The rain hammered against the HeavenDome. Each drop heavier than the last, as if mourning the eventual bloodbath. Ninety-eight young Metas stood in a perfect circle, their faces caught somewhere between fear and resolve. Maybe even acceptance. The hundredth spot was left empty—a silent tribute to the two who had already chosen death over what lay ahead.
Lightning split the sky, illuminating Kouichi Kaisu's scarred face. At thirty-eight, he was the oldest competitor in Tekishaseizon history, having survived both the 47th and 49th games. His presence here was unprecedented – a special "amendment" to celebrate the 50th anniversary. The government had offered him a choice: compete one final time or watch his students die in his place.
The arena shifted, transforming from sterile white into a sprawling urban wasteland. Crumbling skyscrapers pierced the clouds like broken teeth, their shadows creating perfect killing grounds. The familiar weight of the regulation katana pressed against Kouichi's back, but he knew better than to trust it. In his previous victories, he'd learned that the weapon you start with is rarely the one that keeps you alive.
"Welcome to the 50th Tekishaseizon," the automated voice boomed. "Survival is victory. Begin."
The first death came before the announcement finished echoing. A young pyrokinetic, barely fourteen, burst into flames – not from his power, but from the plasma blast that reduced him to ash. Kouichi didn't need to look to know it was Shin Akira, the government's favored champion. The boy had been engineered specifically for this game.
Kouichi moved like smoke through the chaos. He'd trained twelve of these children. Had known their names, their fears, their dreams. Now he would have to kill them all.
A flash of movement – Mei Lin, his youngest student, manipulating gravity to flee upward. The girl's power flickered as the first power suppression wave hit. Her scream cut short as she plummeted nine stories.
"I'm sorry," Kouichi whispered, turning away from the broken form. The world had no place for sentiment anymore.
The first hour claimed thirty-two lives. By nightfall, sixty were dead. At midnight, Shin Akira, cornered by three of Kouichi's former students, detonated himself. The plasma explosion took half a city block – and Kouichi's left arm.
The pain was exquisite, total. Kouichi's world narrowed to the cauterized stump where his arm had been, the smell of his own burned flesh mixing with the endless rain. He stumbled into a half-collapsed convenience store, leaving a trail of steam where his superheated blood hit cold puddles.
The store's cracked security mirror showed him what remained: a one-armed ghost, skin gray from blood loss, eyes tired. The government's cameras would be drinking in every moment of his weakness. He could almost hear the commentators' voices: "The legendary Kouichi Kaisu, finally broken."
A soft footstep behind him. In the mirror's reflection, he saw Yumi Takeshi – sixteen, with the power to manipulate metal. Another former student. Her eyes were red from crying, hands trembling as she shaped a steel beam into a spear.
"Sensei," she whispered, "I don't want to die."
"Then strike true, Yumi-chan." His voice was steady despite the agony. "Because if you hesitate—"
He moved before finishing the sentence, his remaining arm throwing a broken bottle. Yumi deflected it with her power, but the distraction was enough. Kouichi's kick caught her temple, sending her sprawling. The metal spear clattered away.
"Your power is not your strength," he said, repeating the lesson he'd taught her a hundred times. "Your mind is."
Recognition flickered in her eyes, followed by understanding – and then nothing at all as he snapped her neck. Quick. Clean. The best he could offer.
Thirty-six hours into the game, only five remained. Kouichi had killed eleven of his own students. Each death was cataloged in his mind, a ledger of horror he would never clear.
The final confrontation came at dawn. Three survivors converged on the central tower – Kouichi, a sonic manipulator named Hideo, and Rin Nakamura, whose touch could stop movement.
Hideo struck first, his sonic scream shattering every window for half a kilometer. Kouichi dove through the sound wave, feeling his eardrums rupture. Blood trickled from his nose, his remaining ear, but he pressed forward.
Rin closed the gap between them both, trying to freeze them in place. But she was young, exhausted. Her power flickered like a dying light.
The fight lasted seven minutes. It felt like seven years. When it ended, Hideo lay broken, his own sonic power turned against him. Rin stared at Kouichi, tears suspended like diamonds around her face.
"You taught us to survive," she said.
"No." Kouichi's blade found her heart as her power failed. "I taught you to live. The world taught you to die."
The klaxon sounded. Victory declared. Kouichi Kaisu, three-time champion of the Tekishaseizon, stood alone in a field of corpses. The rain finally stopped, leaving only blood.
