My right mechanical eye, worth every penny, filtered the darkness, sharpening the world around me with an enhanced spectrum of light until it was as clear as day.
I saw two Coritans standing on the cliff edge. The wind billowed through their loose sleeves and hems, fluttering clothes that had once been white but were now faded to a worn, listless gray.
The two Coritans pulled out cigarettes and lit them, the flame of the lighter flaring brightly for a moment before winking out.
I blinked, extinguishing the glow in my mechanical eye, and raised a hand.
“I’ll take the left. You take the right.”
With a brief signal, we divided our targets. Lysander and I would strike the outpost from both sides, simultaneously.
Whoosh!
I was the first to scale the cliff, pushing off the ground with my hand already gripping the hilt of my sword.
Clang– Clack!
I moved between the two smoking men like a phantom. The cigarette butts they dropped hit the ground, their red embers tracing short arcs as they fell. A moment later, their heads rolled to the ground to join them.
My attack was the signal. A silent massacre began.
Swish!
The other cadets and I stormed the outpost, slashing and stabbing every person we saw.
Wiiing! Wiiing!
The alarm finally blared through the compound. The front of the base erupted into chaos as perimeter guards scrambled toward us.
“Aca—!”
One of them choked on the word as he saw our precise movements, our uniforms. The recognition hit them first, followed by a wave of pure terror. They were defeated before they even raised their weapons.
Bang!
An enemy gunshot echoed, a wild shot fired from a place of fear. None of us were foolish enough to be hit by it. We scattered instinctively.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Gunfire erupted in a sustained burst. I weaved through the storm of bullets, my path a circling advance. The other cadets took cover where they could, some dragging corpses in front of them to use as shields.
I closed in on the Korynthian firing the machine gun. He frantically tried to swing the heavy weapon toward me, realizing too late that his pistol would have served him better.
“You… you damned devil!” the Korynthian screamed at me.
I offered a slight shrug and swung my blade.
Slash– Clang!
His head split vertically from the temple. The red cross-section of his jaw and the flesh beneath his nose was exposed with an unreal, surgical smoothness.
I kicked the headless corpse, toppling it from its perch.
…Too easy.
Lysander and I could have wiped out this entire outpost ourselves. It was to be expected, of course. We were destined to become elite soldiers of the Ascendancy.
I walked through the chaos of the outpost’s interior as if on a casual stroll.
“M-mother… m-mom, mom…”
I turned my head toward the sound. A Korynthian boy, around my own age, was crawling along the ground. At first, I thought he was injured.
He’s just too scared to move properly.
His legs were perfectly healthy; he just wasn’t using them. Pathetic.
“A… ah…”
The boy, still calling for his mother, sensed my presence and looked up. For a moment, our eyes met, and I hesitated.
For the welfare of the Ascendancy’s citizens and the glory of His August Ascendancy…
I mouthed the words silently, trying to steady myself.
But an uneasy feeling crept over me, and my hand froze. If the boy had been holding a knife, a gun, anything, I wouldn’t have hesitated. I would have severed his neck cleanly.
…A non-combatant. Offering no resistance.
But my orders were to kill every Korynthian here.
Thunk!
I drove my sword downward. The blade grazed the back of the boy’s neck before embedding itself in the dirt beside him.
“Lie down. Play dead. You might survive,” I whispered, pulling the sword free.
Doubt and a disquieting unease churned in my gut. If another cadet saw this, my own life could be on the line. But I had acted on impulse, risking everything. A wave of guilt—a feeling that even murder hadn’t managed to touch—suddenly swept over me.
This is wrong, Cole. The Ascendancy’s command is absolute. It cannot be disobeyed.
Even now, I should slit his throat. I bit my lower lip, glaring down at him. The Ascendancy’s orders felt like a physical weight, pushing on my back, forcing my hands. My body wanted to move not by my will, but by the Ascendancy’s. And I hated it.
I hesitated.
Bang!
A single gunshot rang out. A bullet tore through the boy’s head. He was dead before he could have possibly registered the sound.
Lysander?
My gaze snapped to the source of the shot. Lysander stood on the roof of a nearby building, smoke drifting lazily from the barrel of his pistol.
He looked down at me and gave a slight shake of his head. He’d seen everything. But because it was Lysander, I felt a strange sense of relief.
If any cadet other than Lysander had seen me falter…
I would have had to silence them—by persuasion or, failing that, by any means necessary.
Lysander won’t report me. In any case, I was the fool today.
My mind snapped back into focus. I realized the magnitude of what I had just done. I’d nearly endangered myself and my comrades, all to spare some nameless Korynthian boy out of misplaced mercy.
I looked back up to the rooftop, intending to give Lysander a nod of thanks. But in that instant—
Wooong!
The air beside Lysander distorted.
My eyes widened. Even my military-grade mechanical eye couldn’t immediately process it. It was a phenomenon that defied physics.
Bang!
An explosion erupted where he stood. It hadn’t come from a projectile; the air itself had simply warped and then violently expanded.
“You worthless bastards—!!” a rough voice boomed.
I was already sprinting toward Lysander’s position.
Caught in the blast, he had been thrown from the rooftop—a good three stories—and had crashed to the ground below.
“…Cole. There’s a Kinetic. I was careless… No excuse.”
Lysander was barely on his feet, leaning against a wall for support. It looked like he’d shielded his vitals with his limbs, which had saved his life. But those same limbs were now mangled, their armored casings peeled back to expose bundles of wires and smoking components.
“I’ll handle it. You stay put.”
