The scent of charred brick and pulverized concrete hung heavily over the collapsed remains of the shipping vault.
Braxley the Slaver stood in the center of the ruins, his fingers twitching beneath his heavy dark cloak.
His gaze dropped to the rubble where his top lieutenant lay battered, bleeding, and groaning in agony.
“Tell me again,” Braxley whispered, his voice dangerously soft.
“Who took the shipment?” “A…
a lizard hybrid,” the lieutenant coughed, spitting up a spatter of crimson.
“And a rookie…
a kid with no Astral signature.
They crashed the roof.
Walibu’s enforcers tore us apart…” Braxley’s eyes flared with a sharp, telekinetic light.
He raised a single hand.
Without touching the man, the invisible pressure of his Segonda seized the lieutenant’s body, lifting him three feet into the air.
With a brutal twisting motion of Braxley’s wrist, the telekinetic force began to violently peel the skin from the man’s torso.
The lieutenant’s screams echoed off the concrete until his body dropped, entirely lifeless, back into the dust.
Braxley wiped a speck of blood from his cheek.
His memory drifted back to a raid years ago—a valuable reptilian slave cage that had been busted open by a single, terrifyingly heavy presence.
“Zaiden,” Braxley hissed, his knuckles cracking.
“And now his lapdogs are poking the wrong hornets’ nest.
Tomorrow evening, we take a grand entrance straight to the Kampilan.
They want to get in our way?
We burn the guild down.” Back at the guild, the morning sun broke over the training courtyard.
Zaiden stood perfectly still, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Ambo throw a series of clumsy, uncoordinated strikes into the air.
Zaiden wasn’t teaching him complex forms or explaining the philosophy of the guild.
On the surface, survival was simple: you learn to hit, or you learn to die.
“Again,” Zaiden commanded, his heavy gaze tracking the boy’s movements.
Ambo panted, wiping sweat from his forehead.
He thrust his hands forward, attempting to summon the dark, dense shield he had used in the warehouse.
The thick, oily substance rippled over his palms for a fraction of a second before dissolving back into his skin.
Zaiden’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He raised a hand, attempting to read the flow of energy.
There was no heat.
No spark.
No vibration of standard Astral manipulation.
What is this?
Zaiden thought, a deep, unanswerable question fracturing his calculated mind.
His ancient instincts whispered that this black residue looked terrifyingly familiar—connected to the very core of how this broken world operated—but the truth remained locked away.
“Get some rest,” Zaiden said quietly, turning on his heel.
“Jahek will show you around the facility.
We’ll test your stamina later.” “Hey!
Rookie!
Over here!” Jahek bounded into the courtyard, a massive, cheerful smile pasted across his face as he waved a hand energetically.
He fell into step beside Ambo, tossing an arm around the boy’s shoulders with an easy, jolly familiarity.
“Don’t let Zaiden stress you out.
He looks like he eats gravel for breakfast, but he means well,” Jahek laughed, guiding Ambo through the stone arches of the grand guild hall.
Ambo listened quietly, looking down at his clean hands as they walked through the wide corridor.
He tilted his head, thinking back to their intense interrogation in the central office.
“By the way, Jahek…
do you think Xan was overexaggerating the idea of this whole Gen Z thing?
Calling them the ultimate enemies of humankind?
How can they even be this powerful when humans have this incredible Astral ability anyway?” The moment the words left Ambo’s mouth, Jahek froze.
His usual jolly, loose posture went dead rigid, and his oversized leather gloves clenched into tight, trembling fists.
A flash of sharp, genuine annoyance crossed his face as he looked directly at the rookie.
“Watch your mouth, Ambo,” Jahek said, his voice dropping into a rare, deadly serious tone.
“Despite me being a massive fanboy for Master Kaio, I respect Xan more than anyone else in this guild.
She was the one who adopted me and accepted me into this place, completely disregarding my cowardly character and my useless nature.
I don’t have anyone else left.
I lost my entire family to those creatures years ago…
and that horrific night was the exact same moment Master Kaio descended to save my life.
Look at the families thriving right outside our walls in Katingland.
They are able to live a normal, peaceful life farming the soil and exchanging labor strictly because the guild keeps the parameters locked down.
It is completely opposite to the arrogant, corrupt lifestyle the aristocrats lead over in the Sidlangan District.
We keep the home safe.” Hearing the raw pain in his guide’s voice, Ambo felt a heavy wave of pity and immediate regret.
He lowered his head, his hands tightening in his pockets.
“I’m sorry, Jahek…
I didn’t know.
I apologize.” Jahek took a deep breath, his tense shoulders loosening slightly as he accepted the apology, choosing to continue the lesson to clear the rookie’s confusion.
“Just remember, these things are immortal.
No one can kill them, and nothing in this world can put them down easily.
Xan didn’t even mention this to you earlier, but if you are just a regular human, the only physical thing that can destroy a Gen Z’s cellular structure is natural fire.