In the medical bay afterward, as they fitted him with a prototype cybernetic arm he would never fully accept, Kouichi made a silent vow. This system, this game, this mockery of justice – it would end. Not today, not tomorrow... but it would end.
He had survived again. At what cost? The answer lay in the morgue below, in ninety-nine bodies too young for death, too precious for this sacrifice.
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Tokyo, Japan. 2309.
What once might have been imagined as a gleaming utopia had been reduced to a wasteland—an exclamation mark of the brutal conflict between Metahumans that had torn the city apart.
Meta-Sapien. The most notorious group of supervillains. Perhaps in Earth's history. The name slithered through the streets like poison, a reminder of how quickly civilisation could devour itself. Their initial clash of ideological fervor had devolved into a massacre so profound it would be whispered about in terror for generations.
In the hallowed chambers of the Japanese parliament, power shifted. The Meta Resolution law passed not with thunderous applause, but with a quiet, suffocating declaration. To some, “Resolution” was merely a euphemism; in truth, the law effectively classified all Metas as government property. From birth, they were chipped, rendering their powers dormant and registering them in a Meta database. Those who resisted were hunted down—either killed in the struggle for their freedom or imprisoned upon surrender.
Prime Minister Noctis Ito IV learned this lesson in the most brutal way possible. Exposed as a meta-human, he was summarily stripped of power and then—in that special way governments have of making inconvenient people vanish—he simply ceased to exist.
Months later, the Chosen Five—an elite group of Japanese and Korean Metahumans—were apprehended after a relentless manhunt. Four were captured; the fifth, Facade, eluded authorities. In Facade's final act, he stormed the parliament, transforming those pristine halls into an abattoir, murdering legislators with a fury that would be remembered long after blood dried on marble floors. Only Sokudo VI, Japan's most celebrated superhero, could halt this rampage—their epic battle carving new scars into the very landscape of the nation.
Then silence. Both Facade and Sokudo vanished. A war with no resolution.
The decade turned, and with it came Saiko—a supervillain who didn't just challenge the system, but obliterated Prime Minister Shinsuke Abo and declared himself the new monarch of the Meta-Sapien terrorist organisation.
International heroes assembled. In 2310, war erupted between Saiko and the Japanese government. Metahumans aligned with the American government, including the superhero team known as the Ultimate Alliance, were ordered to assist Japan. The Ultimate Alliance is led by Saiko’s twin sister, Astroplane (real name Sakura Saruba). Superheroes from South and North Korea, Neo England, Brazil, China, India, Russia, Canada, and Neo France assist the effort to take down the powerful supervillain Saiko.
Billions would perish before the Ultimate Alliance finally claimed victory over Saiko in 2315.
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With the war's devastation fresh in the minds of Japanese society, Prime Minister Kurosaki proposed the Tekishaseizon, or Survival of the Fittest. His radical pitch mandated that Metas under 21 compete against each other, with the only way to win being the death of every other participant—friends, family, and foes alike.
A sole survivor.
The game was to take place in the HeavenDome, Kyoto's largest stadium, floating among the clouds with simulated environments. Each player would receive a bag of weapons, and their powers could be disabled at random intervals by the game master.
The government initially rejected his proposal. But in a world carved by violence, "no" was always temporary.
Years passed, and in 2330, Metas born in 2309 began to awaken their powers, rendering the Meta-chip nearly obsolete. Prime Minister Kurosaki, the chip's architect, admitted that stopping its override upon a Meta's 21st birthday was unlikely—a long-feared outcome.
Saito Itomi, a metahuman with fire manipulation abilities, wreaked havoc in Tokyo, igniting the Battle of Tokyo. For five days, the city faced a state of emergency, with widespread evacuations. The conflict concluded when a speedster named Slickstep resorted to killing all other Metas, bringing an end to the chaos.
In the wake of this battle, Kurosaki's Tekishaseizon (Survival of the Fittest) was enacted as a last resort for regulating Metas.
The first ever Tekishaseizon game takes place. The winner is Sugihara Hanae, a female Metahuman with telekinesis.
2375. A boy named Johnny Tarvis is born secretly.
The 45th Tekishaseizon takes place. The winner is an English immigrant named Michael Santos, a male Metahuman with the inability to die.
2376. A boy named Marcus Anderson is born.
The 46th Tekishaseizon takes place. This is the first game with no survivors.
