and turned training dummies into splinters. The ground for dozens of miles trembled like a beaten drum. Stone turned to powder. The landscape was being erased, one furious blow at a time.
And then, a crack in the mask.
The Rooftop Watcher brought both hands up, stance shifting for the first time. "I think it's about time I put you in your—"
He never finished.
Taro was already there, fingers like iron clamps around the Watcher's wrist. Momentum carried them both. Taro dropped low, spun, and drove his heel into the back of the Watcher's neck with every ounce of hatred in his body.
An instant, miniature explosion detonated on contact.
The Rooftop Watcher rocketed downward, carving a canyon through the earth, smoke and green lightning erupting in a roaring column that punched a hole in the clouds. The impact shook the entire horizon.
Silence.
Then a low, irritated voice drifted up from the crater.
"I think… I've had enough."
The smoke parted. The Watcher rose, cloak torn, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, but his smile was wider than ever. He blurred forward, faster than thought, hand already glowing with the same dark energy that had shattered Brian's core.
Taro saw it coming. His reaction was primal.
He seized the wrist mid-motion, dropped his weight, and whipped around. His leg snapped upward in a vicious arc, heel connecting with the Watcher's jaw in a crack that echoed like a gunshot. The blow lifted the Watcher off his feet, launching him skyward in a spray of blood and shattered teeth.
"Try killing me with that again, you bastard," Taro snarled, landing in a crouch that cratered the ground anew. His voice was deeper, rougher, laced with something inhuman. His green aura roared higher, the ring on his finger now a blazing emerald star.
Main Dream World: Vast Horizons
The Rune-Masked Figure let out a derisive puff of air. "Another Drenor, ay?… Well, I guess 1 + 1 = 2. Well, 2 more people dead, that is."
The Void-Masked Figure seemed to stir, its form bleeding at the edges. "We should be careful. It's another Drenor though. At the very least, they could possibly cook something up."
"Hmmm… maybe if it were some mindless Nightdax, sure. But this is us we're talking about. Anyway, I'd really love to see them beat our synergy." The Rune masked figure mocked confidently
Tokkun paid their words no more mind than a cliff pays the wind. His entire focus was a scalpel, dissecting the battlefield, the pressure in the air, and finally, the posture of his fellow Drenor. He saw the slight, wrong angle of Mexus's straw kasa, the unnatural stillness in his shoulders where there usually relaxed readiness.
"Mexus… what are you doing?why haven't you already defeated them by now?"
Mexus raised a brow, not turning. "What the hell are you talking about? If I could I would, but.. this might be more harder than mixing a couple of sugars in a tea pot."
Tokkun paused. A slow, analytical hum vibrated in his throat before he sharply exclaim, "That's a lie!"
"...What?"
Mexus's voice cracked with raw confusion, his gray eyes narrowing beneath the brim of his straw kasa, the hat tilting as his head snapped toward Tokkun.
Tokkun didn't look at him. His red eyes stayed fixed on the distant smoke rising from Tomaka's squad, the wind carrying the faint, coppery scent of blood even this far away. "Mexus… on my way here I passed some Dremapols and a few Drenors rushing this direction. Fistman included. I outran them. I'm one of the fastest, after all." His voice was calm, but each word landed like a hammer. "But before I got here… I passed Tomaka's squad. And I saw something."
[Flashback – A few minutes ago: Tomaka Squad]
Tokkun dropped from the sky like a shadow, boots hitting the crystalline grass with barely a sound. The air was wrong, thick with the stench of blood and burnt dream-matter. His eyes widened behind the mask as the scene slammed into him.
Dozens of corpses littered the ground, Dremapol armor torn open like tin cans, Reibones snapped in half, faces frozen in the last second of terror. The grass was painted red, steam rising from warm blood that hadn't yet cooled. In the center, Taro stood, his green aura flaring wild and unstable, veins glowing under his skin, fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white. His eyes were locked on a cloaked figure, murder written in every line of his body.
A girl knelt nearby, Nodoka, her dark hair matted with tears and dust, her hands clawing at the earth as broken sobs tearing from her throat, raw and animal.
"What's happening here?" Tokkun whispered to himself, the words barely leaving his lips.
He stepped forward, boots silent on the blood-soaked ground, and called out. "Taro… tell me what's happening right now. That's the intruder, isn't it? What's happened so far?"
Taro didn't even twitch. His rage was a wall, thick and unbreachable. The only sound that reached him was Nodoka's broken crying, each sob a knife twisting deeper. His mind screamed one thing, over and over: *Kill this bastard now.*
Tokkun tried again, voice sharper. "Taro!"
Nothing.
Tokkun's gaze shifted to Nodoka. He approached slowly, the metallic reek of blood growing stronger with every step. "Miss… why are you crying at a time and place like this?" His voice was low, careful. "You're not from this squad… so I don't think you're mourning the dead Dremapols. Tell me… why do you despair?"
A single tear slid down Nodoka's cheek, cutting a clean line through the grime. Her voice came out cracked, barely above a whisper. "My father… my mother… I thought it was natural. I thought it was just a normal house fire… but it was because of me. Because I was there. Because of me… their lives were ended… used as nothing more than to prove a point." Her hands dug into the dirt, nails breaking. "If only I could have done something… I'll never forgive them…" Sobs tore from her chest, violent and shaking. "…for what they've done… for what they've taken…"
Tokkun froze, the weight of her words sinking in like lead. He turned slowly, eyes locking on Taro's back as the green aura flared hotter. "So that's why he's like this… that's why he's fighting so hard.*
"I don't think it'd be efficient to interfere right now," Tokkun muttered to himself, stepping back. "The intruder is dangerous… but so is Taro. I'll watch. I'll step in if it gets too—"
A guttural grunt and the crack of bone on bone cut his monologue short.
