Chapter 1 - The Deal

What. A. Shit Day.

That was the only thing worth saying about today. Not that it needed any more description.

In the heart of the colony codenamed Central, a crowd of homeless, grimy, foul-smelling people had gathered in an open courtyard. They stood in lines, all facing a dozen wooden tables. A distribution was underway. Behind each table stood a figure wrapped in black metal bandages, forming a full suit of armor.

For every person who reached the tables, they offered a package wrapped in tape and plastic. Rations—those sad little bundles that looked like they'd been assembled with someone's ass—were, in fact, Central's basic survival kit: a pack of water, dry nutrition biscuits, and a synthetic fruit.

This ration distribution had been organized because of the event earlier that day: a Demonic Presence attack. It wasn't unusual for Central—or any colony, really—to suffer such attacks. Earth had long since become hostile to human life. The fact that humanity could still exist in colonies at all was already a miracle. But this attack had happened during the day—and worse, it was the second attack in the last two months! Normally, Central had time to recover between Demonic Presence assaults, at least partially. But with attacks coming this close together, there'd been no chance to bounce back.

The reality was, accessible food in the city could skyrocket in price. So, to keep inflation in check, they'd decided on this distribution.

But of course, it wasn't just the needy who'd shown up to "appreciate" the packaged crap being handed out. Plenty came just for a free meal, and others to steal the rations. To prevent that, a group of Radiants had been hired to guard the distribution center. So, among Central's many inhabitants, about thirty armored and armed figures patrolled the area.

One of them—a tall man with sharp green eyes that almost seemed to glow and messy brown hair—had an exotic sort of appeal. He wasn't classically handsome, but something about his aura made people stare. Right now, he was walking with a hand pressed to his temple.

"PLEEEASE take me with you!"

A voice piped up from below. Walking alongside the man was a scrawny kid. Judging by his looks, he couldn't be older than twelve—but in reality, he was sixteen! His skin was pale with a sickly yellow tint, his hair black as midnight, and his eyes a vivid orange that almost seemed to emit light.

"Oh Light, have mercy on me," the man groaned pathetically. It was inevitable.

"Come on! I can do all kinds of stuff! Cook, first aid, tracking, maintenance, carpentry, equipment repair! I won't slow you down!"

The kid rattled off his skills while munching on a dry biscuit from the ration pack he was holding.

"When did you even grab that?" the man asked.

The kid shrugged and took another bite.

"Orion, there's no way I'm taking you because I'm not going to the First Sanctuary. Central doesn't have any Sanctuaries in its vicinity," the man told Orion.

Orion rolled his eyes.

"Seriously? This again? Wake up! It's obvious they're gonna send a team to claim the First Sanctuary!"

Orion stepped forward, planting himself in front of the man.

"Demonic Presences don't just pop up out of nowhere! No matter how much they eat and breed—an attack of that scale twice in two measly months?! Not even Insectoid Demonic Presences can raise an army that fast!"** Orion explained confidently, jabbing a biscuit at the man. "So the correct phrase to describe Central is that it didn't have a Sanctuary nearby. Because now? It does! Where else would Demonic Presences be crawling out from?!"

He finished his rant by shoving the biscuit into his mouth.

"And obviously, to conquer a Sanctuary, someone has to absorb the energy from the Gate inside. And who better qualified to take the Sanctuary than… you, Ashka of Commando!"

Orion pointed at him with absolute certainty.

Ashka sighed, exhausted.

"Could this kid actually be a genius…?"

"So, you have to take me with you!"

"Nope. Definitely an idiot."

"No chance, kid."

He nudged Orion aside with his foot and kept patrolling, scanning the crowd collecting rations. In the distance, he spotted a suspicious figure—a black overcoat, a cap casting shadows over their face. He raised an eyebrow and started walking toward them.

"Come on! Who do you think I am? I've never lied to you before!" Orion trailed after Ashka.

"You little shit, of course you've never lied to me before—I always catch you before you screw me over!"