2379. A boy named Ryu Samba is born.
The 47th Tekishaseizon is held. The winner, Kouichi Kaisu, wins with his tactical genius and would also go on to win the 49th and 50th Tekishaseizon games.
2380. Yoshimi Ichiro is born to his loving family.
Johnny Tarvis’ parents are killed in a “freak accident” activated by Johnny’s metahuman abilities. He receives the chip, admitted into a mental hospital.
2381. Marcus Anderson is exposed as a metahuman and receives the chip.
2382. Yuuki Hitomi, Tora Yamamoto, Misaki Tanaka, Nagase Tanaka, Rokuro Sato are all born on planet Nivius.
2387. Nagase and Misaki’s father goes missing.
2397. Marcus Anderson is captured and held by the government.
2398. A young girl, Alexa Kimura, suffers an accident from a lightning storm that destroys most of her limbs. She’s experimented on in a lab and turned into a cyborg. She is kept by the government.
Marcus Anderson begins a catalogue of all the Metas he has encountered thus far. He begins training with Kouichi Kaisu.
Yoshimi Ichiro is captured and held by the government. Ryu Samba is captured and held by the government.
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Tokyo, Japan. 2399.
Darkness breathed. Not the absence of light, but a living, pulsing void that hummed with mechanical whispers. Soft beeps danced between the rhythmic sounds of advanced technology.
Eyes—sharp, intense—burst open.
Mino Kurosaki emerged from suspended animation like a phantom rising from the depths of forgotten time. A green electromagnetic field cradled his body, lowering him onto the laboratory floor. Around him, a constellation of white-coated scientists and leather-clad politicians watched with the wonderment of priests observing a resurrection.
"Minister Kurosaki..."
The greeting hung in the air with unspoken anticipation.
Kurosaki's gaze swept the room—clinical, assessing. "Has it been a year already?"
He began to walk ahead, the others falling into step behind him. “I feel like I’ve been asleep for an hour. Sato,” he called, glancing to his right.
One of his aides, Sato, quickly moved to his side. “Yes, sir.”
“This the team for this year’s event?” Mino continued, his tone clipped but curious.
“There are more awaiting you in the lab. Being personally in charge of the hiring process, I—” Sato started, but Mino interrupted.
“What about Ishida?”
Sato hesitated, his expression faltering. “Oh… right…”
Mino stopped in his tracks and turned to face Sato, a frown etching itself onto his features. “What?”
“Ishida… defected. She works with the Metas now,” Sato admitted.
Fool, Mino thought. She never understood the purpose. He had given her purpose, given her a life. To throw it away… What a waste.
A profound exhale. "I see."
And then, as if nothing had changed: "We carry on."
The laboratory was a marvel of technological brutality. Suspended high above the world, cradled within clouds that seemed more like a protective membrane than mere atmospheric condition, the space overlooked the HeavenDome—a stadium that was less an arena and more a cathedral of systematic oppression.
Massive windows framed the view, a painting of horror. Below, the stadium waited. Patient. Hungry.
"Show me the underdogs," Kurosaki commanded.
Monitors flickered with the faces of potential victims, potential victors. Prime Minister Mino Kurosaki studied the roster. To him, this was a game of chess, and he, the master. Who will break? Who will rise? And most importantly… Who will obey?
Sato clears his throat to speak.
"First up is Tadashi Miyamoto, a 17-year-old with the ability to control gravity. Born into poverty in the slums, he learned to fend for himself after being abandoned at a young age."
"Next we have Reina Saito, a prodigiously talented 15-year-old hydrokinetic. Having been ostracized and persecuted for her water-controlling abilities, she has developed a cold, ruthless persona belying her youth. Reina has the raw power to command massive amounts of water through force of will alone."
"Two early bloomers." Mino interjected.
"Yes, sir. Then there's Daisuke Yamada, an 18-year-old technopath. Kidnapped as a child by a rogue South Korean agency seeking to exploit his powers, he can now control technology with his mind alone. Though left traumatized by the experience, it has made Daisuke extremely resourceful and cunning."
"A technopath is the underdog this year?" Mino brushed his nose with his thumb. "I have to wonder who the favourites are…"
"We also have the stealthy Karin Nakayama." Sato continued. "She has the ability to turn invisible at will. Raised in isolation, she is now antisocial but also a master of covert operations."
