Allen stepped out of the café and surveyed the street. Crowds surged toward the central shelters in a frantic wave. Behind him, the university students who had been inside moments earlier were swept up into the same tide of bodies, while Alex paused just long enough to look back at him.
"Be careful."
Allen smirked, stifling a laugh.
"You should worry more about yourself."
"I am. If you die, I'm out of a job."
Allen chuckled as she fought her way into the fleeing crowd.
"The real issue now… is my clothes. I cannot act as Firmament unless my face is covered."
He muttered to himself while pulling a cigarette from his shirt pocket and lighting it. Stepping off the curb, he wandered into the middle of the road, glancing upward at three figures leaping across the rooftops.
"Bah… whatever. Where's the monster, anyway?"
The pebbles on the asphalt rattled irregularly. Allen frowned.
"Out of all the things it could have been…"
Even he staggered slightly as a tremor rolled beneath his feet.
"A subterranean monster… of course."
Two kilometers away, the ground split open. A massive worm burst from the earth, ringed with needle-like spines around its grotesque maw.
"At the very least… Category 2."
Allen took two steps. With the first, the world around him blurred; with the second, he appeared directly before the worm.
Several heroes had attempted a response—one lay crushed beneath a slab of fallen building, blood pooling beneath him. The other two cowered inside the remains of a half-collapsed structure.
"Classic. Let the weak shoulder the work of the strong…"
Allen lifted his right arm. A staff appeared in his hand, set with five stones. He grasped the staff with his right hand and plucked a single transparent stone from its setting; the other four vanished.
"You will have to forgive me, Mister Worm. I plan to end this quickly."
He rotated the staff and slid the transparent stone into the hollow pommel. The moment it set, Allen's clothes shifted into a pristine white suit: white shoes, white gloves, white coat, white shirt—only his tie remained black.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Allen."
He inclined his head with polite courtesy. The worm lunged, eager to swallow him whole. To the distant heroes' astonishment, Allen halted its charge with a burst of light from the stone. The creature gurgled violently, thrashing in confusion. They had no idea what he had done—only that the worm was now enraged.
Allen gripped the staff with both hands and lowered the pommel toward the earth.
"Neutral Emotion Armament."
White light surged from the stone, engulfing the staff and reshaping it into a luminous blade. When the radiance faded, only the pommel and the glowing stone remained recognizable.
Allen released his left hand, letting the sword rest in his right. With a subtle sweep to the side, he aligned blade and arm in a single, precise line. Then he tapped the transparent stone with his left palm, causing the blade to blaze with pure white light.
The worm lunged again. Allen leapt aside, sprinted vertically up the wall of a building, and flung himself forward—straight toward what passed for the worm's head.
"Lesser Star Slash."
The blade struck. Light burst outward, extending the sword to nearly two meters. As Allen descended, the extended blade carved cleanly through the monster's body. He hit the ground and swept the weapon twice more, spilling the worm's entrails and cleaving it in two.
Exhaling softly, Allen straightened the sleeves of his shirt and jacket. He retrieved a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and smiled to himself—careful not to look toward the two heroes watching in stunned silence.
"The seed is planted. What grows from it… depends entirely on what comes next."
With a tap of his left palm on the pommel, the sword folded back into its staff form. He began walking away, humming quietly.
---
The rest of the day passed without incident—except for one unfortunate detail. The quake had collapsed Allen's apartment building, forcing him to rent a small room at a hotel near his café. Once settled, he placed the staff on the table and rolled the transparent stone between his fingers, smiling faintly.
A knock snapped him out of his thoughts. He stood, smoothed the sleeves of his shirt, and opened the door.
A man in a black suit holding a briefcase stood in the hallway.
"Good afternoon, sir. May I help you?"
Allen already had a guess who he was dealing with, but treated him like any other stranger.
"My name is irrelevant. I come on behalf of the Heroic Federation. May I borrow a few minutes of your time?"
"Of course."
Allen stepped aside and gestured politely for him to enter. Once the man sat down, Allen took a seat opposite.
"So, what business does the Federation have with an ordinary passerby?"
The man opened his briefcase and produced several photographs—each showing Allen battling the worm.
"An 'ordinary passerby' like you should be registered with the Federation as a hero. The two survivors reported your tremendous strength and speed."
"I am hardly worthy of such praise. I only wished to test my limits."
The man shook his head and retrieved a document stamped with a red seal bearing the initials HF.
"The moment the upper ranks heard the reports, they ordered that you undergo the admission exam. This document grants you access. Preparation usually takes one or two weeks, but someone… influential accelerated the process."
"May I ask who this… influential person is?"
A bead of sweat rolled down the man's temple as he hesitated.
"Of course, if it is against your ethics, you need not answer."
"Do not worry—these are trivialities. Are you familiar with Calibur?"
Allen nodded, though inside him something poisonous tightened.
"Who doesn't know Calibur? S-Rank hero, called the 'Holy Sword.' Comes from a wealthy family, adored by the public."
The man placed the sealed document on the table and stared briefly at the staff before rising.
"Very well. Let me remind you: the tests begin tomorrow. They include a written component, a physical exam, an interview, and a combat trial against a hero. Depending on your performance, the Federation will assign you a position in the ranking. The only restriction is that weapons are not permitted."
Allen smiled.
"Understood. I will be there on time."
When the man left, Allen tightened his grip around the transparent stone.
"Calibur? So he sends his personal lapdog to fetch me… Still the same coward as always."