Prologue: In the West of Valdora
The western sky was still burning.
The ground trembled faintly, and the air reeked of scorched metal.
Several squads of Enhanced soldiers from the three great Alliances stood around the valley — at its center lay the corpse of an Origin-class creature, towering as high as a spire, its body half flesh, half dead Etherion crystal.
The blue light within its core had gone dark.
No one spoke.
Captain Solaris stood at the front, the glow along his armor dimmed, his face caught between awe and horror.
"This... this can't be real."
Dr. Araki Shion knelt beside the carcass, scanning the faint residue of energy that lingered in the air.
"No blast traces... no Enhanced signatures.
This thing— it died as if it was... completely erased."
Aeria Voss lifted her gaze toward the ashen sky.
"If it wasn't us who killed it... then who could?"
Silence.
A silence too perfect.
The entire five-kilometer radius felt stripped of the world's echo — still, frozen, lifeless.
Captain Solaris clenched a handful of cracked earth beneath his boots.
"If something out there can erase an Origin in an instant..."
He looked up, his eyes narrowing.
"...then it's no longer human."
-----
Amid the narrow alleys that smelled of metal vapor and old oil, Elara Quinn walked calmly toward the school.
Above her, flying vehicles crossed paths like flocks of iron birds. Their engines roared endlessly, yet Elara merely adjusted her earphones.
They were a special kind — full isolators.
Once worn, the world became utterly silent.
And Elara liked it that way.
She hated noise.
Hated the sound of people being too alive.
The alleys were familiar with her footsteps.
And as with every morning, there would always be trouble — a group of teenagers who thought the backstreet behind the school was their kingdom.
Moments later, faint screams echoed through the air... followed by a heavy thud.
Then silence.
Elara stepped out of the alley with a calm face, her bag slung over her shoulder, untouched. A drop of blood slid down the edge of her school skirt, but she didn't care.
The sky was still loud, yet Elara's world remained silent.
She walked out onto the main street.
The blare of horns and distant sirens felt like echoes from another world.
In the far distance, the Valdora Towers rose high — shimmering blue energy domes shielding the city from outside attacks.
She paused by the air-crossing, waiting for a maglev tram to glide along its transparent rail. For a fleeting moment, her reflection appeared in a shop window —
A calm face. Eyes dim, without light.
----
She arrived at the school gates a few minutes before the first bell.
The building was tall and grey, standing in the heart of a restless city — an ordinary school, though its students were anything but.
Most of them possessed minor abilities, side effects of Etherion gas that had seeped into their bodies since birth.
Elara wasn't one of them.
At least, that's what they believed.
She walked down the corridor in silence, her steps calm, her gaze unwavering despite the stares that followed her.
In class, she took her usual seat at the back, beside the window.
Earphones in. The world around her fell quiet.
Her eyes drifted toward the view outside.
Grey clouds floated lazily above the Valdora dome.
Far in the distance, faint blue lines flickered across the sky — the telltale shimmer of a small skirmish beyond the city walls.
Elara noticed.
She simply didn't care.
Inside the classroom, chaos ruled.
Students toyed with their powers as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Flames danced on open palms.
Shadow doubles blinked in and out of sight.
Someone dashed across the room so fast that desks rattled in their wake.
Laughter and shouting collided in the air.
The walls shimmered with leftover energy.
"Hey! That's too much!"
"You started it first!"
The class leader slammed a hand on his desk.
"Oi! You two trying to blow up the classroom?!"
His voice went ignored.
One of the students shoved his opponent back — light gathered in his palm, dense and unstable, then fired off uncontrollably.
The blast of energy shot straight toward the back of the room.
Right at Elara Quinn, who still sat unmoving, her eyes fixed on the world outside.
The room froze.
Then, laughter cracked through the silence.
A boy with silver hair stood at the front, patting his chest with a grin.
"Hahahaha! See that? My power erased the blast!"
A few heads turned toward him, uncertain.
Someone whispered under their breath,
"But… I don't think it was you. It looked like—"
"Like Elara Quinn did it."
Silence fell again.
That name made a few students exchange uneasy glances.
The silver-haired boy's smile twitched. He glared toward the back of the class.
