Colorist

Pinnacle: Primary Colors (Upper Class)
At the very top of the triangle are those who possess the pure primary colors of the spectrum: Red, Blue, and Yellow.
Status: Elite, high society and the strongest warriors (pioneers).
Power: They possess the greatest concentration of light energy, capable of inflicting colossal damage on the Dark Witch's monsters. They rule the city and dictate the laws.
Middle: Secondary and mixed colors (Middle class)
Just below are people whose innate aura consists of derivative shades - Green, Orange, Violet and other mixing products.
Status: Working class, artisans, ordinary soldiers and administrators.
Power: Their magic is stable, but less powerful than pure, primordial colors. Their status depends on the "purity" and vibrancy of their specific hue: dull tones are valued significantly less.
Base: Pastel and dirty tones (Lower class)
The base of the triangle is made up of people with barely noticeable, faded, gray or “muddy” shades.
Status: Service personnel and laborers. The most oppressed segment of full-fledged citizens.
Strength: They have a critically low energy reserve and are practically incapable of resisting the Darkness.
Outside the System: The Absolute Bottom and the Hidden Threat
The most unique place is occupied by polar extremes, which break the usual triangle:
Colorless (Outcasts): Born without color (like Kei at the beginning of his journey). Considered trash, they have no right to live, as they bring no energy to the city.
Black: True darkness. Initially perceived as the Witch's curse, it later reveals itself as a power of absorption—the ability to take other people's colors and dominate all levels of the triangle.

The outside world beyond the protective dome is a vast, deadly ocean of eternal night.
Territory of Eternal Darkness
Outside the city, there is no familiar landscape, sky, or sun. The entire world is flooded with a tangible, thick Darkness, generated by the Dark Witch. This darkness is not simply the absence of light, but an aggressive substance. It literally corrodes the human body and mind. Without a constant supply of magical color, a person in the outside world quickly goes mad, loses their sight, and turns into a soulless monster.
The main dangers for the Corps
Spawn of Darkness (Monsters): The area is inhabited by terrifying creatures created from pure darkness. They are completely blind, but sensitive to light and the warmth of human blood. The farther from the city, the larger, smarter, and more dangerous they become.
Color Depletion: The weapons and armor of the pioneers run on dye energy. In combat or simply during transition, dye is inexorably depleted. If a fighter runs out of colored ink, they are completely defenseless against the Darkness. Finding and acquiring new sources of pigment in the outside world is a matter of survival.
Hallucinations and whispers: The Darkness can imitate the voices of fallen comrades or loved ones. It exerts psychological pressure, luring inexperienced soldiers deeper into uncharted zones, away from the safety of the squad's torches.
Ruins of the Old World
The main goal of the Corps' forays is not only the extermination of monsters, but also the exploration of ancient ruins. Before the Witch's arrival, humanity flourished, and abandoned, darkness-swept megacities still hold unique artifacts, powerful concentrates of pure flowers, and technologies capable of saving the city. However, it is these ruins that are guarded by the Dark Witch's most powerful and dangerous servants.

Pompous Red Boy: Akhel. Coming from a powerful military clan, Akhel has been accustomed to being worshipped since childhood. Possessing a bright, pure Red color, he considers himself the pinnacle of evolution, and all "lesser" beings expendable.
Personality: Hot-tempered, egocentric, and aggressive. He constantly provoked Kai, trying to force him to obey, and sincerely despised the boy for his lack of "showy status." Ashael fights for glory and recognition, not to save humanity.
Abilities: His magic consists of destructive crimson flames and thermal blasts. He can incinerate entire waves of weaker monsters in seconds.
Major flaw: A complete lack of tactical thinking. During an ambush, when his fire proved useless against the elite creatures, his pomposity instantly gave way to cowardly panic. Depleted of energy, he became a liability.
Ice Blue Maiden: Selena
Selena represents the city's intellectual and political elite. Possessing a deep blue color, she views the world through the prism of utility and strict logic.
Personality: Arrogant, cold, and silent. Unlike the boisterous Askhel, she didn't stoop to openly insulting Kai, but treated him as nothing—an inanimate object or a servant whose opinion was irrelevant.
Abilities: Blue Magic allows her to create powerful azure barriers, ice blades, and freeze space, holding back Darkness monsters. She acts as the team's coordinator and protector.
Major flaw: Blind faith in the infallibility of her magic. When the Darkness broke her perfect barrier, Selene suffered a severe mental shock. Her cold calculations shattered against the harsh reality of the outside world.
Their transformation after the sortie
After the despised Kay saved their lives, both characters faced an identity crisis. Ashel harbored anger and fear toward Kay, unable to understand how the "weakling" had become stronger. Selena, a pragmatist, began to observe Kay closely for the first time, suspecting she was no match for him.

