Atachi had been living peacefully in his new apartment for over a month. He decided to go to the supermarket to prepare a ravioli recipe he had seen on a TV show.
A few weeks after the devastating attack on Deza, the refugees had been scattered across the corners of Gomorah. The administrative services of Webenne had found Atachi a social housing unit, a modest apartment on the outskirts of the capital. Life on Terra continued, despite the persistent threat of creatures from another world. These monsters, as enigmatic as they were terrifying, appeared with increasing frequency, forcing the Terranians to adapt to a life marked by ever-present danger.
Atachi, on the other hand, sought to regain a sense of normalcy. In his new neighborhood, he was striving to embrace a quiet life. After a month without any major incidents, he was beginning to believe that peace might finally be within his reach. That morning, a TV show sparked a simple but comforting idea.
"Those ravioli look absolutely amazing... I'll take a trip into town to make this recipe."
His heart, heavy with memories of chaos, felt lighter for a moment. It might have seemed trivial, but preparing a meal, savoring a dish made with his own hands, represented an act of defiance against the instability of this world. He slipped on his sneakers and set off for the city center, searching for the comfort he so ardently desired.
As he strolled through the streets, he felt a rare thrill of satisfaction. The market, the passersby, the familiar noises—all of it contrasted sharply with the ruins and screams he had left behind in Deza. He bought flour, spices, and fresh vegetables, his arms full but with a faint smile on his lips. He shopped with quiet joy before returning home to immerse himself in the preparation of his homemade ravioli.
As he finalized the dish, his intuition alerted him to a burning smell. The aroma wafting from his kitchen filled the apartment, evoking a vague nostalgia for a life he had never known: a stable life, one where danger wasn't a constant.
"I hope the building's gas supply isn't leaking. I really don't want to be disturbed."
Finally ready to enjoy his meal in front of his favorite anime, his moment of relaxation was abruptly shattered. An explosion suddenly engulfed the neighborhood, reducing several buildings, including Atachi's, to rubble.
He was consumed by a blind rage. Completely naked, he fell through the air, once again rendered homeless. Plummeting from the 30th floor, he struggled to maintain his composure. The wind whistled in his ears as his fury rose within him, as violent as the explosion that had just destroyed his refuge.
Threatening the end of the world, he shouted:
"They really won't let me eat my damn homemade ravioli! Enough is enough! I'm done with these incessant attacks disrupting my quest for a peaceful existence! Today, once again, it's up to me to put an end to this!"
His voice, broken between anger and despair, was drowned out by the surrounding chaos. His body, naked and vulnerable, plunged through the void, but his mind seethed with a dark, almost supernatural energy.
Panic spread like wildfire, with residents fleeing in all directions, ignoring the megaphones' instructions. A piercing alarm blared throughout the city.
Megaphone – "Maximum alert! Danger level: Rank A. Giants and dragons have invaded the outskirts of Webenne. Evacuate the area immediately! Heroes are en route to neutralize the threat."
Atachi continued to fall, pondering the fate he would bestow upon these troublesome creatures. As he descended, a burst of light sliced through the sky. A hero clad in gleaming armor appeared and caught Atachi at the last moment. Held as if he weighed nothing, Atachi felt a wave of humiliation. The hero, in a reassuring tone, asked him:
"Are you alright, young man? Any serious injuries?"
Atachi was stunned that someone had come to his aid. He responded to the hero in a furious voice:
"I'm about to lose it. My apartment... My meal... My home has been destroyed again, for the 16th time in 2 years! These insignificant creatures will soon perish by my hand."
Atachi's fury seemed to teeter on the edge of madness, prompting the hero to suspect he was suffering from some psychological distress.
"Calm down... You seem... troubled. I'll escort you to a shelter. There, we can help you regain your composure."
Suddenly, a colossal giant, towering over a hundred meters, emerged from the depths of the earth, shattering the precarious balance of the city now under siege. The situation was chaotic, and the hero found himself facing this immense creature, slowly rising from the ground like a moving mountain. The hero, tense, assessed the threat before turning to Atachi.
"Run as far as you can!"
