opöökoäölkio Chapter 3: w(11-23 21:03:51), a private fanfic

My Dear Bay

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[March 4th, Blaster Training Site, PRT HQ]

Leonardo ﬁnds himself in the blaster training room, currently empty, in the middle of the night,

Close to midnight.

Getting permission to come here to basically just train and reﬂect is a piece of cake after the

events at the beginning of the month…

And with the incident the day before with Kid Win, he probably has the maximum possible social

credit with the PRT and Protectorate.

'It's like I have a "You're too strong to be stopped" pass. And I'm not going to complain about it'

The boy thinks with a small smirk.

The boy turns his gaze to a metal target on the wall a few feet away. He watches as the target

moves across the wall, sliding in strange patterns. He raises his arms into a speciﬁc position as

if one arm is ready to hit something, with the index ﬁnger and ring ﬁnger protruding, and the other

arm serving as a kind of aim for his projectile.

He then speaks, his voice carrying a weight very similar to when he uses his "Impulse".

"Pierce"

His left arm blurs as he thrusts it forward, a momentary image of a spear coming out of the boy's

hand in a projection made of purple lightning,

The spear strikes the target's metal too quickly to be properly picked up by anyone without some

enhanced perception.

The target even freezes for a second in its center, having a red dot after being heated by the

attack, the purple sparks disappearing as quickly as they appeared to begin with.

'Well, with that, Pierce is basically complete. More malleable than a Coin Blast, but much less

powerful... My Vision is actually doing what I suspected.'

The boy ﬁdgets with his necklace for a few seconds.

The boy's clear aura comes to his hands, making the boy close his eyes and take a deep breath,

in a light controlled breathing exercise.

Opening his eyes again, now with his Bijon reﬂexively surfacing and turning his eyes red,

'My vision is basically paving the way for me to grow even more with a variety of things, Impulse

helps me move around, and Pierce gives me an easy-to-use attack, a basic skill one might say.

With the help of Gae Bolg, it created and enhanced my noble phantasm, transforming it into what

in Genshin Impact would be called Elemental Burst.'

The boy smiled, happy with his freedom to weave his creativity into his powers,

'And more than that... With Mahoraga and my CEM, all of this basically seems to act like a cursed

technique, even though it isn't… No, maybe just not for now, I haven't had that spark of mental

enlightenment yet to be able to call it a Technique. But who knows, maybe one day?'

The boy Impulses himself to the side, going to the wooden bench next to him, where the boy's

backpack is. Checking his cell phone he sees how late it is,

'I should go home. Tomorrow I'll accompany Livy to HQ to ﬁnish her analysis.'

The boy grabs his things and leaves the place, seeing a few agents he sees every day at HQ and

saying hi to them.

He leaves the PRT building through another building adjacent to it, a building that should be

residential, but secretly is also part of the organization, a great way to not expose agents or

shelter people when necessary.

[A few minutes later, through the Downtown alleys]

Leo walks through the alleys, a deja vu coming to his mind,

This must be already the third time he comes home late after spending time at the PRT training

rooms. He's had a lot to think about, and ironically the act of using his powers and training helps

him think even more calmly.

The boy yawns, his hands in his pockets.

His hoodie protected him from the slight chill of the moment.

It's funny, Typhon hasn't really messed with the boy's perception of his body. It's technically

functioning like an Endbringer, but he's pretty sure he still bleeds, breathes, and feels cold and

heat...

Or are those things all illusions of his mind?

I mean, the human mind is quite powerful-

Pain It's the ﬁrst thing that comes to his nerves,

Confusion is the second thing when he immediately feels something pierce him from behind,

unable to truly penetrate deeply into his back, where it would hit at least one of his vertebrae.

Immediately a purple light his body explodes with energy, and the boy turns around promptly, only

managing to see a shadow disappearing into the air,

A sound of something being charged is heard and the boy acts quickly, with an Impulse trying to

go where the direction from which he entered the alleys,

His energy ﬂickers... And he doesn't disappear by propelling himself.

Impulse failed, not only that, but his Vision momentarily seemed to lose some power.

This time,

From an angle that can be seen by him, in the corner of his eye the boy sees a black ﬁgure

coming towards him,

With his face hardened, cursed energy at full force the boy crouches down and attempts a

roundhouse kick in the general direction of the being attacking him.

His leg swooshes in the air from the force of the attack and again hits nothing, but the person or

thing attacking him can now be seen dashing backward to escape the blow.

The boy's eyes look at the literal black ﬁgure in front of him,

A dark silhouette, which cannot be understood even with the light of the alley. In their left hand,

the only thing visible was a short and straight dagger, also completely black.

The boy doesn't take his eyes off the being, and his Power Sight comes to the surface of his

conscience.

[Short warp stealth and cloak in Darkness]

Both Leo and the ﬁgure, enveloped in a black void, were staring at each other. The young man's

eyes glowed a bright, eerie red in the midnight darkness. Unbeknownst to him, his perk took

effect, and anyone who saw him at that moment could feel a chill as if they were witnessing a

scene straight out of a horror story.

The boy sneers at ﬁrst but then adopts his characteristic deadpan in this stressful situation.

"For your disregard of the unwritten rules, I hope you are willing to die today... You expected to

incapacitate me with the ﬁrst strike, didn't you?"

The ﬁgure says nothing, just ﬁdgets with his dagger in hand, above both of them now going

behind the ﬁgure, a sphere can be seen ﬂoating.

The boy's eyes go to the sphere, his mind coming to the conclusion that this likely piece of

Tinkertech, or someone else's power, was what incapacitated his use of his electricity before, he

distinctly heard a charging sound coming from above after all.

After a few more seconds without any words, the boy hears the sound of something landing on

metal, looking up the boy can see another person.

This time the person can be seen completely, without a mask, a man with foreign Asian features

illuminated by the light of the alley, crouched on the railing of the corner staircase of the building

above, looking at the boy and completely expressionless.

His outﬁt looks like a mix between a tactical uniform and a monk aesthetic.

[Transport for pocket dimension pocket dimension control]

Footsteps can be heard this time behind the boy, Leo looks back now standing to the side, being

able to look at the three just by turning his face to one side or the other.

The last ﬁgure, apparently a woman, has a more high-tech outﬁt, a power armor,

Having what appears to be a minimalist aesthetic, with nothing ﬂashing or glowing, just pure

machinery.

Their helmet has two horns that are curved back.

[Tinker: Elemental Manipulation Power Interference.]

"Hmm, I see it's a team effort then."

The boy says, basically to the air, just letting his mind work.

Unexpectedly, the tinker responds.

"Leonardo Adelardo, the future of Parahumanity, you have been selected to be hunted…"

Before the boy could say anything else, an almost cartoonish PING noise echoes through the air,

he looks to the side and sees the sphere from before now glowing faintly, a hole in its middle with

what appears to be a lens. The boy's expression worsens by 100%

And from above two words are heard.

The strange monk, in a resolute and deep voice, says aloud.

"Hunting Grounds"

And in a ﬂash of light, all 4 people disappear from the face of the earth.

[A few hours later. PHO, new emergency thread]

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Topic: A New Thread

In: Boards Brockton Bay Wards Caerus

GuAvant (Original Poster)

Posted On Mar 4th 2011:

[Video] [Photo 4x]

[This post is banned, and the user is being investigated, thank you for all the reports]

(Showing page 122 of 123)

Dawgsmiles (Veteran Member)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Holy shit, I feel like it's 2007 again. Why is Brockton like this man?

Loyal

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Yeah, that city is completely inhumane.

An attack and unmasking of a Ward, who is extremely important to the WHOLE WORLD.

WhedonRipperFan

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Does anyone have any news?

Last thing we know is that 2 hours ago those photos and the video were posted right?

Nod

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Does anyone have any news?

Last thing we know is that 2 hours ago those photos and the video were posted right?

NIckingNick

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Yup...

And I know the situation is serious, and that everyone is in a panic.

But Caerus is pretty cute, isn't he?

Answer Key

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Fuck you Nick, this is not the time man.

NIckingNick

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Oh chill out dawg, did you see Caerus' face in the video? Our Divine Ward fucking pissed.

Brother, he's coming back to Brockton from wherever he is, with the heads of the guys who took

him.

Laserdream (Veriﬁed Cape)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

And if he doesn't do it himself, we at New Wave will do it ourselves. No one unmasks a friend of

ours here in the city and gets away with it.

AllSeeingEye (Unveriﬁed Cape) (Analyst)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Damn, justiﬁed, but damn.

Assault'nPuppy (Veriﬁed Cape) (Protectorate Employee) (Number 1 Caerus Fan!)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Go Off @Laserdream

And she's right, we're doing everything we can here at the Protectorate and PRT too. Right now, 4

heroes who were off duty and all the Wards came to HQ to form search teams.

We're going to ﬁnd him.

Antigone

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Thank you for your service Assault

(https/forums./members/345364/)'nPuppy and the way things are going, if

they don't ﬁnd him by tomorrow even Eidolon will come out of hiding to ﬁnd the boy.

XxVoid_CowboyxX

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

I don't know guys, but if I could guess I'd say it's Yangbang's fault.

Ekul

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

It's Yàngbǎn, and that guess makes a total of 0 sense, but whatever.

Chilldrizzle

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Oh fuck... I just realized that I know Caerus, he helped me with a school assignment once. Oh god

Whatthefuck

FlyingGirl (Veriﬁed Cape)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

LOL, yeah some people said they've seen him in the city, but at this point everyone is saying that.

Some people even said names, but we know the internet, maybe it's all fake.

Most are fake,

Here are some facts about Caerus:

Lazy

Calm Boi

No thoughts, just power ideas

Cat Lover

And a philosopher in his spare time.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 120, 121, 122

(Showing page 123 of 123)

Answer Key

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

LMAO

Good night Glory Girl, are you in the searches too?

FlyingGirl (Veriﬁed Cape)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Yah, leaving now for them.

Doodles-allie (The Art!)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Happy searching Glory Girl!

And guys, the moment I heard the news and saw the video. I was immediately kind of

depressed...

So! I made some drawings for Caerus, because I know he's coming back.

Here's my idea for his next costume!

[Art /a/GHqNRw9)]

I didn't draw in full body, but it's still cool, right?

Bagrat (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member)

Replied On Mar 5th 2011:

Without a doubt it is. Great work once again.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 121, 122, 123

[???????]

A light envelops Leo's gaze,

His senses were momentarily confused, as he then noticed with his small spatial sixth sense,

'I'm in another world-'

Without letting the boy even think, a crushing weight comes from above trying to crush him, his

legs ﬁrming on what he felt like a stone ﬂoor,

His arms rising upwards and his back also trying its best to support the weight,

A gasp from the boy as he manages to steady his weight, in a burst of energy, his vision and CEM

metaphorically rise to lift the weight,

The boy ﬁnally manages to focus his gaze forward, seeing the woman from before.

Her armor glows for a second for some reason.

She watches him lift the big rock,

A hand on her chin, a quiet "hmm" coming from her mouth.

The boy glares at her for a moment then noticing his surroundings, he sees on the horizon, just

more and more land, made of pure gray rock.

"Hmm, scary, surviving a weight like that without even using any of your weird energy, and now

that you're using it you can lift it like a professional weightlifter." She says, her voice showing no

hint of trepidation.

Leo doesn't speak,

His response is the veins on her forehead popping out in slight anger, which is quickly calmed by

his mind. He merely leans his weight forward and throws it, exhaling the air in his lungs.

In the dark, the boy only sees the ﬁgure of the woman's power armor shining in the moonlight of

this desolate place, then blurring away. The rock hits the ground with a loud bang, chunks ﬂying

to the sides.

Leo just watches as he sees the woman now blurring in speed upwards from the huge remains of

the rock, her hands folded behind her back.

"More than 80 tons lifted, this strange power of yours is wonderful… Adaptation, apparent control

of electricity, a strange unmeasurable energy, and with Smoke's failure earlier we can also tell

that your body is now highly resilient." She says, with each word getting more animated, some

sort of emotion ﬁnally escaping her voice.

The boy's face twists and his ﬁsts clench.

"You really did your homework... Looks like this whole thing you guys have against me, goes

beyond simple villain vs hero huh?"

The Boy says, knowing full well the answer,

After all, these capes committed all the deadly sins of a cape's life in less than 3 minutes,

They are serious.

Attacking and trying to assassinate a hero on off hours.

Along with unmasking him… At least that's what he thinks that stunt with that ﬂying sphere was

before the boy was taken here.

The woman merely shrugs.

