No one knew how it happened nor why, but, it was a fact that they existed. Now, numbering more than 30% of the whole humanity, they earned the name of ‘Elite’. At first, they were feared as an unstable existence with immense power. However, when humanity's natural predator appeared, that opinion changed drastically. The ‘Elite’ were the only one capable of stopping the ‘monster’.
The ‘Elite’ possess what we call a ‘singularity’, a power not explainable by science, but could be akin to what we generally call as supernatural power. Ranging from very dangerous to barely useful or even utterly useless, each of the ‘singularity’ differ from each other. A few type could be mentioned such as psychokinesis, pyrokinesis, noise manipulation, water manipulation and much more. A fact remains, though, that an ‘Elite’ can only own one ‘singularity’.
They were also born with what we call an ‘Aura’. Similarly not explainable by science, it may be easier to visualize it as the same to what is referred to as 'mana' inside game and manga. The more one trained it, the more it increases, not only on quantity, but also on quality. Nevertheless, it had only two capacities.
One, it augments the overall physical ability of its user upon activation. Two, it covers the entirety of the user's body and protect it from harm. It is said that if an ‘Elite’ were to train their ‘Aura’ enough, he/she could transcend the speed at which a normal human could see and even resist receiving a nuke head on.
On the bad side, however, is the fact that the ‘Elite’ are on a minority inside the humanity.
After all, being only partially genetic, even the child of two ‘Elite’ had a relatively small chance of awakening to be a ‘Elite’ himself/herself. Though, if one were to be optimistic, it could also be said that every child in the world had the same equal chance at awakening to power.
...
*Sigh*
A single girl sighed to herself. She had black long hair about waist length and dark blue eyes. Her feature was undoubtedly perfect and showed to anyone seeing her a beautiful appearance. Aging around sixteen years old, she wore a school uniform and was visibly bored.
Her name was Rin Kagane.
She was currently inside a classroom, hearing about the general information of the ‘Elite’ from their teacher. She, however, wasn't really interested about it, as she was sure that whatever the teacher was saying, she already knew. After all, she was born inside one of the few families in this world that ever accomplished the feat of being an 'Elite-only family'.
'How much longer is this going to take?' She thought with a fed up expression.
Knowing that the class wouldn't end any time soon, Rin stared off toward a nearby window and decided to dive into her memory.
Three years have now passed since she leaved her family's mansion. A lot of things happened in that time. She still continued her training every day, but, with the addition of new opponent coming at her. She also continued her pursuit of knowledge by reading books, and by going to different kind of places here and there to expand her horizon. As a byproduct, she encountered various kind of people.
However, the most notable change was that she wasn't in the Ode continent anymore. When she told her mother that she wished to leave the house, she really didn't think they'd send her so farther away from the mansion. At most, she thought they'd only send her to another prefecture, and never imagined that she would be sent abroad.
‘That was just more proof of how much they didn't want me. Although, it did help me out at the end.’
Rin was sent to the big commercial city, Myriad.
She was currently living alone, but her family still covered her expanse to some extent. After all, the Kagane family was a prestigious family, if the news were to go out that they cast away one of their child just like that, the shame on them would be enormous. That's why they didn't dare to let Rin live completely on her own.
‘Though, I can live on my own just fine.’
♪ Ding Dong ♪
The bell rang, signaling the end of today's lesson.
Feeling relief finally washing over her, Rin began to pack her thing.
“Hey, Rin,” a single girl called out to her. “How about we go home together?”
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“Celia,” Rin turned around to see the owner of the voice. “Okay, just wait up a little.”
Celia Kail.
It was a girl a little shorter than her, with orange colored hair about shoulder length, and red eyes. She was one of the few, if not the only, friend that Rin had in this school.
Bright and cheerful, but also a little shy around the edge, she had around the same age as Rin and liked to hang out with her. An action greatly appreciated, as even Rin didn't want her school life to be that of a loner.
As a matter of fact, Celia was the only person, inside Rin's class, that was supposedly 'courageous' enough to talk to her. The reason being that, from her classmate's point of view, Rin exuded some kind of superior aura around her. Rin was, after all, not only the holder of the highest score around her grade, but also, one of the greatest talent in sports activities. Plus, she was really good on all other kind of things, like music, art, dance, etc... Adding to that her natural beauty, some rumor was even created that she was a goddess in human's clothing.
That's why, to Rin's dismay, no one dared to talk to her except for Celia. She really wanted to say to her classmate that she wasn't that good and, that if one were willing to spend the effort, they wouldn't be that far off behind her. Alas, she was sure that the typical ‘Don't be so humble’ would be her response.
“Shall we go, Celia?”
Rin finished packing her thing and headed out of the classroom, with Celia closely following her. As per usual, the boy and the girl's glare were sneakily focusing on them.
“You really are popular, huh, Rin.” Celia whined, a little envious.
“So it seems.” Rin responded with a flat voice. “I can't really do anything about it.”