Atachi – "I'll return to finish you off, giant. The vastness of my strength has nothing to envy about your fake grandeur."
Despite his words, he leapt into the nearby ruins, temporarily retreating. A few streets away, he watched as the hero engaged in combat. The hero, resolute, drew a blazing sword imbued with green flames, leaping to a dizzying height of 70 meters, reaching the giant's torso.
Hero – "Fight fire with fire."
He struck a horizontal blow with such intensity that the flames contained within the sword exploded, blasting apart the upper half of the giant. The giant staggered, overwhelmed by the unwavering resolve of the warrior fulfilling his most fundamental duty. It toppled backward under the weight of the seemingly irreparable damage.
Hidden among the rubble, Atachi felt his energy boil over, as though his very rage had become a tangible force. He closed his eyes, struggling to regain control. His frenzied aura melted the structure of the building around him. Rising to his feet, he concealed his presence among the distressed crowd, donning abandoned clothes to blend in.
"I need to calm down, or I'll lose control… Argh! But I can't run away anymore… It's time to honor my promises. Your lives belong to me."
A roar from the sky pulled him from his thoughts. A massive dragon soared overhead, its shadow stretching across the ruins. Meanwhile, other heroes fought fiercely against the dragons and giants ravaging the capital's outskirts. The dimensional invasions were proving far too destructive for humanity. Yet, Terra's most powerful heroes did not intervene in such lower-ranking missions.
Atachi moved at an unfathomable speed, so imperceptible that even the heroes defending the city failed to detect his presence.
The heroes focused their efforts on bringing down the dragon, combining their powers into a devastating energy beam. Atachi, with a motion as swift as it was invisible, leapt and severed the dragon's head before the attack reached it, delivering victory to the heroes without their knowledge.
The dragon's head crashed to the ground, marking the heroes' triumph over the creature. None of the warriors present noticed Atachi's intervention. The dragon's body collapsed heavily. The heroes rejoiced at having slain the beast. One hero declared:
"We must persevere, comrades. The people of Webenne need us to protect them from this looming threat. In the name of the Yorquin Rangers Terra, we will fulfill our duty as the world's unyielding soldiers."
His teammate, equally elated, responded with a rallying cry:
"Let's redouble our efforts! We were born to conquer! We were born to live! Let's go, all together!"
Believing they had vanquished the dragon, the unit dispersed to target a new enemy. Atachi, standing atop the dragon's still-hovering body, launched himself into the air and accelerated towards a giant. With a single, precise and swift kick, he split the giant in two from top to bottom.
The cut was clean, slicing through the left trapezius near the shoulder. His precision was so impeccable one might think Atachi a master butcher. He landed in mid-air with unsettling nonchalance, as though he were on a beach. The battle's ashes swirled around him, and in his eyes, anger and solitude merged into one.
As Atachi descended inexorably, a bright flash split the air. Beside him appeared a man floating with an almost insolent ease. The light emanating from him sparkled like a glimmer of hope amidst the chaos. Atachi didn't even need to turn to understand.
He had already sensed him but hadn't expected him to keep up with his limited speed. This hero, heralded with so much fanfare, hardly lived up to his expectations.
"I am Delta-class hero Lillius, the Emperor of Speed. We must unite to eliminate these scourges. What is your hero name?"
Atachi barely raised an eyebrow. The man's words struck him as absurd as his title. He sighed, his voice tinged with acidic weariness.
"Is tranquility a privilege reserved only for the dead? I understand my enemies better now. Look behind you; a dragon is about to devour you!"
The hero turned with a leap, fear in his eyes, ready to fight. But there was nothing there. Not a hint of a threat. A gentle breeze seemed almost to mock him.
When Lillius turned back to Atachi, he was gone. Taking advantage of the moment, Atachi had vanished, leaving the Emperor of Speed stunned and unable to perceive him during the brief interval. But Lillius found nothing but an unsettling void. Atachi reappeared before the hero's astonished eyes.
"I've finished hunting the pests. You can take all the credit, the fame, and whatever follows. Being disturbed holds no interest for me."
