THE PRESENT
The classroom buzzed with life.
Laughter. Whispers. Gossip. All harmless noise to anyone—except him.
Kairos Aetheris sat at the back, arms folded, head resting against the window. The sun poured over his messy black hair, and his cold golden eyes stared through the glass like he wasn't really there.
But he was.
He saw everything.
He heard the cheating in the front row, the bribes under the table, the teacher's fake smile, and the boy two seats away planning to frame someone with stolen test papers.
He noticed it all.
And he did nothing.
To them, he was just the quiet one. The weird transfer student. The guy with the average scores, no club activities, and zero interest in making friends.
But that was the point.
They didn't know him as Phantom—the masked wielder of Absolute Zone, the first to conquer a Celestial Accord and survive its curse.
They didn't know what moved beneath his skin. What power pulsed beneath that blank stare.
He had enemies who thought he was dead.
Comrades who still searched for him.
And shadows… that were beginning to move again.
The bell rang.
Everyone rushed out, but Phantom took his time. He stood, adjusted his collar, and slipped on his earphones. No music played—he just preferred hearing everything else through a filter.
As he stepped into the hallway, a voice called out behind him.
"Hey, Kairos! You forgot this."
It was Selene—glasses girl, quiet, top of the class, secretly a tech prodigy. She handed him a book he hadn't touched.
He nodded silently. No thanks. Just a nod.
She adjusted her glasses and smiled awkwardly. "Still pretending to be normal, huh?"
He looked at her. "Still pretending I'm pretending?"
Her smile dropped a little. "Touché."
They walked together for a few seconds. That was all they ever did. Walk, talk a little, act like they weren't both holding secrets bigger than the school itself.
Then Phantom froze.
His eyes narrowed.
There it was again. A flicker in the corner of his vision. A distortion in the air. A mark left by a Celestial Accord.
Someone had used one.
Recently.
And close.
He glanced upward. The rooftop.
Without a word, he turned and headed for the stairs.
Selene sighed. "So much for a quiet day."
Rooftop
The air was colder here.
Standing at the edge was a boy in a red jacket, hair dyed silver, eyes glowing faintly with unstable power. His hand trembled as he held a small obsidian shard.
A lesser fragment.
Phantom recognized it instantly. He's unbound. Unstable. Probably doesn't even know what he's holding.
The boy turned as Phantom stepped out.
"Who are you?" he growled.
Phantom didn't answer.
"Don't come closer!"
"I won't," Phantom said, eyes calm. "Unless you force me to."
The boy's aura flared. "You don't get it! This thing—this power—it's mine!"
Wrong choice of words.
The boy lunged.
Phantom sighed, stepping forward as his fingers twitched—and in a single breath, the world around him slowed.
Black light coiled around his hand like a serpent.
"Absolute Zone: Celestial Accord."
The attack never landed.
Phantom stood behind the boy now, arm outstretched. The shard in the boy's hand floated gently into his own palm.
The boy collapsed, unconscious but alive.
Selene walked onto the roof seconds later, hair whipping in the wind. "You handled that fast."
"He was inexperienced. And loud."
She raised a brow. "You used Absolute Zone in broad daylight."
Phantom turned to her, mask forming briefly over his face. "Then we should clean this up. Before the others notice."
Selene's smile returned faintly. "You're still a perfectionist, Phantom."
He looked back at the skyline.
The world was starting to wake up again.
And Phantom would be ready.