In a completely different realm, was a very unforgivingly cold land. Thick clouds loomed overhead, dumping relentless snowfall like the sky was trying to turn the realm into a frozen tomb. Snow blanketed the ground, and thick layers of ice coated the mountains. Rivers lay still, frozen solid beneath powdered layers of snow. The wind howled violently, cutting through the air like invisible blades, as if nature itself was trying to tear the mountains down.
Not a single plant in sight. Life here was impossible.
Among tightly packed mountain peaks—each one drowned in snow and ice, not a speck of soil visible—the wind roared as if trying to shatter the silence.
Then, suddenly—BOOM!
A mountain erupted in a violent explosion, snow and rock blasted into the sky. Out of the smoke, a boy flew through the air, propelled by the sheer force of the blast. He landed hard on a nearby peak , skidding along the icy surface and slowing himself with one hand dragging against the mountain.
The boy wore a blue keikogi tied with a black belt. His hair was jet-black, except for the electric-blue tips, and his piercing yellow eyes glinted with excitement. His name was Pathro.
With a smirk, he muttered to himself, "Not bad."
From atop his perch, he looked back toward the demolished mountain. Through the snowy fog, he spotted a flicker of green light—an incoming attack. His fists glowed red, like burning charcoal, and with a powerful stomp that shattered the mountaintop beneath him, he launched towards the green light.
FWOOOSH—
A green laser beam shot towards him, thick as a football, but Pathro met it midair with a flaming-red punch. BOOM! The impact canceled the beam out in a fiery explosion. He landed on the ground, his fist cracking the icy surface.
But something was off.
The cracks widened—CRACK!—and suddenly, high-speed metal balls came blasting out from beneath the snow. Pathro rolled away just in time to dodge, the whirling projectiles tearing through the sky and changing direction midair, still targeting him. They were the size of tennis balls, but dense, spinning at blinding speeds and they launched towards Pathro t high speeds breaking the sound barrier with each sharp burst of sound.
Without flinching, Pathro rose and began smashing them out of the air with his fists. One after another—BOOM! BAM! CRACK!—he struck them down.
But then he saw it again—that green glow to his right.
Another beam was coming.
"You guys are really pushing me," he muttered.
He again turned his arms red , and he punched through the storm of metal and the collision caused an explosion. An explosion so powerful it shattered a nearby mountain, creating a thick smokescreen of snow and debris. The green beam followed but he was able to dodge it thanks to the smokescreen.
"They're keeping their distance and bombarding me nonstop," he thought. "They know I can sense them, so they're not giving me the chance to pinpoint their location. But this smokescreen... It might just buy me the time I need."
Far away, standing atop another mountain, a boy watched the smokescreen swirling around Pathro. He wore the same outfit—blue keikogi, black belt—but had brown hair and cold blue eyes. His name was Yukihiro.
His outstretched hand glowed with a mix of blue and dark aura, and surrounding him were dozens of spinning metal balls. He launched them forward, weaving them in and out of the fog and debris, ensuring Pathro wouldn't get a moment of rest.
But then—DASH!
Pathro burst through the fog at hypersonic speed, fist cocked back.
Yukihiro barely had time to react. He raised his arms in an X-block—BAM! Pathro's punch connected, sending a shockwave that shattered the mountaintop beneath them. That was just from a single hit—without the explosion.
"You really thought you could hide forever?" Pathro asked, landing beside him.
Still steady from the blow, Yukihiro smirked. "That's because you're a nightmare in close combat."
They both leapt into action, fists colliding midair. The sheer force of their clash reduced the rest of the mountain to dust. What followed was a high-speed martial arts showdown, each move more brutal than the last.
Yukihiro tried to drive a spear-hand strike into Pathro's stomach, but Pathro redirected the blow with a sharp downward hit and countered with a heavy spin kick on the left stomach side of Pathro, launching Yukihiro a distance away.
As Yukihiro flew, he shouted, "Now, Reina!"
Pathro spun around.
Behind him stood a girl—same outfit. She had long, flowing crimson hair and piercing green eyes. Her name: Reina. She was already charging a beam.
Pathro moved to dodge—but too late.
