Dream Team

Daniel stood motionless with a mixed expression of shock and annoyance on his face. To his left was Mira, standing next to him, staring at nothing while picking her nose. Despite her actions, she seemed to be in deep thought about something, but Daniel didn't pay too much attention to that. To his right was the same boy with dreadlocks Daniel despised, his face still plastered with that same uninterested look.

In front of all three of them stood an adult male who looked like he was in his late 30s. He had a smooth white complexion with a rather muscular figure. He wore a black shirt and black pants and had a mix of annoyance and exhaustion on his face. His long black hair almost completely covered his eyes, and he looked as if he hadn't bathed in forever. Actually, if Daniel had met him on the street before today, he would have mistaken him for a homeless person.

 But this was no homeless person...this was their homeroom teacher.

The man pulled up a piece of paper and began to read from it speaking to the three of them in a monotone voice. "My name is Mr. Jeffery. Hero name: Shadow King. You three will be working together from now on as a team. If you have any problems, feel free to ask."

Daniel was about to protest and complain about not wanting to be on a team with the boy, but before he could say anything, the boy with dreadlocks spoke first, and with a rather angry and loud tone too.

"Sir, I don't mean to be rude here, but you're putting me in a team with some Low Tiers? I'm a Mid Tier, for crying out loud, and a talented one at that! Shouldn't I be with my other Mid Tier peers?"

'So he was one of those huh.'

Daniel had noticed a boundary between High Tiers and Mid Tiers compared to Low Tiers when he was younger. Low Tiers were rather treated harshly at times due to their power, but it wasn't to the point of it being an actual problem... at least in the area he lived in. The strong just looked down upon the weak, but that was just how the world worked really. Nothing you can do there.

The man stared at the boy with the same tired, uninterested look. "You can take this as a learning opportunity. Be their leader."

The boy responded, clearly frustrated. "A learning opportunity? To lead a bunch of Low Tiers? That's not how this works! I'm supposed to be honing my skills with other Mid Tiers, not babysitting. How am I supposed to grow if I'm constantly held back by their limitations?"

The man groaned, showing an obvious hint of annoyance while rubbing his temples. He responded, "Listen, leadership is a skill, and it's one you're lacking. You might have Mid Tier abilities, but that doesn't mean you're ready to compete with the best. If you can't lead a team of Low Tiers effectively, how do you expect to stand alongside High Tiers one day? This is your chance to prove you're more than just your power level."

"What's t—"

The man stared at the boy, then rechecked his papers. After a short while, he spoke. "Kai Perera, was it? It says here you're a Natural Type, possessing the power of fire. You were the top of your class in both academics and combat prowess at your old school, while only being registered as a Low Tier at the time. You trained under a High Tier hero and show amazing promise as a future hero. Truly, an unpolished gem hiding among rocks."

Daniel watched as Kai's expression shifted, a flicker of joy crossing his face.

 'So Kai was his name' Daniel thought, filing the information away for later.

A smile seemed to form on Kai's face. "So you get it, right—"

"However, I don't give a crap about any of that."

He raised the papers in his hand and proceeded to tear them in front of the three of them. All three stared in absolute shock at the sudden action.

"To me, all of you are the same—just some dirt on the ground. I put you three together because you seemed to match each other quite well, with you both arriving to school late and all. Maybe if you were to do a hundred missions in one month, I might consider you worth the time. But for now, in my eyes, you're just trash."

He stopped for a moment before speaking again. "And with your current 'situation,' you should be happy you're getting a team at all."

Kai bit his lip and clenched his fists in rage. In the end, he just walked away in anger, storming out of the classroom.

All three of them stood in silence, the room still humming with the faint echo of Kai's abrupt exit—the sharp bang of the door lingering in the air like a ghost of his anger. After a heavy pause, Mr. Jeffery finally spoke again, extending two items toward them.

The first was a sleek, rectangular device something between a phone and a calculator, with a dull, boxy frame and a small digital screen. Its buttons were rigid, utilitarian, like something pulled from an old sci-fi flick, yet unmistakably functional.

The second was a silver badge, cool and weighty in their palm. A polished shield gleamed at its center, emblazoned with a single, sharp-edged star.

"Here, this is a communicator and an aura license. Your other classmates have already received similar ones. The communicator just shows whose aura is in the perimeter by using circles which represent the person who's in the area, and the badge just allows you to use your aura in public areas."

Daniel looked down at the communicator which radiated a tinted green light, and there it was—Mira who was on his right and the teacher in front of him, both represented by green circles. Both Mira and Mr. Jeffery could be seen on the screen, and a few other circles could be seen outside the classroom, though not as visible due to the range of where they were at.

