Kaizen had a deep frown on his face as he stepped out of the black portal, his bare feet slapping against the hard stone floor of the alleyway.
The bitter cold wind of the mountain was gone, but the disappointment clinging to him still weighed heavy. His fingers were numb, not just from the cold, but from frustration, he hadn’t awakened anything. Not even a damn flicker. He tried, tried hard. Stood there like a fool while the old man told him to breathe and focus and whatever else, yet nothing happened.
No spark. No chill. No mana. Just the same silence in his body he’d always felt.
He muttered under his breath as he walked, brushing off the stares of passing pedestrians. His clothes were a wrinkled mess, hair covered in frost, and he had no shoes on. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he looked insane.
"Liar..." Kaizen gritted, voice low. "Old, fat, lying bastard."
He stepped over a puddle, ignoring the splash soaking his pants. His jaw clenched tighter as his thoughts spiraled.
’He really had me thinking I was special... Five elements? Me? What a joke.’
A voice cut into his thoughts.
"Kaizen? Is that you?"
That voice. He recognized it immediately. His shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t turn.
’Not now... anyone but this idiot right now.’
He ignored and kept walking.
But of course, the universe didn’t care what kind of day Kaizen was having. Ice spread fast across the ground with a sharp hiss, and the person who had called out earlier slid across the slick surface with practiced ease, cutting in front of Kaizen and forcing him to a stop.
"So you got guts now to ignore me, huh?" the guy said, a cocky smirk playing on his lips. "Because you managed to become a hunter?"
Kaizen stared at him, eyes flat, unimpressed.
The guy’s name was Rulo. An ice realm user. C-rank. They’d known each other since childhood... not by choice. Rulo had been that annoying shadow always trailing Kaizen with a twisted grin and cruel games. He bullied Kaizen relentlessly, enjoyed making him feel small. And Kaizen, back then, had always just endured it.
Now though, he really wasn’t in the mood for whatever game this guy had to play today.
"Move," Kaizen said coldly,"I need to get home."
Rulo’s smirk widened. His tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek as he let out a low, mocking laugh.
"You grew some balls for real, huh? Talking back to me now?" He took a slow step forward. "What’s next, Kaizen? You gonna punch me?"
Kaizen exhaled deeply and closed his eyes for a moment. He looked like he was bracing himself for something. Then, when Rulo least expected it, he pivoted and took off running.
"Wait, what?" Rulo blinked, confused. "You serious?!" His shocked expression showed he clearly wasn’t expecting Kaizen to run.
But Kaizen was already halfway down the road, not sparing a single look back.
He needed to get home. That was all that mattered right now. His parents were probably losing their minds, and the last thing he needed was another fight he couldn’t win.
"You seriously think you can out run me? Pathetic." Rulo snapped his fingers. Ice snaked across the ground with a hiss, moving fast, faster than Kaizen could outrun. In seconds, it caught up and locked his ankles in place, freezing him to the ground. The sudden stop nearly made Kaizen lose balance.
"Son of a bitch..." he hissed, teeth grinding as he looked down at his feet, already starting to numb.
Rulo slid in smoothly, like a show-off at a skating competition, and stopped just inches from Kaizen’s face. His grin was still there, mocking, irritating, proud.
"You thought you did something back there?" Rulo chuckled. "You’re still powerless against me, and you know that."
Kaizen didn’t respond at first. His fists clenched. He could feel people nearby slowing down, whispering as they walked by, probably amused by the little scene.
Not the attention. Not even the humiliation. He hated how helpless he still was.
Rulo wasn’t just some random bully anymore. He was a C-rank hunter. A real one. With combat experience, actual battle techniques, and elemental magic. And Kaizen, he was just a guy with some fighting skills and a dagger that wasn’t going to help him here. The damn dagger wasn’t even with him.
He looked at Rulo dead in the eye.
"You’ve had your fun," Kaizen said, voice steady. "Let me go home." He was confused on what to do at this point, snapping was a bad idea, he’d just get beaten to a pulp. Running was out of the option, keeping calm was his best solution for now, but he was minutes away from loosing it with this bastard, and pleading? Absolutely not, no way in the six realms was he gonna beg this dickhead.
Rulo laughed again. "Man, I missed this! It’s been a while since I got to mess with you ."
He reached out and grabbed Kaizen by the shoulder. Cold instantly surged through his palm and into Kaizen’s body, creeping over the cloth and into the skin.
Kaizen’s expression didn’t change. He didn’t wince or flinch, he just kept a neutral cold expression, acting nonchalant, he wasn’t going to give Rulo the pleasure of seeing him in pain.
"You done?" he asked quietly. "That actually hurts. And I think my feet are gonna fall off any second now, so if you don’t mind..."
Rulo tilted his head slightly, the grin fading.
"You really not gonna beg?" he asked. "Like you used to?"
Kaizen didn’t say anything. He just stared at him. Calm. Cold. Empty.
Rulo’s expression hardened. His amusement flickered into something else.
"So you’re serious?" he said, voice dropping. "You think just ’cause you got accepted as a hunter, you’re anything more than trash? You’ll always be trash you damn freak!"
He stepped back slightly, then moved in again, faster this time. His fingers tightened around Kaizen’s shoulder.
"Let’s see how long you can act tough."