Powerless but Infinite

Chapter 1: Powerless

A boy with black-white hair opened his eyes and saw the dark sky. Despite being a cloudless night and the lack of city lights which should illuminate like diamonds, there was not a single star present.

The only light was from a full moon which gave off an ominous aura. The boy looked around and saw that there was a slide, swings, and seesaw bars. Not only that, there was also a sandbox and a water fountain.

"Why am I in a park like this?" he asked.

His name was Solen, a teenager who was around sixteen years old. While he might look like a regular high school boy, he was actually a part-timer in an odd jobs service of a guy who was a huge idol otaku. Also, he was a Chaos Soul, a supernatural creature who looked like a regular human but had special abilities.

"Makoto!! Where are you?! Is this another one of your trials?!" he shouted.

As expected, there was no response. Makoto Kageyuki was the type to just put challenges for him to clear without any warnings beforehand. Since he was Solen's employer and legal guardian, Makoto kept on making situations that would test his skills and let him grow. That was why Solen was calm even though the situation was weird.

Since it was useless to just sit down and think, Solen walked around trying to find what he should do in order to clear Makoto's challenge. He found it odd that while there were houses and other buildings, there were no signs of life such as electricity and vehicles.

Until he saw a doppelganger.

A boy with black-white hair stood at a distance. His clothes were the same white hoodie and black pants that Solen usually wore. The only difference was that there was a white crystal on that doppelganger's forehead.

The doppelganger noticed Solen and grinned. He picked up a rock and threw it. Solen barely managed to dodge it as it sped by and left cracks on a nearby wall.

"What the fuck was that?!" he shouted.

He wasn't surprised that a simple rock could go that fast. After all, he was capable of doing something like that easily. If the boy in front of Solen was a copy of himself, then it was expected that he could do the same thing as him.

The reason why he was surprised was because he was sure he activated his ability at that time. As a Chaos Soul, Solen could manipulate the "time" of an object. Back then, he tried to stop the time of the speeding rock and it should've done so as usual.

However, nothing happened. The rock simply sped by and didn't even slow down.

Calm down. Makoto said that panicking in a fight will only lead to defeat. It simply meant that my opponent has a stronger authority and resolve over that rock, he took a deep breath.

He then picked up a rock and threw it. However, his eyes widened as it suspended in midair and didn't reach his enemy. What surprised him was that the rock he threw was as slow as a regular rock being thrown despite him being sure he activated his ability.

The doppelganger closed the distance between them while Solen desperately put up a stance. With his speed, Solen couldn't do anything about his barrage of attacks except for blocking a few of them.

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I SHOULDN'T BE PANICKING OVER SOMETHING LIKE THIS!, Solen thought as he panicked over something like that.

Solen raised his left arm and blocked one punch. His eyes followed the doppelganger's right fist which was about to land a hit on his face. After all, he was fighting a copy of himself and thus, he knew how his opponent would react and attack.

BUT IT'S USELESS BEING ABLE TO PREDICT THIS ASSHOLE'S ATTACKS IF I CAN'T DO ANY SHIT WITH IT!!! he gritted his teeth as the punch hit his jaw.

His arms were starting to sting and become heavy as he blocked one blow after another. He wasn't used to blocking because he relied on his ability to speed his body up and dodge attacks. But fighting against a swift opponent without his ability left him with no other choice.

Solen coughed after his doppelganger landed a direct hit on his stomach. In less than a second, he received a blow on his chin as he soared to the sky. He then crashed to a wall and felt something inside him crack after he got kicked by his doppelganger.

His body was sore all over as he struggled to get up. Solen's legs refused to move despite his mind commanding them.

Don't stay down... Fight... If I give up, I'll lose... he thought.

The doppelganger looked down on him and cracked his knuckles.

My legs... You're always cooperating with me... So do your fucking job this time and move!!!

But before his opponent could deliver the finishing blow, a brown-haired man with glasses charged right in and swung his katana. The doppelganger managed to dodge before he got cut but the man was satisfied because his objective was completed.

"Are you okay, kiddo?" he asked.

"M... Makoto", Solen breathed a sigh of relief.

And then he noticed one strange thing: Makoto was tenser than usual. He didn't even look at him and only focused on the enemy in front. Solen knew that Makoto was strong and so, he got worried because that strong person was completely on guard against an opponent.

The doppelganger charged and Makoto dodged to the right. He threw a punch but Makoto sidestepped before swinging down his sword. But thanks to being sped up, the doppelganger managed to back away in time.

That's strange. Why isn't he using his Cosmic Sword Style?, Solen asked in his mind.

Makoto stood his ground while the doppelganger closed the distance between them. He swung his sword again but he didn't even land a hit. After that, Makoto barely avoided a punch.

"Solen! Can you stand?!" Makoto shouted.

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine now!" Solen snapped out of his confusion and stood up.

"Good! We're going to use the secret technique on my signal!"

Solen gulped down. If Makoto was going to use that, then the situation was dire and the battle was too dangerous.

The doppelganger lunged in close to Makoto who barely evaded his attack. Then, Makoto took out a small canister and threw it near the doppelganger after pressing its button.

Blinding light came out of the canister and after that, pink smoke covered the two of them.

"RUN AWAY, SOLEN!!" Makoto shouted and the two of them sprinted from that place.

###

Solen panted while Makoto caught his breath. They covered a good distance already so they should be safe.

"What the fuck was that?!" Solen asked.

"You", Makoto answered.

"Exactly! That was just me! So why did you have a hard time when you can just kick my ass without breaking a sweat during our daily training?!"

"Can you slow down or speed up time?"

"... No", Solen said after attempting to use his ability again.

Makoto took on a stance.

"Cosmic Sword Style: Universal Path!" he shouted after swinging his sword.

Normally, blue trails of light would appear as his sword traveled across the air. However, nothing happened and Makoto looked like a strange dude shouting out an attack name as he swung his sword like how a chuunibyou would do.

"Like it or not, our abilities are gone", Makoto said.

"But isn't yours more of a technique? Cosmic Sword Style isn't an ability but instead, it's a technique of fighting based on how you manipulate your life energy."

"Exactly. But manipulating your life energy is an ability living creatures have. Also, my reaction time is slower and my body is not responding normally. Against a Chaos Soul like that, the chances of winning are too low to even consider continuing the fight."

"Ah great. We're gonna die, right?"

The two of them felt a strange presence in the distance. Cold sweat ran down Solen's face as his body and mind tensed up. When he looked at Makoto, he was surprised to see the brown-haired man grinning.

"Who knows?" he shrugged and walked ahead.

"Where are you going?" Solen asked.

"Going to meet my friends."