Atachi One

Atachi had been living peacefully in his new apartment for over a month. He went to the supermarket to prepare a recipe for ravioli that he had seen on a TV show.

A few weeks after the devastating attack on Deza, refugees had been scattered all over the country of Gomorah. The administrative services of Webenne had found social housing for Atachi, a modest apartment located on the outskirts of the capital. Life on Terra continued, despite the ongoing threat of creatures from another world. These monsters, as enigmatic as they were terrifying, were appearing more and more frequently, forcing the Terranians to adapt to an existence marked by constant danger.

Atachi, on the other hand, was trying to return to a sense of normalcy. In his new neighborhood, he was striving to embrace a peaceful life. After a month without any major incidents, he was almost beginning to believe that tranquility was finally within his reach. That morning, a TV show gave him a simple but comforting idea.

Atachi – These ravioli look absolutely amazing... I'm going to take a trip to the city to prepare this recipe.

His heart, heavy with memories of chaos, lightened for a moment. It might have seemed trivial, but preparing a meal, savoring a dish made with his own hands, represented for him an act of resistance against the instability of this world. He put on his sneakers and headed to the city center of the capital to find the source of comfort he was so desperately seeking.

Strolling through the streets, he almost felt a thrill of satisfaction. The market, the passersby, the familiar sounds—everything contrasted so sharply with the ruins and the screams he had left behind in Deza. He bought flour, spices, and some fresh vegetables, his arms full but with a subtle smile on his face. He shopped with a certain joy before returning home to start making his homemade ravioli. As he finished preparing his ravioli, his intuition made him sense a burning smell. The odor wafting from his kitchen filled the apartment, awakening a vague nostalgia for a life he had never had: a stable life, a life where danger wasn't a constant.

Atachi – I hope the gas from the building's reserves isn't leaking, I really don't want to be disturbed.

Finally ready to enjoy his meal while watching his favorite anime, his moment of relaxation was brutally interrupted. An explosion suddenly engulfed the neighborhood, turning several buildings to dust, including the one where Atachi lived.

He fell into a blind rage. Completely naked, he plummeted into the void, once again finding himself homeless. He fell from the 30th floor, trying to keep his composure. The wind whistled in his ears as rage rose within him, as brutal as the explosion that had just destroyed his refuge.

Threatening the end of the world, he shouted:

– They really won't let me eat my damn homemade ravioli! This is too much, I'm fed up with these relentless attacks disrupting my quest for a peaceful existence! Today, it's once again up to me to take it away from you!

His voice, torn between anger and despair, was lost in the surrounding chaos. His body, naked and vulnerable, continued to fall through the air, but his mind was boiling with dark, almost supernatural energy.

Panic raged, with people fleeing in all directions, ignoring the announcements from the megaphones. A piercing alarm siren rang throughout the city.

Megaphone – Maximum alert! Danger level: Rank A. Giants and dragons have invaded the Webenne suburbs. Evacuate immediately! The heroes are on their way to neutralize the threat.

Atachi continued to fall, thinking about what he was going to do to these disturbing creatures. As he fell, a flash of light cut through the sky. A hero, wearing shining armor, appeared and caught Atachi at the last moment. Carried like a bundle of straw, Atachi felt a wave of humiliation. The hero spoke to him in a comforting tone.

– Are you okay, young man? No serious injuries?

Atachi is stunned that someone is helping him, and he responds to the hero in a furious voice:

– I'm going to lose it. My apartment... my meal... my home has just been destroyed for the 16th time in 2 years, damn it! These insignificant creatures will soon perish at my hands.

Atachi's fury seems to tip into a kind of madness, which makes the hero think that he's suffering from a psychological disorder.

– Calm down… You seem… disturbed. I'm going to escort you to a shelter. There, we can help you regain your composure.

Unfortunately, a titanic giant, towering over a hundred meters, suddenly emerges from deep within the earth, disrupting the already precarious balance of the city, now besieged from all sides. The situation is chaotic, and the hero finds himself facing this colossal creature, slowly rising from the ground like a moving mountain. The hero, tense, assesses the threat before turning to Atachi.

Hero – "Run as far as you can!"

