Akasan woke up finding himself in a hospital bed.
No one was inside the room when he came to.
He took a moment to let everything sink in.
He was a millionaire.
He and Kagami went from being homeless to middle-class in one day.
For Akasan's whole life, he'd lived in one of the worst parts of the world. A place where every crime imaginable happened like everyday activities. But even still, Akasan rarely felt bad about his situation. He always felt worse for Kagami. He knew that like her, there were people suffering worldwide. Something had to be done about it.
Kyo hopped into Akasan's room from a window five stories off the ground.
Akasan got startled. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
Kyo put a finger to his lips. "Shh! I don't want anyone to know that I'm here!"
"Why not?" Kyo closed the window.
"The press. They're all over the place. They hound you with questions just to get a story off of you."
Kyo paused, then looked at him. "You are Akasan, right?"
Akasan nodded.
"Great, I'm Kyo, Omega Squadron."
They shook hands.
"I was at your fight yesterday. Nice win."
Akasan grinned. "Yeah! Thanks!!"
Kyo's tone got more serious. "But, if you're gonna aim for the top spots in the First Order, you're gonna have to train harder than everyone else. It's crucial that you learn to control your power. Those people you fought in the tournament were normal civilians. None of them had any real skill. The Knights fight against people that can't even be considered human. We're up against gods right now."
Akasan thought about it. "What are gods?"
"Gods are those who reach a point of divination. Their energy reserves are on a whole new level than ours."
"But gods have been defeated before right? Do we have gods on our side too?"
Airson shook his head. "We can only fight gods by powering up, changing our forms, or using various abilities. Gods have monstrous strength naturally, in their base form. Natural born gods are more powerful than most humans by the age of five. The world is in chaos right now because of them."
Akasan looked out the window. "There are places out there worse than Zetsubo, isn't there?"
Kyo nodded. "Way worse."
Akasan looked at him. "I want to save them. Is that possible? Being able to save everyone?"
Kyo crossed his arms. "In a literal sense, likely not. What you're talking about is changing the world. Changing the structure of other countries. It would take a very powerful individual to achieve something of that scale."
Akasan's hands clenched his bedsheets. "I'll do it... People shouldn't have to go through hardships. I'll learn how to use my power so I can be strong enough."
Kyo could feel Akasan's determination. "If you want me to teach you how to control your power, I can be your teacher, but you'll have to make the Beta Squadron by yourself first."
Akasan nodded. "You can bet on it!"
Kyo gave him a smile and hopped back out the window.
Akasan looked out after him but he was gone. "I've got a lot of work to do."
--
Kyo walked into the Omega Squadron Station.
Tenma held up a fist, Kyo fist bumped him.
"What's going on guys?" Kyo said.
Other than Tenma and Kyo, Kuro, Agaki, Frost, Maki, and Ako were in the conference room looking at a large screen on the back wall.
Kuro frowned. "You're late."
Kyo waved him off. "I know, sorry, I had to do something."
Ako held a hand up at the screen. It showed a map of the country. There were red dots placed in various spots on it. "There have been sightings of Kaos across the country. He's come back."
Kyo walked up to the map. "What's he been doing?"
Agaki looked at the map. "We don't know. But it's likely he's been to other countries as well. We know that he's tied to the Seventh Order, judging from your encounter with him years ago."
Kyo scowled at the map. "Kaos... what are you thinking?" He looked at the others. "What's our move?"
Kuro shook his head. "Don't know yet. He's only been sighted so far. Hasn't really done anything, but the books have him down as an A-Class. His only crime was burning down Kuri. Something like that could put a person in B or even C Class, but the fact that the Seventh has something to do with this, we can only assume the worst."
---
In a location outside of Earth, a location that's not even in the same cosmos.
The Holy Realm.
A realm connected to Universe 19 that exists on a higher plane than the Common Realm. This is where the majority of the gods and goddesses live in peace.
A boy runs into his home, a grand palace.
He looks around. "Father? Father? Where are you?"
He runs to the back of the palace and outside onto a large area of land. Their backyard.
His father was there.
"Father!" He runs towards him.
He is pushed back.
"Where were you all day Ryuga? Goofing off were we?" He frowned at the boy. "Did you forget what you are? You're a god! How could I ever expect you to be like your brother if you're always playing?"
Ryuga frowned. "I wasn't playing father! I was working on my own training!"
Another man walked up from behind Ryuga and stood beside his father. "What training?"
Ryuga was surprised to see him. "Brother..."
Ryuga's brother was nothing like him. Even though they were a family of gods, Ryuga looked at least half-way human while his brother looked almost alien-like. He was built like an android with human skin, colored a deep pink with yellow on some parts of his body, and no hair at all. And his eyes... were completely pitch black. All the way around.
Ryuga's father put a hand on his other son's shoulders. "Now Naesrio here, he is going to be the next great God of Destruction. He's trained himself relentlessly for years now, every day since he was a young boy. His mindset is that of a true leader."
Naesrio looked at Ryuga. "Show me the training you were doing."
Ryuga smirked. "All right, you prepared? Watch this, brother!" He took a large breath, then blew out an enormous ball of fire into the sky, big enough to take out a small village. He smiled, proud of his work.
