Chapter 16: Crimson Firebird—Is That It?

Stew Daigo Into Soup: "Madara, don't tell me you're having performance issues?"

Uchiha Dancing King: "Shut it! You're the one with issues!"

Uchiha Dancing King: "That's slander! There's absolutely no way that's the reason!"

Uchiha Dancing King: "I'm checking the memory archive right now."

Uchiha Dancing King: "Anything's possible, except that! Absolutely impossible!"

And with that, Madara headed straight for the memory archive.

He wasn't even this mad when he heard about Black Zetsu's betrayal!

Child of Nature: "shrugs.jpg"

Child of Nature: "I'm heading out too. Gotta go sign in."

Child of Nature: "The chat group's timeline is weird. When my powers awakened, we'd barely started chatting and it was already ten o'clock. Now, after all this, only a few minutes have passed?"

Brandon couldn't figure out the chat group's sense of time either. Shaking his head, he left the group.

Nearby, Wyatt and Sean were still chatting. Brandon was about to look up and join the conversation when he suddenly felt a wave of unease. His gaze snapped to the sky.

A massive crimson bird, like a living fireball, was streaking toward them.

"What is that?"

"Vermilion Bird? Phoenix? Flamingo?"

"Whatever it is, it's not the kind of creature that should be appearing right now."

Brandon frowned. He could feel the creature's intent—it was coming for him. That burning gaze, full of murderous intent, made him extremely uncomfortable.

"What the hell is that? The sun's grown a soul?"

Sean, who'd been boasting to Wyatt, noticed Brandon frowning at the horizon. He followed Brandon's gaze—and his eyes went wide.

"Holy crap, the sun's alive! That's a Golden Crow!"

"Are you all colorblind? The sun's orange, but this thing is blazing red—it has to be a phoenix!"

"Phoenix? Why not just say Vermilion Bird? It's just a little fireball, probably a mutated firebird."

"It's all normal. We've awakened powers, so seeing a firebird isn't that surprising."

With Sean's outburst, the rest of the group looked up and spotted the firebird, launching into a heated debate.

But as their discussion got going, things started to go off the rails…

"Y'know, in novels, magical beasts always sound delicious. I wonder if this bird…"

"Hissss… Watson, you've hit the real point."

"I'm from Sichuan, this thing looks spicy—you lot probably couldn't handle it. Let me give it a try."

"Sichuan? That's nothing, I'm from Yunnan. When it comes to spice, no one beats us."

"Sichuan? Yunnan? Come on, can you two even handle spice? I'm from Jiujiang—let me speak up here!"

The students from spiciest started squabbling, heads nearly bumping together. If it were about anything else, they'd let it slide—but a chili-eating contest? No one would back down.

"Guys… aren't we getting ahead of ourselves? Shouldn't we at least think about hiding first? Forget whether the government will catch it for research—shouldn't we be running?"

"Look at it, it's heading right for us."

A nervous guy beside Sean chimed in, only to get a wave of scornful looks.

"Run? There's so many of us—why be afraid of one bird?"

"Don't forget, we all have awakened powers!"

"We're all newbies—who's scared?"

Brandon's group weren't the only ones who noticed. Students from other classes, and even some officials at the front, had also spotted the firebird.

The principal tried to calm the situation, but before he could say anything, the bird had already arrived at the sports field. Its scarlet eyes locked onto Brandon in the crowd.

"Rrrreeee!"

With no hesitation, the bird unleashed a torrent of scorching flames from its beak, aimed directly at the crowd. Faces paled as everyone dove for cover, swearing as they went:

"Damn! It really is a firebird—it spits fire!"

"Damn, that's a huge blast! We all awakened at the same time—how come my flames are barely bigger than a lighter, but that thing's so strong?"

"Obviously you're just weak. If we all had the same teacher, why are the results so different?"

"All right, enough bickering. Priority one is taking it down—this beast dared to attack people. It doesn't respect humans at all!"

"But the power gap is pretty big. Shouldn't we let the military handle it?"

As they argued, a boy with sharp features, wearing his school uniform like a cape, suddenly strode to the front of the crowd. He raised his chin proudly and declared,

"Spiritual revival, awakened powers—everyone has a chance to change their fate."

"But that doesn't mean everyone is equal. Some will rise far above the rest."

"What determines that difference… is talent!"

"Watch closely. This is the kind of strength that sets the chosen apart from the ordinary from day one! Today marks the beginning of my legend—Lightning's Path!"

"Thunder—Gather!"

"Crackle—!"

As his words fell, blue-violet arcs of electricity gathered in his right hand. He stepped forward, surging with speed almost too fast to follow, and charged the firebird.

His lightning-wrapped fist smashed into the bird's wing, leaving a faint scorch mark.

But…

The firebird's scarlet eyes studied the boy, then glanced at its slightly singed feathers. It cocked its head, as if to say, "Is that all?"

WHAM!

With a casual swipe, the firebird sent him flying. He traced a perfect arc through the sky before crashing hard to the ground.

The crowd's gaze shifted, their thoughts running from, "Who does this guy think he is, showing off like that?" to "Okay, he's got some skill—the lightning, the speed… he might be the real deal!"

And finally, "Wait, that's it? After all that talk? I could do that!"

"Stop staring—his bones are probably broken."

"Hiss… that's gotta hurt."

"If I'd known the firebird was this tough, I wouldn't have shown off."

"It's way too strong. Are we sure it's not cheating or something?"

Lying on the ground, the boy moaned and complained, "I've been watching all morning, everyone else's powers are way weaker than mine. I really thought I was the chosen one!"

Instead, he'd been instantly flattened by a single firebird!

And it wasn't just the defeat—it was getting humiliated in front of everyone after showing off.

Social death.

Truly, social death!

The students nearby hesitated, unsure whether to help. In the age of viral videos, they all knew that moving someone could make injuries worse.

Best to wait for the ambulance—but at the moment…

(End of Chapter)

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