Rudveck university was the school Akira attended as a 2nd year medical student. It was named after a man called Nicolai Rudveck, who was a human who fought for the rights of Borrowers. With his help, the flickering war could end 60 years ago, however he disappeared not long afterwards. To honour him, the most prodigious university in Babel city was named after him.
Akira out of breath, quickly sat down in a lecture hall, he had made it just in time by some miracle. He unpacked his things quickly but got to contemplate by himself as the lecturer was late that day.
Someone then called out to him,
"This is the first time you've been this close to being late Akira. What happened?"
The second he heard that voice, he was instantly irritated. He turned around and saw the well dressed light green haired boy that would never leave him alone. He was covered head to toe in designer clothes, and he had a particular French accent.
"That's none of your business Germaine. I don't need another nosey guy in my life."
"
Saying that only made Akira visibly more sulky. After what happened this morning, just thinking about criminals made him anxious. The routine which kept him calm was nearly shattered because of them, after all.
Germaine saw he was making Akira uncomfortable, and decided to lay off talking to him for a bit.
Suddenly the professor finally entered the lecture hall. He was struggling with a half open brief case as it spilled out some papers.
"Sorry I'm late! Accident near the station. A truck spilled over in front of me so I got held up. But I'm here now so let's begin quickly."
There was a second accident near the station that Akira missed, apparently.
The professor quickly connected his laptop to the projector, which caused a massive hologram to appear at the front wall. It showed a power point titled, 'Introduction to the Borrower Physiology'.
Everyone began to open their notebooks, as they listened to what he had to say.
"Interestingly, borrowers have near identical Biology as humans with the only difference being the extra organ they have behind their stomach, called 'the miracle'. This organ is what's responsible for their ability to draw out Aether from the zero dimension."
Aether was the energy which Borrowers used to manipulate reality to an extent. They don't produce this energy themselves, however they absorb it from another dimension called the zero dimension. It is a realm of boundless energy which existed only in theory, but proven real thanks to their existence.
"Thanks to their identical physiology, the medicines which had been developed for humans is still effective on them. Despite their evolutionary name being Homo-Validus, they were given the name Borrower."
Germaine then raised his hand up. The professor granted him permission to speak.
"Borrower implies that they will return the thing that they took. I'm a Borrower myself, but even I don't understand that name. Where did it come from?"
He already knew the answer, but he wanted to ask anyway to keep the class interesting.
"Good question! Back when Borrowers first appeared and discoveries were still being made about them, particularly religious people started naming these things first. I'm sure your all familiar with the Future Society?"
The Future Society was one of the first groups of humans dedicated to giving Borrowers the rights of humans. However they began to grow into a group that portrayed humans as an inferior race, and wanted them 'cleansed'.
After the unison council was founded 60 years ago by Nicolai Rudveck, they had been erased from the world along with the war.
"They were the ones who called Borrowers a gift from god, and that they borrowed god's power to make this world a better place. Since humans have benefited greatly from them, the name managed to stick around."
The flickering war was a terrible 50 year long war between humans and borrower, with the well being of both species being put head to toe against each other. When Borrowers first appeared they were quarantined and experimented on, but as they grew older so did their powers. Once the first generation finally matured, they spearheaded a revolution that would eventually grow into a world wide takeover. Some countries lost to them and were transformed into a society where humans were at the bottom, while others treated Borrowers like the plague.
Eventually Nicolai Rudveck appeared, and was able to convince some countries to unite both sides, and thus bringing Babel into creation, placing the city as the symbol of peace.
**
The professor continued on with his lecturer for another two hours. At the end, Akira immediately ran out of the hall as he didn't want to speak with Germaine again. Now the next thing was finally coming up on his schedule.
He headed off to the library where he would learn further on Borrowers for another hour, before heading off to the café afterwards.
As he walked down, a very loud crowd began to gather in a nearby pub. It reminded him that there would be another Returner battle today.
He continued to walk down until he reached a sharp corner, where a rustic styled café would be waiting for him. It had sign labelled, Café Fortuna.
The inside was designed with a certain rustic appeal, inducing a strangely comfortable atmosphere that kept one incredibly warm. Despite that cosy and home feeling, there was a modern TV hanging in the corner of the room.
Next to the bar like place, a boy with dark orange hair—who looked to be the same age as him in a dark green coat, was waving at him intensely. He was being served coffee by a girl with long red hair covering her right eye, wearing a baristas apron. Like always, she also had a silver necklace with a cross around her neck.
"Hey Akira! Over here!"
He was slightly embarrassed that he was friends with him. This was Lebanon, his best friend in this crazy city.
Akira quickly took a seat next to him, but even then his excitedness didn't stop. As he did, he ordered an ordinary cup of coffee from the bar attendant.
"Your awfully happy, am I missing something?"
"Why couldn't you be excited for today!? Rank 1 and Rank 2 are fighting again!"
Akira had grown bored of them at this point. They would always fight at least once a month, yet the ranks between them had remained the unchanged for the last 7 years. But still, some people took joy in their battles, much like Lebanon did.
