It was raining.Cold droplets cascaded down from the night heavens, washing over the destruction that had turned Sector D's heart into a wasteland. The beauty of the Sector had completely vanished.Buildings crumbled, reduced to ruins. Sparks of electricity sizzled in separate places, the neon lights that once brightened the streets flickered weakly, their glow swallowed by the smothering darkness of the storm. Cars were tumbled over, the ground was littered with shattered concrete, broken glass, and unmoving bodies. Roads were broken in numerous halves, cracks spiderwebbed everywhere.And in the midst of it all, a monster reigned.S-Class Villain, the Snake King. A Cataclysm Level Threat.He was a titanic, coiling beast, donning a body that stretched high above. From what had been reported, his entire form was almost long enough to form a road channell around the entire city.The sheer length of it vanished into the shadows of the collapsing cityscape. His emerald scales gleamed un

I burst awake.My body jerked up with a yelp, my heart— or whatever was inside my chest now —hammering wildly. Breathing hard and ruggedly, I clutched at the sheets beneath me, feeling their familiar softness.Wait. My sheets?I blinked rapidly, trying to steady my vision. I looked around me. The ceiling above me was the same one I had stared at for years before drifting into sleep. The bed I was on was mine. The posters, the shelves, the cracked corner of my desk where I'd once tripped and slammed into it during an overzealous practice session.I was in my room.I frowned fearfully. How was I in my room?Still half hazed, I slowly pushed myself up, the movement oddly fluid, my limbs moving easier than I had expected. A chill ran down my spine.Did I not die? I had broken all the bones in my body when I struck that pole.Did I... dream the whole thing?Why do I feel strangely complete?I looked down at my hands, stretching my fingers wide. They looked like my ordinary hands. Norma

The International Superhero Association — the ISA — was the world's governing body for heroes, the institution responsible for licensing, monitoring, and regulating our actions under a set of laws known as the Heroic Law. It kept us in check, ensured we weren't running wild like some lawless vigilantes, and determined who was officially recognized as a hero. But the thing was, the ISA wasn't a hero organization in itself. It didn't dispatch us into the field, didn't train us, and sure as hell didn't fund us beyond the basic stipend every licensed hero received.These were done by Guilds.In the world, superheroes weren't just people with capes and flashy abilities running around saving lives. We were assets — brands, resources that could be mobilized, marketed, and, to some extent, owned. This was done under Guilds. They contracted different heroes, branded them with superhero names and characters then dispatched them for a monthly funding from the ISA. There were four major Gui

Classes and Ranks were very important. The entire superhero system was built around these two things.A hero's Class was determined at the time of their assessment. Once it was assigned, it was considered permanent, a direct reflection of the meta-energy inside them. S-Class, A-Class, B-Class, and so on. It was a label that determined how strong they were, how much recognition they'd receive, and how much impact they could have.Ranks, on the other hand, were fluid. While a hero's power couldn't grow stronger, their proficiency could. The better they became at using their abilities, the more skilled they were in the field, and the more missions they completed, the higher they could climb. Rank was about skill. Class was about power.This was why there was a popular saying: Heroes can't get stronger, only better.This was also mirrored in the absolute law which was: Superheroes couldn't break the Class Barrier.Once a hero was placed in a Class, that was it. They could climb up th