"Meh, you could say that... Honestly, you're really fucking unlucky, you know? 5 entire groups,

some from your area and others international, came together to ﬁnance your death or at least to

make your life diﬃcult. But It makes sense with everything you did in less than 3 months here in

our world-"

The woman talks a little more, and the boy tunes her out, his mind reﬂecting on his situation.

'I'm at a maximum disadvantage. In another cape's world, who's being aided by a Stranger who, if

paired with a weapon or object strong enough, could kill me, all this with the mind of a strange

tinker in the background.'

He thinks, his gaze falling to the ground,

A small smirk came to his face.

'And yet, I don't feel nervous or scared. These three aren't the Simurgh or a literal God like Miss

Hestia.'

The woman seems to stop talking.

"Urgh, distracting you with yapping is annoying. You don't even talk back." She says, her hands

going to the back of her neck in a relaxed and slightly exaggerated position.

The boy's eyes darted back to her "face".

The sparkling red then changes...

His eyes turn into slithers, which seem to change shape again and again.

This sends a shiver down her spine, this is something she has no idea about, and that is not

good.

"Whatever your name is. Thank you for bringing me to a place and situation where I have nothing

to worry about…"

The boy's smile and phrase now make the woman's shivers come in full force, on the visor of her

helmet she watches as all the esoteric counters created by her explode in high numbers. With a

mental command, she gives the okay to her companions.

From the darkness, illuminated by the moon the ﬁgure from before, "Smoke" as he was called,

appears warping in an instant.

In his hands now a smooth red box,

Leo turns around but only looks up in time to see the box in front of his face.

It Shines.

The boy's vision turns into ﬁre and heat.

A gigantic explosion engulfs everything around with the boy at its center. Tinker and Smoke

disappear from there faster than should be possible,

Reappearing a few miles away, in time to see the surroundings change little by little, the site of

the explosion remaining the same, but its surroundings changing like waves of matter.

Forming mountains on the horizon, ceasing to be a continent of rocks and nothing more.

Beautiful, green Alps full of mountains and hills now it's the outskirts.

The explosion dissipates, revealing the boy at its center, his arms protecting his face, but

practically all of his clothing burned to absolute nothingness.

His supernatural reinforcements manage to save only his boxer undies, and his vision and his

indestructible necklace.

The boy gasps for air momentarily,

His smirk is perpetual on his face, after all, heat is not something unfamiliar to him.

'That's the most I've ever been burned since i adapted, I can feel my skin hurt all over... as if I had

burned my ﬁnger on a pan... but all over my body.'

He clasps his hands together in his stance.

"Furube Yura Yura."

The wheel comes to him.

KRRK

His cursed energy comes to him in full force, as he feels something funny happening, the

elemental energy also coming to him, only it comes down instead as a whisper in his ear.

The boy spaces out for a second, not noticing 3 more boxes coming towards him from the

horizon, after being thrown at him,

The three objects fall at his feet and the boy doesn't move.

Again, this time with even more force and volume.

The boxes explode, with the metaphorical force of the sun slapping him in the face.

His surroundings turn to ﬁre and pure heat, and the boy's mind continues to make him reﬂect...

Leo didn't know it, but at that moment, he was about to experience an elevation, an epiphany, his

moment of enlightenment.

Triggered by a voice in the back of his mind bringing to his calm and peaceful being a simple

thought:

'I'm the strongest here.'

In the middle of the ﬁre, and the large curtain of heavy smoke that envelops part of that place, a

laugh can be heard, echoing through the beautiful green valleys of the place.

To the three capes, all around the pocket world, it sounded like a fucking demon.

For the "devil" himself laughing, his own laughter sounded and

... Pure Relief.

KRRRK

For the ﬁrst time since the boy gained powers,

For the ﬁrst since he became what he is now.

A straightforward and honest thought of pure Arrogance came to his mind, and it sounded to him

like nonsense...

But an incredible nonsense!

'I'm the strongest here,

Nothing can stop me,

This is a moment of peace, not of stress'

Leonardo walks calmly through the smoke, he can feel something different about himself.

But he doesn't know what, and he doesn't care.

His smile turned into a smirk.

'Let's turn this into a test. A playground one might say, now, what do I want to try it right now?'

KRRRK

The change in the moment can be felt by the boy, his eyes still in red slithers, do not return to

normal.

He looks at the horizon and his visual image of the place where he is, in the darkness, discerns

the presence of two individuals.

'Bijon is no more. Let's call my new eyes…'

"Mystic Eyes of Entropy"

The boy proclaims the name out loud and proud,

Feeling deep in his soul the same thing he felt when he ﬁrst used Impulse, Pierce, or even the

"Furube YuraYura" from the Dharma wheel.

"Words have power," Many say, and they are right.

At this point the boy's existence is exoteric.

His soul, energy, and conceptual actuality surpass what would be normal for even the beings of

the worlds from which he is drawing his powers.

Conventional limits no longer exist.

His boundaries are simply how far he wants to go and nothing more…

"Let's start with chants…" The boy proclaims, and feels the ground beneath him shift,

Suddenly the ground opens up, removing the boy's base.

He falls downwards and feels two feet hit his shoulders from above, throwing him down.

The boy continues to smile as he sees Smoke warping again after pushing him down,

The boy then falls into the water, the water enveloping him and pulling him down, his senses

changing and becoming confused as he feels the pressure around his body increasing more and

more.

KRRRK

The wheel turns smoothly without any problems, and the boy's mouth inside the water opens, still

feeling the weight of thousands of tons crushing him over every square inch.

Without any apparent explanation, the sound spreads through the water, and the boy's eyes glow

a now strange red, that shines like a rare jewel.

"Oh Vision of mine, take me to inﬁnity; Impulse"

The complete enchantment is created, and its maximum power is brought to the surface.

The boy's body in the darkness of the inner waters is illuminated,

Everything turns electric purple for a second, and in an explosion the boy's body is propelled by

the water.

The action is instantaneous, a beam of purple light passes through the water, the rocks and the

air above going out of the hole Leo had been thrown into.

His body appears in mid-air, his arms open as if he were waiting for applause from the heavens

themselves.

Far away, the tinker watches the scene with her mouth open from beneath her helmet.

'...That energy is comparable to a small nuclear detonation... And he brought it to life in just one

simple action,'

She thinks, looking at the calculations made on her screen.

She mentally, with her frightening speed of thought, thinks about exactly what to do.

'Maybe it won't be possible to kill the boy with normal means, I still have the equipment of all the

elements imaginable, but none of that will help, since the boy would only come back stronger'

Maybe some of the power nulliﬁers?

'No, he has powers that can't even be measured by my tinkertech, I doubt it would be a good risk

to take… In the end, she managed to at least achieve the primary objective of Unmasking'

As she thought, not even 1 second had passed,

In the woman's vision, the boy was still in the air with his arms open.

And in the next microsecond, he was no longer there.

The woman's eyes widened in pure fear.

She feels a hand throwing her to the side

When her eyes managed to look to the side in slow motion,

She saw Mark's face surrounded by darkness pushing her, and beside him with the outstretched

arm of the boy, Leonardo.

His ruby-like slithered eyes shone his smile now with slightly bigger fangs having a macabre

tone.

"-Pierce." The boy seems to ﬁnish saying something and his arm expands with the purple energy

construct of a

shark jaw,

Which is then ﬁred like a beam, covering the entire upper body of the cape in purple light.

The light disappears, and what's left is the nasty underside of the cape, smoking and slowly

falling to the ground, darkness going away.

The boy's eyes in her vision, now focus on herself.

She disappears after activating something in her suit.

Leaving the boy there, with his smile wavering as he looks at the dead cape's body.

"Tsk, idiota," He says lamenting in his mother tongue.

The boy just looks around and starts walking around the place, without even looking at the large

trail of destruction his attack made behind him,

On the horizon,

in the direction where his arm was pointing.

A large black mark was made on a mountain far away,

A Shark bite.

Last edited: Sep 22, 2024

[???????]

Leo walks through the Alps, observing the beautiful landscape...

And at the same time looking for his enemies, his eyes in slithers that open and close observe

everything.

He will not let them escape, entropy reaches everything after all,

Looking around, he concludes something.

As he looks up, seemingly into nothingness, into that artiﬁcial night.

"Hmm, you threw your little friend out, didn't you?"

The boy says, a smirk coming to his face.

Talking to the Cape who owns this pocket world.

"What do you intend to do? Leave me trapped in this world forever?"

KRRRK

The boy's eyes widen as he feels what the adaptation of moment is, one that will take more than

5 turns,

His smirk only increases.

"Well, if you're going to try something, I suggest you speed it up, you have a few minutes at most,

after that I'll have reached my maximum."

He says and crosses his arms and as he looks down his arms, he chuckles lightly.

'Damn, my skin looks even more tanned, does this have to do with heat resistance?'

He thinks

and then feels the ground shaking, looking around he sees all the plants in the green Alps dying

and the Alps turning into black rocks.

The ground beneath the boy opens up again and he immediately resorts to a normal upward

Impulse... And is immediately hit by something coming from above.

"WHAT-"

The meteor hits him from above heading towards the top of the place where he was, Leo couldn't

know at the time but the ground that opened up beneath him, opened immensely to imitate the

mouth of a large volcano.

The meteor fell with the boy, ﬁtting into the mouth of the volcano and throwing him into the hole,

In mid-air, he immediately felt... Cold.

His body starts to shake immediately, and his energies come to the surface to help the hero,

He feels his body ﬁnally reach the bottom with a great impact, and only with his new eyes can he

now see the place getting colder and colder, even the air around seems to be freezing.

'Huh, so he has that much control over this world? Amazing, unfortunately, he only has 6 turns of

the wheel of life left on him.'

The boy thinks, getting up, feeling a layer of ice form on his skin, but

not causing much damage with his energies enveloping him, even creating a little light in that

darkness.

KRRRK

The boy merely smiled, whispering something then. "Ice or low temperatures don't work on me

either. Try again fake ass monk"

Immediately after, he feels everything shake for a second, and the roof collapses on him at full

speed, forcing the boy to once again focus his strength on staying on his feet.

KRRRK

The wheel that is now somewhere he can't see, urgently turns again.

The cold continues, and the boy's arms tremble with the effort he makes, his bare feet digging

into the rocks below. Leo's face contorts with effort, his energy burning rapidly as the weight

continues to increase.

'H-holy fuck, this is too much, What the fuck did he throw at me? The whole ass mountain?'

KRRRK

The boy grits his teeth, veins popping out across his body, pulsing with pure force.

He couldn't see it at the moment but a purple mesh of energy was slowly wrapping itself around

his body,

The boy's body may be in pain and straining under the weight of the mountain above, but his

mind remains calm and adapts to the situation. Something his vision seemed to have whispered

to him comes to his mind...

The boy slowly stretches his arms upwards, the weight being lifted, the purple mesh wrapping

around his body at faster speeds…

KRRRK

Cold breath exhales from his mouth as the boy proclaims his chant,

"Oh Vision of mine, make me honorable like the Marshal Vritras-"

The literal stone sky above the boy is lifted, more easily... more hands pushing the sky upwards.

A purple layer of energy surrounds the boy's body, and a pair of additional arms appear on his

body, being almost transparent and made of pure energy,

Thunder marks appear on his body in a beautiful golden color, his hair spikes up with thunder.

"Impulse" is his movement.

"Pierce" is his attack.

And now the last one, inspired by a certain benevolent spirit, Bosacius is his body and defense.

KRRRRK

A big smile appears on the boy's mouth as he looks up, from under his breath, the chant of the

impulse is unleashed at its maximum power.

His body glows brightly in electric purple as the wheel spins once more.

With a gigantic beam of pure energy, the boy launches himself upwards, destroying the mountain

above literally vaporizing and melting his way through, emerging from above into the skies.

A satisﬁed chuckle is heard across the false night sky, the ethereal ﬁgure of Leo amidst the fake

moon in the background.

The boy, surrounded by energy, looks up at the skies once more.

KRRRK

His eyes now understand the location, where he is... where he should aim to ﬁnd the thing he

wants to bring to an end.

One of his arms extends, and in a ﬂash of red, Gae Bolg appears.

"I can see you now Monk, it was an interesting ﬁght, but I can see you even from behind space

itself."

In the boy's vision, as a spectrum, in the skies,

He can see the gigantic ﬁgure of the cape from before in the alley, with his eyes closed.

"I hope you're unhappy wherever you go after this…" The boy says with a slight sneer,

In a show of purple lights, the boy's eyes glow purple along with the rest of his body, his

elemental burst ready to be used.