Ashka pushed through the crowd toward the suspect. He didn't even need to touch anyone—just the warrior's presence triggered some primal instinct in people. They moved aside without hesitation.

"Well… yeah, but… that still doesn't make it a lie!" Orion insisted.

As Orion's voice faded into background noise in Ashka's mind, he reached the suspect. The man was next in line. When he reached the armored officer, the officer looked at him and followed protocol:

"Good afternoon, sir. Could you state your name and occupation, please?"

The officer lifted a tablet for record-keeping.

A few seconds passed. No response.

The officer looked up, hesitant. Maybe he hadn't heard?

"Sir, what's your na—"

Before he could finish, a rush of air moved beside him—and for a split second, he saw a flash of white. Cold sweat already beading on his forehead, the officer turned and saw a knife mere millimeters from his throat. He was only alive because a silver gauntlet had caught it mid-swing, stopping the attacker from slitting his throat.

"AAAAHHH!!"

The officer screamed in horror and collapsed, clutching his neck.

The owner of the gauntlet was none other than Ashka.

The attacker tsked and tried to yank the knife free from Ashka's grip—and failed miserably. Still, he didn't give up. Straining with all his might, he pulled. The ground seemed to groan under the effort, and—miraculously—the blade slipped from Ashka's fingers.

"Mundane… but stronger than normal. Someone important?" Ashka mused, rubbing his fingertips.

Dealing with trash like this would've been child's play for Ashka. Three moves, and the guy would be on the ground. He was about to act when he heard a "CRUNCH" behind him.

"Damn! This biscuit's hard as hell!" Orion complained, chewing another dry cracker.

An idea bloomed in Ashka's mind. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Ashka really wanted to get rid of Orion, but he didn't have the heart to beat the kid up himself. So, a plan formed.

"You know what… Fine. I'll take you to the First Sanctuary," Ashka said, turning to Orion.

The kid's cheeks were stuffed like a squirrel's.

"Rwarry?!"

He tried to speak with his mouth full but swallowed hard.

"Really?! Hell yeah! I won't let you down, Ashka! Look, I've got some ideas on how we—"

Before Orion could launch into one of his crazy plans, Ashka cut him off.

"Not so fast, kid. There's a condition. You said you're capable, right? That you wouldn't be dead weight? Then prove it to me."

He jerked a thumb at the attacker behind him.

"Handle this guy. If you win, you're in."

Ashka smirked arrogantly. It was a perfect way to scare the kid off. Sure, sending a child to fight an armed, dangerous (and possibly superpowered) adult wasn't safe… "Or it wouldn't be, if I weren't here." Honestly, even if it were twenty guys with a spark of divinity—as long as Ashka didn't drop his guard, there was no risk. He'd let Orion get close to death… "Okay, maybe not that close." But he fully intended to let the kid take a beating. After a few good hits, Orion would realize leaving the colony was a bad idea—because Demonic Presences were a hell of a lot worse than regular humans.

Orion stared at Ashka, then at the man.

"Seriously?? Ashka, I… I…"

His voice was quiet, trembling. Ashka's eyes widened. "Damn, maybe I went too far?" Glancing back at the attacker, he could kinda see why—the guy was terrifying. Black overcoat, knife in hand, hunched posture. To a kid, that had to be nightmare fuel. "But what's done is done. If I'm gonna teach this brat a lesson, I gotta commit."

But then—Orion grabbed Ashka's hand and yanked him down.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH, ASHKA!! That's it?! Oh man, hell yeah! If I'd known that's all it took to join your crew, I'd have dragged a hobo to you ages ago!"

Orion beamed, his eyes glowing with excitement.

He let go of Ashka's hand and marched past him toward the attacker, leaving Ashka stunned.

"That's it?"

This was an armed adult against an unarmed kid. And worse, the guy seemed to have begun Soul Ascension—he was stronger than a normal human. Any kid should've been pissing themselves, but Orion was… happy?

He watched the boy stride toward the attacker without hesitation.

"What the hell is wrong with this kid?"