At the edge of a boxing ring, a boy sat, removing blood-stained bandages from his knuckles. He had white, curly hair partially covering his sweat-glistened forehead. Two diamond cross earrings glinted under the lights. A star tattoo was visible on his neck. His body was not bulky, but defined with lean muscles, broad shoulders, and a V-shaped physique—the kind of build made for speed and impact. On his left arm was a full-sleeve, dark-colored dragon tattoo in all its glory. His face was flawless, save for a fresh scar over one eyebrow.
As he sat there, a bulky bald man approached him.
"Kairos, impressive victory today. Seventeen years old and already the lightweight champion. It's time you move to middleweight since you've defeated all fifteen fighters in the lightweight division twice."
Kairos heard him clearly, but the same bored expression was plastered on his face. He stood up, picked a black leather jacket from his sports bag, and put it on.
"Sorry, Coach, but I'm quitting," Kairos said as he headed for the exit.
"You're quitting?! What about your title? What should I do with it? And your fans, over one million of them! Your legacy! You can't just walk away. Or is this related to the fact that you've failed to awaken twice?"
Kairos halted. The air around him seemed to shift, as if the word 'awaken' had unlocked something dangerous. He turned and fixed the coach with a death stare.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to mention it. I just don't understand why you'd quit after weaving such a legacy. You're undefeated at seventeen years old, lightweight champion, and you even have a billion-dollar contract, so w—"
"I said I quit. Whether you accept it or not, that's your problem," Kairos cut him off and headed for the exit.
It had been over a thousand years since rifts began appearing on Earth. From these rifts came monsters powerful enough to destroy cities and wreak havoc. Humanity was on the brink of extinction, but fortune smiled when people began awakening special abilities that allowed them to fight back. These people were called raiders.
Since then, raiders explored rifts to gain wealth, power, and eliminate monsters to prevent disasters. With time, technology evolved, and so did the raiders' abilities.
At age thirteen, a human experiences their first awakening. If it fails, they reawaken at sixteen. Only a few never awaken at all. These non-awakeners are rare and heavily discriminated against.
Kairos came from the Ravencrest family, a household with the second-highest authority in the region. His father, Charles Ravencrest, was an SS-class raider, one of only a few in the world. A man who had single-handedly purged four A-rank rifts in a single day, he was feared even among other SS-class raiders.
As the youngest son, Kairos was destined for greatness. Yet failure always seemed to wait for him like a bride. He had failed to awaken twice.
For someone from such an influential family, this was disgraceful. Aware of this, Kairos left the Ravencrest family to build his own legacy.
But he got bored every single time.
Kairos walked down the street with an unfazed expression. He spotted a vending machine near a closed store and walked toward it, inserting a coin and waiting for his drink.
Thirty seconds passed.
Nothing.
This small incident irritated him.
BOOM!
With a heavy punch, Kairos rammed his fist into the machine. Over six drinks were dropped into the tray. Like a good boy, he took only one and continued walking.
For some reason, the street felt unusually dark. All the stores had closed early, which was strange.
Not that Kairos cared.
Before he could open his drink—
ARHHHHHHH—
"What was that…?" Kairos muttered.
Someone was screaming, and it was loud enough to shatter the silence. Normally, he wouldn't care, but the noise disturbed his peace. He followed the sound to a street corner.
There, he saw four men and a girl.
The situation was obvious.
They were harassing her.
The men noticed Kairos.
"Oy, what are you looking at, kid? Wanna come have some fun with us?" the apparent leader said.
Kairos stared at them, uninterested.
"Uh, I think I'll pass. But you'd be doing me a favor if you toned it down. The noise is kind of destroying my inner peace."
After making that statement, he turned to leave.
"Huh?! Mister, aren't you here to save me?" the girl cried, her voice trembling.
"Erm… normally I would, but I had a big fight today, and I'm tired. So bear with it," Kairos said with a smile.
He turned and walked away.
"Mister! Mister! Don't leave me here!"
Kairos ignored her.
"It seems we've found a new toy," the leader said.
"Toss the girl aside. Let's ruin this pretty boy's face."
The men released her. The leader stepped forward and stretched his hand toward Kairos's retreating figure. Smoke began to rise from his palm.
THUM!
Flames erupted.
The light caught Kairos's attention.
"Yeah, pretty boy. Seems we've drawn your attention. We're members of the Crimson Fang Guild, and today will be your last day on Earth."
Kairos sighed.
"Low-level thug awakeners pretending to be Crimson Fang members. I bet you aren't even enlisted."
"What did you just say, boy?!" the man roared and launched a fireball.
Kairos ducked effortlessly, the flames brushing past him.
"Are you sure you were aiming for me?" Kairos smirked.
"Guys, fuck him up."
Knives slid out from sleeves as the men charged. One rushed ahead and slashed at Kairos's face. Kairos moved forward, straight into the attack.
Then vanished.
"The fuck?" the man muttered.
BOOM!
CRUNCH!
Bones snapped. The man collapsed, skull shattered from Kairos's punch.
The remaining three froze.
"Who the fuck are you…?" they asked together.
"Oh? Me?" Kairos said, bowing slightly, his knuckles dripping with blood.
"I'm just a nobody."
He raised his head, but there was something wrong; the smile on his face was anything but human.