Yukihiro's metal had slithered up from beneath the snow and bound Pathro's legs. Reina fired.
Thinking fast, Pathro turned his hand red-hot and punched the beam, triggering another explosion that shattered the metal bindings. The blast created a crater, but he was free.
He dashed toward Reina. Another fierce hand-to-hand battle began. They clashed for sometime showing just how exceptionally skilled they were in martial arts. Then Yukihiro returned, and now it was 2-on-1.
Yet Pathro held his ground.
They clashed with blinding speed, each strike a blur of raw power and razor-sharp technique. Then, with a brutal burst of force, Pathro landed a devastating kick to Reina's midsection, sending her hurtling into the side of a nearby mountain. Without missing a beat, he pivoted and slammed a double palm strike into Yukihiro's chest, launching him into the same rocky cliffside.
Just as Pathro crouched to launch after them, a voice echoed through the air like a system announcement:
"Cadet 15-001, Cadet 15-012, and Cadet 15-014. Your allotted time in this Realm has expired. You will now be returned to the Academy."
A white glow began to envelop Pathro, his form flickering like static.
"Well, looks like training's over," he muttered, leaping toward his downed teammates with a cocky grin. "And once again… I win."
From the rubble, Reina and Yukihiro groaned, still catching their breath. Yukihiro managed a tired grin through the pain.
Pathro landed beside them and exhaled, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "Damn... didn't expect you two to push me that far. Honestly? I'm impressed."
Reina chuckled despite the ache in her ribs. "Coming from the guy who just wiped the floor with us, I'll take that as a compliment. For a second, I thought we had a real chance."
Grinning, Pathro extended a hand to her. "Better luck next time."
Reina took it, and he pulled her to her feet. "Keep training. Get stronger," he added.
She brushed dust from her uniform and raised an eyebrow. "You do remember this was our last day as cadets, right? After tonight's evaluation, we're full-fledged soldiers. No more 'next time' sparring matches."
Pathro smirked. "We'll make time. That is, if you pass tonight's final. If not… you'll be stuck here with the cadets for another year."
Reina shot him a sharp glare, clearly offended. "You really think I'd fail? After all the crap we went through in this hellscape?"
Yukihiro, still recovering, chimed in with a lopsided smile. "Yeah, seriously. I'm not about to repeat this nightmare. Gravity that makes your bones feel like lead, temperatures colder than a cryo-vault... I still adapted. Failing's not even an option."
Pathro shrugged like it was nothing. "It's not that bad. Sure, the gravity's 97 times Earth's and it drops to -190°C at minimum—but I wouldn't mind coming back here to train again."
Reina and Yukihiro both gave him a long, deadpan stare.
Scratching the back of his head, Pathro chuckled awkwardly. "Okay, okay… maybe that's not a normal take."
Reina shook her head, amused. "You're seriously built different. Your explosions were still blowing craters in the ice—even with the cold cutting your output by thirty percent. Honestly, that's insane."
Pathro's smile faded slightly as he looked off into the distance, his expression turning thoughtful. "Yeah… I felt like I was fighting with weights on. But it just made one thing clearer—I've got a long way to go. I want to be stronger. Maybe even the strongest Zunan Fighter in history."
Reina raised a brow and smirked. "Wow. Modest as ever."
Then she looked around, impatience creeping into her voice. "What's taking this teleportation so long anyway?"
"It takes five minutes," Pathro replied, stretching his arms overhead. "Gives you time to wrap up whatever you were doing. Unless you're just that tired?"
Before Reina could answer, Yukihiro leaned back, arms crossed over his chest, and grinned. "Nah, I think she's just tired of you bragging."
Reina rolled her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. "No, I'm just sick of the freezing cold... and worse, being stuck here with you two morons."
As their bodies began to fade into shimmering particles of light, Pathro gave a small wave.
"Well, no need to worry about any of that now."
And just like that, the three vanished—pulled back through the Realm, returned to Earth, and sent back to the Academy... for one final test.
---
This was not Earth.
It was a realm —an endless world crafted entirely by the Japanese Zunan Fighters for one purpose: training.