Atachi – "I'll come back to finish you off, giant. The immensity of my strength is nothing compared to your fake grandeur."

Despite his words, he leaps into the nearby ruins, temporarily distancing himself. A few streets away, he watches the hero engage in battle. The hero, determined, draws a blazing sword, imbued with green flames, and leaps to a dizzying height of 70 meters, reaching the giant's chest.

Hero – "We must fight fire with fire."

He delivers a horizontal strike with such intensity that the flames contained in the sword explode against the upper part of the giant. The giant falters in the face of the unshakable will of the warrior fulfilling his most basic duty. It stumbles backward under the damage that now seems irreparable.

Atachi, hidden in the debris, feels his energy boiling, as if anger itself had become a tangible force. He closes his eyes, struggling to regain control. His frantic aura melts the structure of the building. He stands up, blending into the distressed population by appropriating discarded clothing to camouflage himself.

Atachi – I need to calm down, or I'll lose control... Argh! But I can't back out now… It's time to honor my promises. Your lives will belong to me.

A scream in the sky pulls him from his thoughts. A gigantic dragon hovers above him, its shadow casting over the ruins. Meanwhile, other heroes are engaged in fierce combat against the dragons and giants devastating the capital's suburbs. The dimensional invasions are far too destructive for humanity. But the most powerful heroes of Terra do not act on these lower-tier missions.

Atachi moves at an unfathomable speed, so imperceptible that even the heroes, engaged in the defense of the city, cannot detect his presence.

The heroes focus their efforts on taking it down, uniting their powers in a devastating energy beam. Atachi, with a motion as quick as it is invisible, leaps and decapitates the dragon before the attack can reach him, thereby granting victory to the heroes without them realizing it.

The dragon's head falls to the ground, marking the heroes' victory over the creature. None of the warriors present noticed Atachi's intervention. The dragon's body crashes heavily. The heroes are thrilled to have finished off the dragon. One hero proclaims:

– We must persevere, my comrades. The people of Webenne need us to protect them from this threat to our world. In the name of the Yorquin Rangers Terra, we will fulfill our duty as unwavering soldiers of the world.

His teammate is equally excited and responds with a general announcement.

– Let's double our efforts! We were born to defeat them! We were born to live! Let's go, all together!

The unit, thinking they've defeated the dragon, disperses to capture a new target. Atachi lands on the dragon's body, still floating in the sky for a moment, accelerating through the air to reach a giant, which he slices in two with a single, precise and rapid kick, from top to bottom.

The cut is clean, at the left trapezius, near the shoulder. His precision is such that one might think Atachi is a master butcher. He lands with an unsettling nonchalance in the air, as if he were at the beach. The ashes from the battle float around him, and in his eyes, anger and solitude have merged into one.

During Atachi's inevitable fall, a bright flash cuts through the air. A man appeared beside him, floating with an almost insolent ease. The light emanating from him shimmered, like a reflection of hope amidst the chaos. Atachi didn't even need to turn around to understand.

He had noticed him before, but hadn't expected him to be able to match his relatively slow speed. This hero, so loudly proclaimed, did not meet his expectations.

Lillius – I am the D-Class Delta hero, Lillius, the emperor of speed. We must unite to eliminate these scourges. What is your hero name?

Atachi barely raised an eyebrow. The man's words seemed as ridiculous as his title. He sighed, a bitter weariness in his voice.

Atachi – So tranquility is a privilege reserved for the dead? I understand my enemies better now. Look behind you, a dragon is going to devour you!

The hero spun around in a leap, panic in his eyes, ready to fight. But there was nothing. Not the shadow of a threat. A light breeze seemed to mock him.

When Lillius turned back to Atachi, he had vanished. He had used the brief moment to disappear, surprising the emperor of speed, who couldn't perceive him during that short time, but found only an unsettling emptiness. Atachi reappears before the astonished hero.

Atachi – "I've finished hunting the flies. You can take all the credit, the fame, and the fact that people come to bother me—I couldn't care less."

A dimensional tremor erupts. A massive, luminous dragon egg crashes amidst the debris. Its shell shatters into a thousand pieces, and the explosion that follows annihilates everything within a kilometer radius. Surprised by this wave of indescribable softness, Atachi lets himself be carried away by the energy surge, completely disappearing from the radar.