But if you’re lucky enough to have an Astral signature, that’s our ultimate advantage.
Astral energy itself is one of their core weaknesses.
If you forcefully overflow your raw Astral energy directly into their bodies, they will be completely toasted from the inside out.
That’s why out there in the dead zones, when you are facing a herd of Gen Z, your Astral level doesn’t actually matter.
Whether you’re an Astral User like a level of Premera or a complex Ability Wielder like a level of Segonda, pure Astral Energy is the only thing that can fry their immortality.” Jahek’s eyes shone with genuine admiration once more as his mood quickly bounced back.
” But it’s a completely different story if your unique ability happens to be a fire type.
Fire combines their two absolute weaknesses into a single weapon.
That’s exactly why Master Kaio is the only person to ever become a true, undisputed hero against the Gen Z.
He’s the one who keeps this entire colony standing by exterminating every white walker herd that gets close.
He’s a true legend, Ambo!
Honestly?
Normal folks like us don’t know much about the Tresera and Kwarta levels, but Master Kaio?
He can actively trigger an Overdrive!
So, I know he is on the level of Kwarta, I know it because I’ve seen it with my own two eyes!” Ambo tilted his head, looking curiously at his roommate.
“Who is Kaio?” “Who is Kaio?!” Jahek gasped, clutching his chest dramatically as if Ambo had just stabbed him with a rusty rod.
His regular jolly persona instantly warped into a full, starry-eyed fanboy.
“Only the greatest, coolest, most super-famous savior to ever walk this miserable dirt!
A few years back, a swarm of high-speed Runners cornered my ass in the outer ruins.
I was dead, Ambo.
Finished!
But then, out of nowhere, the sky literally split open with a majestic, blazing inferno.
Master Kaio descended like a god from the ancient books.
His presence was so blinding, so utterly legendary, that the monsters fried to a crisp before they could even scream!
He looked back at me, his golden aura flowing like liquid light, and told me to stay safe.
He’s a total myth come to life!
I’ve been his number one disciple ever since—even if he doesn’t officially know my name yet!” Jahek stopped abruptly at the entrance of the western hall, his cheerful smile instantly vanishing as his posture went rigid.
“Oh, great.
The human storm cloud.” Walking toward them was a heavily built, muscular man with long hair cascading down to his neck.
The crown of his hair was a vibrant, shocking blue, bleeding down into a deep gradient of crimson at the tips.
This was Leeroy Jenkins—an arrogant, notorious bully who spent his days beating on lower-ranking Cullers.
Because his eldest brother was a legendary, god-like Zenith SS-Class member of the Celestial Order, Leeroy ran the halls like he owned them.
Walking silently beside him, acting like a literal tail, was his younger brother, Kai.
The boy had deep dark blue hair with long bangs that completely covered his entire eyes.
He was completely silent, his hands always shoved deep into his pockets as he casually chewed bubble gum all the time.
He wore a cream-colored turtleneck long-sleeve top, shorts, and shoes with near knee-high socks.
Kai didn’t join in on the bullying, but he never stopped his older brother either.
Leeroy’s eyes locked onto Jahek, a malicious grin spreading across his face.
“Well, well.
If it isn’t the guild’s favorite target.
I heard you boys brought back some fancy black-market drug from the docks.
How about a demonstration?” Leeroy stepped forward, his body suddenly erupting into a violent, blinding aura of pure Astral Materialization.
In a split second, the raw energy hardened into a heavy, glowing suit of physical armor encircling his torso.
Leeroy was deeply bitter; despite his immense hard work, he could never unlock a Segonda element, so he had pushed his Premera capabilities to a genius level, using his armor to terrorize anyone who possessed an elemental spark.
“Let’s see if you can scratch the paint, Jahek,” Leeroy sneered, raising a heavy, armored fist.
But before his boot could take another step, a sudden, ice-cold chill ran straight down Leeroy’s spine.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Leeroy froze, his eyes widening in subtle terror as his gaze drifted past Ambo’s shoulder.
Standing at the end of the corridor was Zaiden.
He hadn’t raised a hand.
He hadn’t drawn a weapon.
He was just staring at Leeroy with a calm, soul-crushing gaze—the gaze of the one man Leeroy had tried to bully years ago and had deeply regretted ever since.
Instantly, the Astral armor vanished from Leeroy’s body.
He let out a forced, friendly laugh, raising his hands in a defensive, mock-casual gesture.
“Hey, look, just joking around!
Just greeting the rookie, you know how it is.
No harm done.” Zaiden didn’t acknowledge the excuse.
He walked past them, his voice low and even.
“Xan wants both of you in the central office immediately.
We have a confirmed mission deployment for tomorrow evening.” “Right behind you, boss!” Jahek chirped, his jolly persona instantly returning as he dragged Ambo away from the corridor, leaving a sweating Leeroy gripping his fists in silent, burning frustration while Kai stood beside him like a phantom popping a small bubble.