 All these circles were visible... besides Daniel's, of course.

Daniel grimaced before Mr. Jeffery continued. 

"Today, you're just supposed to patrol a certain area in town. Nothing really complicated. And if a crime were to happen in the area, don't do anything. You're just observing. You lack the battle experience to do anything in the situation yet. And if left with no other choice but to fight, use the badge to evacuate any civilians in the area and take down the criminal."

Daniel stared at the communicator for a while, then turned to Mira, who looked like she was thinking the same thing by the look of her face. After a long silence, Mira was the first to break the silence.

"Sir, shouldn't there normally be a supervisor who's watching over us during such missions to avoid any casualties?"

The man looked at the torn pieces of paper on the ground, then looked back up at Mira, with sweat dripping from his face. He then quickly went on both knees, scavenging what seemed to be very important information, until he pulled out a small torn piece of paper, raising it to the sky.

He then stood back up, clearing his throat and questioning how unprofessional he might have looked in front of the students, responding with the same dead monotone voice. 

"Ah—yes, correct. Normally there would be, but your supervisor is running late. Actually, the badge was meant to be held by your supervisor, but as she's not here, I'm pretty sure everything should be fine. And she won't be here for a few days due to a mission, so you're on your own, kids. Good luck and don't die."

Daniel and Mira stared at the man and seemingly thought the same thing

 'Definitely a homeless man.'

Sometime after the talk with Mr. Jeffery, Mira, and Daniel looked for Kai, who was sitting down on a bench outside, staring at the floor in utter defeat.Daniel let Mira do all the talking he was still heated from the events from earlier and was afraid of what he would do to Kai... or try to do if he was to do the talking.

Mira walked up to him and flashed the paper to his face. "Yo, we got a mission. Let's hurry up and do this thing."

The boy's face contorted, and the same rage from earlier formed on his face. "You mean let me do this thing. What use will Low Tiers like you be in any of this?"

Mira spoke again, a slight annoyance forming on her face. 

"Hey, we're stuck together here, and we're both unhappy. Not much we can do here. Also, stop using the word 'Low Tier' like it's a slur. We're still people here, aren't we?"

Mira reached to shake Kai's hand. 

"I'm Mira, and the No Tier behind me is Daniel."

Daniel grimaced at the sound of 'No Tier.' 'No Tier!? That's even worse than being called a Low Tier! She talks about using the word Low Tier like this while having no shame calling me No Tier!'

Kai stared at the hand in front of him, and his face contorted and transformed into one of anger... He then proceeded to slap Mira's hand to the side with his own and stood up from the bench.

"I'll say this once and only once. You two aren't my teammates, and we aren't friends. On every mission, I'll be the one doing everything. I don't need your help in any of this, so do your best to stay out of my way, and hopefully, the staff will see my performance and move me away from you people."

Kai walks away, leaving Daniel and Mira stunned.

Mira turns to Daniel, rubbing her hit hand. "Jeez, what's this guy's problem? Top of his class at his old school, and you would think he would grow some brains."

Daniel responded after a bit of silence. "I don't know, but we should head to the mission area before he completely leaves us behind. Your hand isn't hurt, right?"

Mira pauses before responding.

 "Ehh, I took a blow from a Mid Tier. Could be worse. But if it was you who took the blow, No Tier, I'm pretty sure your whole hand would have torn off."

Daniel grimaced at the words 'No Tier.' An annoyed look crawled up Daniel's face. "When did you even have time to come up with that!... Wait, is that what you were thinking about the entire time in class? New ways to torment me!"

A smirk formed around the girl's face. She shrugged, looked at the grass, then proceeded to walk off.

 "Oh wow, they take care of the grass here really well."

Daniel followed her footsteps, his voice getting louder. "Don't change the subject! Also, don't walk off when I'm talking to you!"

***

The greasy aroma of flame-seared McRibs and synthetic beef patties hung thick in the afternoon air—courtesy of the fast-food chain's "Flame-Grilled by Fire-Type Chefs™" policy. The aroma from the food hung thick in the afternoon air as Daniel and Mira lounged on wobbly metal fast-food chairs as the area was quickly deserted, leaving no one in sight outside, both consuming the tasteful meal.

And less than 50 meters away was Kai, who was fighting an Aura user at the same time, sweat dripping from all over his body. The civilians had been evacuated from the area. This part of town was quite abandoned by any type of hero or a hero who could actually make a difference, so when an Aura user appeared, the only capable Aura user in less than a 10-kilometer radius was Kai, who was currently taking down the threat.