"Gáe Bolg: Barbed Spear That Pierces The End"

The spear is gripped by two of his left arms and thrown like a javelin amidst the "stars"

A few seconds pass and the world around begins to dissolve.

KRRRK

"Huh, I guess this next one is for another ﬁght to the death." The boy says feeling the ﬁnal

adaptation of the day…

[Brockton Bay, Downtown, alley of the abduction of Caerus.]

In the middle of the alley, still, on the same day of March 5th, several PRT oﬃcers check

everywhere in the alley, trying to ﬁnd some clue on the spot about how he was kidnapped.

In the middle of the air in the alley, a ﬂash of light that scares everyone present happens and with

its departure reveals two ﬁgures in the air.

Both fall to the ground, causing those present to point their weapons and those without weapons

to quickly ﬂee.

The ﬁgure of Caerus rises with a groan, causing most of the oﬃcers to notice who it is and begin

to move,

Caerus is back,

The boy stands up, cracking his neck and running a hand through his hair.

Red eyes glow faintly in the dark but settle into a round shape in the iris, like that of a hawk or

even a lion.

The young man's face was serene, slightly melancholic.

Everyone starts to act, a PRT agent taking him lightly smiling at the boy, others going to get the

body that came with him, with a big hole where his heart would be.

And in just a few minutes he was already being taken to the PRT HQ.

[March 6th, PRT HQ, Livy POV]

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Topic: A New Thread

In: Boards

Luckyfellow (Original Poster) (Veriﬁed Cape) (Wards ENE) (The Future of PH)

Posted On Mar 6th 2011:

Hello everyone, this should have been news that the Protectorate would give, but I insisted that I

be the one to tell everyone.

I'm ﬁne, I came back yesterday morning without a scratch.

Thank you so much for the prayers and words, I've read so many messages here.

I loved seeing the support and the jokes too, yall are really funny. (Ps: If the new tag means what I

think it does, then I'm very ﬂattered.)

Well, that was it, bye bye!

[Selﬁe]

The girl reads the post, shaking her head.

Livy looks at the boy sitting in front of her on the couch in the Wards' resting place, his

appearance has changed since the time she saw him, according to him due to the adaptations.

He's still about her size... just in height.

He's more tanned like he's been sunbathing on the beach every day for a month, his eyes are now

red, having the strange ability to change shape slightly.

'Well, it's a stunning Ruby red, so it looks good on him.'

In his mouth, his fangs have grown slightly, something only noticeable if he smiles... But it also

looks incredible on him.

His hair... It's gotten slightly darker and now has some dark purple streaks in it.

Leo, sitting on the sofa, pets the large panther that is purring with her head in his lap, smiling

serenely.

A small shiver runs down the girl's arms, who groans with a slight twitching of an eyebrow.

"Lion boy, please stop petting her." She says sighing, but unable to stop a smile.

"It's not my fault this cutie loves me, is she still in Auto mode?" The boy asks, now looking at Livy,

his eyes as he focuses on her seem to expand like those of a cat.

"Yes, I let her behave like a cat. Since that's what the PRT and I found easiest for me when I use

this form of hers." Livy says, crossing her arms, lightly blowing away a strand of her bangs that

momentarily blocks her vision, she should have tied her hair up.

The boy smiled, raising both hands to the panther's large head, caressing it. "You cute huge

kitten, I hope you're devouring some members of the Empire as soon as possible."

The girl grumbles, feeling slightly as if someone is giving her a massage on the top of her head.

She gives up on leaving her connection with the projection on and turns off the tactile part of its

senses,

Livy continues the conversation from before.

"So you want to go back to school soon?"

"Yeah, I can't handle being without both work as Ward and school, too boring, as much as I love

being lazy," The boy says, frowning a little and shrugging.

"Hmph, you'll still come here from time to time to train, I know you." She says, and the boy just

smirks, his left fang showing slightly...

No, that cute smirk didn't make her blush, it's just a normal

phenomenon due to the weather.

"W-whatever, you said that you will only return to your Ward duties after the 15th, right?"

Leo nods but says nothing about it, his face still serene, focusing on the panther in his lap, two

remain there, in comfortable silence for a few seconds.

…

"You look hot in that new look"

The boy seems to freeze for a second until he blinks in confusion and looks at the girl, who

smirks at him. A slight blush appears on his face as he chuckles loudly, not expecting the

comment at the very least.

"Coming from you, that's high praise."

Leonardo is still the same as ever for Livy, and she can't wait to have the chance to hang out with

the boy even more.

For her, he is the greatest.

As a person and as a hero.

[March 10th, Brockton Bay]

On this rainy day in the big Bay,

Nothing particularly important is happening,

At least for the heroes and innocent civilians... On the villains' side?

A dragon begins to become restless and a snake dies in a pool of his own blood.

The consequences of the latest stunt by several national and international groups of villains and

rogues are not easily visible, but they are still there.

After all, the protectorate's golden goose was attacked, and they had to protect it in every way

possible.

And in a large abandoned warehouse, which had been modiﬁed to become a base of operations.

Lisa, or Tattletale as it is referred to… is in a slight panic,

The blonde girl, dressed in her costume, walks in the middle of her "oﬃce", going from one side

to the other.

'Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck'

She bites her hand lightly, trying to come to her senses,

Just a few hours ago, she received a message from an organization that has yet to reveal itself.

In the message, the death of Thomas Calvert was notiﬁed to her.

'The worst thing is that I remember them, the fucker never mentioned them directly... But my

power can still pick up the clues. Coil was once involved, some time ago, with some ultra-

powerful international organization.'

The girl thinks, ﬁnally rationalizing the facts, she sits on the

sofa in the room, leaning back and letting her power do its magic in full force.

'Now, what could have set them off? To the point of them ﬁnishing Coil off?'

With a slight headache, her power comes to the surface in his mind.

[The cause of the entire escalation is most likely Caerus, who was attacked a few days ago.]

The conclusion makes the girl sigh.

The attack on Caerus is still the most talked about event at the moment. Which makes sense, an

attack on a national hero, who is a ward and who was out of costume?

That's essentially a request to go to war with the PRT and Protectorates of the world!

'Coil was

involved, and probably of all the people he wasn't the most important to the whole thing and

ended up getting cut off easily'

The girl then begins to think about what this would mean to her and the other Undersiders,

without the Boss to ﬁnance things maybe everything will go down the drain,

But at the same time, she regrets the situation... A smile appears on her face.

Lisa is glad,

Happy because now that bastard is in hell like he should be.

The sound of something falling on her desk startled her, causing the girl to quickly get up.

She looks to where the noise came from,

And sees an envelope on the main table of the place,

A very large Greek Omega symbol draws attention.

A shiver runs through the girl's body, and she curses her luck.

[Same day, Brockton mall].

In a clothing store inside the Brockton mall,

Livy is sitting outside the dressing room of the big store,

The girl is well dressed, but nothing too extravagant, just clothes that she thinks would look good

on her best features.

Along with this,

Additionally, some "basic" makeup makes her face look more natural than her usual look.

'Leo already said you looked beautiful, Livy, stop doubting yourself.'

The girl scolded herself in her

mind,

The girl is snapped out of her mental war with her own appearance as the dressing room curtain

opens. Leonardo comes out, dressed in a black turtleneck long-sleeved shirt, along with black

pants in a lighter, softer tone. The clothes are evidently tight in certain places, everything

according to the girl's plan.

A smirk comes to her face, seeing the boy chuckling lightly and giving a twirl.

"So, what do you think? I have no idea if something like this would look good on me," the boy said

while trying to adjust his shirt, which was a little tight on the pecs of his chest.

His red eyes looked at her curiously and more than that... happy.

Livy had noticed this ever since she ﬁnally asked the boy out a few days ago. She could see it on

his face – he was happy to even be hanging out with her, which ﬁlled her heart with happiness

too.

"You look like one of those vampires from teen romance books." She says with a big smirk, her

eyes shining slightly in mirth.

The boy looks a little confused, putting his hands on his waist.

"Is that... Good?" He genuinely doesn't know if this is a good thing,

Livy chuckles lightly and nods.

"Yes. I like vampires, I'm a teen and I'm looking for romance so it's perfect."

The girl's speech makes the boy's face turn as red as his eyes,

He pouts, and mutters something like

"Damn Teasing Goth"

, before closing the curtains, going

into the dressing room again, to take off his clothes,

The girl can't help but laugh, and mentally gives herself a high ﬁve for her incredible ﬂirt line.

After a few seconds, the boy came out of there, dressed in his normal clothes.

A purple shirt along with a beautiful black coat with a print on the back... of himself,

With the symbol that the PRT calls the Caerus Symbol.

"Okay, I liked pretty much all the clothes, thank god for the PRT money." The boy says smiling at

Livy, who nods also smirking.

"True that, now let's go to the cashier-" The girl is stopped by Leo's hand, who without even

moving properly manages to stop her in her place with a pinch of two ﬁngers.

"Uh Huh, my dear Livy, did you think you were going to get away that easily? This store has

clothes for all tastes... We're going to choose some for you." The boy says smiling at the girl his

little fangs appearing in a radiant smirk, making her smile back at him

'Goddamnit I love that smile'

[A few minutes later, still in the mall]

A few minutes later, both young people walk together, Livy holding Leo's arm, both talking

animatedly,

They just got ice cream cones for both of them and now they're talking and exchanging gossip.

"Huh, so Carlos and Alicia didn't work out? Man, and I thought they were going to end up being a

couple." The boy speaks, frowning slightly and shaking his head.

"Yeah, I have to admit I thought the same thing, Lion Boy. They didn't even ﬁght or anything, they

just decided they weren't compatible and everything." Livy says with a shrug.

Leo huffs playfully and rolls his eyes,

"God, young people, am I right?" He says he gets a light smack on the arm from the girl who looks

at him with a deadpan. "But seriously, sometimes I ﬁnd people our age kind of annoying, too

much drama."

Livy chuckles at that.

"Yeah, we've noticed that you usually have a low tolerance for our friends' drama. But you still

actually listen to us, which makes us confused." The girl says and looks at the boy licking his ice

cream.

Leo shrugs,

"Even though I don't care much about drama, you're still my friends, I'll listen to what you guys

have to say and try to help, you know?" He says and smiles at the girl who smiles back.

As they both walk, a girl is leaving a shopping store, holding a box of things she probably bought

at the store of... Hunting items?

She ends up not noticing a trash can in her path, and as she passes near Livy and Leo, she ends

up tripping. A small gust of air passes through the place, which at this time is more or less empty

with few people in the mall.

"Oof, that was close, is everything okay there miss?" One second the girl fell. The next she found

herself being held by the arm and not having her box in her hands.

The ﬁrst thing she notices is how the man picked up the box with his other hand.

The tall girl has a thin ﬁgure, is young, and has long black curly hair, with a slightly pale

complexion,

The girl then ﬁnally looks at the one who saved her from a slight public humiliation.

Her eyes widen as she looks at the city's current greatest hero.

Leo releases her, allowing her to stand up completely, and hands her her box, next to her is Livy

watching the interaction curiously.

"Y-yes Sir, sorry to bother you." The girl says, trying to contain her slight excitement, just the day

before she bought a hoodie with a Caerus print on it, and now she's seeing him in person.

The universe works in mysterious ways.

Leo snickers, and looks at her amused.

"Sir? I probably have a year or two on you only, no Sir for me please." The boy says and smiles

radiantly at the girl who just looks at him and nods still with an expression of admiration.

Livy on the side, just crosses her arms smirking.

'Heh, he has no idea what he looks like now...

That weird perk of his is really amazing'

The girl thinks, also slightly admiring the "scenery".

The girl gets slightly ﬂustered, a little unsure of what to say.

Leo then takes a peek at her box and doesn't show anything on his face.

"Hmm, I suggest buying things like this online. The prices are better, you know?" The boy says,

smiling slightly, his gentlest smile snapping the bespectacled girl out of her stupor.

She looks at the box full of materials that she will soon use during her nights in Brockton.

Her eyes widen slightly, and her eyes go to the boy, she recognizes that look.

The look of someone who certainly knows what she's doing.

"O-oh, thanks, this is for an h-hobbie of mine you know?" The girl says lamely, now looking away.

The boy chuckles lightly and reaches into the box, leaving her very confused, but not having the

strength to stop him. Could she even do something if she wanted to?

The boy takes a small notebook out of the box, along with a pen.

He opens it and starts writing something down,

"Well, if you need any tips on the subject, you can send me a message to this number here, I'm off

duty anyway, I have nothing better to do." The boy says and returns the notebook to the box along

with the pen.