“You're not going to deny it?” Celia pouted as she looked at Rin. “Shouldn't your response be like, they're also looking my way and not only yours?”
“...” Rin briefly looked toward Celia, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. “I don't like to lie.”
“Ugh! Please say that I am popular too!!”
“I repeat: I don't like to lie.”
“Waaaa! Why are you so mean!”
With these kind of conversation, the two of them continued advancing. The sun was already setting and the night was beginning to surface. Rin and Celia's home weren't that far apart from each other but they weren't close by either. That's why they needed to part way at some point.
“Well, I'll see you tomorrow,” Rin lightly waved at Celia's direction. “Celia.”
“Yeah,” Her friend departed while also looking at her. “See you tomorrow.”
◇
Rin arrived at her home.
No one else was inside the house and it was eerily silent.
‘So big yet so quiet.’ She thought, depreciatingly.
Rin was, in a way, the daughter of rich people. As such, even if her family hated her, her supposedly 'cheap house' was still a fairly a big one. However, it did have the wanted effect on her, as the largeness of her home always made her lonely whenever she was there.
She would have preferred if it was a smaller one.
*Sigh*
Rin sighed and advanced slowly as she threw her bag on a nearby chair. She then changed her current clothes to some lightweight one that was appropriate for exercise. After about thirty minute later, she decided to head out once more.
It was already night. Darkness filled the road. Some people still wandered the street, but, it was considerably less than in the morning. Rin marched among them.
Rin had school the next day, so, she normally needed to sleep early. However, as she knew by experience that she couldn't get an ounce of sleep at such hour, she headed toward one of her favorite place.
Shi Ling's dojo.
◇
Reaching the front door of her destination, Rin stepped in without hesitation, only to be greeted by the sight of many student practicing together under the guidance of one person.
‘He look so busy.’
Rin thought as she looked toward the man that was teaching the student. Shi Ling. He was around his thirties and was the owner of this dojo.
Not wanting to bother him, Rin advanced toward a corner of the room and seated there, quietly. She watched the many people before her, training their martial art. Some were really serious about it, other were so tired they couldn't move anymore. There were also those that were doing it half-backedly, and some that didn't even know what they were supposed to do.
A little while later, Shi Ling finally noticed Rin's presence and rushed to her with an annoyed face.
“What are you doing here!?” He shouted showing his anger.
“I was bored,” Rin simply shrugged and answered. “So I thought I could help you.”
“Please,” the man put a hand on his face as his headache began to rise. “Just, go to sleep. I don't need your help.”
Rin then looked behind him to see the messy group of people. “...Are you sure?”
Shi Ling's dojo and Rin's history date from when she first came in Myriad city. Rin searched for a place to train herself art and happened to stumble on this place. At first, it was just small dojo where barely anyone came in, but as Shi Ling's teaching were pretty good, Rin still decided to be under his guidance. As time passed, though, and with Rin's monstrous learning ability, she quickly became more proficient than him.
However, by that time, for unknown reason (mostly because of Rin's beautiful appearance), many more people came under Shi Ling's dojo. So many much more, in fact, that the small dojo couldn't contain all of them. That's why Shi Ling was always so busy when he worked.
“This is your fault to begin with, you know.” Shi Ling complained as he, too, looked toward the people behind him. “If you would just stop coming here.”
That's right, this was Rin's fault. Although, she clearly hasn't anything to learn anymore from the dojo, she still come by at least one times a weak. Effectively bringing more and more people to the dojo. As to why she's doing it, she just found it funny to see the middle aged man at his wit's end.
“Not happening.” Rin declared flatly. “I like coming to this place, so let me help.”
“You really are...” The man growled. “Fine!”
Rin smirked at that response, as if she knew it would happen. She then stood up, and walked toward the student. Rin's level of martial art was already superior to Shi Ling's, that's why she could be the professor instead of him.
“Well then, guys,” Rin clapped her hand and, as if entranced, everyone in the room looked at her. “Time to listen to me.”
Rin said to Shi Ling that she was going to help, but, her primary objective was to have a sparring partner. Certainly, everyone here was less competent than her, so she probably couldn't learn anything by fighting one of them. However, if all of them were to come at her at the same time, it would be a different story.
“Let us have a little spar, everyone.” Rin said with a smile.
The people that was regularly visiting the dojo already knew what would happen, as such, they all took battle stance, preparing themselves for the incoming onslaught. The other people present were confused about the situation. Not for long, though, as they saw someone stumbling on the floor from a hit in the stomach by Rin.
“Your objective would be to beat me.”
They all paled instantly, as Rin advanced with a devilish smile on her face.
What happened afterward, was best described as a slaughter, with detail that should always remain to imagination.
◇
Rin returned to her house, exhausted. It was already midnight and she really needed to sleep now. School began early after all. Walking around a little, she first decided to take a bath. Then, after changing clothes, she laid on her bed. Her day ended there, and, after thinking about random things for around ten minutes, she finally slept.
Rin didn't have a single way of knowing, that the next day, her life would completely change.