Rin couldn't breathe.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
His back was pressed into rubble, lungs compressed, ribs grinding against each other in ways ribs were definitely not supposed to. Blood filled his mouth. His vision doubled, tripled, the world spinning like a broken kaleidoscope.
Above him, framed by smoke and dying light, Bastion stood.
Gauntlets still glowing. Breathing steady. Barely scratched.
"You lose, kid."
The words echoed.
You lose.
Rin tried to move.
His arms didn't respond.
Tried to speak.
His voice was gone.
"I... I can't..."
Bastion turned away, rolling his shoulders like he'd just finished a warm-up. "You fought well. Better than most. But—"
"No."
Rin's fingers twitched.
Just barely.
"No. Not like this."
"—you were outmatched from the start."
I can't... fall here.
Bastion took one step away.
"Not when..."
Another step.
"Not when Sora..."
The world blurred.
Shifted.
Nine years ago.
Rain.
Cold. Merciless. The kind that soaked through cheap clothes and made bones ache.
Nine-year-old Rin lay in the mud, face pressed into wet dirt, tasting copper and shame.
"Get up, weakling!"
A kick to his ribs. He curled instinctively, arms wrapped around his stomach, trying to make himself smaller.
It hurts.
"Look at him! Can't even throw a punch!"
Laughter. Three older kids, maybe twelve, towering over him like giants. One of them grabbed his hair, yanked his head up.
"What's wrong? Gonna cry?"
Rin's eyes burned.
Not from tears.
From hatred.
But his body wouldn't move. Wouldn't fight back.
Too weak. I'm too weak.
The kid shoved his face back into the mud.
More laughter.
"Pathetic."
They turned to leave—
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
Rin's eyes widened.
No.
A small figure stumbled between Rin and the bullies, arms spread wide despite trembling.
Six years old.
Soaking wet.
Terrified.
But standing anyway.
"Sora—" Rin's voice cracked. "Don't—"
"Oh?" One of the bullies grinned. "The little one wants to play hero?"
Sora's fists clenched.
He didn't answer.
Just stood there.
Shaking.
But not moving.
The bully laughed. "Alright then."
He swung.
CRACK.
Sora's head snapped to the side.
He hit the ground hard, rain splashing around him.
"SORA!" Rin tried to move, tried to stand—
His legs gave out.
Get up. GET UP.
Sora pushed himself to his hands and knees.
Blood dripped from his split lip, mixing with rain and mud.
The bullies stared.
"...He's getting up?"
Sora stood.
Slowly.
Unsteadily.
But standing.
His eyes—wide, scared, but determined—locked onto the bullies.
"I said..." His voice shook. "...leave my brother alone."
The bully's grin faded. "You little—"
He kicked.
Sora blocked with his arms—his tiny, six-year-old arms that snapped like twigs under the impact.
He fell again.
Sora, please. Stop.
Rin's vision blurred with tears and rain.
You're going to get hurt. You're too small. Too weak.
Like me.
But Sora got up again.
Blood streaming from his nose now. One eye swelling shut.
Still standing.
Still between Rin and the bullies.
"What's wrong with this kid?!" One of them muttered, genuinely unnerved.
"He's crazy—"
Sora charged.
Not skilled. Not coordinated.
Just desperate.
He threw his whole body at the nearest bully, fists swinging wildly, screaming through tears and pain—
The bullies panicked.
"Get him off—!"
"He's insane—!"
They stumbled backward, shoving Sora away, but he kept coming, kept swinging, kept screaming—
Until finally—
They ran.
Actually ran.
From a six-year-old.
Because something in Sora's eyes—in his refusal to stop, to quit, to fall—
Terrified them more than any punch could.
Silence.
Just rain.
And two brothers in the mud.
Sora collapsed forward, landing on his hands and knees in front of Rin.
"Big... brother..." He gasped through sobs. "Are you... okay?"
Rin stared at him.
At his little brother.
Beaten. Bleeding. Barely able to stand.