Then he places his hand lightly on the girl's shoulder, making her focus on his face intensely.

"In times like these, what people like us need most is someone to talk to... Oh, and Bugs are

pretty cool." He says and gives her a wink, then turns around and waves goodbye to her, going to

Livy and leaving, with his hand on her waist, both of them talking

animatedly again.

Leaving behind a very confused and excited Taylor Hebert.

[On the same day, in the evening, Leo's room.]

The boy is now more relaxed, lying in his room, with the air conditioner on,

With his arms behind his head, being shirtless and feeling the cold air hitting his body, in a

temperature that would possibly be uncomfortable considering that today is a very cold day in

Brockton.

With his eyes closed the boy thinks about his plans for tonight.

'The protectorate keeps saying they have no plans for my newest power for now... So fuck it, let's

get on with it.'

He then sits on the bed, thinking about which God he would come to talk to,

'Miss Hestia was nice to me... Maybe I could use that? What other God from that universe could I

call that would be pretty chill about?'

The boy just needs a few seconds to think about it…

"Lord of the Underworld, Hades, would you be interested in a conversation?" The boy says

making a prayer sign and activating his power.

And suddenly he's not in his room anymore.

[The Underworld, Hades' palace]

Before Leo's very eyes, the landscape changes in an instant.

He looks around, and no longer is he in his "pajamas", looking down he can see his clothes which

are now a strange type of Greek purple clothing.

Looking around, the boy can see in front of him a gigantic, beautiful palace surrounded by the red

and black immensity of what appears to be hell.

'Huh, there are fewer lava pools than I thought and fewer lost souls.'

He walks to the entrance of the palace, reaches the large door, and then knocks on it.

Toc toc toc-

On the third beat he sees his surroundings change, shadows envelop him and he ﬁnds himself

somewhere else again.

All other peculiar things pale in comparison to the man before him.

Hades,

He is a very tall, imposing, and very muscular god with albino white skin,

Intense black eyes that "glitter like frozen tar", and were either the eyes of a genius or a madman,

and had a mesmerizing, evil charisma, and shoulder-length black hair, with bangs covering most

of his forehead.

Truly something different from Hestia's own vibe.

A surprising chuckle resounds deep through the room, coming from Hades sitting in the center.

There is no throne or anything like that.

No, this room is set up like a simple, pretty living room, with a sofa, and two armchairs in front of

a green-ﬁred ﬁreplace.

"Yes, my vibe is different from my older sister. But no one has the same vibe as her, my boy, come

and sit." The man says, his mood certainly seems good, a smile on his face.

The boy comes closer and sits in the armchair opposite Hades.

"It makes sense, Miss Hestia is one of a kind, she made me feel like I had a mother, and I talked

to her for about 15 minutes," The boy says with a smile, drawing a smirk from Hades. "Ah, my

name is Leonardo, Mr. Hades, it's a pleasure to meet you"

Hades' impassive but not evil face returns and he nods,

"I already know everything about you, just like my sister, I had a summary of your situation. And

what a peculiar situation." He says and reaches over to grab a mug with something on the coffee

table.

He gestures for the boy to do the same.

Leo picks up the mug and sees that there is coffee in it. The boy smiled, a coffee ﬁts any

situation for him.

"I see, and what do you think about it, Sir?" The boy says, looking curiously at Hades, who thinks

again, gently shaking the mug, the steam escaping from it.

After a few seconds, Hades looks directly into the boy's red eyes.

"I... I respect you, boy. Whether it's because of your memories, your sense of justice that you were

born within that world, or simply because you wanted to, you took on a duty that many wouldn't

want, that of helping people and doing your job as a hero." The God of the Dead says, his gaze

then going to the ﬁreplace.

Before Leo's eyes, the ﬁre in the ﬁreplace changes, showing a series of images.

Different Gods, walking and living together.

3 of them being the strongest, 3 of them competing for 3 locations.

2 cheating so as not to end up taking on the most difﬁcult duty of the three.

Hades, the eldest.

Taking on such an inﬁnite duty, with complete determination and resolve. His image is forever

tarnished. The God of the Dead, the God of Evil, the one who is below all.

"No matter what everyone says about me, I have decided my Duty, so I will do it, and I will do it

perfectly." The God says, the visions of the ﬁreplace fading.

Leo merely watches all this with a... smile.

"Heh, I think I did well in coming here and talking to you, sir. If you don't ﬁnd this annoying, could

you give me some tips?"

The older man... much older, just holds up his mug of coffee.

"I would be honored O' hero… Great Wizard of Changes, Sorcerer of Emotions."

[March 12th, Arcadia]

On this, once again rainy morning, the corridors of Arcadia are bustling with students walking

everywhere.

Yawning and walking down the hallway, now dressed in a simple sleeveless shirt and shorts, Leo

is returning from his PE class.

Ignoring the incessant whispers of the students,

For now, people still haven't gotten used to the fact that one of the most famous Wards and

members of the Protectorate at the moment is at their school.

But the results have been less annoying than he expected.

'Maybe it's because of New Wave? The people of Brockton are already quite used to them.'

The boy walks down the hallway, and a hand lands on his shoulder. Looking to the side, he sees

Dennis smiling. Behind Dennis are Vicky, Dean, Alicia, and Livy, who look a little embarrassed.

"Let me guess, did you guys hear about my little date with Livy?" The boy says, chuckling, earning

nods from everyone.

"Yeah, these dumbasses saw me talking about it with you via text," Livy says, crossing her arms.

"If I have to be insulted to get juicy gossip then so be it," Vicky says resolutely, the girl's face at

peace, the gossip bringing nirvana.

The boy smiles and blinks... There is someone else with them and he didn't notice, but behind

Vicky, there is a red-haired girl, very sullen, with her arms crossed.

Vicky's sister, who the boy never came to talk to.

The youngsters then proceed to talk and walk, heading outside the main school building, and

heading to one of the large outdoor resting areas on campus.

They all sit at a table and start talking about the day he and Livy had, leaving some details out,

but overall telling everything.

Vicky leans on Dean and pretends to wipe a tear from her face.

"M-man, young love is so beautiful!" She says pretending to cry on the boy's shoulder who just

chuckles.

"Oh shut it Vicky" The goth girl of the group crosses her arms, her face turning red. "You guys are

taking this all too seriously, we've only had one date yet."

Leo looks at her, eyebrow raised.

"So more dates are a certainty then?"

Dennis burst out laughing at how the girl's face morphed in embarrassment, turning as red as an

apple,

The entire table, except one person, chuckles.

Leo ends up giving in to curiosity.

And he looks at Amy, who just watches and listens to everything in silence, her face now less

sullen, but still impassive.

"So, you're Amy, right? I don't think we've ever introduced ourselves to each other."

The table ends up noticing this with several confused blinks, Vicky then facepalming herself. "Oh

man, it's true, we forgot that you don't know her"

Amy just shrugs,

"I have a few classes with him, but at most we exchange nods in the hallway."

The boy nods too, and scoots closer and extends his hand to the girl with a smile.

"Well, nice to meet you, Amy. It's good to see you're less noisy than your big sister."

The girl ends up giving a smirk to the boy's speech and takes his hand.

"Heh, the pleasure is mine-"

The girl's eyes gloss over and she falls silent.

Everyone is confused and looks at her, Leo is slightly confused and worried,

After a few seconds, Amy lets go of his hand and looks him in the eyes…

"What in the actual fuck happened to your body?"

The curious and harsh question leaves the boy and everyone else very surprised.

"That sounded a little rude Amy," Dean says gently to the girl,

Leo just looks at her intrigued.

"Well, several things happened, can you describe what you felt?"

Everyone is silent, and the girl seems to think about what she felt, her power making her mind

work at its maximum thinking about what she analyzed without wanting to.

"I've analyzed several parahumans... but you are different from all of them, your body is

completely adapted to all forms of optimization for ﬁghting or simply surviving as much as

possible... Reaching a point that you are no longer like any normal human, I mean, even your

blood is toxic." The girl says, her face scrunching up in deep thought.

Everyone at the table falls silent, most of them knowing several things about the physiology of

the Endbringer Killer at the table.

But not everyone stopped to think about the point of: No longer being human.

Leo just looks at her with a smile. What she's talking about is something the boy thought about

back when he gained his powers.

The simple fact that he has powers is not normal.

'I was never even meant to be normal, I was created to be who I am. And there's no way to

change that.' The boy thinks with a smile, then feeling a hand resting on his back, he looks and

sees Livy looking worried at him.

The boy merely looks at Amy and extends his hand.

"So... Want to take a closer look? I don't care."

The girl looks at him with a surprising spark in her eyes.

[March 13th, at night. Winter's residence.]

Leo yawns lightly.

Leaving his room and going down the stairs of the house.

He is dressed in a dark red hoodie, and on his face his glasses, which he has not needed to wear

for more than months,

He goes down the stairs and as he passes through the living room and kitchen, he sees Ethan

looking at him with his arms crossed.

The two look at each other.

"Did you really think you were going to go out at night like that? I didn't raise you like that, young

man." The man says, shaking his head.

The boy looks at him with a deadpan.

Making the older one just smirk and wave him off, heading to the kitchen.

"Nah, I just came to get some water, are you going somewhere Leo?" The man asks without

paying much attention,

The boy smiles, and picks up his sneakers at the door of the house, sitting on the ﬂoor and

putting them on.

"Yeah, maybe another day I'll tell you why, it's not that important." The boy says and stands up

after putting on his sneakers.

"Meh, fair enough. Just don't do drugs or go to a strip club. And if you ﬁnd Lung, remember to

beat his ass or something."

The boy chuckles and opens the front door.

"Will do, Unc."

The boy leaves the house and proceeds to put on his hood, and his hands in his pockets.

The only thing that can be noticed are his red eyes in the night, shining lightly, their slithers as

always giving an intimidating look to his appearance.

[Brockton Park. Just a few minutes later]

In a quieter part of the park, which at this time is silent and empty.

At most, having the sound of cars very far away and owls in the darkness.

On top of a table, a girl is sitting, having on her a black hoodie with the hood on.

She is visibly agitated, her leg twitching.

Millions of things are going on in her mind, and her multitasking is working at its best.

She tries to calm down by feeling the insects around her.

Noticing a scorpion under the table, she starts to communicate with it to distract herself.

With a light creak of wood, the girl freezes completely.

As she slowly looks to her side, she sees someone sitting on the table with her.

'I didn't even feel him coming...' The girl feels a slight chill down her spine, but the excitement of

meeting her favorite hero of the moment.

"You know, we could have met at fugly's burger or something." The boy says lowering his hood,

and smiling at her,

Taylor Herbert had no idea.

But she was facing the person who had already changed her entire destiny.

Simply, by existing.

[The same place, minutes later]

Leo, leans on his hand, resting his chin on his palm. His red eyes, clearly observing the girl in the

dark, who under the streetlight of the place writes some things in a small notebook.

'...It's endearing to see that someone sees me in such a good light, and wants to take note of the

tips I give.'

The girl, her voice soft and still slightly nervous then asks, trying to be sure…

"S-so, you don't think I should start the whole trying to be a hero thing now, right?" She says, and

deep down the boy can feel her slight hesitation.

"Yeah, at least not without help, be it from other rogues, the Protectorate, or whatever... The way

things are here in the Bay, there's no telling what the future holds. The city is more different than

ever, which is not good at all in this context."

The boy's speech comes out naturally as he thinks about the state of the city and a speciﬁc

conversation he had with Piggot the day she told him to take a vacation.

The girl stops writing and glances at the boy out of the corner of her eye, a slightly embarrassed

look on her face.

"I-I have to admit that I don't know much about how things work for the capes… How different are

things right now?" She asks now, turning on the bench, and looking at the boy.

Who with his crimson eyes stares back.

"Hmm... To begin with, after the arrests of the last few months, the city is gradually coming under

the control of the Protectorate." The boy says, and a smile comes out of him without him

noticing.

He turns around on the bench, with his back resting on the table behind him, and elbows serving

as support.

"We are reaching a point where perhaps in a few months we will reach the state that New York is

in, for example... All that is missing for that is a good defeat for the ABB lizard."

The girl's eyes widen, she then lowers her hood, looking at him with shining eyes.

"Lung? Is the protectorate going after Lung?"

Leo blinks slightly, hearing the change in the girl's voice.

He looks at her and smirks slightly.

"In a way, yes. A few days ago I was informed that orders from above gave me the okay to

engage with the ABB leader, I feel like it's some kind of message to be passed on, you know?

