The world in the year 3000 looked peaceful on the surface.
Too peaceful.
Towering cities stretched into the skies with endless lights glowing like artificial stars.
Mechs handled construction, transportation, security, and even farming.
Android workers walked among humans so naturally that most people barely noticed them anymore.
Teleportation systems connected major cities.
Diseases had nearly vanished.
Crime rates were lower than any point in recorded history.
Wars between nations no longer existed.
Humanity had achieved what ancient civilizations once called utopia.
At least…
That was what the world was told.
Verdancy however knew another truth.
A much uglier truth.
And the deeper Damien became involved with the organization…
The more he realized the world itself was built on hidden control.
The Earth was now divided into seven massive Regions separated naturally by oceans.
The old artificial borders of countries had long disappeared centuries ago after the Global Unification Era.
Gone were the days of hundreds of nations fighting endlessly over land, politics, religion, and resources.
Now—
There were only Regions.
Each Region contained hundreds of massive cities connected by advanced infrastructure and Aether-powered systems.
The cities themselves acted as smaller governing territories under Regional authority.
And at the very top of each Region…
Stood a Region Leader.
Region Leaders were treated almost like monarchs in the modern world.
Their authority was absolute.
No elections.
No voting systems.
No democracy.
Those systems had collapsed centuries ago after corruption, misinformation wars, and technological manipulation nearly drove humanity into extinction during the late twenty-third century.
Humanity eventually concluded something terrifying.
Too much freedom without wisdom led to chaos.
And so…
The old world was erased.
Instead, Region Leaders were chosen by a Council of Worthies.
A constantly rotating council made up of philosophers, clergy, scientists, military strategists, innovators, and globally respected figures who had proven both intelligence and wisdom throughout their lives.
The council itself changed every ten years to prevent corruption.
And the chosen Region Leader ruled until death.
To modern society…
This system was considered humanity’s greatest achievement.
Order without endless political conflict.
Progress without instability.
And honestly…
From the outside—
It worked.
The world had never advanced faster.
But Verdancy knew something the public didn’t.
The Region Leaders were not truly the rulers of Earth.
No.
The real rulers never appeared publicly.
Never gave speeches.
Never attended ceremonies.
Most citizens didn’t even know their names.
And yet…
Their hands controlled the entire planet.
Seven hundred years ago—
Four companies changed humanity forever.
The Four Great Tech Companies.
The giants that dragged humanity into the Third Millennium.
Every major technological breakthrough in modern history traced back to them somehow.
Aether-powered systems.
Teleportation.
Advanced AI.
Medical regeneration.
Neural communication.
Planetary infrastructure.
Military technology.
Even entertainment systems.
Everything.
The modern world itself existed because of them.
And over time…
Humanity slowly became dependent on them.
Their influence spread quietly at first.
Governments relied on them for technological support.
Militaries relied on them for weapons and security systems.
Cities relied on them for infrastructure.
Hospitals relied on them for medical technology.
Schools relied on them for educational systems.
Even basic transportation depended on their technology.
Eventually…
The world itself became integrated into their systems.
And once that happened—
There was no escaping their influence anymore.
Earth rested in the palm of their hands.
The names of the Four Great Tech Companies were legendary.
Helios Corporation
Masters of planetary energy systems and Aether reactors.
Nexara Dynamics
The leaders of AI and android development.
Valkyrium Industries
The military backbone of modern humanity.
EdenSphere Technologies
The rulers of biotechnology, medicine, and neural integration.
Together—
They controlled nearly every aspect of civilization.
Officially they were competitors.
Unofficially…
They were the hidden rulers of Earth.
And like every powerful system in history…
Their world created victims.
Not every city prospered equally.
Not every district received the same resources.
Not every human benefited from technological advancement.
There were places forgotten by progress.
Places abandoned intentionally.
The world called them—
R-Zones.
Restricted Zones.
Discarded territories where broken infrastructure, poverty, crime, pollution, and failed systems gathered like scars hidden beneath polished skin.
Area Verdancy was one of them.
But far from the only one.
Millions lived inside R-Zones across the world.
The forgotten.
The oppressed.
The discarded.
People abandoned by the very systems that claimed humanity had achieved perfection.
And from those forgotten places…
Verdancy was born.
The world labeled them terrorists.
Extremists.
Delusional fanatics who wanted to drag Earth back into the Stone Age.
People claimed Verdancy hated technology itself.
That they believed machines were evil.
That AI was the spawn of the devil.
But reality…
Was far more complicated.
Verdancy did not hate technology.
After all—
They themselves used some of the most advanced technology on Earth.
No.
What Verdancy hated…
Was control.
The Four Great Tech Companies didn’t simply influence the world anymore.
They owned it.
And Verdancy wanted to tear that control away from them.
By force if necessary.
The organization itself was fueled by rage.
Revenge.
Bitterness.
Not righteousness.
Not justice.
Even Dr.
Frost admitted that openly once during a briefing.
“We are not heroes,” he had said calmly.
“We simply refuse to kneel.”
Because it sounded honest.
Dangerously honest.
Verdancy had grown massively over the centuries.
Entire hidden cities.
Secret underground bases.
Private armies.
Advanced weapons.
Spy networks.
Aether research divisions.
At this point…
They had become powerful enough to openly contend against the Four Great Tech Companies.
At least partially.
And if the hidden corporate regime ever collapsed…
Verdancy intended to replace it.
To “guide humanity correctly.”
Or at least…
That was what they told themselves.
But the Four Great Tech Companies were not defenseless.
Far from it.
They had seen Verdancy as a threat long ago.
And secretly…
They began researching Aether as well.
Unlike Verdancy’s Superhuman Project…
The corporations chose another route entirely.
Artificial soldiers.
Humanoid androids powered directly by Aether.
Not simple robots.
Not ordinary AI machines.
No.
These things were different.
They were called:
SERAPHS
The name alone sounded terrifying.
SERAPHS looked almost human externally.
Too human sometimes.
But beneath their synthetic bodies existed Aether-powered combat cores capable of producing destructive energy outputs rivaling military weaponry.
They could channel Aether into concentrated blasts.
Enhance their own speed and strength.
Analyze combat patterns instantly.
And fight without fear, hesitation, or exhaustion.
Unlike ordinary mechs…
SERAPHS were built specifically to kill.
And worst of all…
Nobody truly understood how strong they were.
Their existence itself was classified.
Only the highest levels of Verdancy leadership even knew substantial information about them.
Every major corporate base reportedly possessed at least one SERAPH unit.
Some secret facilities allegedly possessed entire squads.
But actual combat data remained scarce.
Because encounters with SERAPHS rarely ended with survivors.
Normal humans couldn’t fight them.
Mechs couldn’t stop them.
Even elite Verdancy agents feared them.
For years—
SERAPHS remained one of the biggest obstacles preventing Verdancy from advancing further against the corporations.
An invisible wall standing between rebellion and victory.
But now…
Things were changing.
Because for the first time in centuries—
Verdancy possessed something new.
Something unknown.
Something even the Four Great Tech Companies hadn’t anticipated.
The S-Unit.
Sixteen genetically perfected Superhumans capable of wielding Aether naturally.
An existence never before seen in human history.
And somewhere deep beneath Area Verdancy…
Inside a hidden underground base—
Those sixteen future monsters stood before a glowing mission board preparing to begin their very first operations.
Unaware that eventually…
They would become important enough to shake the entire world itself.