But still asking if Rin was okay.
Something inside Rin broke.
Not his body.
His fear.
He protected me.
My little brother... protected me.
That's wrong.
Rin's hands clenched into fists.
That's backwards.
Rain poured harder.
I'm the eldest.
Sora's small hand reached out, touching Rin's shoulder. "Big brother..."
I'm supposed to protect him.
Rin's eyes burned.
Never again.
He forced himself up.
Pain screamed through his body but he ignored it, standing on shaking legs, pulling Sora close.
"I'm sorry," Rin whispered.
Sora looked up, confused. "Why—"
"I'm sorry you had to protect me."
Tears mixed with rain.
"But you'll never have to again."
Rin's voice hardened.
Never.
As long as I'm standing—
—Sora will never have to fight alone.
Present.
Rin's eyes snapped open.
Purple sky. Smoke. Rubble pressing into his broken back.
That's right.
His fingers clenched.
I made a promise.
Kinetic energy—faint, barely there, but present—flickered across his knuckles.
I'm the eldest brother.
His arm moved.
Just an inch.
But it moved.
That means I protect him.
Another inch.
No matter what.
Bastion stopped walking.
He felt something.
A pressure. Faint. But growing.
He turned slowly.
Rin was moving.
"...Kid?"
Rin's hand pressed into rubble.
Pushed.
His body lifted—barely—off the ground.
"Stay down," Bastion said quietly. Not mocking. Almost... concerned. "You'll kill yourself."
Rin coughed blood.
Grinned through it.
"Can't."
He got one knee under him.
"Because..."
The kinetic energy around his body flared brighter.
Not from his own movement.
From every hit he'd absorbed.
Every punch.
Every impact.
Every moment of pain—
Stored.
"...I have someone to protect."
Rin stood.
Slowly.
Blood dripping from everywhere.
One eye swollen shut.
Ribs shattered.
Arm bent wrong.
But standing.
Bastion's eyes widened.
"You..."
Kinetic energy erupted around Rin's body like a storm, crackling, screaming, the sheer force of it distorting the air.
Not purple like Aren's.
Not golden like Lucy's.
Raw.
Violent.Alive.
Every hit Bastion had landed.
Every building he'd punched Rin through.
Every bone-breaking impact—
Rin had absorbed it all.
"What the hell..." Bastion breathed.
Rin's grin widened, blood on his teeth. "Thanks for the workout, old man."
He took one step forward.
The ground cratered beneath his foot from the kinetic pressure alone.
"Now—"
Another step.
Bastion actually stepped back.
"—let me return the favor."
BOOM.
Rin vanished.
Not teleportation.
Pure speed fueled by released kinetic energy.
Bastion barely had time to raise his guard—
CRACK.
Rin's fist slammed into his gauntlet.
The shockwave shattered windows three blocks away.
Bastion slid backward ten meters, boots carving trenches into asphalt.
"You're—!" He gritted his teeth. "You're absorbing damage and converting it to power?!"
Rin didn't answer.
He just moved.
A blur of motion and violence, fists glowing with contained energy, each strike releasing concussive shockwaves that tore up the street.
Bastion blocked—barely—each impact rattling his bones despite the reinforced gauntlets.
He's faster. Stronger.
How?!
Rin's punch slipped through his guard, slamming into his ribs.
BOOM.
Bastion flew, crashing through a storefront, tumbling across broken tile before smashing into the back wall.
He coughed, tasting blood for the first time this fight.
This kid...
He stood slowly, gauntlets glowing brighter, heat radiating.
...is a monster.
"Alright." Bastion's voice dropped, serious now. Respectful. "No more holding back."
His gauntlets ignited.
Not red.
White.
Heat distortion made him look like a mirage, the metal of his gauntlets glowing so bright they hurt to look at.
"IRON DEVASTATION."
He charged.
The ground exploded beneath him, propelling him forward like a missile.
Rin met him head-on.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.
Four impacts in two seconds.
