They stared at Riven in disbelief.
Not just because of his strength—strong enough to make a grown boy bleed just from clawing at his shirt—but because of what he was.
An evolver.
Riven was their age. Fifteen.
That alone made no sense.
The window for natural evolution had long passed. Everyone knew that. Once that age threshold was crossed, no matter how brutal or life-threatening the situation became, forced evolution almost never happened.
Almost.
Casfer's expression twisted—anger mixing with calculation.
"So Riven became an evolver," he muttered. "And not only that… an elemental evolver. The same element as me."
Lightning.
"But why?"
Then he laughed.
Not a chuckle.
Not a scoff.
A full, unhinged laugh burst from his chest, sharp and manic, catching everyone off guard.
The group's healer was crouched over Keith, hands glowing as he worked to close the burns where Riven's lightning had struck. Keith winced, teeth clenched.
"Casfer," Keith snapped. "What the hell is so funny?"
Tears formed at the corners of Casfer's eyes as he laughed harder.
"Don't you get it?" he said between gasps. "Riven's in the same grade as us. That means he's at least fifteen."
The laughter cracked into something darker.
"He can't naturally evolve."
Silence spread.
"The only way he got that power," Casfer continued, wiping his eyes, "is if he forced evolved. And he never showed anything like that before. Not once."
His grin widened.
"Not until after we kicked his ass. Not until after we stripped him and left him broken in an alley."
Understanding dawned on the others.
They started laughing too.
Low at first.
Then louder.
They genuinely believed it.
They thought they were the reason Riven evolved.
Joey didn't wait.
The moment their attention shifted, he bolted toward the end of the alley where Riven stood, breath shallow, voice barely more than a whisper.
"I'm free. We can go. Right now."
"No."
Riven's answer was instant. Firm.
"If we run now," he said, eyes locked forward, "what does any of this mean? That you got beaten for nothing?"
Joey froze.
"This," Riven continued, stepping forward, "is where you fight back."
Joey shook his head, fear etched into every line of his face.
"I'm scared," he admitted. "I don't want to go to jail, Riven. I don't even know what my power can do to them. What if—what if you end up like my dad?"
"No."
Riven's shout cut through the alley.
Even he didn't fully understand Joey yet. He didn't know the whole truth about the man's death—the story about angels sounded insane—but look at the world they lived in now.
He had just hurled lightning at someone who could move at superhuman speed.
That same person was already healing.
And Riven himself—
[+0.3 HP]
—was regenerating every twelve seconds.
"You didn't kill your father," Riven said, voice steady. "I know you didn't."
Joey stared at him.
"You don't have the eyes of a killer," Riven continued. "No matter what anyone says. I believe in you. I believe you shouldn't be afraid of the power you were born with."
He clenched his fist.
"And no one has the right to blame you for it. If they want someone to blame, they can blame God himself for giving you something this incredible."
Riven stepped forward, deeper into the alley.
"You can leave if you want. But I'm staying. And I'll fight for you."
Joey stood frozen.
No one had ever said that to him before.
People avoided him. Feared him. Whispered behind his back about how dangerous his power was.
But Riven stood there anyway.
Even with the rumors. Even with the risk.
"Why?" Joey asked quietly. "Why do you keep standing beside me? I could kill you. I'm dangerous. Don't you get that?"
Riven didn't hesitate.
"My parents taught me something," he said. "You don't judge a book by its cover. Or by everyone else's opinion. You read it yourself."
He glanced back at Joey.
"You're that book. And I won't change my opinion of you."
Riven raised his fist and faced the group.
"Alright," he said calmly. "Who's first?"
Casfer scoffed.
"Oh, come on. We let you finish your little speech. You can run now—we already delivered our message."
His eyes flicked toward Joey.
"And shouldn't you be thanking us? Thanks to us, you evolved. Thanks to us, you get to go to the academy with that little shit brother of yours."
Casfer grinned.
"Technically, we're your godfathers."
Something inside Riven snapped.
They had crossed a line.
He had one mother.
One father.