Formation of the detachment and the conflict of classes
The Red Squad captain recruits Kai into a special expedition, disguised as a weak, low-ranking blue ink user. The squad consists of young and arrogant members of the Upper Classes:
A pompous fighter of pure Red color (attack power and flame).
A proud girl of the Blue Class (ice blades and barriers).
They perceive Kai as ballast and "dirt underfoot," insulting him for his supposedly dull aura. They are confident that the expedition will be a walk in the park for their "pure" noble flowers.
The Foray Begins: Arrogance vs. Darkness
The squad delves into the gray zone of the ruins of the old world. The aristocrats easily dispatch the first waves of common monsters, boasting of their destructive power and bright light. Kai deliberately hangs back, coolly analyzing their fighting style and noticing a key mistake: excessive consumption of paint energy. The companions waste their strength on show, forgetting that the Darkness beyond the city limits drains energy every minute.
Disaster and ambush
As they move deeper toward the ancient artifact, the squad falls into a trap set by the sentient "General of Darkness." The Blue Warrior's light barrier instantly cracks under the pressure of the thick darkness. The arrogant Red Warrior panics, burning the last reserves of his color, but his flames only attract even more creatures. Color exhaustion sets in. The elite, deprived of their magic, are reduced to helpless children, paralyzed by terror in the face of the advancing Darkness.
Kai's Rescue and Triumph
When his teammates are on the brink of death, Kai steps forward. To save the squad and avoid being identified by the authorities, he acts as a shadow assassin:
Used by Nero to create distracting sound waves.
Activates the Black color for only a split second, delivering pinpoint, deadly blows to the vulnerable spots of monsters while the aristocrats are blinded by the darkness.
Kai single-handedly rescues the survivors from the trap. His teammates return alive, but their pride is completely shattered by Kai's rescue.

First Encounter: Clash in the Dark
The encounter occurs during Kai's undocumented foray outside the dome. Kai, disguised as a mask, engages in combat with an elite monster that is superior to ordinary humans. The young man uses his new "dark power," operating at the brink of exhaustion.
At this moment, the Captain of the Red Squad arrives on the battlefield—one of the most powerful Pathfinders, possessor of the fierce and destructive True Red. The Captain doesn't immediately intervene, but watches with dispassion as the "colorless scum" destroys the creature of Darkness with his bare hands and pure tactics. The Captain is struck not so much by Kai's anomalous magic as by his animalistic survival instinct and unbending will. Instead of arresting Kai for illegal use of power, the Captain decides to take him into his custody, but with a strict condition.
Test: Fracture test
The captain doesn't trust words or titles; he trusts only in actions under mortal danger. To prove his right to be under his wing, Kai must pass a personal underground test:
The mission: The Captain leaves Kai alone in a closed, completely de-energized sector, where the concentration of corrosive Darkness is critically high.
Complication: A wave of aggressive monsters is released against Kai, but the Captain blocks Kai's ability to use the power of black absorption in the first minutes of the battle with a special pressure artifact.
Objective: Kai must survive and win by relying solely on human reflexes, combat intelligence, and the ability to control his exhaustion without descending into madness.
Test result
Kai finds himself on the brink of death, his body literally torn apart by the mental pressure of the Darkness. However, using Nero as a distraction and displaying tactical cunning, Kai catches the monster leader and overcomes the barrier. The captain acknowledges his superiority. Kai officially becomes his secret apprentice, receiving a stern but fair mentor capable of concealing his "dark nature" from the authorities.

