The city didn't slow down for him.
Shinra walked with the flow, just another dark silhouette absorbed into the river of people. Screens glowed on building walls, advertisements layered over news feeds, and every few seconds a vehicle hummed past overhead on a faint strip of light.
Voices overlapped—laughter, arguments, street vendors shouting deals, the distant thrum of music leaking from somewhere above. None of it belonged to him.
This era really forgot me, he thought.
[It appears so, Great Master.]
Arios' voice slipped into the noise without disturbing it, clean and precise.
[There is no record of your name, your deeds, or your territories within any publicly accessible archive.]
Shinra's gaze drifted across a large building display showing a timeline of "modern history." Wars, breakthroughs, the rise of city-states, technological leaps.
Nothing before a certain point.
Nothing that looked like his era.
"Check again," he said in his mind. "Not just public records. Anything."
[…Understood.]
Silence for a few seconds.
He turned down a slightly narrower street. The crowd here was thinner. Neon signs flickered above small shops. A boy with faint sparks in his eyes zipped past him, trailing a thin film of static.
[Search complete, Great Master.]
"And?"
[…No matches.]
He stopped walking.
"None," he repeated.
[None.] Arios confirmed.
[Your name, your symbols, your known artifacts… It is as if your existence was deliberately removed from the flow of history.]
A hollow feeling brushed against his ribs. It wasn't surprise. It was confirmation.
"Not even myths?" Shinra asked. "Stories? Superstitions?"
[There are fragmented legends in obscure sources.] Arios replied. [Stories of a 'Sovereign Above All' who disappeared with a lost era. But those tales are vague, unnamed, and treated as metaphor rather than fact.]
"So even when they talk about me," Shinra murmured, "they don't know they are."
A thin smile tugged at his lips, without warmth.
Stolen from memory. Stolen from words. Stolen from time.
It made sense, then, that his own mind rebelled when he tried to recall his name. Whatever erased him hadn't done it halfway.
He resumed walking.
A sudden shout snapped his attention forward.
"Watch it, Mundane!"
A man stumbled in front of him, clutching a small case to his chest. A thin crackle of power lit the air as an Ascendant—young, with slicked-back hair and an aura that flared too brightly for his control—shoved the man backward.
The man barely kept his footing, bowing his head quickly.
"I'm sorry, I—"
"Do you even have eyes?" the Ascendant snapped. "Tch. People like you shouldn't crowd the main road."
His friends laughed behind him. One of them flicked his fingers; a tiny wave of water splashed up and soaked the Mundane's shoes.
The man whispered another apology and hurried away, shoulders hunched.
Shinra watched quietly.
No aura, he noted. Mundane.
[Correct, Great Master.] Arios said.
[A human with no awakened ability. In this age, they are often treated with contempt.]
"And the one doing the shoving?"
[Tier 5 Ascendant at best.] Arios analyzed. [Not particularly talented. More noise than substance.]
"Even they look down on someone weaker than them," Shinra said.
[Power is a convenient justification, Great Master. Humans often cling to any hierarchy available.]
He kept walking.
He didn't interfere. Not because he approved—but because he was still learning the shape of the world. Acting before understanding the rules rarely ended well.
A few blocks later, he turned a corner—
—and nearly collided with someone coming from the other side.
He shifted smoothly, but their shoulders brushed anyway.
"Ah—!"
The girl gasped softly and staggered back a half step. She was wearing a light jacket, hair pulled back in a quick, practical tie, a small bag slung over one shoulder.
Her eyes went wide. "S-Sorry!" she blurted, bowing her head slightly.
Shinra blinked once.
"No," he said. "That was my fault. I should've watched my step."
She looked up, surprised.
"No, it's… I wasn't looking," she said quickly. "I was in a hurry. I'm really sorry if I—"
"You didn't," he cut in. "It's fine."
She paused, studying his calm expression, then let out a faint breath.
"Still… thank you," she said.
There was something about the way she said it—polite, but with a small edge of tension. Like someone used to being blamed for things automatically.
Her gaze flicked to his face again, as if memorizing it without meaning to.
"I really have to go," she added, almost to herself. "They'll yell again if I'm late."
She gave a quick, somewhat awkward dip of her head and rushed away, disappearing back into the current of people.
Shinra watched her until she vanished behind the crowd.