The guy looked tired as he was pouring gallons of sweat when fighting the Aura user, but you really couldn't blame the boy. This was his third fight in town, trying to complete 100 missions as Mr. Jeffery had said—probably sarcastically.

They weren't supposed to carry out any missions, In fact, they were mostly just supposed to observe any suspicious Aura activity happening and call the police to the scene. But Kai just wouldn't listen to both Mira and Daniel's cries, no matter how hard they yelled.

He must have been really determined to not have a couple of Low Tiers like them in his team anymore to be pushing this hard. He went as far as not bothering to call the police on such locations, trying to do all these missions on his own. And despite Daniel and Mira not wanting to fight due to them only needing to observe the area, they still wanted to help. But in the end, their worry was rewarded with a threat from Kai, saying something along the lines of

 "If you step in, you will only slow things down and make it worse. Stay out of the way, Low Tier."

Though the words hurt in some weird way to Daniel—as he wanted to be a hero—he almost started a fight over that comment. But Mira stopped him, reminding him of the power difference between him and a Mid Tier. And despite Mira receiving the same insult from Kai, she seemed almost unfazed by the comment and just shrugged it off like it was normal listening to such words.

In the end, they both just decided to not help Kai in any type of form and just observe from the sidelines to make sure not to slow him down.

Daniel observed Kai, who was 50 meters away, studying the way he fought. Kai fought well despite not receiving any training from the school, using flames from his hands to keep the distance away from him and his enemy and using flames to boost his fast kicks to close the gap between Aura users.

Daniel quickly noticed the fighting style, as this was actually a popular martial art used called Butsu Dzemoto, which translates to "Shoes of Fire," which is mostly used by elemental types, focusing on forcing their power at places like the back of their feet and back of their knees to boost their kicks. This fighting style was mostly used by fire users, hence its name.

Daniel wasn't so knowledgeable on this type of topic, as he only found out about it due to online videos, but he knew this martial art originated way back when—maybe around Timmy's era. But not anyone could learn the martial art just like that, as it focused on vast concentration and control of aura, which almost made it impossible to be self-taught in that type of range. So either Kai was an Aura prodigy… or his master was a way bigger deal than he'd realized.

"You gonna finish that?" 

Mira asked Daniel, mouth covered in sauce from the meal.

Daniel turned to Mira, snapped out of his thoughts from earlier.

 "Huh?"

with a blank expression she points at the food Daniel hasn't touched for the past few minutes.

 "I said, are you gonna eat that?"

Daniel after a short pause responds,

 "Oh, nah, you can have it."

Sliding the plate across the table, Mira grabs the ribs and greedily starts consuming the greasy meal, leaving Daniel to go back and observe the fight between Kai and the Aura user. While Daniel was observing the fight, Mira couldn't help but glance over at the boy as well and comment on the fight.

"Mid Tiers sure are something, hey."

Daniel responded, not turning over to Mira, eyes still locked onto the fight. 

"Yeah, makes me wonder how I'm gonna surpass these guys, you know."

Mira stood silent, as if replaying Daniel's declaration from that morning. After a pause, she spoke her voice sharper than he'd ever heard it."

 "Hey, Daniel, can I ask you something?"

Daniel turns his head towards the girl.

 "Yeah, sure, ask me anything."

There was a short pause before Mira spoke again, and with a voice full of curiosity, she spoke

"Were you dropped when you were a child?"

Daniel's face contorted to one with no emotion, silently just staring at Mira with a serious expression. Mira took a sip of her drink. The only thing besides the fight happening between Kai and the Aura user was Mira's drink. The wind blew in the awkward silence as Daniel continued to stare at Mira with that same tired expression.

Mira spoke again, waving her drink in the air. "I'm serious, you know. Why else would you want to be a hero? You got no powers at all like whatsoever. Why on earth would you want to be a hero of all things? Wouldn't a policeman have been the better choice to go with in this situation? Sure, the pay sucks, but that place is reserved for Low Tiers like you, you know."

There was a short pause before she spoke again.

 "Just what are you fighting for, exactly?"

There was a long pause. The wind sang in the sky until Daniel finally spoke again. Daniel scratched the back of his head, then looked down as if trying to recall a lost memory.

 "Well, it's a bit complicated, you see,I made a promise or more like a bet to someone long ago. A bit of a long story, but to sum it up, I made a deal with someone, okay?"

Mira stared at Daniel in utter confusion before responding. 

"Huh? Wait, wait, come on, man. Give me more information than that. Stop gatekeeping your lore."