"Hah? You blind or something? Did you see her move?"
"She's deaf, too. If it wasn't me, she'd be vaporized by now."
He laughed again, louder this time.
"Oh, right — even if she was vaporized… who'd care, huh? Hahaha!"
Some students joined in with awkward laughter. Others just lowered their heads, too afraid to speak.
Elara didn't turn.
Her eyes stayed on the window, her expression blank — but her fingers began tapping the desk. Once. Twice.
The air around the boy shimmered.
The ceiling lights flickered.
Then the room trembled.
A faint vibration at first, growing steadily stronger — enough to shake desks and rattle the windows.
Students screamed. Some ducked under tables, others bolted for the door.
Papers swirled through the air. Dust rained from the ceiling.
The silver-haired boy, once laughing, had gone pale.
He turned toward Elara — still sitting perfectly still, her fingers now motionless on the desk.
Her face was empty.
Her eyes shifted, just once — a single glance.
And that was all it took.
The boy scrambled out of the classroom, shoving anyone in his way.
Silence reclaimed the room, broken only by the fading hum of energy.
Elara looked back toward the window.
Calm.
As though the world itself had stopped breathing for a moment.
------
The sky above Valdora was crowded with warships from the three Alliances.
Massive air carriers—each the size of three football fields—hovered slowly through the smoky air, their shadows swallowing half the scorched plain below.
Beneath them lay the carcass of an Origin-class creature, its colossal body rigid against the blackened earth. The air around it still shimmered faintly, as if the remnants of its power refused to fade away.
Captain Solaris stood atop a ridge of broken stone, eyes fixed on her troops below.
"How's it looking, Voss?"
Aeria Voss bent over her scanner, studying the readings before shaking her head slowly.
"No signs of battle damage. I've swept the entire area for energy residue… there's nothing. Completely dead."
Solaris frowned.
"That's… strange."
She turned to Dr. Shion Araki, who was kneeling beside the creature's corpse, examining a gaping wound that pierced straight through its chest and out its back. Captain Solaris and Aeria Voss approached.
"What do you make of it, Shion?"
Dr. Araki Shion rose to his feet with a quiet sigh.
"From the pattern of this wound… it was killed by the same kind of energy it possessed—only far stronger."
Captain Solaris narrowed her eyes.
"You mean… it was killed by another Origin?"
"Possibly," Dr Araki Shion replied calmly. "But so far, there's no sign of any other creature. Just… silence."
"You sure about that, Shion?" captain Solaris asked, half-doubtful.
Dr Araki Shion knelt again, tracing the edge of the charred wound with gloved fingers, then stood.
"I'll take some tissue samples back to the lab. It might take a few days to get a full analysis… but—"
He stopped, his gaze sweeping across the barren, dust-choked plain.
"But what?" Captain Solaris prompted.
"You should post a guard detail here. You know there are Origin capable of turning themselves invisible."
Captain Solaris's voice dropped into a grim murmur.
"Yeah. I know."
Before Dr Araki Shion could reply, a shout broke the heavy stillness behind them.
"Captain!"
A young cadet sprinted up the slope, breath ragged.
"Yes? What is it?"
"General Hawk's orders! The cleanup team is to begin operations immediately!"
Captain Solaris gave a faint smirk, folding her arms as she looked at Dr Araki Shion.
"Well then, looks like our time's up. Grab whatever you need—before Hawk decides to drag you out himself."
Dr Araki Shion raised an eyebrow, exhaling softly.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I've taken the essentials. The rest…" He smirked faintly. "…I'll have to buy off the black market later."
Captain Solaris chuckled.
"They're probably part of the cleanup crew anyway. Good hands—fast, quiet, and they don't ask questions."
Dr Araki Shion's smile widened just a little as he wiped the dust from his gloves.
"That's why I like them."
-----
Aeria Voss moved swiftly behind her captain, her strides sharp and disciplined. The woman's posture was firm beneath the weight of her full military uniform, the steel gleam of the insignia on her shoulder catching what little daylight pierced the ashen sky.
"Voss."
"Yes, Captain."
"The rear of this city connects to the western fortress, doesn't it?"