As the bar attendant finished brewing, she served it carefully to him while remaining quiet. Lebanon then spoke to her,
"Oh that's right! Your a Borrower too, Shinomiya? I heard your quite powerful! High ranking Returners make a lot, why didn't you become one?"
She grew annoyed at the question.
"I'm just not suited for it. The responsibility of saving others isn't my style. Your a Borrower too, why haven't you become one since you admire them so much?"
Lebanon then said while laughing,
"Oh hell nah! I'm too weak. I couldn't even pass the Aether output exam!"
His cheeriness turned into a sudden soft smile as he embarrassingly said,
"But that doesn't mean I'll give up. Being a Hero of justice was my dream, and I won't stop trying until I reach it."
Akira then sipped on his cup of coffee as he thought about his answer. Lebanon had something he was chasing, he wanted to become a Returner, however he was simply too weak. But even then, he still hadn't given up and was going to continue trying. Akira on the other hand, wasn't sure about what he wanted to do with his life. Even him going to University was something decided by someone else, and thus was not something he desired, so what exactly was his dream? No.. the real question he was asking himself was,
What was his ambition.
"That's right.. I was chasing consistency. An autonomous repetitive world, one where accidents couldn't happen."
Lebanon only heard him mutter something under his breath and asked him to repeat that, but Akira refused to say it again as he was day dreaming. Shinomiya on the other hand, felt a sense of pity towards him.
Lebanon then checked his watch, and saw that it was finally time. He nodded at Shinomiya, and that prompted her to change the channel on the TV to something called, 'Heavens Showdown'.
As it came on, a large arena filled with thousands of people was shown. They were all cheering for the fight that would go down. The camera then shifted to the announcer who was dressed formally but had spikey orange sunglasses, and had the wildest hair cut.
"ARE YOUUU READY!??"
As the arena chanted, even Lebanon chanted with them.
"60 years ago, the union, the creation of the Unison Council allowed for the justice delivering Borrowers to become legal law keepers known as Returners. But people were curious... who was the strongest amongst them? What does a real battle between them look like? AND SO THE GREATEST FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT WAS BORN!! A FUNDED SHOW SUPPORTED BY COUNTRIES ALL OVER THE WORLD, THE HEAVENS SHOWDOWN! A BATTLE BETWEEN RETURNERS TO RANK WHO WAS THE BEST AMOGNST THEM, A BATTLE TO DETERMINE THE STRONGEST! AND TODAY, THE TWO STRONGEST RETURNERS SHALL BATTLE ONCE AGAIN!"
Several yellow sparks of flame began to explode, as a man enshrouded in shadow started to make his way towards the Arena. As he entered, the light began to envelope him revealing his appearance.
He had tanned skin, and bright yellow hair with a tall, muscular yet lean build. He wore a tight black tank top paired with black jeans, which had a chain hanging from its left pocket. His face was.. well average, but it still rather rough from countless battles.
"THE CHALLENGER, GOD'S BERSERKER, RANK 2 RYUJIN BENIMARU!"
From the opposite side of the Arena, someone else was walking down from above, bathed in a white light for all to see. He wore a double-breasted white long coat with a cutaway front, rolled cuffs, lapels, and lilac lining. On his waist was sheathed blade, and his noticeable white hair stood out from his average looks.
"THE CHALLENGED, A MEMBER OF THE UNISON COUNCIL, GOD'S SWORD, RANK 1 EON CYPRUS!"
As he walked, he exuded a mysterious aura which captivated everyone. All those which saw him had their eyes fixated on him, all those who despised him had no choice but to admit how incredible he was. And all those who loved him, praised him even more. A presence which could only be considered divine, that was the kind of person rank 1 was.
The second he stepped into the Arena however, that fixation instantly disappeared.
Ryujin moved in front of Eon, at a speed no one but the rank 1 himself could comprehend. Rank 2 already had his fist raised, and threw it as powerful as he could.
The shockwave of a massive explosion vibrated throughout the Arena, as a massive cloud of dust scattered everywhere, obscuring the two. The announcer shouted,
"AND IT SEEMS RANK 2 RYUJIN HAS INSTIGATED THE BATTLE! LEAVING EON WITH NO TIME TO REACT!"
One half of the crowd booed as they called Ryujin a cheat, but the other side laughed at the sudden change in pace.
Ryujin jumped out of the dust cloud and quickly landed back onto the ground, as Eon slowly walked out with his silver sword in hand. He had reacted and even blocked the surprise attack.
"Number 2, what are you doing."
"Playing dirty? Playing fair? IT DOSEN'T MATTER IF IT'S AGAINST YOU, NUMBER 1!"
Ryujin began to release his orange Aether, causing the air to shake just at the sight of his power. He took one step, and the ground beneath him began to vibrate before forming fissures and breaking open.
And then he charged at Eon once more while shouting a battle cry. Eon raised his blade as he released his own blue Aether, preparing to cut him down.
A short while later, Ryujin's badly beaten body laid in the ground for all to see. The fight had not even lasted longer than a minute.
Eon just pathetically looked at Ryujin before slowly walking away from the arena, disappointed from the outcome. And thus brought Eon's 56th official victory out of their 56 total fights.