That the strongest of the Good side and the strongest on the Evil side can now face each other"

The kid chuckles, thinking about the PRT's little PR stunts.

The guys don't mess around on the job,

Piggot said they might even create some drones to record the ﬁght if it happens.

The girl looks at him in surprise, but still with a slight smile on her face.

"That's really cool... It's like the ﬁnal boss of the city is unlocked, do you think you can beat him?"

The boy continues to look at the dark sky above them, the pollution not letting the stars in the sky

shine, their radiance being held back.

"It depends."

"Depends on what?"

"It depends on how big of a show I want the ﬁght to be. If I'm in a bad mood, I'll just end him."

…

[Later, arriving near the Winter's residence]

Leo walks through the streets, feeling completely at ease.

The cool night air tickled his face, a small smile on his face.

'Well, all in all, I think the conversation I had with her was fruitful. At least we won't have another

kid dying because of idiocy in the bay.'

The boy ﬁnally arrives home and opens the door.

Taking off his shoes and entering.

'Still, what an interesting power she has. She's like the ultimate recon, she would be very useful

even in console duty-'

PING

The boy freezes slightly and recognizes the feeling easily... The lottery.

Leo quickly goes to his room, his face serious as he sits on his bed.

[MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT]

[The following achievement was complete! Being one of the most important, my

congratulations.]

The boy's face morphs in surprise,

'One of the most important? And killing an endbringer wasn't important? Or ﬁghting the

Triumvirate?'

[The Protagonist.

Taylor Hebert is the tragic protagonist.

Change the destiny of this child without ambitions or dreams.

Whether for good or for evil.]

The boy's face is ﬁlled with a mix of emotions.

"The protagonist? Holy shit, I just did something big, didn't I?"

Many theories come to the boy's head, who leans back on the bed and lies down.

The black lottery screen follows his ﬁeld of vision asking him to roll for his new power.

'Mental note... Her name is Taylor, and I should probably help out from time to time... And stop

her from doing shit.'

The boy merely accepts his reward, watching all the usual lottery drama as it pulls power out of

its ass.

[ROLLED POWER! Attention, due to the nature of the achievement, along with the power, a

random upgrade was generated.]

As he read the description, little by little the boy's face changed from surprise to resignation.

At this point, things like this won't surprise him.

The boy accepts the reward...

And immediately his eyes glaze over, his consciousness fading, his mind-expanding,

For about 30 seconds he just sits there staring into space.

Emanator/Pathstrider (Honkai: Star Rail)

You have become a Pathstrider, someone whose personal beliefs and ideas have resonated

with a conﬂuence of imaginary energy representing a universal philosophical concept called a

path.

Drawing power from this connection, you can perform supernatural feats.

When resonating with a path, you gain one of seven types of elemental power based on your

personality and the characteristic specialization of that path's philosophy.

As an Emanator, you are an exceptional Pathstrider whose philosophical understanding or

practice of a path has caught the interest of the Aeon presiding over that path. As a result, you

have been granted a sliver of the Aeon's power as a form of recognition.

This allows you to draw much more power from a path than regular Pathstriders. However, the

degree of power granted varies depending on the Aeon and their attitude toward their

Emanators. Generally, the more you impress an Aeon of a path, the more power they will grant

you.

Additionally, you can develop your own philosophical framework and eventually create your own

path, becoming an Aeon at its completion. However, this process is hundreds, if not thousands,

of times harder and more complicated than following an existing path. Nevertheless, any power

you gain in this process is entirely your own and not subject to the whim of the Aeons.

Seeker of All That is Supernatural [General upgrade]

No longer is your genius bound to solely magic. Your prowess extends to all supernatural

energies, regardless of how esoteric or unique they are. All inborn abilities, traits, and physiques

can be gained with enough dedication. No supernatural knowledge, regardless of its corrupting

or dangerous nature, can harm you. You are shielded from the detrimental effects that would

aﬄict others, allowing you to explore and utilize even the most treacherous and forbidden

supernatural knowledge without consequence.

Every time you use your supernatural energies, your powers expand and evolve. The mere act of

wielding them fuels your progression, enabling you to uncover new uses, theories, and insights

into the vast realm of the supernatural. There is no limit to the ﬁelds you can discover and

harness. The rules and limitations of your various energies are mere guidelines to you. You

possess the extraordinary ability to bend and break the traditional boundaries of each practice.

This grants you the capability to use supernatural energies in ways that would otherwise be

deemed impossible, pushing the boundaries of their potential.

His eyes show his consciousness returning, and the boy ﬁnds himself with no clear thoughts or

emotions about what Lottery has just poured into his brain.

He blinks, and stands up,

Walking softly around his room, he looks at his hands...

Looking at his surroundings, everything to him being so…

Unmeaningful

'Indeed, that's the word... I can still ﬁnd pleasure in contemplating various things, but they all lack

physical form, they are merely concepts, feelings, and emotions. But trivial matters, such as this

room of mine, or the fact that I'm extremely wealthy because of the PRT? None of that seems to

hold any signiﬁcance.'

The boy smiled despite this.

The boy, feeling an inexplicable surge of energy coursing through him, ponders, "Why do I feel

this way? I can only attribute it to my powers and perks. Perhaps the combination of these gifts

has not disrupted, but rather enhanced something within my mind."

As he stands in the center of his room, a serene smile graces his face. Without exerting any

visible effort, he becomes a conduit for supernatural energies originating from a myriad of

universes, each one distinct yet harmoniously converging at his location.

As he stood there, he slowly raised his hand, and with a graceful motion, a symbol materialized in

the air. It was a perfect circle with what seemed to be an array of ever-changing, seemingly

random shapes within it. These shapes appeared so complex that they could easily baﬄe even

the most astute observer. With a contemplative look in his eyes, he spoke, "This symbol, one day,

will come to embody me. My journey will be as unique as my very existence."

His voice echoed through the room as he continued,

"I see myself as a mere vessel, a receptacle waiting to be ﬁlled and bestowed with purpose. My

path is one of transformation and

Deformation.

Another symbol comes into the air, hovering in its Purple/Blue color.

Quantum

The boy takes a deep breath, millions of possibilities and inﬁnite paths available to him.

If before, in the dimension he had been kidnapped to, he declared himself the strongest for being

the strongest among 4 people present there…

Now among all the beings in his own universe, he judges himself to be very close to the peak, the

apex.

Leonardo chuckles lightly, starting to take off the clothes he wore to go out and go to bed.

'At this point... I don't have any inhibitions anymore, do I? At this point, if I try hard enough, I can

go out there and simply do it.'

The boy rests his head on the pillow and goes to sleep.

[March 15th, Afternoon Patrol.]

Through the streets of Brockton, Caerus, and Vista walk calmly.

The boy from time to time has to stop to say hi to some fans, or simply wave at some people.

Vista sighs and pouts, looking at the boy, who now no longer has his mask covering his entire

face.

Caerus' mask now only covers the lower half of his face.

His costume still follows the same design as before, but now with more details making him more

"regal" like.

Like a general from an ancient army, or something like that.

The boy's red eyes glanced at the Vista with a smirk,

"If you keep frowning like that, you'll end up with wrinkles, my dear senior."

The speech takes a snicker from her,

"Oh shut it, Leo... I'm just a little jealous, you're Mr. Popular now, I preferred it when you were the

newbie who got tips from me." She says with a light pout, earning a genuine laugh from the boy.

"Heh, look on the bright side, your student ended up growing up and surpassing you," The boy

says, and with practiced ease, he grabs Vista and with her climbs up to one of the nearby

buildings, smoothly in a single action.

They both land on the ceiling and continue talking as if nothing had happened.

"Hmm, that's a good point, that does sound rather satisfying." The girl says, scratching her chin

like a wise old man, earning an eye roll from Leo.

Before they could continue their conversation, Gallant's voice echoed through their earpiece.

PING

"Guys, now there are 30 minutes left until your shift ends."

The information makes both of them look at each other.

"Huh, looks like we spent an entire patrol doing nothing." The boy says, smiling slightly, inside a

little bummed out.

"Yeah, I think this is the ﬁrst time this has happened on a patrol with both of us, right?"

The girl asks and they both start walking, going to the building next door with a run and a jump,

both using their powers to move.

With a minimal grunt, Leo responds upon landing. "Yup, usually our luck sucks. We always have

something to do."

Sliding to the boy's side, after manipulating the space below her, Vista chuckles and nods,

PING

Gallant's voice comes to their ears again,

"You dumbasses, you jinxed yourselves, we just got a warning of some confrontation near the

docks, more speciﬁcally close to the ferry station-"

The two then get a big scare with a large beam of light in the distance.

And then…

BOOOOM

A large explosion echoes through the air, behind them both.

On the horizon, a large amount of smoke comes soon after.

Both Wards look at this with wide eyes.

"T-thats, to the direction of the docks…" Vista says the obvious out loud.

PING

"We have problems guys! The building security is warning that Oni Lee is here in the building!

More than that, apparently Armsmaster is ﬁghting Lung at the docks!"

Again the Wards look at each other.

A deja vu came over both of them, their hardened faces only showing the determination of both

of them.

"You get the dragon and I get the devil?" Vista says Leo merely nods, with a high ﬁve, and they

both shoot off in different directions.

Caerus shoots into the sky and... ﬂies.

As he ascends, a stunning aura of purple and soft gray envelops his form, reminiscent of a

crackling trail of lightning. His passage through the sky brings illumination to everything below.

The radiant beam cuts through the skies of Brockton, prompting people to gaze upwards in awe

as they behold the magniﬁcent sight above.

The beam sharply curves and reaches the explosion site.

In the middle of a large clearing, amidst the destruction and debris, it descends, aiming directly at

someone.

Among the rubble stands a man wearing an ornate steel mask resembling a dragon on his face.

His body seems highly mutated, his height exceeding 8 feet, and his muscles bulging. The man

looks up to the heavens just a second before he is struck.

The beam hits him and another explosion detonates.

BOOM

The explosion sends a gray energy into the air, its impact sending even more debris ﬂying into the

air. Pieces of the surroundings that were already onto the ground now leave the clearing of rubble

even clearer, and empty.

Just a few feet to the side, in a strange "spasm" of space, Leo's form reappears. With his arms

crossed, he stands stoically as he observes the scene through the swirling smoke. A shape

begins to rise from the midst of the smoke, its silhouette twisting and reforming, gradually

growing larger until it abruptly stops at a particular point, creating an air of suspense and

mystery.

The boy, without showing much emotion, looks around.

The mystical eyes of entropy, give him a clear vision of what he wants... Several bodies around

the place, all seem to be further away, inside the rubble, their "colors" without light, erased.

One closer by is recognizable... And it's alive, slowly trying to get up... Armsmaster.

The boy hears a growl and turns to see the man. Half of his mask is destroyed, and his body is

now 9 feet in size, with his green "metal" scales more visible. 'Here he is... I think I've hyped this

moment up too much since I started my journey, so this kind of underwhelming,' the boy thinks to

himself as he slowly walks towards the man, his red eyes staring at the villain.

Lung, strangely, does the same, his steps shaking the ground slightly.

They both end up facing each other, the boy looking up and Lung looking down.

The Lion and the Dragon.

Their eyes focused on each other, they seemed to have a connection, the boy could feel

something in his click in his mind.

Lung moves through nothing, being much faster than his weight and height should allow.

The half-dragon man, seized the boy's neck with both hands, his claws trying to dig into his

tender ﬂesh. With a grunt, he tried to force the boy to the ground, but the youth resisted with

surprising strength. Lung's grip tightened, but the boy held ﬁrm, his body rigid with deﬁance.

Enraged, Lung opened his maw, revealing a cavernous interior lined with razor-sharp teeth. A

ﬂash of orange and red light erupted from his throat as he unleashed a torrent of ﬁre directly at

the boy. The ﬂames engulfed the youth, consuming him in a searing inferno.

For a moment, Lung watched in satisfaction.

Then, a chilling sensation crept over him.

From within the ﬂames, two glowing red eyes seemed to pierce the ﬁery veil, staring at him with

an intensity that sent a shiver down his spine. The eyes were cold and calculating, devoid of any

fear or pain. Lung felt a sudden surge of dread…

The villain stops the ﬁre, releasing the boy and taking two steps back.

In the same place as before, Leo is still standing with his arms crossed.

His golden half-mask, melted and fell to the ground, showing solely a smirk on the boy's face. His

costume is still intact, and nothing changed.

"Yeah, I deﬁnitely overestimated you. Sorry Lung, this might end with one hit."

