Chapter 12: The Phantom's Fire

A deafening explosion shattered the evening silence. Ryo and his friends turned toward the source of the noise, their eyes widening as they saw a skyscraper engulfed in flames. Panic spread like wildfire as people rushed out of the burning building, while others fell to the ground, gasping for air beneath the thick smoke.

But amidst the chaos, a scream pierced the air.

At the top of the burning skyscraper, a woman stood trapped behind a shattered window, the raging flames closing in around her. She banged against the glass, her voice barely audible through the roaring inferno.

Ryo's friends moved to the outside and started recording.

Without hesitation, Ryo ran to the back of the skyscraper raised his hand and began creating a diamond staircase, each shimmering step forming in midair, reflecting the fire's glow like crystallized light. As he climbed, he crafted a metallic mask over his face—disguising his identity while filtering the smoke from his lungs.

The heat was unbearable.

The closer he got, the more violent the fire became, as if it were a living entity determined to keep him away.

I have to move fast.

Ryo burst through a weakened section of the building and sprinted up a collapsing stairwell, following the woman's cries. The walls trembled as another gas explosion erupted behind him.

"LOOK OUT!"

The woman's eyes widened in horror as flames surged toward him—only for the fire to be blasted away by a sudden gust of unnatural wind.

The temperature dropped instantly.

Ryo exhaled slowly, his breath turning into a misty vapor. He was controlling air, wind, and gas all at once—manipulating the very oxygen levels to suppress the flames.

The woman trembled. "W-Who are you?"

"No time for that," Ryo muttered. "Step back."

As she obeyed, a faint energy mist began leaking from Ryo's body, like a phantom gas, swirling and funneling the air with unnatural precision. He moved like a firefighter made of wind itself, suffocating the flames before they could spread any further.

Dodging falling debris, he carved a path through the inferno, leading the woman safely toward the stairwell.

With one final burst of power, he propelled himself and the woman toward the rooftop, then leaped across buildings, vanishing into the night.

---

By the time Ryo regrouped with his friends, the incident was already making waves.

"Where the hell were you?" Tucker asked, hands on his own his phone. "You totally missed it! Some ninja hero showed up and put out the fire!"he said as he shoved the video in ryos face

Ryo shrugged. "I was in the bathroom."

Tucker and the others groaned. "Dude. You seriously need better timing."

Ryo smirked.

But before he could relax, he noticed something.

A group of government officials had arrived on the scene.

One of them, a tall man in a corporate suit and glasses, walked toward the police officers interviewing the rescued woman.

"You're saying... he controlled the fire?" the police officer asked skeptically.

The woman hesitated. "No... not fire. He was using air, wind, or maybe gas—he manipulated the entire environment to put out the flames. And his mask—it looked like something out of a sci-fi movie."

The suited man adjusted his glasses.

"Interesting."

The officer sighed. "So, you believe her?"

The man smirked. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you why."

He turned to the woman. "Would you mind following me? We need to conduct further examinations to make sure you're not suffering from hallucinations."

The woman hesitated, but nodded.

As they walked toward the back of the building, the suited man pointed at something.

Embedded in the ruins was a shimmering crystalline staircase—glowing faintly under the streetlights.

"Does this look normal to you?" he asked.

The woman gasped. "It's... probably some fancy decorative material?"

The man chuckled. "Wrong."

His research team stepped forward and scanned the structure.

A moment later, a scientist approached him. "Sir... the material is diamond. But there's an unknown energy signature coming from it. Something we've never seen before."

The man's smirk widened.

"Fascinating. Take every single sample of this energy. I want it analyzed immediately."

The woman, still confused, turned back to him. "So... what now?"

The man adjusted his tie.

"Now?" He reached out his hand for a seemingly friendly handshake.

"Now, we make sure you never talk about this again."

A split second later—BANG!

A gunshot rang through the alleyway.

The woman's eyes widened in shock as she collapsed, blood pooling beneath her.

Without a shred of remorse, the suited man stepped over her body, gesturing for his men to dispose of the evidence.

As they zipped her into a body bag, he smiled to her struggling corpse and whisper "oh how rude of me my name is Mr Azel forgive my rudeness"he said to the lifeless body