The light from the sky got brighter.
Too bright.
It wasn't the sun. It was something else—something falling fast, wrapped in beams of silver, red, and gold.
Then—
CRASH!
One of them landed right in front of the school gates, sending a shockwave that cracked the road and shattered nearby windows.
Dust exploded outward. I shielded my eyes.
When I looked again, there was a man standing there.
He looked maybe twenty-five. Long red coat billowing behind him. Black gloves. Sword on his back.
Eyes glowing like molten steel.
His voice echoed like a god.
"Time to clean this shit up."
He raised his hand—and the sword launched from his back and started floating midair.
Then it burst into flames.
A fucking fire sword.
With one slash, a wall of fire erupted down the street, vaporizing the frontlines of monsters in one instant. Flesh melted. Roars turned to static.
People started cheering behind me.
"YES!!"
"They're here!"
More heroes dropped from the sky like a coordinated strike.
One girl landed atop a fallen truck—blue hair, twin pistols, and jet boosters on her heels. She fired rapid bursts of blue energy that pierced monsters like needles through butter.
Another was a hulking guy with a tank-sized hammer. He slammed it on the ground and craters opened, swallowing entire groups of beasts.
One of them—a masked woman in a long robe—just walked calmly through the battlefield. Her presence alone seemed to freeze the monsters. They couldn't move. Couldn't scream. Just collapsed one by one as she passed.
Even Lex was speechless.
"Whoa… that's the top S-Rank squad. The Valiant Division," he muttered, wide-eyed.
S-Rank? Valiant? What the hell even was this timeline?
The sky kept flashing as more elite heroes flew overhead.
Thunder cracked. Electricity surged down light poles. One dude shot lightning from his bare hands like it was casual. Another had wolves made of shadows running beside him, tearing through anything that moved.
They weren't just fighting—they were dominating.
Within minutes, the monsters were reduced to chunks and ashes.
Their bodies disintegrated into black mist, like corrupted data getting deleted.
Then came the second wave.
The troops.
Helicopters thundered in above us. Dozens of them.
Rappelling ropes dropped. Armored soldiers stormed out of hidden trucks. Drones filled the sky, scanning, tagging, mapping.
"Zone C neutralized!"
"Engage cleanup protocols!"
"Deploy suppression field!"
Massive tanks rolled in. Robots with mounted cannons followed behind. They began vaporizing remaining bloodstains and scooping up monster remains with zero hesitation.
The heroes? They just stood aside, letting the army do their job.
This was routine for them.
The sky above—once blood red—was beginning to fade. The light dimmed. The clouds thinned.
Sunlight returned like it had been hiding all along.
The city was broken.
But safe.
We were safe.
My heart was still pounding when I heard the familiar sound again.
DING!
A bright screen opened up in front of me.
[Main Quest Completed: Survive the Monster Raid]
You have successfully stayed alive during a Class-B Beast Outbreak!
Difficulty Evaluation: Moderate
Survivability Score: Low (You got saved. Be thankful.)
[Reward Granted!]
You have received your first Esper Ability —
[Phase Shift - Tier 1]
Ability Type: Spatial
Description: Allows you to blink (teleport) short distances up to 5 meters instantly. Can be used 3 times before cooldown. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
I stared at the screen, blinking.
"I… I just got a superpower."
I blinked again.
"I just got a fucking superpower!!"
Lex looked at me like I'd lost my mind.
"What are you grinning like a pervert for?"
I didn't answer.
I was too busy smiling at the future I never thought I'd get.
This was no dream.
At least, I hoped it wasn't.
I leaned against the gate, breathing hard.
My body was still buzzing from everything—monsters, heroes, the Esper system.
And that power…
Phase Shift.
I wanted to scream, cry, and laugh all at once.
But before I could process anything—
"Yo," I turned to Lex, "quick question."
He glanced at me, eyebrows furrowed. "You seriously got hit on the head, didn't you?"
"Maybe," I shrugged. "Maybe I got smacked so hard I forgot how the world works."
"You did forget. You're acting like a damn tourist."
"Well, remind me then, you smartass."
He sighed and crossed his arms. "Alright, dumbass. Lesson one. The world's been like this forever"
"You mean the monster raid thing?"
"Yeah. Portals randomly appear. No warning, no logic. They can spawn anywhere—your school, a hospital, even your toilet."
"Great. I always knew taking a dump would be the death of me."
Lex ignored me and kept talking. "When those portals show up, heroes are dispatched immediately. They go in, clear the monsters inside, and shut it from the other side. If they fail—"
"Let me guess. The monsters burst out and throw a rave."
"Exactly. Monster raid. City-wide panic. Death and destruction. Fireworks and fucked-up lives."
I stayed quiet for a second.
Because none of that was part of my old reality.
In my original world, I studied history and economics. Not… monster portal defense strategy.
"So these 'heroes'… they're just government-trained military or…?"
"Some are. But most of them awakened. Random people—students, janitors, your hot aunt's yoga instructor. One day you're normal, next day you can shoot lasers out of your dick."
"I'd awaken just to try that."
"Of course you would, pervert."
Lex sat down on the steps, stretching his legs.
"You good now? Or you wanna ask more dumbass questions?"
I didn't say anything.
I was just staring at the ground.
Thinking.
Processing.
Because none of this made sense.
In my world, monsters didn't exist. Heroes were fictional. And portals? That was sci-fi shit you see in movies.
But here? This was normal.
No one else was freaking out. No one was confused.
They were scared, sure—but they knew what was going on.
And Lex? He was acting like everything made perfect sense. Like this was just another Tuesday.
"This isn't just regression," I thought.
"This is something else."
The sky. The tech. The way Lex looked younger. The Esper System. The terminology.
I was me. Ian Rover. Twenty-seven. Still had the memories, trauma, and sarcastic charm of a guy who lived through hell.
But this world?
It wasn't mine.
I hadn't just gone back in time.
I'd been thrown into a different timeline.
Or worse—an entirely different world that ran parallel to mine, where monsters and awakened people were normal.
"I regressed… and transmigrated?"
Holy shit.
That meant—
Everything could be different.
The events that destroyed my life might not happen here.
Or maybe… they already did.
Maybe they'll happen again.
Maybe I could change them.
Maybe I could rewrite it all.
I sat down next to Lex.
Stared up at the sky that looked so normal now, like it hadn't been bleeding red just fifteen minutes ago.
And I smiled.
"Well then… let's fucking go."
I was 18 again.
Let that sink in.
Eighteen.
No wrinkles. No back pain. No existential rage fueled by coffee and office abuse.
Eighteen. The age where hope was still legal.
And today was graduation day.
That's where I was heading before all this monster bullshit came crashing down.
Everything was too fast. Too unreal. Too… off.
System screens. Lex is alive. Portals, heroes, awakenings.
I sat on the school steps, blinking at nothing. Lex was scrolling through his holo-watch beside me, casually checking raid casualty numbers like he was browsing memes.
"Graduation day," I muttered.
"Yeah," Lex said, not looking up. "We were gonna take a group pic later, remember? With the dumb banner and everything."
My eyes narrowed.
"I don't even remember where my house is."
Lex scoffed. "Hit your head harder than I thought."
But I wasn't listening to him anymore.
Because someone had just popped into my mind.
My crush…
The love of my life…
Ava.