The man's partially transformed golden eyes shine with hatred upon hearing this.

He opens his mouth to say something but is stopped by an overwhelming fear, a chill down his

spine… In Lung's vision everything changes, when the boy appears to smile darkly, his arms

uncrossing, making movement with his hands, as he closes his ﬁsts and places them in the

middle of his chest while bumping them into one another...

Behind the boy, a mirage appears...

Two red eyes, amid an endless darkness that grows more and more, a formless beast.

Out loud, the boy utters words that not even he fully understands…

"Domain Expansion…

Gainen no henkei

[Incomprehensible time, same place.]

A domain expansion…

The pinnacle of jujutsu sorcery,

The ultimate culmination of the inner being that exists in every sorcerer...

And not just them, many beings from many universes can end up having something similar.

If one ends up thinking more in Perfect Idealism of sorts, one might imagine it as an imperfect

reﬂection of a perfect, ideal form existing in a higher realm, whereby creating this domain, the

sorcerer is attempting to bring a piece of that immaculate realm into the physical world,

It's as if for a few minutes, the world became theirs.

And nothing could stop them from doing what they wanted to do.

The same could be said of Leonardo Adelardo's expansion.

The boy's expansion deﬁes the conventional rules that bind existing sorcerers. While these rules

serve as the foundation for others, for Leo, they are merely seen as a guideline or example.

Leo embodies the essence of The Sorcerer of Emotions, conveying Space, Chaos, and Distortion.

His shift has led him to become Quantum, now an integral part of the Sea of Quanta.

Ever expanding, ever adapting, ever

Deforming

"What an incredible feeling."

The boy says, looking around him. Everything is the same... But at the same time distorted.

For any human being not affected by his expansion, a fact he can control, everything is normal.

To those affected, however, it is as if the heavens are made of stars, shining and exploding in the

distance.

The ground resembles sand, gray, and bubbling. The air feels heavy and ﬂuid, like water.

The world has become random.

"For now, this space is full of restrictions, but at the same time it is free from any concept that I

don't like."

The boy's hair sways in the air as he looks up with a goofy smile.

He turns his gaze back to the present and focuses on the man in front of him.

Kenta looks at the boy, his eyes erratic, tears ﬂowing from him. His draconic appearance is gone,

only the middle-aged, tattooed Asian man remains.

"You... Took Them..."

He says, an immeasurable void settling in his mind and soul.

Leo, smile and nods,

"Yes, Conceptual Crushing is just one of the things I can do here. The concept of your powers

has been crushed. Here and now, you don't have them. In a way, you never had them."

The man stares at the boy and tries to stand up, his mouth opening to speak,

Then noticing that no sound now escaped his throat,

His body then being forced back to his knees.

Leo frowns slightly, starting to get closer to the man.

"Sorry, right now it's better if you don't say anything. I need to have a heart of stone to do my job

at this moment."

The boy arrives in front of the man,

Taking a breath and stretching his hand out to the side.

Like a red glow, Gae Bolg comes to him.

The boy unconsciously spins the grand spear, positioning it better in his hands.

Positioning it "face-to-face" with the man's chest.

Today, another villain will be gone, a cut above the others, a murderer, rapist, human traﬃcker.

The boy feels his expansion fading as he thrusts his spear through the man's heart.

Quickly pulling it out, and with a smooth twist, he shatters the man's head in a small explosion of

purple and blue sparks.

The man's body remains on its knees in the same way.

With no chance to regenerate and return.

The boy merely frowns,

'No matter how many times I label him as inhuman in my mind, trying to convince myself that he

is a bad and out-of-control person, I still can't ﬁnd happiness in the act of killing. I believe that's a

positive realization, it has to be, right?'

His expansion in an instant disappears from his vision and senses, Leo tumbles slightly, his

spear going away.

His hands go to his knees.

A feeling of nausea and tiredness came over him.

"Damn, so this is an expansion ay? First time I feel so tired"

The boy smiles in melancholy, and hears some footsteps beside him,

Armsmaster, with his suit partially destroyed, approached the boy looking at him with wonder.

"Caerus, are you okay!? ...Is that Lung?" The man says looking at the boy who is sweating and

winded, then he saw the body on the ﬂoor, his tattoos making it very obvious who it was.

"Yes, I am... And yes, it's Lung, I got him Armsmaster." The boy says, smiling slightly through his

tiredness.

The older hero seems to be going through many emotions, all numbed out as is always the case

for him.

However, his mouth twitches, and his face sets in slight disappointment, perhaps with the villain.

Perhaps with himself?

He proceeds to look at the boy and pat his shoulder,

"Good Work."

The boy nods slightly, and looks around, all the destruction, practically an entire block of

warehouses and buildings of the Brockton magnates destroyed,

"...Thanks."

In the distance, they can hear the sounds of sirens, and the boy's eyes widen, remembering what

was happening at the same time.

"Sir! The HQ-"

"It's already been resolved, everything there was a quick distraction. Oni Lee escaped."

A frown comes over the boy's face and he looks back at the body, giving up on rationalizing.

There must have been a reason for what happened today. But that doesn't even matter.

Several people died, and by the end, justice was served.

'What a joke.'

…

[Shortly thereafter, PRT HQ]

Leo walks through the corridors, and many agents look at him with smiles and looks of wonder.

The news will no doubt come to them.

At the moment the boy is going to the Wards room, now without the top part of his costume, just

a sleeveless muscle shirt underneath,

From what he heard, Oni Lee was very unlucky.

Glory was visiting the HQ today, Vista managed to get there quickly and the most impressive part,

Livy caught him by surprise, being in the building,

From what they said, her projection managed to slash the man, drawing his blood.

The door to the place opens, and everyone inside at the moment looks at the boy.

"Hey Guys"

At the same time, the 5 of them stand up with smiles and faces full of concern.

Livy comes to give him a big hug, and Dean comes up beside him with a big frown.

"Hmph, is that what you say after facing Lung? Dumbass." The blond usually tries to keep his

worry off his face, but this time fails in doing so, along with Livy bringing the boy to the sofa.

At the scene, Dennis, Missy, Livy, Vicky, and Dean.

They all surround the boy.

Everyone quickly ﬁred off questions, and unlike many people who spoke to the boy, they did not

focus on the defeat of the Bay Dragon.

"But are you sure you're okay, right? We know you've had to do something like this before, but it

still kind of worries us, you know?" Livy asks, nervously brushing her hair out of her face while

simultaneously squeezing the boy's hand.

Sitting next to him on the couch,

The boy's smile, previously more melancholic, becomes... relieved.

"Yeah, I'm in a bad mood, but I'll get better, thanks guys" The young people around look at each

other, but in the end, they smile at the boy,

"...I heard that you now have even more strange powers. Let's go to the training room! I want to

see them!" Vicky says, behind the couch messing with the boy's hair and getting a grunt of

irritation, his hair remaining the same but now feeling messy.

The action earns a smile from the boy who stands up, followed by the others.

"Okay, the PRT probably wouldn't want me to leave here and they're probably still busy, so let's go

there."

The 1 Wards smile and leave the place, their mood slightly lifted.

[A little over an hour later, late afternoon private training room]

In the large training room in the PRT facility's underground. The young people are all happily

chatting and "playing" with their powers.

Leo can tell that they are trying to distract him from the fact that he took a life today…

That's strange the life of a young parahuman is, isn't it? One moment killing a serial killer with

powers, the next talking normally to someone.

"...That all sounds too confusing to be quite honest." Dennis, standing next to Leo, more in the

middle of the huge room.

Near the entrance, on the benches Dean, Livy, and Missy talk, while Dennis and Vicky are by Leo's

side asking questions about the boy's powers.

"Yeah, At this point you have so much complicated power that overthinking it can't be very

useful," The girl says, frowning and thinking about the Quantum the boy just described or tried to

do so.

Leo chuckles,

"Yeah, you're right, at this point, I'm already noticing. My powers are slowly becoming too

conceptual and convoluted to be grounded by a ruleset, whatever they may be." The boy says,

and raises his hand, the two beside him looking curiously.

The boy's crimson-red eyes gaze around his hand in order.

CEM, both of his forms of Electricity and then Quantum enveloping his palm.

The energies seem to mix in a certain way, to embrace and dance together.

Happy to be mixed.

"Seeker of All That is Supernatural"

works beautifully.

"I can't even think about what to do next with my powers, now that I have my domain expansion,

what's the next pinnacle?" The boy says loudly, making Dennis look surprised and Vicky

confused.

"Oh, so you managed to do that technique you mentioned Huh? Looks like you're a Master

Sorcerer now huh?" The boy says patting Leo's back playfully, making Vicky look at him curiously.

Leo chuckles lightly, and looks at her,

"Domain Expansion is the pinnacle of what the user of one of my powers can achieve, and I

managed to do it today."

"Huh, that's dope. Sometimes I forget that your powers are all weird and a lot of them come from

other universes or whatever." The girl says, crossing her arms.

The boy chuckles and nods, unable to say otherwise.

The lottery is crazy, there's no denying that.

"But that's it, I'm kind of out of creativity right now. I don't know what to do from now on with

these powers, not counting the things I already have." Leo says, admitting he's not really in the

mood, but still smiling at both of his friends.

Vicky simply shrugs.

"I don't know what to say about that. My powers are pretty straightforward, I just follow the

basics of the basics."

Dennis chuckles at that,

"True, our great Glory Girl here in general is more like those game characters that only have one

combo. Punch punch and punch, then punch harder."

Victoria doesn't even respond to Dennis's speech, just smiling wide and nodding.

"Yup, and I'm proud of it."

Leo seems to blink at the two's conversation.

His mind goes to the example used, games.

"Huh… Maybe I should just go to the basics. Dennis, what could a wizard in an RPG do with an

element that causes deformations and the like?"

The redhead seems surprised by the question but quickly just smiles and answers.

"I don't know, maybe debuffs?"

Leo smirks slightly, his fangs appearing at the corner of his lip.

"That sounds useful."

He turns to the left seeing the dummy at the end of the room, his metal face always there to help

the boy.

The boy goes to the Dummy, making Dennis and Vicky look at each other, smiling.

The "Distract the Lion" plan worked.

The boy approaches the dummy, visualizing in his mind what to do.

Distort your target, making them physically weak, and leaving any structural weaknesses even

more fragile.

A basic debuff.

First, a test.

Arriving in front of the dummy, the boy without any wind-up, in a practiced movement, delivers a

left cross, which lands perfectly on the chin of the ultra-resistant metal dummy.

PAANG

The sound of metal being struck echoes through the place loudly, making even the Wards who

weren't with them, look up.

A large dent was made in the dummy's face, the boy's body making a basic punch already

denting and changing the dummy's face.

"Damn!" Vicky says skipping to his side and looking closely at the dummy's face. "These

dummies here can even withstand a few good punches from me, you're pretty strong!"

The boy chuckles and now concentrating, Dennis takes the girl away and lets the boy work.

He reaches out and touches the dummy's head.

Your mind remembering the advice from before... Thinking about the basics.

"Weaken."

With a beautiful "lightless glow", the energy in a very faint purple with blue outlines the Dummy's

head shine.

The boy takes his hand away and walks away.

In his vision and that of others a symbol appears in the air, signifying the use of Quantum,

surprising the young people without counting Leo.

The debuff has been applied.

The boy smiles, and with another left punch hits the dummy in the face.

CLANK

The head breaks into several pieces without a pattern and falls to the ground with the sound of

metal.

The boy smiled,

The experiment failed.

After all, he tried to make the dummy's entire body weak...

But for now, this will do.

[Later at night, Leo's room.]

The boy yawns, lying in his bed, relaxing in his underwear, the open window bringing a nice cold

wind into his room.

He talks to Livy via video call, the camera on his face while he is lying down.

"Urgh, that's so annoying, why can't they just give you a pistol already." The boy says playfully,

interrupting the girl's rant about how PR people are annoying about costumes.

"Oh shut it... So, are you feeling better now Leo?" She says, at the end of her speech, smiling

gently at the boy through the camera, her beautiful face making the boy's heart melt.

"Yes, now stop smiling like that before I fall for you." He says with a smile too, bringing a blush to

the girl's face, his mind then having an idea, "So, are you free tomorrow?"

The girl smiled even more happily, her mind coming to the correct conclusion of what he wanted,

"Yup! I'll be free after 4 pm, wanna have another date?"

Leo smiled at her, straightening up in bed, grabbing his phone, and now holding it.

"Yes, let's have a movie night at 6 pm at my place. Bring overnight clothes."

