Raizal slowly lifted his gaze toward the voice that had just cut through the silence.
Standing there with a smug, arrogant smirk was a red-haired boy around the same age.
The boy's name was Kael Break
Raizal's cousin.
The son of the uncle who had turned his back the day Raizal was dragged away to the Restricted Sector as a Defect. The same bloodline that had abandoned him without a second thought.
Kael's eyes gleamed with cruel amusement as he looked Raizal up and down, taking in the torn uniform, the dirt, the dried blood, and the exhausted slump of his shoulders.
"Wow… even a worthless Defect like you actually made it out alive?" Kael laughed, the sound sharp and mocking, loud enough for everyone on the hill to hear. "I honestly thought the mutants would've finished you off on the first day. Guess even trash has some luck."
He took a slow step closer, tilting his head with exaggerated pity.
"Look at you. Still breathing after three days in that hellhole. Must feel real special, huh? Crawling out here covered in shit and blood while the rest of us actually trained properly." Kael's voice dripped with contempt. "Tell me, cousin — did you hide in a hole the whole time? Or did you just get lucky and let the others die first so you could sneak through?"
A few of the nearby participants shifted uncomfortably, but no one dared speak up. Kael's words landed like slow, deliberate slaps.
"Honestly, it's almost funny. My father always said your side of the family was cursed.
Turns out he was right. A Defect who somehow passes the final test… Pathetic. You're still nothing but garbage wearing human skin. The tag might get removed, but we both know what you really are."
Kael's smirk widened, enjoying every second.
Raizal didn't move. His face remained completely cold — empty, detached, like a mask carved from stone.
Raizal met Kael's glare with an icy stare. "Well, I am a Defect and maybe I am a shame on the Break family… but you are a Distor. What did you do to make our family name any better?"
The words landed like a slap. Everyone present on the hill fell silent, shock rippling through the small crowd. A Defect talking back to a Distor like that? It was unheard of.
Raizal didn't stop. A faint, cold grin tugged at the corner of his lips as he continued.
"Break family right now is nothing more than the dog of the Distor Military."
Kael's face twisted. A few sharp laughs escaped him at first, but they died quickly. What Raizal had said wasn't completely false. After the invasion by the Netherkins, when the normal military couldn't handle the fight, the Distors had stepped in and revealed their true power for the first time. From that moment, governments worldwide understood they needed Distors to stand any chance against the Netherkins.
That was why the Distor Military was formed—completely separate from the human military, made up only of Distors, and now holding massive influence over world politics. The Break family's limited influence mostly came from their connections with them.
"How dare you utter such nonsense!" Kael snarled.
Blue energy suddenly flared in his palm. In an instant, it condensed and materialized into a sleek black spear, nearly 1.8 meters long, humming with power. Gasps and murmurs spread across the hill as eyes widened in disbelief.
Raizal simply pulled out his knife, gripping it loosely in his hand. He stood there, expression cold and unmoved, eyes locked on Kael without a trace of fear or exaggeration. The tension hung thick in the air as the two faced each other.
Kael Break stood there with that same arrogant smirk, clearly enjoying the attention.
The other Defects on the hill froze. Axel's face went pale with fear, his hands trembling as he watched the scene unfold. He looked like he wanted to rush forward and pull Raizal back, but his feet stayed rooted in place.
"What the fuck is he trying to do… trying to fight with him?" one boy whispered nervously to the one beside him.
The second boy glanced at the sleek black spear resting in Kael's hand and swallowed hard.
"Look at that black spear. If I remember correctly, its name is All Black Night."
A ripple of shock spread through the small group of remaining Defects. They began whispering urgently among themselves.
Supernatural powers used by Distors are called Tides. Every Distor is born with one. In most cases, children inherit something similar to their parents. When a Defect undergoes Awakening, their own Tide will manifest — that's the proof they've become a true Distor.
"All Black Night… I heard it's extremely lethal in close combat," another Defect muttered, eyes wide. "And Raizal is going to fight him with just a simple knife? In hyper-close combat? Is he mad or what?"
The Defects kept discussing in low, anxious voices, unable to look away from the confrontation.
Raizal showed no fear. He already knew the Tide of his own family very well. Axel stood nearby, face full of concern, clearly wanting to intervene but too afraid to move.