A dimensional tremor erupted. A massive, luminous dragon egg crashed amid the debris. Its shell shattered into a thousand pieces, and the resulting explosion annihilated everything within a one-kilometer radius. Surprised by this indescribably soft yet destructive wave, Atachi let himself be carried away by the energy, disappearing completely from sight.
"So this is the definition of happiness."
The words, barely audible, were lost in the turmoil. Atachi vanished once again, swept away by the wave, while Lillius, dazed, tried to collect himself. A crackling sound in his earpiece brought him back to reality. Lillius, thrown backward by the blast, managed to catch himself atop a skyscraper. He gazed helplessly as the wave of destruction spread like a deadly tide. Someone called Lillius for a status report.
"What is the current report, hero? We have visual confirmation of something that seems to be taking a strange form. Have you identified it?"
Lillius, still shaken, stood up with difficulty.
"I encountered a few issues on arrival, but we managed to complete the mission rather quickly, as if some external force had helped us to overcome this apocalyptic wave. However, I believe we'll need additional reinforcements."
On the battlefield, where the broken egg rested, an amorphous form began to rise. It swirled—a mass of shadow and light—slowly gaining definition. The remaining heroes regrouped, their faces marked by fear and exhaustion.
Baby Dragon – "(Draconic language)."
At that moment, no one understood the mysterious words of the newborn dragon. The seasoned heroes fell to their knees. Some struggled to breathe, others writhed in pain, unable to withstand the wave emanating from the creature. Massive blocks, remnants of buildings, began to levitate at high speed, encircling the creature in a macabre dance.
The heroes narrowly dodged the massive blocks. The earlier cataclysm caused by the creature was unprecedented. Of the 8,000 heroes present, six thousand perished in the onslaught of its uncontrollable power. Another 1,500 members of the Yorquin Rangers Terra also fell, overwhelmed by the giants and dragons.
Lillius – "Hold the line! Don't give in...!"
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, Atachi rested peacefully in a sunlit plain. The chaos was but a distant whisper to him.
Far beyond the boundaries of Terra, in the vastness of space...
A colossal palace rose, perched atop the rings of a planet resembling Saturn. Its golden walls glimmered under the starlight, a monument to grandeur and arrogance. A man entered solemnly into the throne room, where the master of the palace resided.
"Father, I have located a vessel belonging to a commander of our sworn enemy's army."
The old man, seated on an imposing throne, slowly lifted his gaze.
"It is heading toward planet Terra, a world devastated by unprecedented dimensional damage. They are daily invaded by creatures from other realms, foreign to our universe. These are not merely cosmic and intergalactic conflicts, after all."
"Father, he is surely seeking to colonize this planet to sell it on the universal market. I will provoke Barbatéos' wrath to lure him here in person. We will kill him and his army to avenge our people."
He extended his hand, and the palace doors opened with a low rumble.
"Go, Titan, and eliminate that pitiful commander. As for Barbatéos, I will deal with him personally. You have my word. We will achieve far more than simple revenge, I promise you, my son."
He ended with:
"Good luck, Titan. I've trained you for over a century; do not disappoint me."
Titan vanished instantly. In a flash, he rose above the planet's atmosphere. In the distance, he spotted a small exploration vessel crashing through the stratosphere. The vessel slammed into the unstable ground of Webenne, triggering an explosion that incinerated the entire city. The Terranians present stood no chance against this unforeseen threat.
The crater was as large as the Kanto region. They were extinguished like the flame of a candle. A humanoid monster emerged from the vessel: a massive extraterrestrial, standing 3.45 meters tall and clad in intricate armor of alien technology.
Atachi shielded himself from the disaster by halting the explosion about fifty kilometers away from his position. Awakened from a peaceful nap, he observed the remains of Webenne and the unfolding events.
Its nightmarish appearance placed it far above the other creatures, bringing a disaster from another world to Terra.
? – "Let's see if this planet meets the selling criteria for the Marquis of the Whirlpool Galaxy."
Meanwhile, the dragon continued to burn. It began to take on a more humanoid form, aging before the eyes of this being from another realm. Now more mature, the dragon decided to intervene.
Dragon – "(Draconic language)."
The alien chuckled.
"You want to play with me? I'll gladly savor your flesh."