A desolate, artificial dimension cloaked in eternal clouds and constant snowfall. The cold here was not just intense—it was lethal. Temperatures pat minimum where as low as -190°C, sometimes reaching as deep as -270°C, but the average temperature was -240°C.
But what made this realm even more brutal was its gravity—a crushing 97 times greater than Earth's. Just standing upright was a challenge for most.
This wasn't some simple pocket dimension or hax-based space. No—this was a fully independent realm, forged from the raw supernatural power of Zunan Fighters themselves. Even if its creator were to die, the realm would remain—unchanged and unshaken.
It existed as its own world, and it was a cold hell for the weak.
---
Noon – Okinawa Island
It was midday on Okinawa Island, home to the prestigious military academy for cadets training to become Zunan Fighters. The entire island was under military jurisdiction, densely packed with buildings, dormitories, and training fields to accommodate the large number of trainees.
Cadets lined up at the outdoor mess hall, receiving their meals in turn. Their uniforms were simple: a blue t-shirt, black sporty trousers, and sandals. The trousers weren't tight—just right—except at the ankles, where the fabric gripped snugly to the skin. ("I think they're called joggers or bottom cuffs or something," Pathro once heard someone mumble.)
Pathro stepped forward in the queue, holding out his plate. The moment the chef saw him, his face lit up.
"Ah, if it isn't the Head Boy! You're later than usual."
"Just resting after my morning training," Pathro replied, casually.
As the chef scooped rice onto his plate, he nodded with understanding. Then, while adding some chicken and vegetables, he said:
"I see... sharpening yourself one last time before tonight's final test, huh? No one wants to walk away with regrets."
Pathro took the plate with a small smile.
"If I fail, yeah, it would hurt. But at least I'll know I did everything I could."
"You've got a point," the chef replied as Pathro walked away.
---
As he headed toward the dining area, Pathro thought to himself:
"I didn't train just to be sure of passing. I trained because I want to become strong. As strong as possible. In this world, it's not just about survival—those with power hold influence. They make the decisions. Power decides everything."
"As for the test… I'm not worried. I'm the strongest among all my classmates."
He spotted a table with two girls already seated. One of them was Reina. He made his way over and sat beside her.
Sitting with her was a girl with long blonde hair tied back and striking red eyes—beautiful, but her expression was that of a battle-hardened warrior. Her name was Yukari.
Across from them sat Toshiro, a boy with black hair and brown eyes. Handsome, with a calm and focused look—he gave off a nerdy vibe, though he wore no glasses.
As Pathro took his seat, he asked,
"So, what are you all talking about?"
"Not much," Yukari said. "Just the incident that happened in Tokyo."
"You mean the Zunan attack in Shibuya?" Pathro asked.
"Nope," Reina corrected. "This one happened at midnight—today... or yesterday? I dunno, time's blurry—but yeah, it was during a New Year's party. An Ichigan crashed the party. Literally."
Pathro's expression shifted slightly. "An Ichigan?"
Yukari nodded. "Yeah. It killed around 3,000 people before Sir Kazuma Kiryu showed up. It could've been much worse."
Pathro's eyes narrowed. "How did he kill it? Ichigans regenerate like crazy—leave even a single cell, and they'll come back."
Toshiro, who'd been quiet until now, cut in with a flat tone:
"Don't you think he knew that? While you were off training in that cold hell , those that were here saw the explosion. He sent the ichigan into the uppermost layers of the atmosphere—and detonated it."
"I see... so he removed it from land first." Pathro leaned forward slightly. "How big was the explosion?"
Yukari answered, her tone calm but heavy with seriousness.
"Big enough to trigger an earthquake—not just in Japan, but in parts of China, Russia, and South Korea too. Quite the firework show for New Year's Eve."
Pathro's gaze dropped, troubled.
"That's... not good. The Shibuya incident already raised red flags, and that was caused by a lower-level Zunan. But this was an Ichigan? That's on a whole different scale. Did the Zunan Fighters miss it in the Delay Universe, or... did it never pass through there at all?"
Toshiro leaning back took a bite of his meat.
"If I had to take a guess... either the Law is starting to lose its hold on our universe, or something—or someone—is deliberately interfering with it."