"Huh?" Tokkun whipped around. The sound came from the medical branch of Reina Squad, just ahead. He blurred forward, boots barely touching the ground, and slammed the door open with a shoulder charge.
The room was a serene hall of soft white crystal walls veined with healing blue light, the air thick with the scent of medicinal herbs and faint dream essence, rows of beds glowing with protective auras, was chaos.
Brian lay on the nearest bed, a gaping hole punched clean through his chest, life-support runes flickering desperately around him. Blood pooled beneath the bed, dripping onto the crystal floor in slow, rhythmic drops. Tomaka knelt beside him, sweat pouring down her face, violet hair plastered to her cheeks, hands trembling as they pressed over the wound. A soft purple light poured from her palms, trying to knit flesh and core together, but the glow dimming with every failed attempt.
"Huh? How did this happen?" Tokkun's voice was low, sharp.
Tomaka's face was a mask of sweat and distress, her breath ragged, exhaustion radiating from every shaky exhale. "Drenor Tokkun… um… he was fighting… those intruders outside… it was going good… he was giving them a real hard time… I think he was even about to win… but then… their boss stepped up… punched away one of his best attacks again and again… offered Brian a deal to join them… promising power… Brian refused… and then…" Her voice cracked, trembling. "…he got hit… one single hit… tore his chest open… right now he's unstable… critical… and his…" She paused, voice breaking, body shaking. "…his core… it's completely shattered!!!"
Tokkun's expression didn't change, but the air around him chilled, his red eyes narrowing behind the mask. Pleasure flickered—he respected Brian's refusal—but fury simmered beneath, a quiet storm. "This is bad… no, it's a terrible, inefficient situation. The threat level is far larger than I thought. I'll assist Taro."
He turned to leave, boots thudding softly, but Tomaka's voice stopped him. "Drenor Tokkun… please don't."
He paused, turning back. "Huh?"
"Taro will attack you if you try to join now," she warned, her voice urgent, hands still glowing purple over Brian's wound. "He's vicious… that ring you gave him has amplified his power a hundredfold… this is personal to him. You'd turn it from a 2v1 into a free-for-all."
Tokkun's mask tilted. "So you expect me to standby? That doesn't sound efficient."
"No, not at all," she said quickly. "I mean… help Drenor Mexus is here. He's taken the other two intruders to fight alone. You should assist him—he might need it. Their friends seem strong too."
Tokkun's eyes narrowed. "Mexus is here?" A beat. "I see… Alright then." He opened the door, pausing. "Please… take good care of Brian."
Tomaka nodded firmly, tears glistening. "I will."
Scene fades.
[End of Flashback]
"Well… thank you for your very long and informative flashback," Mexus said, sarcasm dripping from every word, his kasa tilting as he crossed his arms, "but I think I might be failing to see the point here."
Tokkun sighed, the sound heavy in the charged air. "The point is, Mexus—you can beat them… but not in this state."
"I don't get it. I'm in peak condition," Mexus shot back, raising a brow, his hand resting on his Reibone.
"Physically? Sure, I guess," Tokkun replied, his voice steady but edged. "But not emotionally. I know how you're feeling right now—seeing those dead Dremapols, your student in serious pain, your squad member dying… and even if he survives, he won't be able to fight again. That must be a lot to handle."
Mexus didn't respond, his silence a wall.
"But Mexus…" Tokkun's voice rose, a shout that echoed through the horizons. "Don't you for one second ever forget that you are a Drenor… a captain, a leader of this generation, the second highest rank in the entire dream society. You can't let emotions sway you. Among all Drenors, you are the most strategic—you can cook up a plan for any scenario. Nobody, not even I, the Efficiency Specialist, can compare. I know you're angry, but don't let it stop you. Let it fuel you. Pour all that rage into your strategies and tactics. If nobody… nobody at all can do it… without a doubt… *you* can."
Mexus froze dead silent, his breath catching, but deep down, he knew every word rang true.
He adjusted his straw kasa slowly, the brim casting a shadow over his face, then straightened, his gray eyes burning with renewed fire. "Tokkun," he said, placing a firm hand on his shoulder, the grip steady. "Thanks."
And with four words, calm yet thunderous, he declared: "I've got a plan." His eyes flared a deep, blazing yellow, a smile growing on his face—dangerous, confident, alive.
---
Hello 👋 🤗 I'm done with exams so now I'm locked in on dropping chapters I'm going to be real consistent from now on but hey I actually need your help too
If you've made it this far in Aftershock you just have found something you really enjoyed but Aftershock has a lot of chapters now and has been going on for a while ,it needs to be monetized
I'm aiming to get the premium contract by the end of the year but I cant do it alone...yoy the readers need to help: share Aftershock with your friends,give power stones and follow my socials and join the discord server almost nobody is there
So when you read a chapter next time or maybe even now
Even if you don't have e anything to say how about just leaving a good ol "Nice chapter" or "TFTC"
How about leaving a review , Aftershock is a 5 star rated book but then again it's only 11 ratings more review , the better for us
Reccomed: A reccomendation means more then you actually think if you really liked it consider reccomending
Goal: 50k+ views, 50+ collections, a total of 300+ cumlative power stones (at 250)
Oh and also seriously consider following my accounts I'm going to be active again and really if like it if all of you were on tge Discord server id love to see your thoughts on AFTERSHOCK and so on
Thanks for Reading