Chapter 2: Destroy The Sun

"What? Why?"

"Seriously?"

Allen Stryka furrowed his eyebrows. He was not expecting the mayor to reject his request immediately.

This on the other hand made Mayor Nark to raise an eyebrow. He seemed to be genuinely surprised that the person in front of him was clueless to his reasons.

Allen could only scratch his head. He admitted his ignorance and asked,

"Please enlighten me, mayor."

"The town has to be rebuilt. Now that the quarantine is over, we could finally revive – no, we would actually need more time to achieve that. At the very most, we can now resume our function as a town."

Mayor Nark sighed. He waved his hand when he noticed that the person in front of him wanted to say something. He gestured that what he had to say was not yet over. He quickly added,

"As of now, our dear 'Town' is nothing more than a sorry excuse for an evacuation facility. In order to restore our basic function, as a proper community, we will need all the hands that we could get. That includes you, sad to say."

This time, Allen was the one who wanted to raise an eyebrow. But he did not dare to do so. First, because he did not want to offend the mayor. He does need the man's approval if he wants to get past the fence. Second, he did not want to offend his father by offending the mayor in front of him. Well that would technically be the same as the first reason but why not?

The third reason was because the mayor was right.

Their town of Kinshin was no longer what it was three years ago. The influence of the mutated Sun on all living beings except for the humans had toppled the food chain. In order to protect the survivors of the radiation bombardment from being feasted by the emerged beasts, multiple towns had decided to band together. This enabled them to fortify their defenses since they would have to protect a much lesser land area.

However that also meant lesser space for humans to dwell in. But a blessing in disguise, if anyone would dare to call it that, was the fact that the radiation exposure had reduced the number of people to be evacuated. The numbers were significantly reduced that families did not need to be crammed up in a single shelter during the quarantine. There were enough houses for everyone.

Having said that, it was quite fortunate that Kinshin was selected as the town which would absorb the survivors from the neighboring towns. Perhaps it was because of the geographical advantages that their dear town provided. Or perhaps there were other strategic factors behind this decision. Whichever the reason was, these were technicalities that Allen had no access to.

The takeaway here is that because of this decision, the Stryka family was able to retain their old house.

Another takeaway here was the fact that amongst the several mayors of the allied towns, Mayor Nark was the one who retained his position. Whether it was because the others did not make it from either the radiation or the beast attacks or perhaps some other reasons, no one actually knew.

Regardless, because Allen knew the current mayor from three years ago, he felt a little more comfortable to share some of his thoughts. Thus he said,

"I get what you're saying mayor, really. But what about my dreams? What about the path I want to follow?"

"Dreams?! You were cooped up in this evacuation site for three years! What kind of dream are you hoping to make actually?"

"Well – "

"Is it more important than helping out your neighbors? Your friends? Even your parents? Please tell what this dream is!"

Allen was surprised that the mayor snapped at him like that. He did want to explain what his dreams were. But he was immediately cut short by the man behind the desk. Then he was actually urged to explain himself anyway. He was no longer sure if the familiarity they had prior to the apocalypse were giving him any advantages here or not.

Nonetheless he gritted his teeth and decided to explain his reasons. He answered,

"I want to someday walk around the face of the Earth without any worries. No radiation. No mutated beasts. No fear of what could be outside the Town's fence. To live free like what we did three years ago."

"Oh! Is that so? And how are you going to do this actually?"

Mayor Nark widened his eyes. He then urged the person in front of him to elaborate further. This gave Allen a slight boost in confidence. He pointed upwards then continued. He declared,

"By destroying that wretched sun."

But this was a mistake. The three years of quarantine had perhaps dulled Allen's social skills. He became more naïve than he was before the lockdown. Hence it was too late when he realized that the mayor was only being sarcastic with him. This was a classic example of a click and bait scheme.

Mayor Nark glared at the person in front of him. He finally revealed his anger.

"This… Alan! What have you been feeding your son with? Destroy the sun? The freaking SUN!"

The father who was quietly staying behind his son was called out. Perhaps he had also known that such event would happen. So he was trying to keep a low profile. Pretty sneaky.