The first awakening of power and the horror of exhaustion
After escaping the paint waste pit, Kei encounters a horrific side effect of his new ability. The Primordial Black grants him incredible physical strength, speed, and destructive power. In his first encounter outside the safe zone, he destroys a massive cyclops monster with a single blow. However, after his triumph comes a terrible price: using the black instantly drains and saps his own life energy. Without nourishment, Kei begins to rapidly die.
Consuming and embracing one's "darkness"
On the brink of yet another death, Kei hears a terrifying, primal whisper in his head, urging him to sate his hunger. Instinctively, the young man touches the fallen monster. A surge of absolute darkness erupts, and Kei completely absorbs (devours) the creature's power and its remaining energy. His exhaustion, fatigue, and pain instantly vanish. He realizes a shocking truth: his Black Color is a bottomless vacuum that must constantly "feed" on enemies to keep its master alive. Nero watches this with horror, but remains loyal to his friend.
Confronting a Hidden Threat
Before returning to the city's information field, Kay is forced to hide and train on the outskirts, honing his control over his absorption power. He understands that if the city's rulers learn of his connection to the Darkness, they will hunt him down as humanity's greatest enemy. He is forced to act as a shadow hunter, saving ordinary people and hiding his identity.
It is during one of these deadly skirmishes, when Kei balances between saving the innocent and risking exposing himself, that his hidden potential and fighting genius attracts the attention of the Captain of the Red Squad - one of the strongest and stern leaders of the elite, who sees something more in the "defective" boy.

The Beginning of the Journey: An Exam Against All Odds
Because Kay was born "colorless," he was legally ineligible to even apply for the exam. To circumvent the system, he took a huge risk:
Using the accumulated blue ink, he artificially colored his aura, disguising himself as an ordinary owner of the color Blue.
During the actual exam, which tested combat skills, endurance, and the ability to resist Darkness, Kay had to rely solely on his impeccable physical fitness, cunning, and stealth. While other candidates used powerful color magic, Kay prevailed through pure tactics.
Sabotage and Betrayal: Kay successfully passed the exam stages, arousing intense envy and suspicion among the arrogant aristocrats (possessors of pure Primary colors). They could not tolerate the fact that an "upstart from the lower classes" was bypassing the elite. As a result of the plot, Kay was exposed—he was tricked into a trap, beaten, and robbed of his disguise ink. The judges and his rivals considered him a cheater and a worthless creature. The exam was officially failed, and Kay himself was thrown to the bottom of the city—into a giant pit where the toxic, waste products of all existing magical colors were dumped.
Finale: What happened in the end?
Instead of dying in the waste pit, the main plot twist of the whole story occurred:
Awakening of the True Darkness: Kei's body didn't dissolve. His "colorlessness" acted like a complete vacuum. He absorbed the entire toxic mixture of multicolored inks.
Birth of the Black Color: The excess energy absorbed was compressed, and Kei was reborn, gaining the legendary Black color - the color of absolute absorption.
New status: Kay returned from the pit not just alive, but a living weapon. He failed the standard exam, but gained a power that elevates him above any pioneer and allows him to fight the Dark Witch's monsters on equal terms. Now his goal is not to earn the city's recognition, but to completely change this world.

Kai is a colorless rebel
Kai is a young man who defies the cruel system of the City of Colors. Being "colorless," he is unable to generate light energy, making society view him as nothing more than a potential slave. But Kai refuses to give up: he risks his life daily, mining rare blue ink in dangerous caves for a chance to pass the Pioneer Corps exam. Despite his fragile status, the young man possesses an iron will, innate combat skills, and a hidden power capable of upending the entire world order.
Nero is a "black-born" creature
Kei is always accompanied by his faithful pet, a small, mysterious black creature named Nero.
Origin: Nero is a creature of Darkness, an anomaly in the light-drenched city. The appearance of such a being within the dome is considered the strictest taboo.
Role in the hero's life: Nero is the only one who hasn't abandoned Kai in moments of complete loneliness. He's not just a pet for the boy, but a full-fledged member of the family, one Kai is willing to give his life to protect.
Value: Due to his unique "black" nature, Nero is a target for poachers and smugglers hoping to profitably sell him on the black market. He can also sense artifacts and colored minerals, making him an invaluable prospector.
Turning point and synergy
Mutual devotion drives the plot forward. In one chapter, envious people attack Kai in an attempt to steal Nero. Trying to protect his pet, the battered Kai falls into a deep pit filled with toxic waste of every color.
It was there, on the brink of death, that Kai embraced his true nature, and his colorlessness transformed into the Primordial Black—the very power bestowed upon Nero. From that moment on, their duet reached a new level: the weak blackborn and the despised youth became a single, formidable force, ready to challenge the rulers and the Dark Witch herself.