Sylvester was in the shower.

He liked to shower twice a day, usually. Once right after waking up to fully wake up and face the day feeling refreshed, once after training or some mission, if it came up.

It was about the second case, now. For training, just for that. Things were calm at the moment, though no doubt it wouldn't last too long.

He wasn't calm. Not even taking pleasure in the moment.

He should be thinking about nothing, letting the water run through his hair, down his body, eyes closed, mind blank. But instead he had opened the page with his stats on it as if it was going to show him something new.

Sylvester Sunderland

Age: 28

Player System

Level: 51

Considering how long he had been active, fighting for the world, if this was a real game it would be a shitty progression. It would be like being at the starting line after all these years. Years.

This wasn't a game though, whatever the purpose of his powers they weren't designed to make him level up at a certain rate, hitting his brain with dopamine and trying to create in him an addiction to seeing numbers going up.

Each level was something to fight for. As were the abilities that went along with it.

[Infernal Wings] [Level 3].

[A pair of wings with which to soar through the night].

[Anchor of darkness] [Level 2]

[Nothing compared to the weight of the world on your shoulders]

Yeah. The descriptions sometimes made him raise an eyebrow. If this was a product of his brain adapting as best it could to something external, something out of this world, then his inner self had a rather tasteless sense of humor. And he would have to agree with Cynthia.

[Shadows of the night] [Level 2].

[The power to store/transfer matter through shadows. Limited by visual range... for the time being]

And so a long list went on. In any case, he couldn't help but think back to the first conversation he'd had with Cynthia after the disaster on the island. That session where she had tried to extract all the answers and be satisfied, not knowing that satisfaction was beyond her reach.

"How strong are you?" Cynthia asked.

That was something even he didn't know the answer to. He knew what he was, but not what he could become, and that was the important thing here. For many people potential was something vague.

To him it appeared as statistics, progressing steadily and clearly.

"I can do a lot more things than you saw."

"Like what, for example? You said your abilities appear like in a role-playing video game, right? I can't see them, but you can read them to me."

He didn't think too hard about it. It was pretty much what he had intended from the beginning. Well, not quite true, maybe he had wanted to get that over with a lot quicker instead of giving such a thorough explanation.

"All right."

But he gave it.

2

In a darkness without light, in an unknown place, two shadows met. The rain was coming down hard, drowning out any other sound in the surroundings. These days it seemed like the rain wouldn't stop. They were at odds about it. One hated the rain, the other wished it would rain even harder as if it could wash away all the bad things.

"Have you seen the target? Do you think he'll join our side?"

"I didn't get a chance to talk to him, obviously, but I don't see why not. He doesn't exactly have great prospects for the future. As soon as he's no longer useful they'll execute him like a rabid dog."

The second shadow was vaguely surprised that they hadn't executed Ryan immediately, even though of course he understood that they saw it as an opportunity to investigate what they called Lunar Remnants.

"Sure. But not only that. I hope, at the very least, that he realizes which side he should be on. That he can't go back to being human, even if his outer form resembles it. Or rather, that he is already a superior kind of human. Just like us."

The syndicate believed Ryan was an isolated incident. Better that way, they would only reveal themselves, coming out of the shadows, when the time was right. Not a second before, not a second after.

They had to do everything right. For the sake of their future, which was the same as the future of the world.

It had to be the same.

"Yeah. And the world will change, like it or not. Sooner or later he will have to choose sides."

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Yes. The world was already split in two, even if millions of people didn't know it. The lines drawn on the map were nothing more than an illusion. There were only two sides.

"We'll be the ones who end up on top, naturally. Or it should be natural."

"That man, Sylvester, is the only obstacle. An anomaly." He wasn't one of them, but he couldn't be called a normal human being either. He was closer to them than humans, but he still fought against them. Worse yet, although he didn't want to admit it, he was the strongest of them all. "We can't kill him, but we can at least get him out of the way. How is the search progressing?"

It was one of the main reasons they were still in the shadows. They didn't have that thing yet. Possessing the item to seal Sylvester was the only way to even dream of defeating him.

"We just need a little more time."

Fortunately, it was true. Both shadows knew their time would come. But neither the old humans nor the new humans were known for their patience.

Naturally, anyone would prefer to get the reward immediately rather than wait for it.

Patience wasn't a virtue in things like this, it was settling. Painfully, agonizingly, at any rate, it was just that. But the time would soon come when they could stop settling and start taking everything they wanted, everything that had been theirs from the beginning.

"We'll seal him in for a couple of decades. When he comes out, the world will have been ours for a long time. Long live the true humans."

"Long live the true humans."

Yes. That's why they were destined to inherit the world.

3

Kaleidoscope.

Like most major cities, it was a mirror reflecting the face of modern society. To see this, one only had to look at the skyline. Before the appearance of the Lunar Remnants, there was nothing but skyscrapers everywhere you looked.

