The freezing rain and the thunderous roar of the automated battle cannons dissolved into complete, terrifying silence.
Tez, Sha, and Rihasa felt themselves falling backward through an endless sea of cold, pitch-black liquid.
The excruciating pain in their shattered bones faded away, replaced by an eerie, weightless stillness.
They stood together within the vast expanse of their shared subconscious minds.
At the center of the dark void floated a single, impossibly gigantic apple made of solid, polished gold.
Standing atop the glittering fruit, leaning back with his arms crossed and a wide grin spread across his face, was a strange old man laughing hysterically.
“BWAHAHAHA!” The man wiped a tear from his glowing eye, slapping his knee.
“That crazy bastard Jaff! Is he really trying to hand off his heavy responsibility to his own flesh and blood? And he actually believes this little brat can carry it? Hmm! Fascinating! I just had to step in and witness this boy’s presence for myself!”
The three young boys stood side-by-side in the void, blinking in utter bewilderment as they looked up at the golden apple.
“Are you… some kind of ancient dragon?” Tez asked tentatively, wiping his eyes.
“No, look at his nose, maybe he’s a shark,” Sha speculated, scratching his head.
Rihasa squinted, wiping mud off his cheek.
“No way. He’s just an ordinary old piece of crap.”
The old man nearly slipped off the top of his golden apple, catching himself at the last second with a furious scowl.
“Hahaha! What a shameful, disrespectful introduction!” He stood tall, a blinding, multi-colored light radiating from his figure.
“Nice to meet you, children. I am Rarea—the entity chosen to oversee and protect the entire Powerverse. I can bend, create, and destroy anything with the power of pure imagination.”
Tez’s eyes shot wide open, panic instantly rushing back into his chest.
“Wait! Sir, we don’t have time for this! We’re in the middle of a life-or-death fight!”
“Maybe I’ve already died,” Rihasa whined miserably, holding his stomach.
“That gray alien monster beat me up like I was his personal pocket hanky!”
“Hey, old sir!” Sha called out, stepping forward.
“Can you please tell us what is actually happening to us right now?”
Rarea shook his head with a deep, dramatic sigh.
“Oh, that old bastard Jaff didn’t tell you a single useful thing, did he?”
Tez froze, stepping closer to the golden apple.
“Jaff? You know my grandpa?”
Rarea smirked, folding his hands into his sleeves.
“Hmm! Yes. Or maybe I have to say no. Huh! It’s none of your business right now anyway. Tell me, you boys want to unleash your true powers, don’t you?”
“YES!” all three children shouted in unison, their voices echoing across the empty dark void.
Rarea’s playful aura vanished in an instant, replaced by a deep, authoritative gravity.
“If you want to wield your Mythic Power, you cannot treat it like a tool or a weapon. You must feel it. Imagine it. Integrate the power until it exists as an organic, vital organ inside your very body.”
Tez gasped softly as the ancient words of the giant dragon Kung echoed through his soul.
“Like the dragon told me… set the fire directly to my heart!”
“Exactly!” Rarea nodded with a proud smile.
“You must be completely honest with your power, and above all, you need unwavering courage.”
In that single, crystalline moment, the mystery of his grandfather’s final words on the rain-swept rooftop clicked into place inside Tez’s mind.
Grandpa wasn’t talking about physical strength…
He wanted to tell me that honesty is my real power! This story is hosted at g.com.
“Yes, my child,” Rarea said softly, waving his hand toward the shining light above them.
“Go back now. Prove yourself to be the absolute best Legend of the Fourth Generation.”
“Fourth Generation?” Sha asked, looking around.
“Yes. There were three great generations of heroes before you. Now you have no time left to waste. Wake up!”
THE REAL WORLD
The automated battle cannons fired, their explosive shells tearing through the pouring rain.
Gaya swung his dark Aura-infused blade directly toward Sha’s neck.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A blinding, cataclysmic shockwave of raw, unadulterated Mythic Aura erupted from Tez, Sha, and Rihasa at the exact same millisecond.
The incoming artillery shells disintegrated into harmless ash mid-flight.
Gaya was launched backward through the air, crashing hard into the dirt road.
A brilliant, ethereal light wrapped tightly around the bodies of the three boys.
Flesh knitted together, broken bones snapped back into place, and every wound closed instantaneously.
Tez felt a terrifying, white-hot furnace ignite inside his ribcage, his blood boiling until it felt like liquid molten ash rushing through his veins.