He resumed his pace. The encounter faded into the general motion of the city, but a tiny mark of it remained in his mind.
Time blurred.
Shinra didn't rush anywhere. He walked.
He crossed busy streets, narrow alleys, open plazas. He passed people huddled near buildings with "HELP WANTED – ASCENDANTS ONLY" signs in the windows. He saw groups in matching jackets with guild emblems on their backs. He saw barriers set up around sealed zones, guarded by Ascendants whose auras were barely controlled.
The city was loud—but the patterns beneath the noise were familiar.
"Tell me more about those tiers," he said eventually. "Properly."
[Of course, Great Master.]
A hint of light formed at the edge of his vision again—a compact summary, this time.
[Tier 6: Lowest-ranked Ascendants. Weak abilities, often unable to use them in combat effectively.]
[Tier 5–3: Middle structure. Most working Ascendants fall here—security, labor, minor guild members.]
[Tier 2: High-class combatants. Often commanders, elite squads, or special agents.]
[Tier 1: Top of the official scale. Strategic-level individuals. Many become city guardians, high-ranking guild leaders, or Authority assets.]
"And those below Tier 6?" Shinra asked.
[Mundanes.]
[Officially just 'non-Ascendants.' Unofficially… they are frequently treated as second-class beings.]
"Even low-tier Ascendants are barely better off," Shinra said, remembering the way some people flinched when anyone with stronger aura walked by.
[Yes, Great Master.]
[Tier 6s in certain zones are treated almost the same as Mundanes. In some cases, worse, because more is expected of them.]
"So the world climbs over the weak," he said. "As always."
[But the tools it uses have changed.]
He glanced up at a large screen above a plaza.
News footage showed a distorted patch of air above a road, shimmering like heat haze but lined with jagged cracks of light. Dark shapes spilled out of it, scattering people.
Then came the image of squads in uniform rushing in—Ascendants with auras blazing, forming barriers and striking the entities down.
The text at the bottom read:
LOCAL GUILD UNITS & ASCENDANT AUTHORITY SUPPRESS BREACH IN EASTERN QUARTER
"Breach," he read.
[Spatial-temporal anomalies, Great Master.] Arios said.
[Tears where unstable energy leaks into this world, often spawning entities not native to it.]
"Like the things that came for me at the end," Shinra murmured.
[Similar in behavior, but not identical.]
"Who handles them now?" he asked.
[Primarily guilds and the Ascendant Authority.]
[The Authority is a centralized organization overseeing high-tier power usage, legality, and political control. Guilds are semi-autonomous groups that take on missions—Breach suppression, escort, rescue, sometimes inter-city work.]
"Heroes and hunters," Shinra summarized.
[Some try.] Arios said. [Some succeed. Some just chase money or status.]
"And me?" he asked. "Wandering around with no identification, no history, with a power signature that refuses to sit quietly?"
[An anomaly. If discovered too abruptly, you will invite scrutiny you do not yet fully understand.]
He slipped into a side street, quieter, lined with older, shorter buildings. Laundry hung from some balconies. Children played in a corner, one conjuring tiny sparks to impress the others.
"You're hinting at something," Shinra said.
[I am recommending something, Great Master.] Arios corrected politely.
[You require a legal identity, a stable base, and a framework through which your power can be explained away.]
"Like a guild," Shinra said.
[Yes.]
He walked past a small stall selling skewers. The seller eyed his simple clothes and decided he wasn't a likely customer.
"Which one?" Shinra asked.
[There are many in this city.] Arios said. [Some are large and influential, but they tend to value strength above all. You would be treated as a resource, not a person.]
"And the others?"
[There is a smaller guild whose operational pattern is… different.] Arios continued.
[They accept low-ranked Ascendants, even those at Tier 6, and provide proper support. They also employ Mundanes in non-combat roles and actively protect them.]
Shinra's steps slowed slightly.
"In a world like this?" he asked. "Someone bothers to do that?"
[Yes, Great Master.]
[Because of that, they are underestimated and occasionally pressured by more powerful guilds. But their internal structure is stable. Their reputation at the ground level is good.]
"Their name?"
[Sanctum.]
He let the word sit on his tongue for a moment.
"Sanctum…" He almost smiled. "Protective sort of name."
[Their emblem is a shield with wings, wrapping around a smaller core.]
"Obvious symbolism," Shinra said. "But not a bad choice."