I focused on the clearing in the center of the outpost, where the disturbance had come from.
Kinesis.
It was my first time seeing it in person. My knowledge was purely academic.
…A kind of superpower.
Force-users could create phenomena that violated the laws of physics. The explosion that had hit Lysander was a perfect example.
Did the Legatus of the Aegis Phalanx know a Kinetic was here?
If they had warned us, Lysander might not have been injured…
I shook the thought away as I ran. Foolish. We should have been prepared for anything. Lysander was injured because he was careless. And his carelessness was partly my fault.
Because I hesitated, Lysander got hurt.
For the first time in a long while, I was disgusted with myself. Never again, Cole.
In the clearing, the battle between the Kinetic and the cadets was already underway.
“This isn’t a military base! It’s a settlement! The people you killed were just… just trying to survive!”
The Kinetic’s shout was thick with rage. He looked like an ordinary middle-aged man, but a faint blue aura rippled across his skin. His loose Korynthian clothes billowed around him as if caught in a wind that wasn't there.
Bang!
Explosions erupted wherever the Kinetic gestured. His rage-fueled attacks sent cadets flying.
Bang!
One of the fallen cadets squeezed off a round. A thin barrier shimmered around the Kinetic, and the feeble pistol shot failed to penetrate it.
This is a bad matchup.
With our current equipment, he was a difficult opponent.
No need to panic.
It was my first time fighting a Kinetic, but I’d already learned how to defeat one in theory. Today was merely putting that theory into practice.
It’s never as simple in the field as it is in the simulations, but…
I gripped my sword in one hand and my pistol in the other as I charged.
Bang! Bang!
I fired twice, knowing the shots would do no real damage. They were meant to draw his attention.
I’ll handle this one.
I signaled to the other cadets. We still hadn’t fully secured the outpost. Following my command, they dispersed to finish the mission.
“Wh-where do you think you’re going?! You bastards! Come on! Come at me!”
As the cadets scattered, the Kinetic grew visibly agitated.
So he was planning to act as a decoy. We don’t have to play his game.
I focused on his arm. To use Kinesis, the user must perform a “preparatory action.” If I watch his movements, I can react.
His ability revolved around explosions, and it followed a clear sequence, like pulling a trigger to fire a gun. He aimed each blast with a hand gesture, and just before it detonated, a necklace wrapped like a chain around his hand would glow blue. That necklace was his catalyst.
Hand gesture, catalyst glow, then explosion.
That was the pattern. Now that I understood it, I had more than enough time to evade. Dodging bullets was harder than this. The other cadets had only fallen because the attack was so unfamiliar.
Boom!
An explosion detonated beside me. I moved only at the last possible moment, accelerating just before each blast. The Kinetic’s brow furrowed as he watched my unpredictable movements.
Boom!
Another explosion erupted. The range was wider than I’d anticipated, and the shockwave caught me. I staggered, bracing myself on the ground before leaping to the side.
Ka-boom!
The spot where I’d been standing was obliterated. The blast radius was expanding, the interval between explosions shortening. He was adapting his attacks to counter me.
“Grrrrr…!”
The Kinetic was pushing himself to his limit. Veins stood out on his face, red and strained.
But I was pushing myself to my limit, too.
I’d like to drag this into a war of attrition, but I can’t sustain these high-speed maneuvers for long.
Even with my high-powered prosthetic legs, the rest of my organic body couldn’t keep up. The sudden stops and accelerations made my hip joints scream in protest.
At this rate, I’ll break down first.
I had to charge now, while I could still maintain top speed.
Whoosh!
I lunged straight forward, the Kinetic at the end of my path.
Faster.
I ignored the pain. If my body broke, the Ascendancy would fix it. As long as my head was intact, the rest could be dealt with.
“Huuuup!”
The Kinetic centered his breath and thrust both hands forward. The catalyst necklace glowed, and I anticipated the explosion, accelerating to outrun it. But the blast I expected never came.
My heart seized. The scythe of death brushed the back of my neck.
A feint.
A fraction of a second later, the air directly in front of me began to warp. He was skilled, his quick adaptation suggesting he had plenty of combat experience.
If I pull back now…
My body was moving too fast to stop. Slamming on the brakes would shatter my hips. Even if I survived this moment, I’d never dodge the next attack.
I’ll push forward. Faster.
The decision was instant. It could be my death.
Despite seeing the telltale distortion of an impending explosion, I didn’t retreat. I charged straight through the warping air. It felt like my skin was being flayed by searing, red-hot spikes.
Ka-boom!
The explosion detonated right behind me. Scorching agony slashed across my back. In a critical moment, pain must be ignored.
I paid no attention to the state of my body. My focus was singular: the Kinetic.
…Finally. My sword reached him.
I stretched my arm out, driving the tip of my blade into his chest. It tore through his Kinesis barrier, sliced through skin and muscle, and sank deep into his torso.
“Gah… guh!”
The Kinetic staggered, looking at me. Blood spilled from his lips as he raised the hand wrapped in his catalyst. The necklace glowed a faint blue—the precursor to an explosion.
His final attack?
I had no way to dodge. I raised my head and met his eyes.
“Now that… I see you up close… you… you’re just… a kid…” the Kinetic muttered, his voice faint.
He lowered his hand. My eyes widened.
Wooong!
The Kinesis that had gathered in his palm dispersed, brushing past me like a harmless breeze before dissipating completely. There was no explosion.
Thud!
The light faded from the Kinetic’s eyes. His lifeless body collapsed to the ground.