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Chapter One: A Boy Named Kai

2087 — The Thirty-Eighth Year of the Era of Chaos

The Earth was no longer what humans once knew.

After the Great Catastrophe of 2049 tore the continents apart and unleashed mutated beasts and countless plagues, only thirty percent of humanity remained. The planet was no longer stable… it had become an open hunting ground for merciless monsters.

In the face of extinction, what was left of civilization turned to innovation. Massive mobile capsules—each one the size of a city or larger—were created to shield what little remained of humankind from an atmosphere that once gave life and now reeked of death, and from the monsters born from the shadows of that chaos. Within these mobile fortresses, humanity was divided into what we now call the Moving Emirates.

Ever since the skies shattered and oceans turned into black voids, humans stopped dreaming of stars.

They built walls, not towers. Engines, not empires.

What’s left of this world now travels the dead lands on wheels—massive capsules, self-sufficient cities crawling across poisoned soil, forever fleeing something that never sleeps.

They call it survival.

But for most of us, it feels like a countdown.

Outside our moving sanctuaries lie the Forsaken Lands—vast graveyards of the old world, crawling with creatures born from mankind’s ruin. We call them: Haulers, Wraiths… or simply, monsters.

But the dead don’t care what we call them.

As these new enemies devoured the Earth,

and humanity stood at the edge of oblivion…

Something had to be born again.

A force… a spark of hope for a species that had wandered Earth for millennia.

Neva.

The final miracle. A surge of power dormant in our kind for centuries. It exploded within our bodies—

And today… it pulses.

A dormant energy, awakened by the instinct to survive.

But not every child wakes up with Neva.

Some… awaken with something else.

They say the vessel that carried me was older than the Earth itself.

It radiated an energy no one could identify, sealed by symbols even the Council’s Archives couldn’t decipher.

I don’t remember any of that.

What I do remember… was waking up to silence. A blinding white ceiling. And a name I didn’t choose.

Kai. Just Kai.

That’s all there was. No beginning, no family, no past.

And I carried that silence with me all these years.

They say I’m lucky.

Because in all of humanity’s post-apocalyptic history…

No one had ever been found alive outside the capsules.

No human. No thing.

Only monsters.

After the Great Catastrophe, and the rise of the beasts who slaughtered Earth’s people…

Only a rare few—those of the highest ranks—can survive the outside atmosphere without special suits.

And I was one of those few… as an infant.

So…

It was only natural they tested me.

And thanks to Adam and Dan—the two soldiers who found me and defended me from the others—

I’m alive. I didn’t become a lab rat.

I barely survived a special preliminary test to prove I was human.

And I was accepted into the Emirate of Dilonia,

to live, train, and walk the same path as the rest of its people.

But…

None of them feel the eyes watching from within.

I don’t know what I am.

But I know one thing—

I was never meant to live.

And yet…

Here I am.

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Sector 9, Emirate of Dilonia.

Or simply put… the Orphan Sector.

The only word that describes life for us orphans here is: “alive.”

Unlike other cities run by the Internal Principality —commonly referred to as the "IP"…

This sector is ruled directly by the military.

And so…

Life here obeys a single rule: Strength.

If you’re strong, and the sector supervisors take a liking to you, you’ll be treated well—even if you’re an orphan, a stray.

But if you’re weak… then death is mercy.

As for me…

Ares.

“Kai.”

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“Kai, WAKE THE HELL UP!”

I jolted awake to the yelling of a familiar voice.

“Ellis!!”

My vision was hazy, but I could still make out his tied-back blond hair.

A strange numbness weighed down my limbs. Pain flared in every joint.

I was lying in Ellis’s lap.

When I focused harder, I noticed bruises on his bloodied face.

“Hey… What happened to you?!”

Using what little strength I had, I tried to sit up.

Concern was all over my face.

But…

I had the same bruises. Maybe worse.

“I’ll tell you what happened… You messed with the wrong people, and now you’ll pay for it.”

From the other side of my blurry field of view…

The truth was obvious without words.

These guys were trouble.

“What’s the matter, cat got your tongue, you little runt? Where’s that bravado from earlier?”

