Kai suddenly had a thought—no, a realization.
He was in an anime.
How else could you explain this chaos? Bloody goblins, teenagers with superpowers, combo attacks, and exploding heads. He took a few dazed steps forward, mouth agape.
'Everybody's got powers. This is so cool.'
Sure, not everyone was fighting—some were huddled in the back like traumatized potatoes, eyes shut tight, praying this was all a bad dream. But the brave ones? Oh, they were loving it. They were the main cast now.
Kai could feel that weird sensation again—like something was trying to seep into him—but he ignored it.
There were cooler things to focus on. Like not stepping on mangled corpses while getting a front-row seat to live-action anime.
He turned toward the last two goblins, who were now squared off against half a dozen humans. A hush fell over the room, thick with anticipation.
Then—
A goblin shrieked and charged, wild and desperate, toward a girl with a solid, athletic build. She didn't flinch.
Instead, she raised her hand and shouted, "Now!"
From her side, another girl thrust out her own hand—fire burst from her palm in a stream of orange heat. It wasn't a massive wall of flame, but it was enough to make Kai's eyebrows rise.
At that same instant, a swirling gust of jade-green wind exploded from the first girl's palm, catching the fire and whipping it into a blazing inferno.
The fire surged forward like a living beast—hungry, fast, and absolutely pissed.
The goblin didn't even get to scream before it was swallowed whole.
"Shit!"
Kai muttered, eyes wide as he watched the goblin get turned into roast pork. The way those two girls had combined their powers—fire and wind—to create that raging inferno?
Genius.
The goblin hadn't even had time to regret its life choices. Just one second of screaming, then poof—crispy.
The last remaining goblin looked around in panic, glancing between the scorched remains of its comrade and the humans closing in.
For a brief moment, Kai thought the little freak might develop a brain cell and reconsider its life path.
Nope.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, the green bastard let out a screech and charged a tall boy standing off to the side.
This guy… he was built. Not just buff like a gym bro, but that calm kind of strong—like a monk who could casually bench-press a bear. His expression was unreadable, serene even, like he'd already calculated ten steps ahead.
The goblin roared.
The boy? He just raised a single hand and murmured something under his breath.
Boom.
Chains—pure white and crackling with electric-blue light—materialized from all directions, like divine punishment from the heavens. They shot forward with terrifying precision, wrapping around the goblin's limbs and body before slamming it into the ground.
The creature thrashed and snarled, trying to break free.
The chains didn't budge.
Not even a wiggle.
It turned its fury to the boy, spitting and growling.
The boy didn't flinch. Didn't blink. Didn't even bother acknowledging it. Just stood there, calm and composed, like this was all beneath him.
Kai stared, absolutely mesmerized.
"Wow, look at this protagonist wannabe… tsk, tsk..."
Kai muttered under his breath, arms crossed like a critic watching a B-tier rom-com.
He knew this archetype all too well—from years of deep, soul-searching anime research. The brooding pretty-boy with mysterious powers and an emotional range of a teaspoon.
The one girls fawn over just because he smirks twice per season.
Now that Kai took a good look at him, sure, the guy was a little handsome. Tall, muscular, flowing brown hair, those annoyingly vibrant green eyes—classic main-character material.
Still, obviously not as handsome as Kai.
No way.
Kai puffed his chest a bit, already imagining a dramatic confrontation. Maybe a rivalry arc, maybe a reluctant team-up episode. Maybe even a love triangle. Oh god. Hopefully not that.
But then, the boy turned. Just slightly.
Their eyes met.
Kai froze.
'Shit. Did he hear that?'
He gave an awkward half-wave, trying to play it off like he wasn't talking trash. The boy's gaze scanned over him like he was a particularly uninteresting bug on a windshield.
"…Tch."
He clicked his tongue and turned away, expression unchanged.
Pop.
A vein visibly twitched on Kai's forehead.
"Okay," Kai muttered through gritted teeth, "I don't like this guy. At all."
Not even a bit.