I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, I stopped caring about winning or losing. My entire life had been about proving myself—first to my family, then to my friends, and finally to myself. But now, I feel like something larger is guiding me.
As I walked out of the arena, the echo of the crowd still buzzing in my ears, I felt a pull. A whisper in the back of my mind—soft but unmistakable. It wasn't the mana, not entirely. Something different. Deeper.
That night, sleep eluded me. My body was sore, not from the battle, but from something inside that I couldn't explain. The orange and green energy that surged through me earlier...it felt as if it were trying to break free again, but this time, it was more deliberate, more controlled. I knew this was the beginning of something greater, but I didn't know how to grasp it.
Weeks passed. I trained every day, my core still fragile, my powers unreliable. But even without the certainty of my abilities, I kept pushing. I had to. It wasn't just for me anymore.
One day, while I was training alone in the mountains outside the academy, an old figure appeared—someone I hadn't expected to see again.
Toru.
"You're still alive," he said, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. His eyes scanned me, as if evaluating everything I had gone through. "I guess the rumors weren't true after all."
"Rumors?" I asked, confused.
Toru shrugged. "That you were broken. That you had given up."
I clenched my fists. "Maybe I was, but I'm not done yet."
Toru's smile faded. "Keiko, something's happening. Not just here, but everywhere. The balance of power... it's shifting. And you're at the center of it, whether you want to be or not."
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I had felt the changes in the air, the tension between realms, but I hadn't realized how deeply it was tied to me. The strange energy within me, the evolution of my ability, the clash with Ryuga—it was all part of something much bigger than I had imagined.
Toru continued, "There are forces beyond even our understanding—demons, gods, spirits. They're all converging. And they're watching you."
I frowned. "Why me?"
"You have something they want," Toru said gravely. "It's not just your dynamokinesis. It's something older, something ancient inside you. Something that's been waiting to awaken."
I stood there, stunned, as Toru explained what I had begun to suspect. My power wasn't just mine. It was part of a larger destiny, a chain of events set in motion long before I was even born. And now, those forces were moving into place, preparing for something.
"Keiko," Toru said, his voice low, "you're not just a warrior or a student. You're the key to whatever's coming next. You, Silver, Fin—every battle you've fought, every loss you've suffered, it's all been pushing you towards this moment."
"But what is it?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Toru shook his head. "I don't know. But it's coming, and you need to be ready. There are beings out there that will stop at nothing to control what you have. Gods, demons, and something worse—something even the gods fear."
The weight of his words settled over me like a thick fog. All this time, I had been fighting for control of my power, thinking it was just my burden to bear. But now, I realized that the stakes were much higher.
As Toru prepared to leave, he turned back one last time, his eyes serious. "I'll help you, Keiko. But in the end, this is your fight. You'll have to choose what you stand for, who you stand with. Because soon, the world will change, and your role in it will determine the fate of everything."
I watched him disappear into the shadows, my mind reeling with the weight of his prophecy. I didn't know what was coming, but I could feel it—something dark, something ancient, something that would test everything I believed in.
And I wasn't sure if I was ready.
That night, the dreams returned. The snake, the black energy, the gods watching from the shadows. But this time, there was something new—a figure, cloaked in light, standing in the distance. As I reached out, trying to grasp the figure's hand, they spoke one word:
"Ascend."
The dream shattered, and I woke up in a cold sweat, the mark on my hand burning brighter than ever before.
The time was coming. I would have to face my fate.
And I wasn't sure I could survive it.