Earthquakes and other natural disasters hadn't discouraged humanity one iota. On the contrary, they had continued to pile up their tallest towers, as if in defiance of the gods.

The original Tower of Babel had fallen (if it ever existed), but millions more had been built to replace it. Mankind's desire to pursue progress at all costs, reflected even in its buildings, hadn't changed in hundreds of thousands of years.

But the Lunar Remnants had changed even that.

That's why Sylvester and the others could do what they were doing. Parkouring around the city, taking advantage of everything they could to get around it, jumping from building to building.

The large skyscrapers hadn't been completely removed, but relatively few remained, and buildings of a more conservative size were scattered all over the place despite the size of the city.

The skyline was quite unbalanced as a result. Sudden ups and downs. It wasn't entirely possible to traverse the city without touching the ground, from building to building, like this. Without the aid of his powers.

But in time it would be possible. Facing the enormous threat of the Lunar Remnants, humanity had chosen to shrink in on itself rather than continue to stack its defiant towers, even flee underground. Skyscrapers made little sense when they were nothing more than a hazard that could be toppled every few months...or even weeks.

That was the situation humanity found itself in this century. That was how bad things were.

But they could get even worse. That was why Sylvester was fighting, though he wasn't sure if he would ever be rewarded. He had planted his feet and stood his ground for years in which he had only lost important things, with no hope of winning.

So, now that Ryan was here, now that he had a sense that he could touch victory with his fingertips, how could he ever throw in the towel?

Quite the contrary, he felt more alive than ever.

Running through the city.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, feeling almost as if he were flying.

Running along the billboards, trying not to damage them, he had a civic responsibility.

Taking advantage of everything within reach of his hands and feet. Beams, loose wires, windows, pipes, air conditioners whirring on facades. Anything but his powers. He was doing this pretty much as a normal human being would.

Proof of this was that Cynthia and Ryan were keeping up with him. With some difficulty, but getting there. When he finally decided he was okay and stopped, he wasn't tired, but he couldn't say the same for them.

"You have wings. Why do you need to put so much effort into this?" Ryan asked him the million dollar question.

"You have cars, what do you need to try so hard to run for?"

"Okay. Good point... Sort of, but I don't feel like discussing it."

Sylvester wondered if Ryan would have said that he didn't really have a car, let alone cars, he didn't have the money for that much. Otherwise he wouldn't have gotten into a ring with a lion in the first place.

"There's another reason, if you're so interested."

"Oh, is that so?"

"A hero running around town is more human than a strange thing on black wings." You'd have to be pretty sick in the head to try to imitate him, but at least the former was something you could imagine doing. "People need hope, someone to look up to. No more reasons to be afraid. And a lot of people are afraid of me anyway."

"No wonder, boss, no wonder."

"Ha. You want to repeat the route?"

It was just a joke, but Cynthia made a face like she was afraid he was going to ask her that.

"And that's why we're touring the city for real, not in a virtual environment?" Ryan asked.

"You said it."

"Okay. I guess I understand. Anyway, it feels good to get some fresh air." He took a deep breath.

"What do we do now?" Cynthia asked, her hands on her knees, still out of breath. It was clear that she didn't feel like going on, but she had still asked him that question instead of enjoying the break.

He had two very stubborn students. And very strong-willed.

They would need that if they were to survive by his side.

"How about you come and get me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Both of you, of course. Without holding back. Otherwise it wouldn't be fun.

They had done the warm-up, though many would say it was torture that counted as a fairly complete workout. Now the natural thing to do was to fight, right?

That's what their job was all about, at least.

Cynthia and Ryan ran toward him, Cynthia a little ahead. They were far from being a team, it would take a lot of work. But they were partners cornered by a vastly superior opponent.

Even if it was nothing more than training, they would cooperate out of the survival instinct possessed by any sane living being.

Sylvester took a few steps back, grinning from ear to ear.

"Let's dance, boys."

And truly his steps were light as a dancer's.

Cynthia had been the fastest from the start, so of course she was the first to reach him. And the first to take flight. He didn't unsheathe the sword, he repelled her with a kick to the chest.

Had it not been for a quick application of the rope launcher, burying the wire in the edge of the building, she would have fallen.

Still, he had tried to moderate himself so as not to hurt her. This was training, not a real fight, after all.

He then collided with Ryan in the middle in more ways than one. Face to face, knees to knees, grappling with their hands interlocked. Thankfully Ryan had cut the crap and put on a uniform, but under the fabric you could see his muscles tensing. He was putting all his strength into this struggle.

But still Sylvester was immovable.

Ryan was strong.

As was to be expected from the man who had defeated a lion with his bare hands, no special powers or great cybernetic enhancements, just very human strength and courage. Or desperation, which was just as effective as fuel to drive humans to commit such feats.

It was strong, but that's exactly why he had to say it. He was cheating him here and now.

"It's just training, but that's precisely why you have to take it seriously. This isn't all you can do."

Ryan frowned. He knew exactly what he meant and was considering it.