Pathro nodded slowly, arms folding across his chest as he thought it through.
"Zunans aren't transported to the Delay Universe through any sort of portal tech. It's the Law—divine in nature. The Flaming Angel created it to make sure Zunans manifest in the Delay Universe before arriving here. They don't show up in our world and then get teleported away—they start in the Delay. That's how it's always been. It temporarily holds Zunans for 10 hours before they find their way to this universe. And Zunan Fighters kill Zunans in that 10 hour window."
He looked up, his voice more tense now.
"If something's bypassing that law, there are only two possibilities: either the law itself is weakening... or someone's found a way to override it. And what's worse—it's only happening here. Japan's the only country with these anomalies. No other regions have reported anything."
He exhaled slowly.
"I've got a really bad feeling about this."
Reina let out a sigh.
"Whatever it is, I hope the higher-ups get a handle on it fast. Two major incidents back-to-back? The public's starting to panic—and I don't blame them."
Toshiro leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"We can't dwell on it. This situation's way above our clearance. Right now, our focus needs to be on the final test. Everything else is out of our hands."
"Toshiro's right," Reina agreed. "We can't fix the system ourselves. All we can do is focus on what we can control."
Pathro nodded.
"Well, the final test is just a Zunan combat trial. The records show a 95%+ pass rate for all previous graduating classes. That means most of us the Zunans we'll face won't be Ichigan-level. Most likely the Rokude type."
Toshiro clarified,
"What I meant is—we should go over everything we know. Make sure we didn't miss a single detail."
Yukari spoke up, trying to recall the briefing.
"Okay, here's what I remember: The test starts at 19:00. All finale cadets will gather at the open training grounds. From there, we'll be teleported into a realm... wait, was it the same realm or separate ones?"
"Same realm," Reina replied. "To make the test completely fair. But we'll be scattered very, very far apart. These realms are literally endless Afteall. The distances they can send us apart are so extreme that even light would take trillions upon trillions of years to cross them, definitely not going to be assisting each other."
Yukari blinked. "Right. Forgot how meaninglessly big these realms are. Anyway—each cadet must eliminate all Zunans in his vicinity in 30 minutes. Fail, and you're repeating the year."
Pathro thought to himself, "since our battles mostly take place in the Delay universe which is just an exact replica of our universe I can only think of one realm we will be sent to."
Reina added,"Also, the first three to finish get a cash reward to help start their lives outside the academy."
Reina smiled staring at Pathro.
"You'll probably be in the top three. Everyone knows you're the strongest."
"That's the troubling part," Pathro said. "It's obvious I won't be facing Rokude, well at least not facing them as the main threat of course. The aim of this test is to test our battle instinct, determination. What to do when forced into a corner. So it's definitely not the Rokude type which I will be facing and that's the concerning part."
Yukari replied "oh well whatever we will be facing, I can't wait to turn them into nutrients for the plants."
Yukari and Reina stood, having finished their meals.
"Well, we'll leave you boys to it," Yukari said.
Toshiro stood up too.
"Nah, you meant leave Pathro, because I'm out of here too."
Pathro gave him a betrayed look.
"Wow... so you're all just gonna abandon me?"
Toshiro smirked.
"Enjoy the rest of your lunch, Pathro. Afterall it is the last one you ever have on this campus."
He walked off, leaving Pathro alone at the table.qq
---
Pathro looked down at his tray, then up at the sky above the academy.
"We've been here for fifteen years. Since I was three. This place raised us."
"Being a Zunan Fighter—being a soldier—it's not as easy at it might appear. If someone with that kind of power had a family, they'd eventually choose them over duty. And who could stop them? Power like this needs to be monitored and controlled properly."
"That's why the government trained orphans. No attachments. No distractions. Just the mission."
"Some say we're being used...and while that is true to an extent truthfully? Most orphans don't get a future. This academy gave us one. It gave us a name. A path. A life."
"The only real downside was the fact that the training was intense. Fifteen years of it. Kung Fu, Karate, and Taekwondo. Four hours every day. On top of that we had academics as well. But after a while... it just became part of life. Like breathing."
He exhaled softly.
"And now... that part of my life is almost over."
"The next chapter begins tonight."