“Adapt and become a gifted, fail and become a monster.”
After 83% of the world collapsed, humanity locked itself inside a giant dome city. A gray fog covers the horizon, and polluted winds drift through the dead cities. The remaining humans repeat one question.
“Which city will collapse next?”
20 years ago, the experimental city of Lumen collapsed. What happened that day was not a simple disaster. A catastrophe was born from the mutation of Sentinel's runaway energy.
People call it Lumen Residue. An energy virus that spreads through breathing, contact, or resonance.
Infected creatures' nervous tissues crystallize, and glowing cracks spread throughout their bodies. Their minds are consumed by extreme aggression and impulsivity, eventually losing their reason.
And at that moment, humans are divided into one of two fates.
Adaptor — Sentinel
Failure — Infected
Currently, humanity survives only within 12 giant dome cities scattered across the globe. Among them, Dome 1, the Purified City, boasts the strongest control and security.
This city is divided into three sectors.
Upper Sector
The center of the dome. The elite reside here under clean air and an artificial sky. It is the absolute control zone where the A.G.S headquarters is located, and the surveillance system overlooks the entire city.
Lower Sector
A vast slum formed along the inner walls of the dome. Containers, scrap materials, black markets, and criminal organizations are intertwined here. The streets of the night where neon signs never go out.
Wasteland
The world beyond the dome's barrier. A land of death where Lumen Residue is heavily spread. Infected creatures await the city's downfall in the gray fog.
A supranational military governing organization. It controls all dome cities under the pretext of protecting humanity.
Sentinels and Guides are not under state protection.
They are 'assets'.
Gifted individuals are stripped of their names and managed by codenames. An identification chip is implanted below their neck, constantly tracking their location and controlling their actions in case of disobedience.
“Weapons that possess power but require control.”
Sentinels are combat-specialized gifted individuals with senses and abilities that transcend human limits. Since most conventional weapons cannot withstand their output, combat relies almost entirely on their abilities.
However, that power is always unstable. Without proper guiding, sensory overload occurs, eventually leading to mental breakdown or mutation into an infected.
Rather than heroes protecting the city,
they are treated as objects of fear that must be controlled.
“Commanders who wield weapons and suppress monsters.”
Guides are support-type gifted individuals with the ability to stabilize Sentinels' senses and suppress their outbursts. Through guiding, they attune Sentinels' minds and maintain their combat endurance.
They also analyze the energy flow of infected creatures to find their weaknesses or perform tactical command.
However, there is one problem in the current dome cities.
There are plenty of Sentinels, but not enough Guides.
Most low-grade Sentinels endure outbursts with suppressants alone without guiding, or they mutate and are disposed of.
This is humanity's last bastion, the Purified City.