Elara watched the scene with a completely emotionless face. No one could tell what she was thinking. Beside her, the third person — a middle-aged man with neat white hair, dressed in an expensive suit — leaned in and whispered quietly,
"Young miss, don't you think we should stop this before it gets accelerated?"
Elara simply raised her hand in a sharp gesture for silence. The man immediately shut his mouth and stepped back, observing quietly.
Kael's expression twisted into something cruel and mocking.
"You really have some nerves, cousin. You actually think you can win against me?" He laughed coldly. "How about I give you a chance? Kneel down in front of me and apologize properly. Maybe I'll only give you five kicks. What do you say?"
Raizal just smiled — a small, cold, empty smile.
He was fully aware of the massive power gap between a Defect and a Distor. It was like comparing the sky to the ground. But something deep inside him refused to back down. Three years of brutal training in the Restricted Sector had focused entirely on strengthening his body — agility, endurance, raw physicality. When it came to weapon skills, especially in close range, a Defect could sometimes hold their own. Skills mattered, no matter who you were.
Raizal decided to gamble on that instinct.
"How about you just keep your damn mouth shut?" he said quietly.
Kael's face instantly darkened with rage.
He attacked.
The black spear All Black Night whipped through the air with terrifying speed. Raizal lunged in with his knife, trying to close the distance for hyper-close combat where his blade would shine. But the spear's length was merciless. Kael thrust low and fast, the tip slamming into Raizal's ribs with a sickening crack. Pain exploded through his chest. Raizal staggered, gasping, but Kael didn't let up.
"Pathetic!" Kael snarled, spinning the spear in a wide arc. "You're still the same worthless trash who got dragged away like garbage. Look at you — bleeding already and we've barely started!"
The spear shaft cracked across Raizal's face. His head snapped sideways. Blood burst from his nose in a hot spray, splattering across the ground. Another brutal thrust caught him in the mouth. His lip split open; blood poured down his chin and dripped onto his torn uniform. Raizal tasted iron and dirt, but his eyes stayed ice-cold. He just kept pushing forward, knife slashing desperately.
Kael laughed louder, completely unscathed, his spear dancing with effortless control.
"You think that little knife can touch me? Three years of training and this is all you've got? My father was right — your bloodline is cursed, even your dad knew when to run away like a coward!"
Raizal took another heavy blow to the ribs. Something inside him gave. He coughed wetly, blood spraying from his mouth onto the grass. His breathing turned ragged, but he refused to back down. Every time he tried to slip inside the spear's reach, Kael punished him with precise, vicious strikes that kept him at bay.
Kael grew bolder. His movements became showy, arrogant. He started spinning the spear in lazy, mocking circles, grinning like he was putting on a performance for the shocked Defects watching.
"What's wrong, cousin? Can't even get close? Come on — I'll let you try one more time before I break you."
That was the moment.
Kael overextended. He swung the spear in a wide, flashy horizontal arc meant to humiliate, his stance wide open, chest exposed, weight shifted too far forward in pure overconfidence.
Raizal saw it.
In one brutal burst of speed, he ducked under the spinning spear, closed the distance in a single step, and slammed his knife hand into Kael's wrist with everything he had. The spear flew from Kael's grip and clattered to the ground.
Before Kael could react, Raizal drove his knee up hard into his cousin's stomach, then snapped a powerful kick straight into his face.The heel of Raizal's boot connected with Kael's nose with a loud, wet crunch. Kael's head jerked back violently. Blood erupted from his nostrils in thick streams, spraying across his own clean uniform. He staggered, eyes wide in shock, and collapsed hard onto the ground.
For one frozen second, the entire hill was dead silent.
Everyone stared in disbelief. A Defect had just disarmed a Distor and dropped him.
Kael pushed himself up on one elbow, face bloody and twisted with fury. Blood kept pouring from his broken nose as he spat curses.
"You piece of shit! How dare a filthy Defect like you—! Your father was a worthless failure too, just like you! He—"
Real anger finally flashed across Raizal's cold face.
He stepped forward, ready to stomp down
on Kael while he was still on the ground.
"Stop there."
Elara's voice sliced through the air like ice — cold, commanding, and final.
The entire hill froze.