The girl looks surprised for a second but smiles and nods, giving a mock salute to the camera.

"Yes, Sire~ Will do."

After a few more minutes, they both say goodbye and the boy lays on the bed with open arms.

PING

The boy sighs and skips some of the Lottery dialogs and reads quickly.

[Dethroning!

Fight and Defeat a leader of a nationally recognized organization.]

[Rolled Perk!]

Beauty Of The Stars

There are many inhabitants of the galaxy, and this universe in particular has quite a few

good-looking people.

You, however, are a cut above the rest; your looks are now a 10/10, and you should expect to be

turning heads as you walk past.

This will be a regal kind of beauty or handsomeness, the type that makes others feel that you

are someone important; you may often be mistaken for an important researcher or diplomat in

this world, and nobility or royalty in

others.

The boy looks at his new perk with a deadpan.

'I'm already handsome enough, at least in my eyes, so this would be only useful if I had any

problems with my appearance… Whatever.'

The boy accepts the perk and closes his eyes, feeling a calming and slightly pleasant feeling.

The boy gets up and walks to his mirror in the bedroom bathroom,

When he looks in the mirror he notices that...

That, he hasn't changed much? The changes in his face are minimal, small imperfections now

non-existent, just improving his face.

He also notices when looking at his body that his muscles appear more balanced in size, and

more symmetrical.

"Okay, I have to admit that's pretty cool." The boy says, his voice sounding slightly better too, as if

his puberty was over and his voice was at its best.

The boy then stops analyzing himself and remembers something…

He may not be a vain person, superﬁcial things like appearance are not exactly the focus of his

life, but he is still a guy, a dude.

So… There's something he needs to check.

The boy, without hesitation, grabs the waistband of his boxer shorts and checks his equipment.

"...Huh, okay, this perk is deﬁnitely very useful."

The boy says simply with a nod and a smile, and leaves the bathroom without hesitation,

Going to his bed, turning off the lights in the room, and ﬁnally going to sleep.

[March 16th, Arcadia, PE class]

Leonardo, sitting on the gym bench, not exercising with the other students there, is with his cell

phone, a frown on his face.

He is reading a message he received before leaving home but ended up not seeing it... A serious

message.

{BugGirl: Hey Caerus, I made up my mind and went to the PRT yesterday.

Do I think I screwed up? I honestly don't know, I was there for a long time, you were right, asking

to speak to Assault was the right thing to do, he's really cool.

I told them a lot about myself... Their proposals were extremely good and I accepted and gave

them my name right away.

I ended up opening up a little to Assault after we talked about you, and then his expression

changed, it was strange. The PRT asked me to come back there in 3 days, can you ﬁnd out for

me what happened?}

The boy frowns a bit,

'The PRT better not be trying to screw the poor girl over.'

[March 16th, in the evening, PRT HQ]

Leo walks through the corridors of PRT HQ,

The agents, already accustomed to the boy's presence, wave to him, receiving greetings from the

boy who smiles back at them.

He is dressed in simple clothes: a black coat with a purple shirt underneath, black sweatpants

underneath, and some sneakers.

If Livy saw him walking around all sloppy like this, he'd get a scolding.

But the boy is in a hurry today, and after a few minutes, he gets where he wants to go by elevator

to the lowest part of the HQ.

Passing some guards who nod to him, the boy enters a room, simple.

Assault, Armsmaster, and Aegis are already inside,

The heroes and leaders of the wards look at him.

All without their masks, serious faces, and tense atmosphere in the room.

Leo goes to their side, and looks where they are looking,

The glass wall gives a view to another room, an interrogation room.

Miss Militia and Dauntless talking to someone and said someone is… fucking nervous in every

sense.

'Shadow Stalker huh?'

Aegis approaches a table in the corner of the room and picks up a tablet, handing it to the boy,

sighing, and starting to talk to him.

"Here's everything you need to know about the situation regarding this ﬁle. I felt it was important

for you to understand this, especially since the victim came here because of you, Leo," the boy

said, causing Leo to frown. He had several theories swirling in his mind, but at least he ﬁnally had

an answer.

With everyone's silence, the boy begins to read everything,

His face morphed from shock to disgust very quickly.

The boy reads the reports that keep appearing.

Pages and pages of many atrocities were opened thanks to the girl's testimony the day before.

Several people conﬁrmed the story, several people involved…

In just one day, the PRT has already gathered all this information.

'No... They already knew this to some degree. Sophia is here on probation, many already knew

that.'

The boy puts his hands in his pocket, his glowing red eyes concentrating on slithers momentarily

as he looks at the girl behind the glass.

Her nervous expression makes 10x more sense, she's not nervous because she's being

interrogated.

She's nervous because she's been reported and discovered…

Like a fucking criminal.

The girl has always been the roughest and most violent of the bunch, among the Wards gossip

always surrounds her.

The boy himself has been on patrol with her, but she always seemed to contain herself around

him, so he never understood one hundred percent what others were saying.

The tablet in the boy's hand ﬂicks lightly, and the boy hands it back to Aegis, who looks at him

sadly.

Leo can't even understand what must be going through the head of the boy who has been living

with her all this time.

A person so rotten inside.

That ended up triggering an innocent girl.

'She may have her reasons, perhaps her life has been a well of horrendous moments, which have

shaped her until now... However-'

"Armsmaster."

The boy says, making the heroes look at him,

"The girl, bug girl, will come here in 3 days, right? I want Shadow Stalker out of the team by then."

The boy says, looking at the leader, who has his eyes widened slightly along with the others there.

The man frowns and seems to think.

"And if that doesn't happen, I guess you'll kick her out yourself?"

The boy's reds return to their normal shape, in large leonine circles.

He nods and ends up leaving the room, leaving them behind.

"Yes. And that will end up being much worse for PR"

…

[March 18th, Livy's House.]

"Fucking hell"

At the moment, in the girl's room, with her sitting in the chair at her desk.

The girl's eyes are wide open at the end of the story that Leonardo has just told her.

"I always noticed a certain "Bully" vibe from the girl... But I didn't expect all this, god damn." The

girl frowning and shaking her head, her hair in a bun on her head, having on casual clothes.

Leo, lying on the girl's bed, spread out on it with his arms open, continues to stare at the ceiling.

Livy continues the conversation, noticing the boy's mood still being slightly down.

"But so, what was the verdict in the end?"

The boy sits on the bed, and looks at Livy,

"They were smart and did what I kindly asked. Sophia is being sent to Boston today. And she is

oﬃcially no longer a shadow stalker, any further information is above my paygrade" The boy says,

sighing and at the end smiling, happy that he didn't have to do anything else.

After all, no matter how bothered he was by all this, this problem is basically bureaucratic, and

the boy has already done what he can.

Livy smiles at him and gets up from her chair, loving how the boy's red eyes have their irises

widening up like a cat's, watching her move and sit next to him,

The girl takes his hand.

"Well, so everything worked out in the end, I guess fate is on your side, you know? We bumped

into someone at the mall and that person ended up being helped in the end, right?" The girl says,

smiling gently at Leo, who feels his heart beat a little faster.

Leo's hand lightly wraps around the girl's, giving her a gentle squeeze. A smile came to his face,

letting out the air on his chest, relaxing with her touch.

"Yeah... Destiny is with me." Leonardo says, but thinking about other things than the whole Sophia

situation.

The boy notices a blush coming to the girl's face as she smiles wider.

"Okay, now enough talking about Parahuman life, let's choose a movie, this is a Movie night after

all."

The girl gets up and goes to her shelf to get the remote control for her TV, the smile on her face

not changing.

The boy then throws himself back, spreading out on the bed again.

"Okay, put on a romance movie, I'm in the mood for it."

With Leo's words and the girl's yelp, the two continue to enjoy their day.

…

[Location: ?????]

"And with that, it's decided."

Everyone at the big round table nods,

Eidolon.

Alexandria.

Legend

Contessa.

Number Man

And Doctor Mother.

Everyone there, with faces of seriousness and determination, came to a conclusion, ﬁnally having

an ultimatum regarding Leonardo Adelardo and one of his powers.

"The ﬁrst contact will be made in a few days. And if everything goes as planned, as the

calculations and simulations predicted... Then we can say that this organization will have

completed its mission."

The words of the leader of the great organization drive all the members to feel their insides turn

into pure anxiety.

"Leonardo Adelardo will make contact with the Entity… In a simple conversation that will decide

the

destiny of our lives

[March 20th, Winters residence.]

Another Sunday at Leo's residence.

The morning light ﬁlters softly through the curtains, casting a warm glow in the room. The boy

stirs awake, feeling a bit groggy after a restful night's sleep. He stretches, yawning lightly as he

rubs his eyes.

He scratches his abdomen, which itches slightly for reasons unknown, leaving him puzzled.

His movements become automatic as the familiar routine takes over. He swings his legs out of

bed and puts on a pair of comfortable shorts, the fabric soft against his skin.

After getting dressed, he ambles toward the bathroom, preparing for his daily hygiene ritual.

Suddenly, amid this routine, something unusual happens. His deep crimson-red eyes transform,

narrowing into slits, enhancing his vision beyond the ordinary. With a strange focus, he gazes

down through the walls and ﬂoor of the house.

To his astonishment, he sees an enigmatic ﬁgure—a core, a signature of an unknown soul—

sitting calmly at the kitchen table. The soul appears unbothered, casually sipping from a mug.

Leonardo suddenly becomes highly annoyed.

The boy sighs and his mind thinks of unnecessarily fast speeds.

Coming to a conclusion.

The young man, in a manner of complete conﬁdence, left his room after ﬁnishing his hygiene and

went to the kitchen,

Heading towards the intruder.

…

The intruder, sat by the table sipping her coffee with an air of nonchalance.

The mug in her hand features the animated face of Assault, which beams a goofy smile, adding a

whimsical touch to the moment.

As the soft sound of footsteps ﬁlls the air, the woman perks up, her face with a smile as she

turns her gaze to the side,

Suddenly, a cool, gentle breeze sweeps through the room, and before she knows it, she ﬁnds

herself face-to-face with Leonardo Adelardo.

He stands in the doorway of the kitchen, his arms crossed deﬁantly, his piercing red eyes

observing her with an unsettling calmness.

There's a hint of annoyance in his expression, but he remains entirely unconcerned about the

situation.

Just as she opens her mouth to speak, her thoughts and words are abruptly cut off as he

vanishes without a trace. Confused, she glances down at her hand, which now feels strangely

empty. Her eyes widen slightly in surprise, and her smile falters, replaced by a burgeoning sense

of mild disbelief.

When she ﬁnally focuses her gaze in front of her again, she sees Leonardo, this time resting his

chin on his palm, his elbow propped lazily on the table. He leans in, exuding a relaxed demeanor,

as he nonchalantly takes a sip from the very same mug that had been in her hand just moments

ago. The scene feels surreal, leaving her momentarily at a loss for words, quite the feat that is.

They both stare at each other, not looking away.

And the woman is the ﬁrst to say something.

"Good morning Mini Eidolon, I'm sorry, I had to invite myself in, since you didn't respond to Keith's

calls." She says, and watches the boy's face morph into a slight relaxation, without a doubt,

understanding the situation better...

'Being in front of him still feels like I'm being watched and judged by a force of nature. But

honestly, I can't blame him; the kid's been through a ton of dangerous stuff for months now.'

"Oh, well, you could have used some common sense and waited for me to wake up, Miss..." He

watches her, waiting—no, demanding an answer.

"You can call me Contessa, Leonardo. And well, after today I doubt you'll expect the slightest bit

of common sense from us."

The woman says, and promptly takes her hand to her head, removing her hat.

With the boy's eyes following and analyzing the woman's every move, she leaves her top hat on

the table.

She leans back slightly in her chair, then reaches her hand into the inside pocket of her jacket,

then takes out a small tablet from inside. She then slides the tablet down the table towards the

boy.

The device promptly lights up, making the boy look at it curiously.

He picks up the piece of technology from the table... Which looks much more advanced than the

things that exist on the market for a normal person to buy.

The woman watches as the boy promptly uses the device and begins to see that everything in it

is…

"Files, videos, dossiers of everything you need-"

Cauldron

? What the-"

She falls silent when she sees the boy's face change into confusion and extreme surprise,

'Hm, well, that makes sense. He's capable of reading at speeds far above normal,'

Contessa

thinks, watching the boy scroll down through some ﬁle she can't see from her position.

Minutes pass with her in silence, watching Leonardo show some emotions during his reading.

Practically ignoring her there.

'Which is not a problem. The ﬁrst part of all this is... Honesty, or at least trying to appear honest

to him.'