And he would never trade them—not for power, not for wealth, not even if God himself demanded it.
They sacrificed too much. Endured too much.
He would never abandon his name.
Riven Harlow.
"He can't take all of us," the healer said carefully, standing after finishing Keith. "But we should be cautious. His strength is… abnormal."
"Is it really that impressive?" Keith scoffed.
"Yes," the healer—Charlie—said bluntly, healing himself enough to stop the bleeding. "It is. I don't know why he's that strong, but he is. And the way he fights—his hands move like claws. It's unsettling."
Riven heard him.
He felt it too.
He remembered the moment his strength stat hit ten.
One second he was weak.
The next, his muscles felt dense—coiled with power. Like he could crush a stone bare-handed.
That's when he understood.
Every ten points wasn't just a number.
It was a threshold.
A leap.
Riven dropped back into his fighting stance.
The message was clear.
He wasn't backing down.
"Fine then. Let's go."
The three of them advanced.
Riven's eyes flicked across the group as they moved. Casfer. Keith. Charlie.
Charlie was the weakest—no question. And more importantly, he was their healer.
If Charlie goes down… they stay down.
Riven clenched his fist, forcing his breathing steady.
Think.
His status flickered in his vision.
Energy: −5
The lightning blast he'd fired at Keith earlier had cost him five energy. Every lightning strike did. The upside? His passive recovery—one energy every thirty seconds.
Not fast enough to spam. Fast enough to survive.
Keith rushed him again.
This time, he didn't strike.
Instead, Keith closed the distance and leapt.
Riven barely had time to register the movement before he realized—
Above me.
A lightning blast screamed toward him. Riven reacted on instinct, electricity gathering in his palm as he thrust it upward.
Two bolts collided midair.
For two seconds, they pushed against each other—
Then Casfer's lightning overwhelmed his.
"Shit—!"
Riven threw his guard up just as the surge slammed into him. His body was blasted backward, skidding across the ground.
[-2 HP]
He sucked in a sharp breath, smoke curling off his arms.
Before he could recover, a shadow loomed overhead.
Keith.
Both of Keith's feet came down hard into Riven's stomach.
"—Ghk!"
Riven coughed, spit spraying from his mouth as the force crushed the air from his lungs.
[-4 HP]
That hit harder than the lightning…
Keith tried to follow up, but Riven forced energy into his core, lightning crackling violently in his palm. He fired point-blank.
Keith barely twisted away, retreating as he regrouped with Casfer and Charlie.
"Heh." Keith chuckled. "That exchange alone tells me everything. We can beat Riven easily."
He glanced toward Casfer.
"Even if he has the same ability as you, it's nowhere near your level."
Casfer smirked. "Trust me—I knew that from the start."
His eyes narrowed as he looked at Riven.
"Now that I think about it… you tried to hit me the moment you appeared, didn't you?"
Riven didn't respond.
Casfer continued calmly, almost academically.
"And all it did was interrupt my attack. No real damage. That's because my lightning is stronger—far stronger. My body's adapted to it."
A pause.
"Which gives me a natural resistance to weaker lightning. Like yours."
Riven clenched his jaw.
Damn it… he's right.
Casfer wasn't stupid. Arrogant, sure—but in combat, he was sharp.
"Then how about someone without a lightning ability?"
The voice cut in cleanly.
Casfer flinched, instinctively thinking it was Joey —
Then he realized it was feminine.
A red-haired girl stood beside Riven.
Jordan was there too, pipe still in hand, eyes sharp.
"Nico… hey," Casfer said awkwardly, forcing a grin.
"Don't talk to me like we're friends," Nico snapped.
"Oh come on," Casfer said. "You didn't tell your little group about us?"
Riven and Jordan both turned toward Nico, suspicion written plainly across their faces.
Riven folded his arms as faint light washed over his burns. The scorched marks from Casfer's lightning faded away over twelve seconds.
Casfer's eyes widened slightly.
There it is again…
He'd seen it before—when he first struck Riven. The burns disappearing as if the damage never mattered.
Is there a healer nearby? Or…
"Get your mind out of the gutter."
