"Fracture!"
A white-haired man hovered in midair, his hands spread wide as all manner of objects on the ground slowly rose into the air.
Another gloomy man, dressed in a black suit with the lower half of his face covered by a mask, gave a soft snort.
Shadows instantly appeared to his left and right, transforming in an instant into three identical men.
The white-haired man was the hero Vortex, while the masked man was the hero Fracture.
"Ambushing me before the Hero Rankings? Aren’t you afraid of facing the Association’s arbitration?" Vortex demanded furiously.
"It doesn’t matter. Since you dared to play little tricks, I won’t hold back either." Fracture smiled disdainfully, instantly splitting into dozens of identical Fractures that charged forward.
Countless Fractures rushed ahead, leaping onto the chunks of ground spinning in the air and heading straight for Vortex.
Damn it!
Vortex dodged as the power within him erupted, immediately wrenching a section of the earth up from the ground and hurling numerous chunks of debris at Fracture and his copies.
If it weren’t for that ability of his that counters mine, how could he possibly beat me?!
Vortex’s ability was countered by Fracture, so he could only fight while retreating.
But at that critical moment, the massive tornado he had unleashed was originally meant to block the encirclement of Fracture’s many copies. Yet unexpectedly...
An airplane suddenly appeared overhead, drawing ever closer to the tornado.
"Oh no!" Vortex cried out. But faced with Fracture pressing him step by step, he had no choice but to turn around and focus entirely on defending himself.
Fracture had held the title of X for two terms. In a battle of this level, even a momentary lapse in concentration could be fatal.
When the plane encountered the tornado’s powerful air currents, it immediately began to lose control. The stones and wreckage spiraling alongside the tornado struck the engines on both wings with devastating precision.
The civilian aircraft’s engines instantly exploded.
Even though Vortex gave everything he had and distracted himself mid-battle to stop the tornado, he was already one step too late.
And directly below the plane was the outskirts of District Twelve, extremely close to the suburban streets.
"Hahaha!" Seeing this, Fracture burst into laughter. "Perfect!"
"If the public finds out that the mighty X, the hero Vortex, caused a plane crash, your Trust Value will surely plummet to rock bottom!"
"Then I’ll be able to retain the title of X for another two terms!"
"Keep dreaming!" Vortex roared in fury, trying to exert control over the falling plane and make it hover in midair.
But how could Fracture possibly give him the chance?
Fracture let out an angry roar, his body instantly replicating into many more identical Fractures that charged toward Vortex.
............
9:21 a.m.
Approximately 3,000 meters below the same airspace, short-haul flight AIR712, traveling from District Seven to the Central District, was flying smoothly along its scheduled route.
The atmosphere inside the cabin was relaxed.
It was a journey of less than an hour. Most passengers were resting with their eyes closed, flipping through magazines, or admiring through the windows the increasingly grand urban landscape of Union City below. Flight attendants pushed beverage carts, wearing professionally warm smiles.
Everything was peaceful and ordinary.
Until—
Bang! Thud! Rumble—!!!
A series of deafening booms, as though exploding directly in the depths of their souls, suddenly came from the extremely high skies above the plane without warning!
Then the entire aircraft jolted violently, as if it were being fiercely shaken by an invisible giant hand!
"Aah—!"
The cabin was instantly filled with terrified screams and cries. Items fell from the overhead compartments with a clatter, passengers without seat belts were flung from their seats, and the beverage cart overturned, splashing liquid everywhere.
"What’s happening to the plane?!"
"I don’t want to die!"
"How could this happen?!"
"The plane has lost control! Requesting immediate assistance!"
Chaos had already consumed the plane. The alarms echoed through every corner of the cabin like death knells.
"Report the malfunction!"
"Report the malfunction!"
The cockpit had already been ravaged by the hurricane. Vortex’s earlier tornado had been mixed with many hard objects, and several had smashed directly through the windshield. The captain in the primary pilot’s seat had completely lost consciousness—or perhaps even his life.
"I... I don’t know!" The remaining pilot was overwhelmed with terror, the possibility of death having already dragged him into an endless abyss.
"Just now... there were explosions! And the sound of the plane tearing apart!"
"Aah!" The plane jolted violently.
"The plane has lost control! Requesting immediate assistance!" the pilot screamed frantically, but the other side could no longer receive any transmission from the aircraft.
Desperate cries continued endlessly throughout the cabin, but amid the ceaseless wail of the alarms, the crying of a blue-haired little girl rang out with unusual clarity.
A couple on the plane held the crying girl in despair. They wanted to live, but were powerless to change any of this.
Perhaps because human strength was so insignificant in the face of disaster, despair gradually consumed everyone around them. Another couple nearby noticed the crying blue-haired girl as well.
"We have a child about her age too." Tears still marked the woman’s face, and she wore an expression of helpless despair.
"Maybe... we’ll never see them again."
The woman holding the blue-haired girl—her mother—wanted to offer comfort, but could not say a single word. In the end, she swallowed every word, nestled against her husband, and waited for death to come.
The helplessness before disaster and the final countdown of life filled every heart with despair.
"♪Sometimes things may be tough♪"
"♪Feels like everything is enough♪"
"♪But you can overcome it, use your own gift♪"
"This is a song we often sing to our child..." The woman was nearly crying.
The song seemed to possess a magical power. The blue-haired girl’s crying abruptly stopped. As if she had heard a beautiful echo, she gave an innocent little smile.
At that point, the woman could no longer hold back her tears. "It seems she likes this song too."
"Good girl, you have to live on."
"She hasn’t even had the chance to truly see this world yet."
"♪You’re blessed with luck!♪"
No one was singing, yet hope for life echoed in everyone’s hearts at that moment.
"If there really is a miracle..."
"♪I’ll give you all my love!♪"
"Then let this child live on in my place too!"
"♪Even when I’m gone, you’re in my arms♪"
"Before leaving, I didn’t get to look at my newborn grandson enough..."
"I still have so many things I want to do!"
"♪Defending you at any cost, I swear♪"
"If you survive, please tell my wife... I love her!"
"I hope someone can pass a message to my daughter... Tell her that her mother went somewhere very far away..."
"You’ll surely be lucky enough to escape this disaster!"
Everyone joined hands, placing all their hope of survival in this blue-haired girl.
In a daze, it was as though countless hands lifted up the blue-haired girl, and the power of trust descended amid despair.
"♪Let me pass my color to your heart♪"
"♪My story stays in you♪"
"Pass our hope on."
In the final second before the plane crashed, a blue force enveloped the entire aircraft.
.......
9:26 a.m.
As it plummeted out of control and suffered a series of explosions from the continuous damage to its fuselage, flight AIR712 trailed long streams of thick smoke and flames across the skies above the outskirts of the old neighborhood in District Twelve.
The enormous shadow and the howl of death shrouded the community center below, reflected as well in the suddenly constricted pupils of the blue-haired boy who had just set down his books and looked up at the sky—Lance Blue.
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