Thirty-four years ago, an unknown phenomenon changed humanity forever.
It began on what seemed like an ordinary evening.
Without warning, countless glowing particles appeared across the sky, painting the heavens in a breathtaking display. People stopped whatever they were doing to admire the strange spectacle, believing it to be nothing more than a rare natural phenomenon.
Then the particles began to fall.
They drifted gently through the air before dissolving into the bodies of everyone they touched. Some even forced their way into homes, passing through broken windows and open doors to reach those inside.
Panic swept across the world.
No one knew what the particles were or where they had come from.
Days later, the impossible became reality.
The people who had come into contact with the particles began awakening supernatural abilities. They were eventually known as Bizarre Inhabitants.
Fear spread quickly. Parents kept their children away from them, while others avoided them altogether. However, as the years passed, fear gradually gave way to acceptance.
Not every Bizarre Inhabitant chose to use their powers for good. As crime increased, many were recruited into military and police organizations to help maintain peace.
Most people eventually moved on, believing the mysterious phenomenon to be nothing more than a strange event in history.
None of them realized...
...it was only the beginning.
---
3 YEARS LATER
In a dark castle in a dark atmosphere, a man who seemed to be in his late forties was sitting on a throne. From the look on his face, one could tell that he wasn't at peace.
A blonde girl who seemed to be in her late twenties entered and bowed to him.
"Sir, the teleportation field to Earth has been completed."
"Is that so?" An evil smirk graced on his lips and he stood up. He wore a black kimono with an emblem on the back. The emblem was a red circle with a red sword and red axe crossing each other in the circle. It seemed as if it was signifying war.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
The girl also grinned as several red glowing eyes started opening one by one in the dark parts of the castle.
The man's smirk only widened as he started giving off an ominous aura
"Let's set off immediately." He ended.
ON EARTH
People were going about their usual daily routine when—
"AAAAAAAHHH."
A terrified scream tore through the air, bringing the bustling city to a standstill.
Nearby pedestrians rushed toward the source of the commotion. The scream had come from a narrow alley
The first few people to get there froze where they stood.
A young woman lay sprawled on the ground, clutching her bleeding shoulder as crimson stained the pavement beneath her.
Standing over her was a dark, humanoid creature with the head of a wolf—
A dar-tandemon.
It wore a black kimono bearing a crimson emblem—a red sword and axe crossing within a red circle.
The creature slowly licked the blood from the edge of its katana, exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
"What the-? what on earth is that thing?" A man who was standing at the front of the group asked, his eyes wide with fear.
The man's words caught the dar-tandemon's attention as it turned, its blood-red eyes settling on the frightened crowd.
Its lips stretched in a menacing grin as an icy silence settled over them.
No one dared move.
The dar-tandemon suddenly vanished...
And before anyone could react, it reappeared directly in front of the terrified man, its blade already descending toward his neck.
The man's mind went blank.
'Why me?' He thought.
'Out of everyone here... Why did it target me?' He thought again as he watched the blade descend down on him...
He closed his eyes, waiting for the worst.
But then, a gust of wind rushed past him...
And the expected never came.
The man's eyes opened and the first thing he saw—
The dar-tandemon standing motionless with its blade almost touching his touch.
A thin line appeared from the top of its head to the center of its torso.
An instant later, its body split cleanly in two.
The two halves crashed onto the ground.
Shock spread across the crowd... No one understood what had just happened.
Standing before them was a young man with a katana resting casually across his shoulder.
He didn't even spare the corpse a glance.
"Hey Luke." He called calmly. "Get over here and pick up the woman."
"On it." Another young man—Luke—said, hurrying from the crowd over to the woman and picked her up bringing her back into the crowd.
"Okay everyone, give her some space so she can breathe properly." He said and placed the woman down.
The crowd slowly shifted outward from them, giving the woman a breathing space.
Luke stretched his arms as his eyes glowed yellow—an arm guard materializing around his left arm.
A radiant golden circle spread beneath him and the woman.
Warm golden light enveloped her body, and the bleeding gradually began to stop.
Meanwhile, the swordsman—John—slowly turned toward the darkness deeper within the alley.
He rested the blunt of his katana against his shoulder, his gaze fixed on the darkness deeper within the alley.
