Lucian got up and walked over to his door, opened it and walked outside. He was living in an apartment building in a relatively small block of apartments, it wasn't exactly incredible but it was all he could buy with the money that Jackson had given him when he was younger.
Since the day that monsters had killed his parents, there hadn't been a single second where his hatred had subsided.
He had spent all of his time outside of school training his body to be as strong as possible for when he awoke his power.
He didn't have time for friends, and he didn't have any family left, so he had been living a solitary life, occasionally being checked up on by Jackson.
In the past few years, he hadn't seen much of him, but he would always be grateful for what Jackson had done for him as a child.
Despite being eighteen years old, Lucian had yet to develop his power and open his status window when most people had developed theirs by fifteen at the latest.
He still had hope though, as without a power there was no way that he could become a hunter and destroy the dungeons.
Even without a power though Lucian was strong enough to take down anyone who wasn't using their abilities.
He had been training not just his body, but also his skill with all manner of weapons and he had become adept at using everything he had trained with.
His body was beyond well developed, and thanks to his genetics of physical strength from his father and speed from his mother he had grown into a young man with a body that looked as though it had been chiselled by a God.
He was 6'3 and perfectly proportioned, with muscles that seemed to have been compacted for both strength and aesthetics. He didn't have the time to get his hair cut with all of his training, so he had it tied up in a ponytail. Despite being both muscular and attractive, not once had Lucian had a girlfriend, it wasn't that he lacked interest, but rather that he hadn't found anyone he was interested in that was worth spending time with instead of training.
Lucian was wearing a very boring outfit, with a large black hoodie and black joggers, after all, it was a cold night and he would be outside for a while.
The streets were empty and the only sources of light were the streetlamps dotted throughout the lonely street. This didn't bother Lucian too much, he was perfectly fine with the lack of people, he didn't have too much experience with talking to people as he was closed off when he had been at school.
It hadn't been long since he had graduated, and while he was waiting for his results he was more hopeful for his power to manifest to allow him to enter dungeons and become a hunter now that he was finally eighteen.
His eighteenth birthday and he was alone, to most it would seem depressing, but Lucian had been alone since his parents had died. He found it hard to adapt, still having a hole in his heart that felt as though it would never be filled.
He hoped that once he managed to eradicate monsters from the world he would finally feel free, and maybe he could move on from the burden he had placed upon himself, but that was a farfetched idea without a power.
"Where's the money, you bastard?"
"I told you, just a few more days, please. I needed to buy my daughter medicine, she was injured in a dungeon break. Please, just a little more time."
"No more time Darren, you messed with the wrong people."
The sound of men shouting echoed through the previously quiet street. Lucian looked around, and he saw a group of men surrounding a man in his forties.
He was backed up against the wall and one of the men, presumably a gang member by the sounds of the conversation, was punching him in the stomach.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Lucian shouted out, "There are monsters that threaten all of us, and you decide it is more important to harm your fellow man than stand and fight against them."
"Who the fuck are you, think you're some kind of Hero? This is the real world kid, get out of here before you get hurt too." The man who was assaulting Darren shouted at Lucian.
"As if you mug, people like you who can't see the bigger picture piss me off."
"Walk away kid, you don't want to mess with us."
Lucian didn't reply, and he kept on moving towards the group, not an ounce of fear on his face.
"Fuck sake lads, take care of him while I teach this prick a lesson."
"Alright boss." One of the other men replied.
Three men walked towards Lucian, quite an intimidating sight considering they were a rough-looking group.
The first man was slightly shorter than Lucian, but much larger and his muscles were huge, likely the effect of a power. He had a wooden bat which looked like it could do a lot of damage if he got hit in the head, so Lucian took note of it.
The second was shorter and slimmer, but in his left hand, a flame was growing. It wasn't exactly a large flame, but it would still be able to damage most people.
The last man seemed much more average, at least he did until Lucian noticed that spiked tail which he possessed on his back. The tail was also wrapped around a knife so he assumed it was prehensile so he made sure to look out for it.
Overall the three didn't seem like a particularly powerful group, and Lucian was confident that he could take them.
He decided to make the first move to give himself the best chance of winning, he would need to if he wanted to win without a power.
He punched the man with the flame in his hand first, hoping to get rid of what he deemed the biggest threat to his life.
His fist connected with the scrawny man's skull, directly in the side of it. Lucian felt the vibration that rang out through his opponent's head before the man stumbled backwards and landed on the ground.
Lucian then turned to the side and saw that the muscular man was about to swing his bat towards him. He ducked underneath the attack, dodging it by a mile before performing an uppercut on the man, connecting with his chin cleanly.
However, this didn't have the result that Lucian wanted, as the man was able to tank the hit, grabbing Lucian's arm to hold him in place before smacking him in the ribs with the bat.
The pain was beyond anything that he had felt before, but compared to the emotional anguish he had been in after the loss of his parents it was nothing.
The man dropped Lucian to the ground, expecting him to stay down, but within a second he was back up again.
"What the Hell is wrong with you kid? This isn't even your business, why are you willing to get beat up for this guy?" The man asked, genuinely confused.