[For someone in your position—needing cover, not wanting to be used to trample the weak—Sanctum is statistically the best fit.]
He walked on in silence for a few steps, considering it.
"Where?" he asked finally.
[Setting route to Sanctum Guild branch in this city.]
A small arrow appeared at the edge of his vision, pointing down one of the intersecting streets.
He followed it.
The buildings gradually grew less flashy. The signs shrank. The neon dulled into softer light. The noise of the main roads flattened into a background hum.
They emerged into a modest plaza.
It wasn't impressive. A few benches, a tree stubbornly growing through a break in the pavement, some shops. People passed through without lingering too long.
On one side stood a building slightly set apart from the others.
Wide front. Reinforced glass doors. Clean, maintained walls. Above the entrance, an emblem—exactly as Arios described. A stylized shield, wings curling protectively around a smaller circle in the middle.
Below it, simple letters:
SANCTUM GUILD
Shinra stopped and watched.
Ascendants went in and out in pairs or small groups. Some strong, aura bright and steady. Some weak, their energy barely a flicker. A few had no aura at all—Mundanes carrying boxes, checking lists at the entrance, talking with staff without looking like they were about to be kicked away.
No one yelled at them for being there. No one shoved them aside.
So it exists, he thought.
[You seem… relieved, Great Master.] Arios observed quietly.
"Not relieved," Shinra said. "Just… reminded that not everything rots at the same speed."
He moved toward the doors.
As he got closer, he felt several eyes flicker to him, then away—habitual checks, not suspicion. His aura was mostly compressed, quiet. At a glance, he looked like any other moderately strong individual.
He stepped through the doors.
Inside, the lobby was bright and active, but not chaotic. A reception counter ran along one wall. Opposite it, a sitting area with worn but clean couches where people scanned mission boards projected in the air. The sound of conversation filled the space—talk of Breach levels, shifts, pay, lunch.
At the reception, a young woman with a neat ponytail and a guild band on her wrist looked up as he approached.
"Welcome to Sanctum Guild," she said automatically, then adjusted her tone when she actually saw him. "Can I help you?"
"I'd like to register," Shinra said.
"Ah—you mean as a member?" she asked.
"Yes."
Her professional smile settled more firmly into place. "Of course. Do you already have an Ascendant Authority ID?"
"…No," he said.
She blinked, then nodded. "All right. In that case, we'll have to start from the beginning. But that's fine; it just means a bit more work on our side."
She tapped lightly on a transparent screen in front of her.
"We'll need to run a basic power evaluation to determine your tier," she explained. "After that, we can submit your data to the Authority for registration and assign you an internal file."
He nodded. "Sounds straightforward enough."
"Um… may I have your name?" she asked.
He paused for the smallest fraction of a second.
"Shinra," he said. "Just Shinra."
She keyed it in.
"Okay, Shinra," she said, the name already fitting easily behind her voice. "Please follow the guide line to Evaluation Room 3. An operator will assist you there."
A faint strip of light flared on the floor, leading toward one of the side corridors.
He turned to follow it.
[Master.] Arios spoke softly.
[Before the evaluation, we must address your output.]
"I know," Shinra answered silently.
[If you allow me, I will compress your aura as much as possible without damaging your internal structure.]
"You're worried their machines will explode?"
[I am worried their records will.]
He almost smiled.
"Do it," he said.
Something shifted inside him.
His power, already sealed, now folded in on itself even further, like a great storm pulled tight into the eye alone. The space around his body grew strangely still. His presence dimmed—no longer a blazing beacon, but a dense, muted ember.
If someone looked at him with normal senses, they would see a calm, above-average Ascendant. Nothing more.
[This is the minimum safe compression I can apply, Great Master.] Arios reported.
[In theory, you should not exceed the upper measurement limit.]
"In theory," Shinra echoed.
He followed the glowing line deeper into the building.
The hallway grew quieter. Footsteps echoed lightly. He could hear muffled orders from a nearby training hall, the thud of impacts, the crackle of abilities being tested.
At the end of the corridor, a door stood open, light spilling out.
Evaluation Room 3.
He paused for a brief breath just outside, not out of fear or hesitation, but simple calculation.
New era. New system. New scale.
Let's see how small they think the sky is now.
He stepped through the doorway.
And the world that had forgotten him began, slowly, to notice he was back.