"MmmmoooaaaahhhhhhHHNNNNNNNNNNN!"

*crack*

After cracking his bones, Amano Ryuuya got out of his bed. He went towards the bathroom in his dorm room while yawning. He was never a morning person and had trouble waking up. That is why he was walking unstably. He struggled to find the light switch for a while and punched it on once he found it.

His black hair was a total mess. It was as if he fought with the bed while sleeping and it got a hold of his hair. The light was blinding enough for him as it hit his black eyes, he wanted to close them. He looked around absentmindedly and closed the door behind him.

His daily routine started with a hot shower to wake up properly. He tried to take a cold one once but as the cold water touched his skin, Ryuuya jumped and almost broke the shower curtain as he held it to not fall.

After a quick shower, Ryuuya prepared a humble breakfast with first class(!) instant noodles with gourmet(!) juice accompanying it with his usual grumpy face. He ate it pretty fast and changed his clothes. After one last stretch, he left his dorm room and locked the door behind him.

Ryuuya was a student at the prestigious TYRENT Academy. This academy was the best regarding the current society. It was established 3 years after D-Day. It was the day when the sky split apart. It was the day the whole world changed all together. On that faithful day, The Eye gazed upon the Earth and a strange light enveloped the entirety of the planet. It was just for an instant but it felt like eternity.

After that day the world fell into chaos. Seven regions became inhospitable because of strange cracks of light. From these cracks, 'They' came. 'They' only showed themselves as silhouettes of light but you could feel their chilling gaze deep within your soul. 'They' started to threaten the very existence of humanity with their immeasurable power. Just a single look was enough to instill fear. They never killed willingly. Only the weak hearted people died because of fear. 'They' only gave power to seven random people.

These seven people then went and established the 7 Clans around the world, under the guidance of 'Them'. These clans were: Heaven's Light, Infernals, The Purged, Core of Nature, Cape of Spirits, Bloodlust and the Dark Guild. Among these seven, Heaven's Light, Infernals and the Purged were the most powerful and thus ruled the other four.

But the chosen were not only limited to these 7. They were chosen by the most powerful of their realm. Other people were chosen as well, by the underlings and servants of these all mighty entities. So began a new age where the strong ruled the weak. In the chaos following this incident, several influential figures decided there was a need to keep these powers in check. With the help of the 7 Families, they established academies around the world. TYRENT was among the most influential after 20 years.

Amano Ryuuya entered this academy with a special scholarship. He earned his place with hard work and years of studying. His family owned a dojo so he knew martial arts as well but in this society where superpowers run amok, his skills were not that important anymore. Even after 20 years, there were still people that were not chosen no matter what they did. And unfortunately, Amano family was among them. Yes, Ryuuya had no power so he had to work extra to earn his place. But the Academy was completely different from elementary or middle school. In this academy, violence was encouraged to some degree. As long as students did not critically injure one another, teachers looked the other way. And thanks to his scholarship, Ryuuya was able to stay out of trouble for the time being. His scholarship was granted to him by the principal himself so nobody dared to hurt him too much. Even the teachers were incapable of acting as they wished.

That is why Ryuuya did not have friends, except for one. He was an introverted kid that aspired a different structure of society. One where he did not have to be bullied because of being powerless. His only friend was kind of like him in this aspect. He did not shun him out because of his powerlessness. On the contrary, he approached him because of that. He was also disliked by many because of his unique personality. And he was currently smiling ear to ear and waving to Ryuuya.

"Ooooi! Ryuuu!"

His pace was somewhat fast as he was taking big steps towards Ryuuya. He put strength to his arm as he put it on Ryuuya's shoulder and hit him.

"'Sup?"

"Hey man. Cheerful as always?"

"You know it! Hey you gotta help me man! I totally forgooooh!"

"Haah! Seriously Katsuki."

This person was Akagi Katsuki. A member of the Fire Branch of Core of Nature. His family had the ability to control fire, and so could he. He had the typical physicality of his family. Hair as red as fire and orange eyes. His height was average considering his age. Even though he was coming from a prominent family, when he was supposed to act all reserved and proud, he never cared for all that. He was currently eyeing a girl's ass as she walked past. He was a pervert through and through.

"You really shouldn't do that."

"Why do you care?"

"You currently have your arm around my neck."

"So?"

"Whatever, you perv."

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"Haha!"

Katsuki acted like he did not care at all. And to be frank, he really didn't! His orange eyes did not contain any hesitation what-so-ever!  That was why even the family didn't consider him as a successor no matter what. Because he had above average skill with his control over fire, the family did not banish him either.

They walked towards the school building like that, talking about various things. It was their usual selves. Ryuuya would grumble and Katsuki would try to cheer him up with his ridiculous personality, pointing occasionally to a nearby girl. Of course Ryuuya was not interested in acting like Katsuki but he still did not bat an eye on how he was acting. He was his sole friend after all!

They reached their classroom without a hitch and took sat down to wait for the homeroom. They a bit early as usual and there were other students as well. Some were looking at them and laughing but this was a daily thing now. They were long used to it. Ryuuya because he had no power and Katsuki because he frequently hanged out with him.

"Why do you put up with them?"

"Because I have no power?"

"I told you many times, I can take care of them for you!"

"Leave it. Just some trash."