Atachi – So this is what happiness is.

His words, barely audible, are lost in the tumult. Atachi vanishes once again, swept away by the wave, while Lillius, dazed, tries to regain his composure. A crackling sound in his earpiece brings him back to reality. Lillius, thrown back by the blast, barely manages to grab hold of the top of a skyscraper. He looks helplessly as the destructive wave spreads like a deadly tide. Someone calls Lillius for a report.

? – What is the current report, hero? We have visual on something that seems to be taking on a strange form. Were you able to identify it?

Lillius, still shaken, stands up as best he can.

Lillius – "I encountered a few problems upon arrival, but we managed to finish the mission fairly quickly, as if some external force helped us take down this apocalyptic wave. However, I believe we'll need additional reinforcements."

On the battlefield, where the shattered egg had once rested, an amorphous form began to rise. It swirled, a mass of shadow and light, gradually gaining definition. The remaining heroes gathered, their faces marked by fear and exhaustion.

Baby Dragon – (Draconic language).

At that moment, no one understood the mysterious words of the newly born dragon. The heroes, despite their battle-hardened experience, dropped to their knees. Some were gasping for air, others writhing in pain, unable to bear the wave of energy. Massive blocks, remnants of buildings, began to levitate at high speed, encircling the creature in a macabre dance.

The heroes struggled to dodge these enormous blocks. The catastrophe it had caused earlier was unprecedented. Of the 8,000 heroes present, six thousand had perished under the onslaught of its uncontrollable power. Another 1,500 members of the Yorquin Rangers Terra had also died, victims of the giants and dragons.

Lillius – "Hold on! Don't give up…!"

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, Atachi rested peacefully in a sun-drenched plain. Chaos was nothing more than a distant murmur to him.

In the vastness of space, far beyond Terra's limits…

A colossal palace rose, perched upon the rings of a planet resembling Saturn. Its golden walls shimmered under the light of the stars, a monument to grandeur and arrogance. A man solemnly entered the throne room, where the master of the place resided.

? – "Father, I've located a vessel belonging to a commander from our sworn enemy's army."

The old man, seated upon a grand throne, slowly lifted his eyes.

? – "It's heading toward the planet Terra, a planet that has been devastated by unprecedented dimensional damage. It is constantly being invaded by creatures from other worlds, foreign to our universe. These are not just cosmic and intergalactic conflicts, after all."

? – "Father, he's probably trying to colonize this planet to sell it on the universal market. I will provoke Barbatéos's wrath, so he comes here personally. We will kill him and his army to avenge our people."

He extended his hand, and the palace doors opened with a deep rumble.

? – "Go, Titan, eliminate this miserable commander. As for Barbatéos, I'll take care of him. You have my word. We will gain far more than just revenge, I promise you, my son."

He finished with:

? – "Good luck, Titan. I've trained you for over a century. Do not disappoint me."

Titan immediately disappeared. In an instant, he rose above the planet's atmosphere. In the distance, he spotted a small exploration vessel crashing into the stratosphere. The vessel slammed into the unstable ground of the city of Webenne, causing an explosion that incinerated the entire city. The Terranians had no chance to respond to this unforeseen threat.

The crater was the size of the Kantō region. They were extinguished like the flames of a candle. A humanoid monster emerged from the wreckage of the vessel: a massive extraterrestrial, standing 3.45 meters tall, clad in complex armor made from alien technology.

Atachi had protected himself from this disaster by halting the explosion about fifty kilometers from his position. He awoke from his peaceful nap and observed the remains of Webenne and the unfolding events.

His nightmarish appearance placed him far above the other creatures, bringing a calamity from another world to the planet Terra.

? – "Let's see if this planet meets the Marquis of the Swirl Galaxy's sales criteria."

Meanwhile, the dragon continued to burn. It started to take on a more humanoid shape, aging before the eyes of the otherworldly being. Now more mature, the dragon decided to intervene.

Dragon – (Draconic language).

The extraterrestrial chuckled.

? – "You want to play with me? I'll be more than happy to taste your flesh."