Too bad that he was not left unnoticed. But since he was taken by surprise, he was unable to reply immediately. This made the mayor to return his glare back to the person in front of him.

"Young Allen – no, you're not even that young anymore."

"Mayor, I'm just 25."

"That is not the point!"

"It is not?"

"Do you even hear what you're saying? Destroy the sun. You should have done that three years ago! Now the entire planet had already been exposed to the radiation. There is no longer any point in destroying the mutated Sun."

Despite being overwhelmed by the mayor's outrage, Allen noticed what the man had said. This proved that the person behind the desk was aware of the bombardment theory.

Allen grasped this sliver of hope. He removed his face shield. When he saw that the mayor did not mind, he gave his answer.

"There is a point. As long as the source of this radiation is destroyed, then no further beasts would be mutated. Their population would become finite. And we can then start hunting them all one by one."

"One by one, huh?"

Mayor Nark sighed in exasperation. The person in front of him wanted to elaborate this further but he waved his hand to dismiss the idea. He then continued,

"Let's say that you do destroy the sun. You do realize that it is the main source of light and energy for our planet. You will end up destroying our world in the process."

"Well actually – "

"Enough! I have just realized that in order for this ridiculous dream to happen you need to go to space. And that will not happen because you are not leaving this town in the first place."

Allen felt displeased when the mayor stood up and cut him short of what he was about to say. He actually had quite a feasible plan. That was why he was able to convince his parents to allow him to meet the mayor. Albeit, his father was still trying to maintain a low profile. But how was he going to explain his plan when the mayor kept on interrupting him?

Mayor Nark seemed to have noticed his troubled expression. He walked away from the desk. He then snorted,

"You seem to have an answer for each of my questions. This proves that trying to reason with you is futile. In that case I just have to be more direct. Follow me."

Allen was dumbfounded upon hearing this. He was left stunned for a few second. He snapped out of his daze and went after the mayor who was heading outside the town hall. He noticed that his father was following him from behind. Sneaky indeed.

Mayor Nark was standing outside the town hall. He had removed his face shield. He did not mind the afternoon sunlight. He then said,

"You want to head outside the Town?"

"Yes, please allow me to do so mayor."

"Then you have to make me."

The mayor had taken a fighting stance. He gestured at the person in front of him to come forward.

Allen had realized that the mayor was aiming for this kind of confrontation. That was why he was able to readily reply at the question before. However he could not help himself from asking something else.

"Mayor, are you sure you want to be the one to do the fighting?"

"Why not?"

"Well you could technically call out a champion of sorts to fight for you."

As mentioned before, Kinshin was a town that was now made up of the residents from multiple towns allying together. And Mayor Nark is the head of this unified community. Three years ago, this would have resulted into the town upgrading into a city or even into a metropolis. Certainly, such prestigious position would have no shortage of hired muscle of sorts.

But Mayor Nark raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He seemed to be annoyed even. He simply said,

"I'm more than enough to beat some sense out of you."

"Fine. If you insist."

Since the mayor had no issues upon the matter, Allen did not dwell on it as well. He clenched his right fist and held it with his left hand. He crouched down to stabilize his stance.

"[Fire Fist]!"

Allen roared. Flames began to erupt from his held fist. Yes, flames!

The radiation from the mutated Sun had made the animals around the planet to become beasts that used to be only found in myths and legends. Meanwhile humans had suffered from overexposure. But that was around three years ago.

Humans belong to the species that has high adaptability. The first step into surviving these new living conditions was to develop some sort of immunity to the radiation. However, simply having an immunity will never be enough to survive in this apocalypse. Certainly, the next step had to be taken! And this was successfully achieved with the aid of certain factors.

And that step was – Ability Development!

The potential to develop special traits that could be used to take on the emerged beasts.  The chance of humanity for a counterattack. The new hope which made the man named Allen Stryka to dare to dream once again.

He clenched the erupting flames tighter. He then declared in full determination,

"This is the fist that will destroy the sun!"