"Man…"

"I said leave it Katsuki. There no need to-"

"Alright take your seats everyone!"

Their teacher entered the classroom and started the homeroom. He put his books to the pedestal and looked at the students. All of their gazes were on him. He was a middle aged man with spectacles and short hair. He was looking around as if he did not have any enthusiasm at all. He had pale skin and crimson eyes, general characteristics of the Bloodlust Clan.

This clan had the power of controlling blood of every living creature. They had the most control over their blood naturally and varying degrees of control over others according to one's potential. They had crimson eyes and pale skin color, like the vampires of the old. Of course they did not hate garlic and the Cross.

"Good morning everyone. As you all know, the school tournament is 4 months away so I hope you are all preparing accordingly. You all have some experience from last year so my expectations are quite high."

"Don't worry sir! We won't disappoint you."

"I like your enthusiasm. Other than that, we have a new student joining us today."

"Sir!"

A girl raised her hand with a flash and stood up without waiting for the teacher to call out before asking with a serious look on her face.

"Is it a boy?"

The teacher looked around the class, looking at the expectant faces of the students. He bid his time to build up tension. After around half a minute or so, he smiled and talked.

"Unfortunately, they are a 'she'."

With that declaration all the boys, save for Ryuuya, rejoiced and the girls were dejected. While all this was going on the student in question entered the classroom. Her long hair and fair skin were reminders of the snowy lands up north. Her eyes were as chilly as the winter breeze. Her stature radiating nobility and her expression expressing her pride.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?"

"I'm Shiro. I don't have a family name. I don't intend to be friends with any of you so don't bother."

"What the hell?"

Her attitude was chillier than her looks. Her tone of voice was condescending and this made all the students in the class angry.

"What the hell!? Who do you think you are?"

"At least try to be a bit friendly! This is not a normal school y'know!"

"Damn I shouldn't have fallen for her cute face! She is rotten to the core!"

"I don't care what you think. I'm not here to make friends."

"Anyway let's get on with the homeroom already. Shiro, you can sit in the front row."

"Yes."

As Shiro sat down the teacher started the day. But none of the students were paying their full attention to the class right now. There were even some whispers that planned something. Ryuuya, on the other hand, did not pay much attention to this development as it didn't concern him anyway.

So went on their day.  As the clock ticked, the time for lunch had come. Katsuki told Ryuuya to eat together and they went towards the canteen. As they left the classroom, Ryuuya overheard the other students talking with Shiro. He scoffed at it and kept on walking. Katsuki was still blabbering on about some girl so he didn't even care right now.

They had an hour long period for lunch so they were at leisure. They ate their meals slowly and decided to tour around the school for the remainder of the lunch break.  As they walked around, they heard some talking around a corner. When they looked, it was their classmates. And it looked like they have surrounded the new girl.

They were talking about how she was just acting tough and stuff, typical mob talk. And it looked like Shiro was used to these people as she was just acting like she was listening. But knowing these people, Ryuuya had an urge to walk to them and calm them down. Katsuki was a bit more on the defensive side. He didn't care much about what happened to the new girl. He was even sure that she would eventually restore her beauty. But Ryuuya could not stop when he saw a scene like this. He started walking towards them. He started speaking on the way.

"Wow! What strength, am I right?"

"Ryuu what the hell are you doing?!"

"Huh?"

"What the hell?"

"I cannot believe you'd fall this low! Cornering the new girl? Really? What are you, Yakuza or something?"

"To think you would come, of all people!"

"Get out of here before you break something, Discarded One!"

"You sure talk big for being a mob character."

"Shut that guy up!"

The students could not keep calm anymore. This insolence on top of the arrogance made their rage boil. But before they could attack with their abilities, Ryuuya rushed them. He threw punches and kicks, he picked up rocks and used them as weapons. He was nimble and quick. He didn't have a shred of hesitation and mercy towards these trashes.

Shiro watched in awe. She was shocked and curious. Shocked as this guy who she didn't know fought for her without any sort of ability activation and even held the upper hand for a while and curious as to why he would fight for her.

Ryuuya held the upper hand for a while but with only martial arts, one could achieve not much. Soon enough, the students activated their abilities and started pouring attacks on him. There was a lightning user among them and he used his ability to shock him, keeping him in place. After that, the students started punching and kicking him. One was even throwing stones at him. Of course Katsuki couldn't stay still while all this happened. He joined the fray soon enough with a battle cry and made his fire dance around, burning the students. Soon enough they ran away, spouting nonsense like how they would regret it.

"Ryuu!"

"Ugh!"

Finally, the lightning attack was still shocking him despite the distance. Ryuuta was still paralyzed by the pain. Shiro came over as well after the other students went away.

"You do realize that this all happened because of you right?"

"I didn't ask for help."

"But this didn't mean that you needed help at all! You have to pay back for it!"

"Haah, fine. I'll at least do this much."

She kneeled next to still constricting Ryuuya and reached with her hand. There was a cracking sound in her brain after her contact, signaling her success. The spell on him was broken successfully. But she was not the only person aware of this fact.

In fact, her dispelling was too effective, even a seal that a specific person put was broken as well. And that person was currently sitting on a high chair, scratching his chin with a smile.

"Well. That was sooner than expected."