Each collision created shockwaves that flattened buildings, sent cars tumbling, cracked the street like spiderwebbed glass.
Rin blocked with his forearms—felt bones crack—but absorbed the kinetic force, cycling it through his body, building, building—
Bastion drove an uppercut into his stomach.
CRACK.
Rin's spine bent backward at an impossible angle.
Blood sprayed.
He flew upward, crashing through three floors of a building before hitting the roof.
Didn't get up immediately.
Can't... breathe...
Bastion landed below, gauntlets still blazing. "You're done, kid. Your body can't take any more."
Rin lay on the broken rooftop, staring at purple sky.
He's right.
I'm at my limit.
One more hit like that... and I'm dead.
His vision blurred.
But...
A small face appeared in his mind.
Six years old. Bleeding. Standing anyway.
"Big brother... are you okay?"
Rin's jaw clenched.
I can't fall.
Not when Sora's still out there.
Not when he needs me.
Kinetic energy—all of it—every single stored impact from the entire fight, condensed into his body like a bomb waiting to detonate.
One more.
One more attack.
Everything I have.Everything I am.
Rin stood.
Blood dripped from his mouth, his nose, his eyes.
His body was screaming at him to stop.
He didn't listen.
"Big brother."
Bastion looked up.
Rin stood at the edge of the rooftop, silhouetted against dying light, kinetic energy spiraling around him in visible torrents.
Not crackling.
Roaring.
"That's what he calls me."
The energy intensified, warping the air, bending light.
"And I promised..."
Rin's fists ignited, glowing so bright they looked like miniature suns.
"...I'd always protect him."
Bastion's eyes widened.
That energy level—
"So I'm sorry, old man."
Rin jumped.
Free-fall. Gravity accelerating. Kinetic energy building with every meter.
"But I CAN'T LOSE HERE!"
BOOM.
He hit the ground like a meteor.
The street exploded.
Bastion barely had time to cross his arms—
Rin's fist connected.
"RUIN FLARE—"
Time seemed to stop.
Every molecule of kinetic energy Rin had absorbed—every punch, every building, every moment of pain—
Released.
All at once.
"—ONE HUNDRED!"
BOOOOOOOOM.
Reality shattered.
The shockwave didn't expand—it erupted, a dome of pure kinetic force that obliterated everything within a hundred-meter radius.
Buildings didn't collapse.
They disintegrated.
The road didn't crack.It vaporized.
A crater fifty meters wide carved itself into the earth, concrete and steel turned to dust, cars launched skyward like toys.
The impact was felt across the entire simulation.
Three blocks away:
Lucy, limping with Team 15's flag, felt the shockwave and nearly fell.
Her eyes widened.
Rin...
Two blocks away:
Aren's purple eyes flickered.
He did it.
Observation tower:
Alarms screamed.
"KINETIC SIGNATURE OFF THE CHARTS!"
"Source?!"
"Team 9—Participant: Rin!"
"Get a med team ready—NOW!"
Dust settled.
Smoke drifted.
In the center of the crater—
Two figures.
Bastion knelt, gauntlets shattered, arms trembling, breathing ragged.
Still conscious.
But beaten.
Three meters away—
Rin lay on his back.
Arms spread.
Staring at the sky.Not moving.
For a moment, Bastion thought he was dead.
Then—
Rin smiled.Small. Tired.
Victorious.
"Did it... Sora..."
His voice was barely a whisper.
"I... didn't fall..."
His eyes closed.Still smiling.
Bastion stared at him for a long moment.
Then laughed.
Quiet. Genuine. Respectful.
"You crazy kid."
He tried to stand, failed, settled for sitting.
"You actually... won."
Silence.
Just wind carrying dust through ruined streets.
And two warriors—one kneeling, one lying—both pushed past every limit.
Both refusing to quit.
Bastion looked at Team 15's flag, still planted in rubble nearby.
Then at Rin.
"...Your team's something else."
No response.
Rin was unconscious.
Still smiling.Still protecting.Still the eldest brother.