The sun was relentless, a harsh white glare that kept blazing. Not a whisper of cloud broke the sky, not a hint of breeze to take the edge off the heat. The mock city below shimmered, every glass panel and concrete slab radiating back the sunlight like a challenge. For all its undisturbed perfection, the place felt on the edge—like a city holding its breath, moments from disaster.
Kael didn't slow down. He barely even blinked.
His boots hammered the street, each step a drumbeat in the chaos. To his left, a two-pointer robot crashed through a fake storefront, splinters of plastic and glass raining across the sidewalk. It swung at him, the arm a steel club big enough to shatter bone.
Kael's response was pure reflex. His arm slashed forward, and from between his shoulder blades, a dark blue tendril shot out—DarkBind, weakened against the midday brightness, but still solid as iron. It snagged the robot's arm mid-swing, squeezed tight, and yanked. The machine spun off-balance, colliding with the street hard enough to leave a crater.
+2 Points.
He barely had time to process it before another bot barreled in—shorter this time, but built like a sprinter and twice as mean. A three-pointer with reinforced joints, and a blade where its arm should be. It lunged, fast and low.
Kael let it come. At the last second, he pivoted, sidestepped the knife-edge, and flicked a DarkBind strand at its knee. The bot's leg buckled with a shriek of metal, and a second tendril caught its head, slamming it face-first into the pavement.
+3 Points.
He glanced sideways as he moved, cataloging the others in the chaos.
Some weren't struggling at all.
A girl nearby twisted her body, arms lengthening into whips that lashed around a lamppost. She swung herself high, flipping over a charging bot. Another examinee—a boy with scales thick as armor—took a blow straight to the chest from a one-pointer, grunted, and smashed the bot's torso with a punch that echoed down the block.
Power everywhere. Mutation-types, mobility-types, quirks that bent the world to their will.
It didn't matter though. The robots came in endless waves, tireless and programmed for violence.
Kael ducked into an alley, his breath steady, and busted out the far side—right into the path of two more two-pointers. One threw a wild haymaker. Kael dropped low and wrapped a tendril around the bot's legs. It toppled, landing in a jumble of parts. The second raised an arm-cannon, gears whining as it lined up the shot.
Too slow.
DarkBind snapped out, drilled through the cannon joint, and ripped the weapon clean off.
Sparks showered the asphalt.
+4 Points.
Up ahead, a cluster of examinees were edging back from a three-pointer, its claws snapping as it advanced. Fear was thick in the air.
Kael sprinted across the street, a tendril lancing out, circling the robot's midsection. He braced, twisted, and hurled the machine sideways into the steel frame of a bus stop. Glass shattered; the bot's circuits fizzled, then powered down.
One kid stared, wide-eyed. "Dude… that strength comes from your Quirk? That's insane."
Kael didn't stop to bask in it. "You want to pass don't you? Spread out and keep moving. Don't bunch up and take each other's points."
They listened—at least, most of them did.
The next block was a warzone.
Three robots marched in formation down the center of the street: a one-pointer, a two-pointer, and a three-pointer, each larger than the last. They moved with mechanical precision, their sensors locked on anyone who dared get close.
Kael vaulted up the back of a box truck, boots skidding on the paint. He launched himself off jts roof, catching a brief moment of stillness in the air. Three DarkBind lashes shot out—one for each bot. The first struck the one-pointer's head, sending it spinning. The second crumpled the two-pointer's chest. The third clipped the three-pointer's neck, staggering it.
He landed in a crouch, rolled to absorb the impact, and whipped a heavier tendril up through the third machine's torso before it could recover. Metal sheared, sparks flew.
+6 Points.
He was racking up numbers now—thirty points, maybe more—but there was no time to count. The test was a blur of movement, a rhythm of violence and precision.
Ahead, a tall girl with jet-black, armored skin held her ground against two bots. She blocked one strike, but the second clipped her shoulder, sending her stumbling back.
Kael closed the distance, no hesitation. A DarkBind tendril flicked out, catching the attacking robot and tossing it aside like trash. The armored girl steadied herself, eyes blazing.
"I had that," she said, defiant.
Kael almost smiled. "Didn't say you didn't. Teamwork's allowed."
She grinned, rolled her neck, and lunged back into the fight.
But then suddenly.
The ground trembled.
It was subtle at first—a low vibration in his boots. Then it built, a rolling pressure that made windows rattle and silenced the shouts of examinees. Birds erupted from the fake trees, their cries sharp in the sudden quiet.
Then—a detonation. Concrete split with a sound like the sky breaking. The mock parking structure at the edge of the zone tore apart, slabs collapsing outward. From the dust and shadow, something enormous unfolded itself.
'The Zero Pointer.'
Everyone had the same line of thought.
It dwarfed the fake city, a colossus of steel and rage. Its body was an ugly patchwork of armor plates and hydraulic muscles. A single red sensor glowed in its head, sweeping the zone, pausing on Kael as if deciding whether he was even worth the effort.
Nobody moved. For a moment, fear ruled everything.
Some examinees broke first, bolting for cover. Others braced themselves, quirks flaring, eyes wild with adrenaline. A few stood frozen, deer caught in the headlights.
Kael's tendrils writhed behind him, sluggish in the heat but ready for whatever came next.
But before he could step forward, a streak of white light sliced through the sky.
Yumi landed beside him, the ground cracking under her boots. Orange light danced over her fists, her hair trailing cosmic energy like a comet's tail. The air around her shimmered, bending with the force of her arrival.
She grinned, breathless. "You're hard to find, you know."
Kael almost let himself relax. "You picked a hell of a time."
She flexed her hands, blue light coiling up her arms. "That thing's a monster."
He glanced at her, then back to the Zero Pointer, which was flexing massive fingers, the whine of servos building to a scream.
"We can take it down together. You attack, I control."
She nodded, the grin sharpening. "Don't get squashed, Kael."
The Zero Pointer moved faster than anything that size should be able to. Its hand swept down, flattening a row of mock cars. Kael dove left, DarkBind tendrils erupting to catch a chunk of debris and fling it aside. Yumi streaked up the other flank, a comet-tail of orange light marking her path.
She leapt, fists blazing, and slammed into the bot's wrist. The impact rang out like a bell, light biting through steel. The Zero Pointer staggered, arm lurching back.
Kael's tendrils shot out, anchoring to streetlamps and benches, launching him upward. He wrapped three strands around the bot's knee, yanking hard. The machine buckled, just for a second.
"Now!" he shouted.
Yumi dropped from above, both hands glowing, and hammered the Zero Pointer's head. Sparks and energy exploded. The bot reeled, its red sensor flickering.
Kael seized the moment, lashing his strongest tendril around the machine's throat joint. With every muscle straining, DarkBind glowed brighter with effort.
The Zero Pointer roared—a sound that rattled the bones and made the world vibrate.
Yumi landed beside him, panting. "Again?"
He nodded, breathless. "Again."
Together, they moved as one. Yumi drew fire, the light surrounding her flashing. Kael's tendrils wove a net, binding and tearing, slowing the giant.
Around them, the other examinees watched, fear tipping into awe.
The fight wasn't over yet—not even close— but for the first time, Kael felt the tide turning in their favor.
Shifting in their favor.
…