The walk to Sora's middle school was peaceful for exactly six minutes.
The morning air in the district was crisp, smelling of damp asphalt and convenience store coffee. Sora was hovering around me, talking a mile a minute about some upcoming exam, her blonde ponytail swaying with every step. I listened, a faint smile on my face, enjoying the simple weight of a backpack that didn't contain dungeon survival gear.
Then, the air shifted.
A shadow stretched across the pavement, blocking our path. A man stood there, thick-necked and smelling of cheap cigarettes and unrefined mana. He was wearing a leather jacket that strained against his bulk, and his eyes—dull and predatory—weren't looking at me. They were locked on Sora.
"Hey, little girl," the thug rasped, a jagged grin revealing yellowed teeth. "You're a cute one. Why walk to school when I can take you somewhere much more fun?"
Sora froze, her hand instinctively gripping the sleeve of my hoodie. I felt her pulse racing through the fabric.
I stepped in front of her, my expression flattening into a mask of cold disgust. "Move. Now."
The man barked a laugh, cracking his knuckles. A faint, muddy brown aura flickered around his hands—E-Rank Earth mana. He was a low-tier Awakener who thought he was a king in a neighborhood of civilians. "Or what, kid? You gonna cry to your—"
He never finished.
I didn't wait for him to swing. I reached out, my left hand snapping onto his collar to pull him off balance while my right hand coiled with energy. I didn't let the lightning explode outward; I contracted it. I crushed the golden bolts into a singular, vibrating point of high-frequency tension centered in my fist.
My knuckles didn't just hit his jaw; they discharged.
CRACK-BOOM.
The sound was like a whip breaking the sound barrier. A flash of blinding gold light erupted at the point of impact, searing the air. The force of the electrical discharge sent a violent tremor through the thug's entire skeleton. His head snapped back, his eyes rolling into his skull before he even hit the ground.
He slumped into a heap, smoke rising from his singed collar.
As he lay there, a strange sensation pulled at my palm. It was like a vacuum. Without thinking, I reached out. A thread of his muddy brown mana was yanked out of his unconscious body, filtered through my "Sovereign" core, and bleached into pure gold.
[External Mana Absorbed.]
[Converting to Sovereign Current...]
[Sovereign Lightning Mastery: 70%]
[Note: Efficiency increased due to 'Abyssal' sub-routine.]
Haru felt a surge of warmth rush through his chest. His circuits were widening.
"Haru...?" Sora's voice was small, trembling.
Haru turned back to her, instantly softening his gaze. He reached out and patted her head, forcing a calm smile onto his face. "It's okay, Sora. He just tripped on some... static electricity. Go on, get inside. I'll see you after school."
He watched her run toward the safety of the school gates, her eyes wide with a mix of awe and terror. The moment she disappeared inside, the smile vanished.
Haru looked down at the unconscious heap on the ground. His golden eyes flashed with a dangerous, Abyssal light.
''The same fucking trash as my last life,'' Haru thought, his jaw tightening. ''Different world, same predators. If Sora hadn't been standing there, I wouldn't have just knocked him out. I would have erased him.''
He turned away, leaving the charred pavement behind. He had his own destination to reach.
A few blocks away, the massive steel-and-glass gates of his new school loomed. Above the entrance, bold silver letters caught the morning sun:
[AWAKENING APEX HIGH]