"That's correct, Captain."
Captain Solaris drew in a slow breath. Her gaze lingered on the colossal carcass sprawled across the plain like a fallen mountain, then shifted toward the fortress walls of Valdora rising in the distance.
"This city doesn't have many civilians—mostly defense units. But behind the western fort… there's a settlement and a school, right?"
"Yes, a regular school, not a military academy," Aeria Voss replied.
Solaris paused for a moment. "If what Shion said is true, and there's still another Origin creature somewhere in this area… that's a serious threat."
He turned to his lieutenant, his tone firm. "Take a few squads and evacuate the civilians around the fort for now."
"Understood, Captain."
Without hesitation, Aeria Voss gave a brief nod, then stomped the ground. The soil cracked beneath her boots, and her body launched upward, cutting through the wind before landing gracefully atop one of the hovering air carriers circling the skies above Valdora.
------
The tremor that rippled through the classroom sent shockwaves across the entire school building. Teachers immediately ordered every student to evacuate to the open field, fearing an attack from an unknown creature.
Yet amid the chaos, Elara Quinn sat leisurely atop the school roof, her legs dangling, swinging gently in the air. Above her, the rumble of airships cut through the clouds of gray smoke drifting across the sky. She watched in silence—calm, detached, unbothered by curiosity.
Below, on the school field, students and teachers gathered with panic-stricken faces. Some shouted their friends' names; others counted their classmates, terrified that someone might be missing. Everyone thought the tremor was the sign of an Origin monster attack.
But Elara's homeroom teacher merely stood aside, as if already knowing the girl wouldn't appear on any attendance list.
Minutes later, the sky above the school darkened under a vast shadow. A military airship descended low, and the entire field erupted in shouts of awe and excitement.
Cheers echoed when the emblem of the Southern Haven Alliance gleamed under the ship's wings.
From the rear deck, Lieutenant Aeria Voss stood, her eyes scanning the ground below. Then she saw her—one figure on the rooftop, perfectly still amid the wind and dust.
"That girl's got guts," Aeria muttered.
"Where's the lieutenant?" one of the crew asked.
"There," another officer replied, leaning out and pointing toward Elara. "Impressive… maybe she's got some kind of power."
"Impossible," Aeria said flatly. "This school's reserved for low-potential students—ten percent and below, or none at all. The Alliance trains them for low-tier field work after graduation."
"Field work? You mean—"
"Cleaning up monster corpses," Aeria finished quietly.
She turned toward the pilot. "Bring us down."
"Yes, Lieutenant!"
The airship began its slow descent, the massive rotors roaring as their wind tore across the school roofs.
Then suddenly, the air screamed—an immense gust, deep and wild, like the breath of a giant awakening from a centuries-long sleep.
The roar shattered the sky. Trees bent low, roof tiles tore free, and debris spiraled into the air. The airship shuddered violently, its wings lurching as the pilot struggled to regain control.
"Hold her steady! Drop altitude!" he shouted, but the storm's force slammed the craft sideways.
Below, the ground began to quake—first a faint tremor, then a violent shudder.
Screams filled the campus as students and teachers ran for their lives, shielding their heads from falling debris.
Aeria Voss gripped the doorway rail, her hair whipping wildly in the gale. Her eyes darted across the chaos, searching for the source of the quake.
Then—slowly—from the side of the school building, a massive shadow emerged.
A foot, larger than a tower, struck the earth.
The ground convulsed. The air itself seemed to tremble.
Through clouds of dust and thunder, an Origin revealed itself—ten stories tall, its skin a pulsating armor of black metal, its eyes burning like embers torn from the void.
Above Southern Haven, the sky boiled. Lightning split the clouds, and in the distance, emergency sirens wailed—the signal for a Level Red catastrophe.
Human screams pierced the storm.
Defense forces mobilized, but their efforts were meaningless against something so colossal.
Inside the airship, Aeria Voss stood frozen, her face drawn and pale.
Yet in the heart of that chaos, her gaze found the same girl again—Elara Quinn, still sitting on the rooftop, her legs swinging lazily as if nothing in the world had changed.
The giant's windstorm didn't even stir a single strand of her hair.