A grin spread across his face.
"I know you're in there," he said calmly. "Come on out."
Silence spread across the alley as everyone gazed into the darkness, waiting for whatever was in the dark to step out.
Then...
A low growl spread through the alley.
One pair of crimson eyes appeared in the darkness.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, dozens of glowing red eyes stared back at the people.
One by one, the dar-tandemons stepped from the shadows, their katanas drawn and their fangs bared.
John chuckled. "I knew it. There were more of you."
The metallic objects scattered throughout the alley suddenly began to tremble.
Bottles.
Steel pipes.
Signposts.
Broken railings.
Even abandoned scraps of metal vibrated as though responding to an invisible command.
The dar-tandemons lashed out at him without waiting for him to make a move...
And he didn't even care—didn't even make a move...
Not until the last second.
Several metals beside him suddenly converged and shape-shifted beneath him, forming a square platform.
A spring erupted from its centre, launching John into the air as the demons slashed at empty air.
Several metals lifted upward, swirling around him and shape-shifting irregularly.
Some of them reformed into dozens of razor-sharp spears and...
With a wave of his hand, they rained down on the dar-tandemons like a storm.
The spears pierced into some of them before they could react while the others either leaped out of the way or raised their blades to block.
The survivors snarled, some clutching bows as they unleashed a volley of arrows toward the sky.
John spun as the floating metals rushed around him, weaving into a massive steel sphere.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Every arrow that struck shattered harmlessly against its surface.
The sphere then descended rapidly and just before it struck the ground, it unfurled.
John landed lightly in the middle of the remaining demons, immediately reshaping the metal into multiple long needles.
The needles burst outward in every direction.
Several demons fell instantly while others managed to knock the attacks aside.
One spear was deflected toward the terrified crowd.
It closed in on one person before the crowd could register it was even coming.
The person's eyes widened as all he do was squeeze his eyes shut—too slow to evade.
But just it was about to pierce through his skull, something blurred through the crowd...
Clang!...
And the needle spun away.
When the person realized that there was no pain, he slowly his eyes to see a man standing in front of him—a gold arm guard on his left hand and a sword in hand.
He looked like he was in his early forties.
"Come on John, hurry up and finish them off. We don't have all day." The man—Taro—said with a confident smile.
"Sure thing." John chuckled as he jumped from the midst of the surviving dar-tandemons and landed beside Taro.
"He looks more excited as ever." Luke remarked, a smirk gracing his lips.
"I'll finish them off with this final blow." John said, straightening up with his eyes closed.
Every remaining piece of metal in the alley and already used ones rose toward him—twisting, compressing, sharpening...
Dozens of spinning blades formed, swirling around him.
At that very moment, John opened his eyes and dashed towards them with the spinning blades moving alongside him.
The dar-tandemons snarled, rushing at him without coordination, blades raised.
But just as they could get closer, John flashed between them faster than their eyes could follow, the spinning blades carving through their midst with sharp precision.
A heartbeat later...
He stood behind them while they stood frozen.
Silence settled in as everyone stared, confused at why the demons were just standing there.
John let out a slow breath, snapping his fingers and...
One after the other, the dar-tandemons split apart in pieces.
Everyone in the crowd watched in amazement at John who flicked his collar and started walking back towards them with a wide grin plastered on his face.
Luke had already finished treating the injured woman. The bleeding had stopped, and her breathing had returned to normal.
Slowly, her eyes opened.
"What... happened?" she murmured.
"You'll be fine," Luke assured her.
He helped her sit up before turning toward the crowd.
Meanwhile, John returned to Taro's side, his arm guard and blade disappearing as a satisfied grin plastered his face.
The crowd remained frozen.
Some stared at the bodies of the fallen Dar-Tandemons.
Others couldn't take their eyes off the three strangers who had appeared out of nowhere and defeated them.
"Who are these people?"
"I've never seen anyone fight like that before."
"And that man..." another person muttered, glancing at Taro. "I didn't even see him move."
Taro looked toward the crowd.
Before he could say anything—
"Hey there, people of Earth." A deep voice suddenly resonated through the street.
It was disembodied, coming from no visible source, yet its presence filled the air, reaching every corner of the city.
Then every corner of the world.