Sha felt his blood transform into fluid, high-pressure water.
Rihasa’s fingernails extended into gleaming, divine claws that radiated gold energy.
Frera’s eyes dilated in absolute terror from inside his chopper.
Impossible!
They aren’t ordinary martial artists…
They are something far beyond!
“Rihasa! Take Mika into the deep forest!” Tez roared, his eyes glowing with fierce determination.
“On it!” Rihasa leaped forward like an apex predator, grabbing Mika by his vest and dragging him into the thick woods.
“Sha! Pull Gaya toward the abandoned estate!”
“Consider it done!” Sha shouted, darting forward and unleashing a relentless barrage of water-infused trident strikes that forced Gaya into a desperate retreat.
Suri rushed Tez with a bloodthirsty scream, launching a full-power kick aimed at his neck.
But as her boot drew near, her leg began violently trembling, overwhelmed by the crushing pressure of Tez’s aura.
Tez’s sheer presence clashed directly against Frera’s oppressive energy, completely neutralizing the warlord’s field.
Tez caught Suri’s ankle mid-air.
Fire erupted from his palm, burning her flesh, but Suri gritted her teeth and used her raw weight to toss Tez onto the grass.
ROAAAAAAAAAR!
Towering above the battlefield, the massive, magnificent phantom manifestations of their Mythic Companions materialized in the sky—the Jungle Tiger behind Rihasa, the Aqua Shark behind Sha, and the colossal Blaze Dragon behind Tez.
Suri lunged forward in a last-ditch effort.
“BLAZE IMPACT!” Tez shouted, driving a flame-engulfed strike through her guard.
Suri crashed into the mud, completely unconscious.
Frera burst into desperate, maniacal laughter.
“Pathetic child! You match my presence, but you aren’t anywhere near my raw power!”
Tez pointed his blazing dagger at him.
“Then bring it on, crying baby!”
Across the clearing, Sha spun his trident rapidly.
In the forest, Rihasa slashed his divine claws across Mika’s chest.
“DIVINE CLAWS 1,000 METERS!” A massive shockwave tore through the tree line, but when the dust cleared, Mika stood completely unharmed.
A dark gray Aura erupted from Mika, physically blasting Rihasa through three massive oak trunks.
Rihasa coughed up blood, realizing in horror that Mika operated on an entirely different dimensional level.
Back on the main field, Tez fought Frera violently.
Utilizing an IQ of 60,000, Frera predicted every single move Tez made, dodging a massive Blaze Blast and countering with a Black Destruction Ball that blew away half the mountain.
Tez barely dodged, realizing he lacked the raw stats to defeat Frera alone.
Suddenly, Rihasa was hurled out of the woods, crashing directly into Sha.
“What happened, you fatty?!” Sha groaned.
“He… HE IS A MONSTERRRR!” Rihasa screamed in total terror.
An suffocating, apocalyptic energy flooded the area—an aura so massive it effortlessly crushed the energy fields of both Frera and Tez.
Mika stepped slowly out of the dark woods.
He walked right past the boys and stopped directly before Frera.
Without a word, Mika placed his hand onto Frera’s head.
Frera screamed in agony as his entire body compressed into a floating ball of dark energy.
Mika opened his jaws, swallowed the sphere whole, and absorbed Frera’s entire life force and power.
The children stood frozen in pure horror.
Mika immediately blitzed the surviving temple students and the injured monk, striking them down brutally.
Sha and Rihasa charged to protect them, but Mika crushed them both instantly, leaving them heavily bleeding in the dirt.
Tez fell to his knees, utterly out of power, tears streaming down his face.
“No! Please spare their lives, you monster!”
Mika laughed darkly, stepping over Sha and Rihasa, extending his clawed hand to absorb them.
“How much fun I get when I kill someone. And that fun is doubled when I kill someone important to you. So, who dies first?”
SLICE.
Mika froze mid-step.
His eyes widened in utter disbelief.
Deep, clean cuts suddenly opened across both of his massive hands.
His right leg cramped violently, locking his muscle in place.
The atmospheric pressure inverted, transforming the very air into liquid fire.
“What…?” Mika gasped, stumbling backward in genuine fear.
Tez slowly stood up from the mud.
A terrifying, burning pinkish-red Aura erupted around his body, shooting miles into the sky.
Behind Tez, dwarfing the very mountains, the ancient, apocalyptic shadow of the oldest dragon flared to life.
KUNG.
To be continued…..
Now this is where the story turns into dark fantasy!