A few more minutes pass,

And by now, it's been a while since the young man's face in front of her has locked in complete

seriousness, Contessa begins to feel slightly apprehensive.

'Based on everything we know and have analyzed about Leonardo, the likelihood of him reacting

violently is low. Instead, the most probable outcome of this situation is a blend of acceptance

and confusion.'

The boy then leaves the tablet on the table.

And takes a deep breath,

He seems… lost?

The boy's eyes go to her,

And the Contessa's body which was previously extremely tense, now relaxes slightly.

The boy looks a bit disappointed, and glances at the woman in front of him,

"There's a lot more to read and ask… However, I can't say that I didn't already have some

suspicions about... Well, about everything I just read." The boy crosses his arms and leans back

in his chair.

They both stare at each other again,

A smile, clearly fake, appears on his face.

"So... Scion huh?"

A smile, also fake and full of stress, appears on Contessa's face.

"Yup."

Oh to be a cape.

And treat the abnormal as normal.

…

[A few hours later, Location: Brazil]

Leonardo's mind serves as a serene temple, a sanctuary for his thoughts and reﬂections.

He moves through life without displaying any exaggerated signs of distress; instead, there's a

quiet strength in him.

The boy possesses a remarkable ability to remain composed, which allows him to contemplate

the myriad complexities of his existence.

Yet, this calm exterior does little to alleviate the profound tightness in his heart, a weight that

lingers just beneath the surface.

As he walks leisurely along the rugged path, the view around him is nothing short of

breathtaking. He ﬁnds himself high atop an incredible mountain that rises unnaturally straight

and bold against the sky—a striking feature in the landscape. This place is emblematic of his

"homeland," a location that has always captured his imagination but remained just out of reach.

Dressed in simple, unassuming clothes, Leo draws closer to the edge of this peculiar mountain,

which stands as a monumental square of rock. The ground beneath him feels solid, yet the vast

drop below him evokes a sense of awe and trepidation. With each step, he feels the exhilarating

blend of fear and wonder, knowing he is on the cusp of something extraordinary.

Then reaching its limit, on the edge.

The boy takes a deep breath,

Feeling the cold air on his lungs, and the pleasant wind blowing on his face.

The boy then sits on the edge of the location, with a groan as he feels the cold rock on his butt.

Seconds pass, and the boy merely begins what he came here to do.

He then states:

"Hey Scion, I've come to bargain."

The power immediately takes effect, and Beloved by the Gods makes the connection the boy

wants.

A good one is heard miles away, making the boy look in a random direction... Seeing a golden

glow coming from there.

Before he could react to this, the boy blinked... No longer being in Brazil.

Leo, slightly confused, looks at the scene around him, not understanding where he is.

Everything around him is black, with nothing, like an endless Void.

Leo then feels something, a pull, a connection.

He looks back, and there he is.

"A ﬂawless, golden man with long hair, a trimmed beard, and no body hair. His eyes and hair are

the same featureless gold as the rest of his body, and he glows with a golden light that causes

things such as water, blood, and dirt to dispel from his body, hair, and clothes"

Yeah, that description is pretty ﬁtting. That's exactly what he's seeing in front of him.

The being looks him in the eye, his emotionless face... Slightly, intrigued? How does something

that isn't human or has feelings express intrigue?

Especially an entity coming from the cosmos.

"...Hello, Scion"

The boy's words echo in space, and immediately the boy freezes slightly... There is something

very wrong with the connection his power made with the being in front of him.

The being continues looking at him,

And slowly does something that draws an involuntary chuckle from Leo,

Scion tilts his head like a confused puppy.

The being merely walks a few steps, getting right in front of Leo, and then…

Once again he surprises the boy by bowing slightly and placing a hand on his chest. The

movement is completely mechanical and awkward, like a child trying to be polite to an adult.

Even without the being moving its mouth, words and sounds enter Leo's mind, making him

understand—no! He captures and absorbs the words and signs from the being, all of this ﬂowing

ﬂuidly in his mind.

"Greetings [GRAND FAILURE], Have you found the [ANSWER] yet?"

The booming graceful voice resounds through the void and makes the boy look at the entity in

front of him, a deadpan on his face.

"...What?"

The boy looks at the golden face of the being in front of him, confused.

Both in the clear connection of both and in his face.

"I'm s-sorry, could you clarify that?"

The being readily explains, without even blinking,

"I asked if your own search for the [ANSWER] came to any results?"

The boy tries to reach a conclusion, but none of the things he is told make any sense to him,

What is [ANSWER] and why would he be after it?

And...

Grand Failure

That might sound like an insult at ﬁrst glance, but Leo realizes it probably isn't meant to be one.

Scion, the otherworldly being before him, likely lacks any comprehension of what an insult truly

is, given his ethereal nature.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Leonardo gazes into the calm, friendly countenance of

Scion. The being's relaxed demeanor encourages Leo to be more forthright in his inquiries. He

knows this may be the best chance he has to gain clarity on the confusing interaction they're

having.

"Okay, I apologize, Scion. However, I don't understand what you mean. The terms you used are

completely unfamiliar to me. Could you please explain them in a way I can comprehend?"

After Leo speaks, Scion shifts his focus, brieﬂy looking off into the distance, seemingly lost in

thought. Leo's anxiety rises as he watches, unsure of what to expect next. A few moments pass

in tense silence, and Leo's heart races when Scion ﬁnally turns back to him.

In a deliberate motion, Scion slowly extends his hand toward Leo. The tips of two golden ﬁngers

hover just in front of Leonardo's forehead, and Leo watches intently, his ﬁsts clenched tightly at

his sides, caught between curiosity and trepidation.

PING.

The boy's eyes widen as he senses the lottery.

A new warning.

[Attention, WARRIOR is trying to share information with the user. Translate information and

absorb it?]

(YES/NO)

Mentally he accepts the message, without taking his attention away from the being,

[THE ANSWER]

The primary objective of these entities is to uncover a means of surviving the inevitable end of all

existence, including entropy and the ﬁnal collapse of the universe.

Every action they undertake is focused on achieving this goal, and any information that can

further their mission holds immense signiﬁcance and must be prioritized.

[Attention, the Lottery currently has more than ways to achieve this goal.]

The boy's eyes widened in astonishment as he absorbed the weighty information before him.

"The end of everything... Your race longs for eternity, to exist like true gods," he remarked, casting

a curious glance at the Gold Man standing beside him.

The being, unfazed by the gravity of the boy's words, quickly countered, "That is indeed correct,

[GRAND FAILURE]. It was precisely for this reason that I posed the question to you. The

[FOREIGNER] deemed it necessary to place you within our territory, proclaiming that you would

become a vital asset to our noble quest."

The boy's mind raced as realization washed over him, an epiphany ignited by the earlier

revelations

. 'That makes sense. The Lottery did just conﬁrm that… and, oh my God, I think I'm

ﬁnally starting to grasp the bigger picture,'

he mused, his heart pounding with a mix of hope and

dread.

Yet, as the pieces began to ﬁt together, a shadow of melancholy crossed his face, leading him to

a troubling conclusion. "So, let me get this straight... If I'm understanding correctly, this

[FOREIGNER] you refer to is the one who created me and unceremoniously cast me into this

world? And in doing so, you were told that I would assist you and, by extension, your entire race?"

The being nodded solemnly. "That is correct. The [FOREIGNER] was indeed accurate in his

assessment. With your integration into the observable multiverse, our statistical progress toward

discovering the elusive [ANSWER] has surged by an impressive 78%. This increase is based

solely on the observable variables that your existence introduces."

As the boy processed this profound truth, he felt the weight of destiny pressing upon him,

intertwining his fate with that of a race yearning for immortality.

The boy, even with his slight depression at the moment, can recognize how big of a deal this

must be... His existence alone must have caused a spike in their search.

"T-that's good I think?" The boy says, unable to hold back a stutter, while one of his eyebrows

twitches.

"Yes, it is really splendid. Now answer the previous question [GRAND FAILURE]" The being says,

his even tone, still sending a shiver down the boy's spine.

"No, not yet, Scion. That's a very time-sensitive and diﬃcult situation, I guess?" The boy starts to

speak but stops himself, considering something. It's something that, if successful, could greatly

beneﬁt humanity as a whole. "It seems futile to worry about that given the state of Earth right

now; we have other pressing issues to address."

The being tilts its head again, taking longer to formulate a response. Leo has no idea how much

information must ﬂow through a being of such cosmic proportions.

"Noted. What scenario do you envision that would lead to maximum progress?"

The question makes the boy smile. Is this answer truly so important to these beings that they

would take directions to assist him?

"Well, several factors could contribute to that. For instance, it would be helpful if the Endbringers

were no longer a threat." The boy responds, and once more, Scion begins to contemplate and

calculate an appropriate reply.

This time however the being takes longer to respond, making the boy start to get bored.

Looking at the void, his thoughts wandered.

'Will I have time to go to Copacabana beach after this? I should be able to get there in a few

minutes. It would be cool to see what the beach is like after Leviathan attacked there a few years

ago.'

Before the boy could think of more Brazilian tourist spots,

Scion took a moment to contemplate the inquiry before crafting his response.

"I don't believe that would be the best course of action. Your exponential growth derived from

signiﬁcant threats is far too valuable to forfeit."

As the entity's words sank in, the boy's eyes sparkled with hope and excitement.

"Alright, but this plan is for my beneﬁt, right? What if we approached it differently? Could we

reprogram the Endbringers so that they are solely focused on me and disregard everything else

around them? Is that even feasible?"

The boy could almost visualize the intricate gears working within the being's mind, processing his

unique suggestion.

A few tense seconds passed as the possibility of this unconventional solution was evaluated and

integrated into the entity's vast reservoir of potential strategies.

Finally, the answer emerged with clarity and precision.

"This adjustment is indeed possible, and considering several factors, it can be implemented

without delay. [GRAND FAILURE] Do I have your explicit permission to proceed?"

Before the boy could speak, he received a further warning from the Lottery.

PING

[Attention, a Quest has been given to you:

*(The Leobringers)*

The greatest threats on Earth are no longer systematic attacks on

predetermined targets. Instead, they are now personal hunters, focusing solely on you.

With each attack from these beasts, an addendum to this Quest will be created. You will have 5

minutes to accept this addendum, and the location where you accept this quest will be where the

Endbringer appears.

[ACCEPT QUEST? (YES/NO)]

"...I accept."

The quest has been accepted, and the boy turns his gaze once more to the being in front of him.

"Is there anything else to add? Your advice has proven to be both intelligent and creative, as one

would expect from a Grand Creation like you.," the being says, still locking eyes with the boy.

The boy simply stares back, considering everything that has been said to him, everything that has

been explained, and even the existence of Earth-Bet itself.

"Yes... I have one last question, which could also be seen as a request..."

…

[Hours later, Rio de Janeiro.]

In the heart of the sprawling beach, Leonardo reclines in the soft, warm sand, a tranquil retreat

from the world around him. His legs are fully extended, sinking slightly into the golden grains,

while he rests his hands comfortably behind his head, allowing himself to indulge in the simple

pleasure of watching the vast sky above.

Every so often, a gentle ping reverberates in his mind, a notiﬁcation from the Lottery buzzing for

his attention, but he chooses to let the messages drift away, unheeded and forgotten.

As he continues to gaze upward, lost in thought, he begins to hear the sound of footsteps

crunching in the sand—slow and purposeful. Curiosity nudges him to shift his focus, and soon

enough, three familiar ﬁgures emerge from the sun-kissed haze: David, Keith, and Rebecca. As

they approach, he can discern a mixture of emotions reﬂecting on their faces—ranging from faint

indifference to genuine joy, interwoven with an undercurrent of concern that tugs at his heart.

Without the need for words, they instinctively settle down beside him, each letting out a gentle

sigh as they sink into the warm sand. The air is ﬁlled with unspoken understanding; Contessa has

likely relayed everything signiﬁcant to them, giving them the knowledge that the Cauldron holds

so close.

...What a joke.

In their shared silence, the four heroes turn their gaze toward the endless horizon, where the sky

meets the ocean in a dance of colors painted by the fading sun.

'Tomorrow, I will wake up in a grateful universe,'

Leonardo muses quietly, his voice barely a

whisper against the sound of the gentle waves.

'The weight that once rested on everyone's

shoulders now bears solely on mine. All that remains for me to do is carry it until I can no longer

feel its burden.'

He closes his eyes for a moment, envisioning that hopeful future, feeling both the

weight of responsibility and the ﬂicker of hope within him.