Through gritted teeth, Lucian replied, "Because they didn't give up, in the face of a monster they could never win against, my parents never backed down. They died protecting me, the least I can do with my life is protect others from brutes like you." A few years after his parents' death, Lucian witnessed the CCTV footage of their battle against the cyclops. Seeing their determination when faced with an unwinnable challenge to protect their son and everyone else inspired him more than anything else, even their deaths.
He got back up on his feet and despite the pain he was in, Lucian was calm. He stared at the opponents in front of him, who had luckily not harmed him while he was down, and he felt like he could win.
A knife being held in the tail of one of the men swung at Lucian and, as if time had slowed down just for him, he dodged out of the way of it, grabbing the tail and pulling it. This temporarily knocked the man off balance, and Lucian took advantage of this.
With a kick to the chest, Lucian pushed the man backwards, causing him to land on top of his already knocked-out comrade.
It was now a one-on-one fight with the muscular gang member. Lucian was injured, and the opponent seemed to have not taken any damage from his attacks. Had he been carrying any of the weapons he had practised with, Lucian would have been able to take him out.
The man swung the bat at him once again and. moving through the pain, Lucian ducked beneath it like his mother had the cyclops' club all those years ago.
Lucian was now right in front of the man, his bat was far enough away from him to allow for a few attacks to fit in the short time window where the man would be regaining his positioning after finishing his swing.
Time once again seemed to slow, and Lucian kicked the man in the side of the leg. Immediately, the man seemed to feel the attack, his knee buckling slightly under the force of the attack.
As the man began to drop to one knee, Lucian took advantage of the oppositely moving forces of the man's head moving downwards and his fist moving upwards to perform a powerful uppercut which hit the man once again in the chin.
This time it seemed to work, as the man's eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Lucian pushed the man onto his back with his foot. Only one enemy remained now, and he seemed to have realised that Lucian had taken care of his goons.
"You idiots, how did you lose to a single little retard? Do I seriously have to do everything myself around here?"
The man seemed to have finished with Darren, but he still looked alive, "I didn't have to use my ability on that incompetent piece of garbage over there, but you should get ready to die."
Lucian couldn't see a particular aspect of the man that indicated what his skill was, but he soon came to realise once it was activated.
The man disappeared from Lucian's line of sight, and within a moment he felt a burning sensation in his back.
"Fuck."
A knife had been plunged through Lucian's back and emerged through the front of his body.
"How do you like my short-distance teleportation? Pretty good eh?" The man laughed.
With the knife still through his back and chest, Lucian turned his body to look at the gang leader, "Why, why, what is wrong with you people? That power... you could help the world, but instead, you choose to do this... I just can't understand. What is wrong with you?"
Seeing the same power, the power that the only person who had helped him after his parents had died had possessed being used in this way sent him over the edge. Jackson had died in a dungeon fighting for humanity, if these scumbags who harmed their fellow humans had been fighting alongside him in that dungeon too he might have survived.
There was no way Lucian was letting them get away, he didn't care if he was injured, he didn't care if he had no powers, there was no way that he could let people like this exist.
He had suspected it for a long time, but he had confirmed it for himself now, humanity was by no means full of good people. Aside from his parents and Jackson, there was nobody who had truly shown him goodwill with nothing in return. His extended family had tried to take advantage of him to gain some of the money his parents had left behind, and countless people had the ability to fight for humanity but chose not to.
Lucian ripped the knife from his back and threw it to the side. He had no healing powers, and he had no healing potions with him, there was no way he could afford to carry things like that around with him.
He could feel the blood flowing from his wound, but even so, he felt alive. Knowing he had a chance to rid the world of a few pieces of garbage excited him, but he didn't want to be a murderer, not for something as insignificant as this in the grand scheme of things.
The man who had stabbed Lucian was shocked to see that he had pulled the knife from his chest, and it had momentarily stunned him.
In this moment, Lucian released the most powerful punch he had that entire night, and somewhere deep down he hoped it would do a little more than injure the man. Whether this hope was to disable him or kill him even Lucian didn't know, but the punch never managed to connect.
The man teleported away in fear, not just fear of the punch, but fear of the noise which had been steadily getting louder for the last few seconds, as if something was getting closer.
Lucian hadn't heard it, too focused on the fight and too flooded with adrenaline to know what was going on beyond his own actions.
With the punch missing, and the boss of the gang fleeing, seemingly dragging his goons away with him, Lucian turned his attention to the man who was being assaulted, only to realise he had run off without even a word of thanks.
Lucian hadn't expected any to begin with, he had only gotten involved with the fight out of his own selfish belief that he could do some good even without a power, and to an extent he was correct.
He fell to the ground and slumped his body back up against the nearest wall. Lucian was sure that this was the end, a miracle would be needed to save him. It wasn't as if he would be leaving anything behind, after all, he had no friends or family, not even a pet.
*KRRRRZZZZZT*
A noise loud enough to penetrate even the ears of the dying Lucian sounded out in the area.
With the last bit of his energy, Lucian looked up at the source of the noise, a metal pod had crashed into the ground.
A huge cloud of dust and debris shot up into the air, obscuring his view in his final moments, but from within the cloud of dirt, he was sure that he could see a figure rise from the pod and begin walking towards him.
His body couldn't handle any more, and Lucian's eyes closed before he could see who or what was coming towards him.