Steven Miller

H-City.

A bustling city which waits for none. It's barely 7 in the morning and the streets are already crowded with people going to their work. The roads are filled with cars, vans and buses while on either side, the unsleeping shops and malls are getting ready for a new day.

And in the middle of all this hustle-bustle, walked a boy, calmly with a sword at his leg. An olive green jacket with a logo with letters 'AK' written in a stylised form at the back and a slim black jeans, his short black hair raised above, the boy walked silently towards his destination.

And even though he carried a sword at his waist, no one questioned nor objected against it, for in this new era, it has become a common thing. And those who bore weapons in public were definitely not simple persons but those who were licensed and authorized by the government.

AK. Ashtrah Knights. A designation highly noble and highly sought after by many. A job which paid well and guaranteed many government benefits but less known is the danger involved with duty. And most members involved in this profession were special people who held the 'Authority'.

The boy stopped. Pulled out his cell from his pocket and rechecked the address of his destination.

53/6, Rose Garden Road, Hilton.

He put his mobile back and turned to cross the road.

Vehicles zoomed past him as he looked towards the signal at the cross.

30 more seconds till the red light.

.... ..... ... ....

He quietly waited, just glancing around at the people beside him, who also waited for the signal to turn red.

If he wanted he could easily cross the road using his authority but it was illegal to use one's ability blatantly in public place unless necessary. This was one of the laws enacted after the Red Day. And it wasn't just Ashtrah who had such laws, many other countries too had similar laws to ensure the safety of its common civilians.

Ping!!!

The signal turned red and cars and bikes stopped before the crossing.

The pedestrians walked towards the other side of the road.

But just then - BOOM!!!!!! An explosion occurred.

Shrieks and shouts rose as people started running here and there. No one knew why the explosion occurred and the panic was making everything rowdy.

The boy ran towards the source. It was his duty as a knight to see through such situations. If the explosion was due to a cylinder blast or a short circuit, he needed to assess the degree of damage and help anyone injured but if it was caused by goons and robbers or especially an esper, he may be in for a fight. He ran through the dense panicking crowd like water seeping through obstacles.

Soon, explosion after explosion resounded, assuring him it was no accident. He tightly gripped the handle of his sword as he arrived at the scene of the crime.

There was fire everywhere. Buildings all around were engulfed in flames and outside stood a gang of men wearing black dress holding guns while a bald man, who seemed to be their leader, stood on a car carrying a bazooka with a single hand.

"Today is the beginning of a new era. Let the world know of the Black Eagle Gang. From today, the whole of H - City will be our turf" he announced and the whole gang cheered after him.

The boy looked at them in disdain and spat, "Fools."

Crazy psychos like these were another big problem of this Authority age. Gangs and villains were on the rise. No matter how much government curbs such outlaws, more and more just grow up. Black market, Underworld.... Even common people, with no special abilities, gang up and try to take advantage of this chaotic world.

But without power and backup, all these small time thugs would be crushed completely.

There seemed to be no casualities and there were no civilians around the gang. In short, there was no urgency.

The boy can take his time dealing with these goons.

With hot weapons like those, it is less likely there is any esper among them.

The boy walked slowly towards the gang.

"Even those government knights cannot deal against our firepower. Let's blast their headquarters after this" the leader announced.

"Feels great to be an idiot, right? You can think of doing anything you please" the boy remarked mockingly.

The leader towards the boy calmly approaching them. There was no tension on his face, no fear in front of their gang.

His eyes caught sight of the sword at the boy's waist.

"Government Dog!!?" he chided.

That was how the AK were known in the underworld. For those on the dark side, they were the worst enemies.

But his dreams were big and his pride much bigger. There was no way he would back down near a twerp.

"A kid trying to play hero" he laughed "Go and play house with your baby friends. Else you will uselessly die, boy."

After the comment of their leader, the rest of the gang laughed at the boy.

"I maybe 15 and new to this industry. And even though, I haven't started my career yet, at least on paper, I am an official knight. And as a knight, it is my duty to put an end to the people like you" before the enemy could say anything or react in any way, the boy dashed forward.

The Black Eagle Gang started open fire, but suddenly a wall of gravel and rocks emerged out of the ground shielding the boy.

But even though the wall protected the boy, the gang didn't stop firing.

Then suddenly the wall started drifting towards them with the boy running behind it.

Seeing the approaching wall of earth, the goons panicked but leader picked up his bazooka and shot at the wall.

Booommmm!!!!!!!!!

Huge explosion threw chunks of materials all over the place and as the dust cleared up, the wall was completely decimated.

But the boy wasn't there.

"Where did he go?" the leader of the gang asked as he looked around, but none of the gang members had seen where the boy went.

And as if replying question, the answer came from the back "I am here."

The leader turned around to see the boy tapping the ground with his sword.

"You-!" He could only utter a word when suddenly, the ground around him and his gang started moving down, into the earth.

After moving 20 meters or so, the ground stabilised, with the entire gang trapped inside the pit.

And the boy, smilingly, looked down at them and rejoiced "Now, you can attack the knights headquarters from here."

"Great job, young cadet" someone called for him.

The boy looked behind to find another man a few meters away, in the same uniform as him, standing and looking at him.

The knights had a strict territorial administration and a knight order of one city or division would never work in some other knight order's territory unless requested or ordered by their higher officials. This would mean that this man would be his senior.

The boy stood firmly and saluted the man, "Steven Miller Sir. Cadet no. 10005625."

The man smiled listening to the young boy introducing himself.

He replied, "Halls. Vice - captain, AK, H-city. Welcome to the duty, Knight Miller."