Nico smacked both boys on the back of the head.
"Long story short—Casfer tried to hit on me. I rejected him. He got embarrassed and spread rumors that it was the other way around."
She scoffed. "Pathetic."
"You wanna say that again, you lying—"
Casfer stopped mid-sentence.
Flames bloomed in Nico's palm, her lips curling into a dangerous smile.
"Finish it," she said softly. "I dare you."
Casfer snorted. "Tch."
Nico fired first—a compact fireball screaming toward him.
Casfer responded instantly, lightning lancing out from his hand.
Fire and lightning collided—
And lightning won.
Casfer closed his eyes, already satisfied as he heard a heavy thud.
"And this," he said smugly, "is exactly why the Dawn Camp wanted me and not—"
He opened his eyes.
Charlie was face-down in the dirt.
Lightning crackled violently around his body.
Casfer's blood ran cold.
The bolt hadn't been his.
Riven stood with his arm extended, electricity fading from his palm.
While Nico and Casfer were locked in their clash—while everyone's attention was elsewhere—
Riven had struck.
His lightning wasn't as strong as Casfer's.
But it didn't need to be.
Charlie was already down.
[system: 1/3]
Riven knew the moment he saw Charlie collapse.
He was done.
Out of the fight for good.
"We might not have abilities as strong as yours," Jordan said, stepping forward, voice steady, confident. "But we've got numbers. And Keith? He's not exactly a strong fighter."
"Wanna say that again?" Keith snapped, still struggling to catch his breath.
"Keith—no! They're baiting you!" Casfer shouted.
Too late.
Keith was already charging.
He swung for Jordan, fist cutting through the air. As it got closer, Keith's confidence spiked.
Who's weak now—
His smirk vanished.
A pipe appeared out of nowhere.
Keith didn't even understand how it happened—only that his punch was cleanly deflected, the impact twisting his balance. He slammed into the ground, skidding across the dirt.
Groaning, Keith forced himself up, instinct screaming at him to retreat back to Casfer's side.
Jordan didn't let him.
He was already behind Keith.
The pipe came down hard against the back of Keith's neck.
Keith dropped instantly.
"Sorry," Jordan said calmly, resting the pipe on his shoulder, a faint smile on his face. "I wanted to end this fast… and enjoy my rewards."
The word rewards didn't go unnoticed.
Riven's eyes narrowed.
So Jordan saw it too.
The system.
The quest.
That explained how they'd been tracked. Jordan must've received the same objective—maybe even a way to locate the target.
"Now it's three versus one," Nico said, confidence dripping from his voice.
Casfer exhaled slowly and raised both hands.
"Look," he said. "I know a losing battle when I see one. There's no point continuing this. I give up."
Riven stepped forward.
"No," he said coldly. "You don't get to surrender."
He glanced back at Joey.
"One on one," Riven said. "Me and you."
Casfer let out a short laugh. "You can't be serious. You want your ass kicked again?"
Riven leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"I want to see if you'll really lie on my friends."
He straightened. "Jordan. Nico. Stay out of this."
Jordan frowned. "Riven, are you sure?"
Riven answered with a thumbs-up.
Nico shrugged and stepped back without complaint.
Joey hesitated.
Then he realized something.
Riven had said Jordan and Nico.
Not him.
I can interfere, Joey thought. But does he want me to?
He clenched his fists. If it gets bad… Jordan will step in.
Casfer sighed. "There's no point—"
In an instant, Casfer's shirt tore apart.
A medium-length slash carved across the fabric.
Sand spilled out.
Riven's eyes sharpened. "Weighted clothes."
He could tell immediately. If Casfer hadn't been wearing them, that slash wouldn't have stopped at fabric—it would've torn into his chest.
"One on one," Riven said. "Come—"
A fist slammed into his face.
It was hard and fast to the point where he couldn't even react to it. The boys face got bloodied as he was holding his nose. He could see.Crasfer Jumping up and down and what seemed to be a boxing stance
" I'll show you" crasfer said confidently " why you don't back a wolf into a corner"