"And finally, there's Haruto Sato, an aggressive 18-year-old pyrokinetic. Hardened by tragedy and with a history of crime, his fiery rage fuels his power over flames. Though lacking discipline, his mastery of fire makes Haruto a wildly dangerous foe."
"Interesting," was all Mino had to say. Sato knew that "interesting" meant much more was going on in Mino's head. "Let's see the favourites."
"Leading the pack of favourites is Marcus Anderson, a formidable Meta with exceptional elemental manipulation abilities. Born with the power to control fire, ice, wind, electricity, and earth, Marcus is poised to be a heavy hitter in his Tekishaseizon debut."
"Another one of the favourites is Junpei Oshiro, a ruthless and battle-hardened 20-year-old telekinetic. Having evaded the competition for years, he was finally captured by our forces. Junpei is expected to dominate this year. His past military training makes him a tactical prodigy."
"Alexa Kimura, of course. Alexa's life took a drastic turn when she suffered a devastating accident caused by a lightning storm, resulting in the loss of most of her limbs. However, instead of succumbing to her injuries, she underwent experimental procedures that transformed her into a powerful cyborg."
"Ryu Samba. Born in Osaka to a Japanese-Korean heritage, Ryu has always been a force to be reckoned with. His extraordinary metahuman ability to manipulate gravity makes him standout as a truly exceptional competitor. Unlike the other, Ryu has nearly mastered this ability."
"Yoshimi Ichiro has telekinesis, but that alone is not what makes him a favourite to win the games this year. Yoshimi exudes an air of calmness and focus. He’s still under pressure, a mind like water. Yoshimi's agility further enhances his capabilities in the games. His quick reflexes and nimble movements enable him to evade attacks and maneuver through the battlefield with ease. He combines his telekinetic prowess with acrobatic maneuvers, putting him a step up over opponents who rely solely on brute force."
"An intriguing roster," Mino Kurosaki murmured, the words sliding from his lips like a scalpel drawn across delicate skin. He wasn’t looking at the faces on the screen anymore; he was looking through them, seeing the threads of potential, the fault lines of weakness, the sparks of desperation that fueled each participant. He saw pawns on a board, some stronger than others, but all with their roles to play.
‘Another year, another harvest,’ he thought. The Tekishaseizon. The Survivor Games. A brutal ritual dressed up in the guise of entertainment, designed to keep the masses docile, to give them a release valve for their discontent, a spectacle to distract from their own stifled lives.
He knew the official narrative: that the Games were a necessary measure, a means of identifying and controlling the Metas, those born with extraordinary abilities that threatened the established order. That they were a training ground for those deemed capable of serving the state, while simultaneously culling the weak and unruly. He had sold that lie for decades. But the truth, buried deep under layers of political rhetoric, was far darker.
The Games were about power. His power. The illusion of control. A carefully orchestrated display of force to remind everyone where true authority resided. He was the architect of this macabre theatre, and he was intimately familiar with each detail.
"One survivor," Mino echoed, the phrase tasting like molten lava on his tongue. One survivor is all they need to believe in the system. A single spark of hope amidst the crushing weight. He allowed a sliver of a smile to curve his lips, a predatory gesture that didn't reach his eyes.
Gravity, water, technology, invisibility, fire, his mind catalouged the underdogs. Raw, untamed potential. They might surprise us. That's the entertainment, isn't it? The fleeting illusion of an upset. He lingered on the image of Daisuke, the technopath. A child scarred. Perfectly malleable. Or perhaps... too damaged to truly control.
Sato stepped forward. "All participants have been informed," he reported. "Nearly one-hundred souls entering. One survivor emerging. They understand the fundamental truth of the Tekishaseizon."
"Do they truly understand? Or do they just think they do?" Mino spoke to his assistant without physically acknowledging him. "You know, the ones who make it through the Tekishaseizon are the ones who don't just survive the physical challenges. They survive the mental ones, too. They see the darkness and still choose to walk through it."
Sato nodded in understanding.
Mino's eyes never left the massive floating arena below. "The twists," he said. Not a question. A command.
"All ready to be implemented at your command. Random power disablements, environmental hazards, strategic opponent pairings… I believe this year's tournament will be our most thrilling yet."
A dark smile crosses Mino's lips. He turns back to the window, gazing out at the massive floating arena below.
Within its bounds, destiny and survival.
The 69th Tekishaseizon is about to commence.