Naesrio scowled. "That is what you call the product of training? Are you trying to disrespect your family as gods?"
Naesrio walked towards him. Ryuga shook his head. He backed up. "No, not at all! I was just trying to- blegh!!"
Naesrio punched him with an uppercut to the stomach.
Ryuga threw up blood.
"That was pathetic." Naesrio grabbed his brother by the jaw and picked him up, "Look at me Ryuga. You are my younger brother. I will not tolerate weakness from you. I told you before, you and I are the only beings that matter in this world." He dropped him.
Ryuga held his stomach. "But... mother said that we should learn from the humans... they don't rely on pure strength... She mattered, didn't she?!"
Naesrio stared at him. "Mother was a weakling. Therefor she spoke the words of one. That is why father killed her. She was a hindrance to your and my own progress. You and I only matter."
His father stood there, arms crossed, frowning at Ryuga and nodded once in approval of Naesrio's words.
Tears appeared in Ryuga's eyes. "But! Humans love their relatives for who they are, no matter what right?! That's a true family isn't it?"
Naesrio clenched his fists. "Why do you cast such a bright light amongst those humans? Do you truly think that they love such a happy and peaceful life? No!! There's no race more vile, more disgusting, than humans!!"
Ryuga looked at the grass below him. "It's true that humans are lower lifeforms, but I just thought that maybe... we could learn a little from them..."
Naesrio closed his eyes and exhaled. "Fine. Here's what we'll do."
Something that looked like dark green and black mist emitted from Naesrio's right hand.
In a mere second, Naesrio somehow moved several feet behind him and plunged his hand through his father's heart. "Learn from this."
"Yes... I love it... cold and merciless... you really are a true God of Destruction..." Ryuga's father's face decayed, as if he lived a thousand years in mere seconds. His decayed body fell to the ground.
Ryuga shuddered as he heard the bones crack.
Naesrio turned to look at him. "There. Now you have no father as well. Now train, Ryuga. Seriously this time. I will not tolerate weakness from you. Act like your life depends on it. Because it does."
Ryuga stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth. "Yes, brother."
---
Kagami opened the hospital room door. She walked in to find Akasan on the floor doing pushups, a pool of sweat under him. "What are you doing down there?"
Akasan hopped up. "I'm training. I have to prepare my body. I've decided to take my new life seriously."
Kagami gave him a soft smile. "Well I'm glad that you found something to do. Here, I bought you some clothes to wear." She held out a paper bag.
"Oh, thanks. I was wondering what I would wear."
It was a black shirt with a dark crimson jacket and black shorts. There were some black rubber boots in the bag as well.
"Why these though?" Akasan said holding the pair up.
Kagami chuckled. "I thought they were cute, so I got 'em."
Akasan put them on. "Ah, well I guess they aren't so bad anyway."
Kagami left the room. "I'll be outside, hurry and get changed."
He nodded. "Right."
Akasan changed his clothes and left the hospital.
Kagami pulled his arm. "Did you know I found a place to stay?"
"Huh? You did?"
"Yeah! It's pretty basic, but it has everything we need, and guess what? We'll have our own rooms for the first time in, well ever!"
Akasan smiled as Kagami ran, leading him to wherever she found. But he'd never seen her so genuinely happy before. It made him glad to be alive. He'd do whatever it took to keep that smile on her face.
The next day Akasan started his way up the Knights of the First Order rankings.
He started as a Delta, doing relatively safe missions, things that could be seen as community service. But he was getting paid for it, which means that Kagami could continue living comfortably while he worked towards becoming an Omega.
In a little less than a month, he finally ranked up to Gamma.
Akasan was outside of the city limits training in the wastelands, doing pushups, sprints, and the time of how long he could keep up his crimson fire.
Kyo and Tenma walked up on him during the last part.
"Hey, Akasan. Training hard, nice work." Akasan let his fire go to catch his breath. "Thanks. I have to work hard in order to stay ahead of everyone else." He looked at the bulky and red-headed Tenma.
"Who's that?"
"Oh, this is my friend, Tenma."
Tenma gave him a slight nod.
Kyo started flying off. "We're off to do some investigating, see ya around!" He took off.
Tenma looked at Akasan. "You're a fire type, right? The kid with the Crimson Flame?"
Akasan nodded.
Tenma put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, in that case, I'll give you the best advice you'll ever get for your training. Fire type to fire type. Keep your flame from escaping your body as much as possible. Keep it contained. Got it? Great!"
Tenma took off after Kyo.
Akasan looked at his hands. "Keep the flame contained? But there's so much of it... how am I gonna do that?"
Tenma caught up with Kyo.
"What took you?" Kyo asked.
Tenma smirked. "I gave him some advice, he won't get far with his current flame control. Why didn't you give him some tips?"
Kyo looked ahead. "I told him to make Beta first, then the real training will begin. He has real potential. I can feel it."
Tenma looked at him skeptically. "...Or you just wanted to be a master for once."
Kyo had a mischievous look on his face. "Oh? Was it that obvious?" he said, cackling like a evil genius.
Tenma punched him in the shoulder. "You're such a goof." He flew ahead.
Kyo caught back up. "Hey! Look who's talking!"