One of the seven stepped forward.

From the way he talked, acted—

he was clearly their leader.

Round-shaped, standing over five feet seven.

Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes.

They were our age, yet their builds were far bulkier than mine or Ellis’s.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked angrily, eyebrows furrowed.

“Did the beating knock your memory loose, kid?”

A mocking grin stretched across his face.

“Fine, let me refresh it for you two brats.”

“That pretty-faced punk over there bumped into me. Didn’t apologize. And you tried to defend him.”

He pointed at Ellis, his glare sharpening into a scowl.

“So I took it upon myself to teach you a lesson.”

He spoke with a sick kind of pride, like this was his personal duty.

“That’s not what happe—”

Ellis tried to move forward, but I stopped him with a hand to the chest.

“I get it, Ellis! I don’t believe a word he says.”

“And what proof do you have, huh?!”

He kept walking toward us.

“The strong are always right.”

Now standing over me, I had to look up at him. He was taller. Broader.

Yet I wasn’t afraid.

If anything…

I was furious.

“You may look like a beast… but you’re weak.”

As I lowered my head slightly, his words echoed inside me.

I knew what he meant.

Since I arrived here, I noticed how I was different from the other kids.

Subtle differences, but clear ones.

That’s why most people either feared me…

or tried to provoke me.

Only a few accepted me.

And they could be counted on one hand.

“Kai’s not a monster!!”

Ellis’s shout snapped me back.

“You’re the real monsters! Picking on kids!”

“Why you—”

Jimmy flinched backward, his upper body recoiling.

“I know you… You’re Jimmy Hughes. Strong, sure… but you’ve never ranked in the Clash of Emirates Tournament.”

Jimmy clenched his teeth so hard, we could hear them grinding.

He lowered his head.

“Wanna know why?!”

Ellis’s anger faded into something colder. Almost… pitying.

“Because you’re scared.”

“You little brat!”

Jimmy shot his head up and swung a fist at Ellis.

“Ellis!!”

I reached for Jimmy’s wrist, but Ellis stopped me.

He pressed my arm down gently.

As if to say—It’s okay. Watch.

Jimmy’s punch grazed past Ellis’s head.

Not because Ellis dodged.

But because Jimmy missed on purpose.

“Damn it… damn it all.”

Jimmy slowly retracted his hand and walked away—calm, controlled.

“There’s no point in beating you here.”

“I’ll see you at the final tournament before the Corecall Test.”

He turned back slightly.

“You’ve got four months. Train hard. I’ll be waiting.”

“Let’s go!!”

Even his teammates looked surprised at his serious tone.

“Oh? Ohhh…okay”

One of them laughed nervously.

“Get ready, haha!”

“We’ll crush you there.”

Some kept jeering, others followed him in silence.

But one thing was certain—

we had become targets.

“It won’t go the same way next time,” Jimmy said without even looking back.

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I sighed.

“Haah…”

“Nice work, Ellis. You really struck a nerve.”

I patted his shoulder.

Suddenly…

His knees gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.

“You okay?!”

“This… this isn’t good!”

He trembled, mumbling the same words again and again.

I knew Ellis.

He wasn’t the brave type he pretended to be just now.

So his reaction made sense.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

I knelt to his level, gently reassuring him.

“No, it won’t!!”

He snapped.

He even smacked my hand away and stood up abruptly.

“What’s wrong with you, man?! I’ve never seen you like this!”

I was seriously worried now.

“Maybe it’s easy for you not to be scared… You don’t even watch the Clash of Emirates Tournament, let alone compete!”

“I only said that to make them leave us alone… I never thought he’d challenge us.”

His voice cracked. He sat down again, fingers threading through his silky hair.

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“Hey…”

I mumbled softly, breaking the silence.

Ellis glanced at me.

I was leaning back, hands behind my head, feigning calm.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“Hmm? What, no—I’m not lending you any mo—”

I cut him off.

“What is that tournament, anyway? Clash of… what?”

The entire city probably heard his reaction.

“HUUUUUH?!”

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End of Chapter One