Seemingly ignoring Mira's response, Daniel looked at her, picked up his own drink, then spoke. 

"What about all those points you just spoke about? They directly affect you too. We're both Low Tiers, after all. I'll share my story if you share yours."

Mira's facial expression suddenly turned serious, and she quickly glanced away from Daniel's direction.

 "None of your business, No Tier."

'HUH!?'

Daniel's face once again looked confused and annoyed at the word 'No Tier.' 

'Seriously, what is this chicks problem?'

Looking at Mira's face, she looked serious—way more serious than she usually looked, almost sad. Daniel observed her face for a few seconds before sighing and deciding not to push any further.

And just at that moment, a body flew their way, slamming next to one of the nearby benches outside the fast-food joint. It was the body of the unconscious Aura user Kai had defeated.

Both Mira and Daniel turned their heads in shock to the body, then back at Kai, who looked almost unconscious by this point. He was bleeding not in any place where it would be life-threatening, but still the right amount to worry with wounds on his head and legs. He looked tired.

Kai then proceeded to walk towards his two teammates, and before any of them could speak, Kai then burst into laughter, pointing at his two companions.

 "See! I told you I didn't need your help. Three missions completed all on my own..."

But before he could finish his boasting, he immediately passed out from the exhaustion, being caught just in time in Mira's arms. Mira sighed before turning over to Daniel.

 "Sorry to ask, but mind helping me attend to our friend here?"

Daniel paused, looked at Kai's unconscious body, and with a sigh, he spoke.

 "Yeah, it's fine. Give him to me."

This actually wasn't the first time Kai passed out when fighting. He ended up passing out on the second mission fighting another Aura user, and Mira was the one to carry him. She must have known about the tension between Kai and Daniel, so proposed just to do it, knowing the type of relationship these two had

.A flicker of guilt crossed Daniel's face from letting Mira shoulder the burden before. But after a beat, he relented. With a quiet sigh, he took Kai from her arms and hoisted him onto his back

Mira stared at Daniel, a grin forming on her face. 

"Good boy."

"I'll murder you"

The air was thick with the scent of grease and fried food, but their attention was immediately drawn to the television mounted above the counter. The news was playing, the reporter's voice tense as footage flashed across the screen.

Right here, in their own city, a High-Tier Aura user—a monster with a transformation-type ability—was tearing through downtown, his rampage fueled by some deranged rant about the school system. Despite the swarm of heroes trying to contain him, none could put him down. The best they could do was herd his destruction, minimizing casualties while struggling to keep him in one place.

The titan stood taller than skyscrapers, his crimson skin sheathed in jagged red crystal, eyes burning like embers. His very presence radiated raw, unchecked power, his Aura so dense it warped the air around him. Buildings crumbled in his wake, and even the strongest heroes could only watch in frustration, their attacks barely scratching him.

Then—she appeared.

A woman clad in pure white, her silver blade glinting under the sun. Her hair, snow-white and unbound, flowed like a banner behind her as she stepped onto the battlefield. The moment her foot touched the ground, the temperature plummeted.

Heroes nearby gasped, their breath frosting in the sudden cold. White mist curled from their lips as their Auras instinctively recoiled, their bodies trembling under the weight of her presence.

Back in the restaurant, Mira frowned.

 "Hey, isn't it getting a bit chilly in here?"

 Her breath, too, now came out in visible puffs. Even the unconscious Kai shivered against Daniel's back, his exhales cold against Daniel's ear., the only one not feeling cold from this was Daniel himself and this was only due to his lack of of aura 

His eyes snapped back to the screen just as the woman Mariana, the Sword Saint moved.

In less than a blink, she was airborne. The titan roared, swinging a massive crystalline fist toward her, but before it could connect.A flash of silver a single, seamless slash.

A white streak cut through the air, and just like that, the titan's Aura-form shattered, disintegrating into nothingness. His true body—a man no larger than any other—was ripped from the heart of his transformation and slammed into the pavement. Before he could even scream, the tip of Mariana's blade pressed against his tongue, silencing him and just like that it was all over 

The calamity that had brought an entire city to its knees was ended in less than a second. The screen flickered, cutting abruptly to a commercial for wind-enhanced air blowers, but Daniel barely registered it.

That was her. The Sword Saint. A National-Tier, a warrior so far beyond the realm of ordinary High-Tiers that she made them look like children playing at heroism.

'So this is the person I'm supposed to surpass, huh?

A dry, disbelieving laugh nearly escaped him.

'How the hell am I gonna do that?!'