"Damn it..." He stood up from his bed, ran his fingers through his hair and let out a loud yawn.
"Hm?" His eyes drifted to the calendar on the wall. It was August, and every day from the 1st had been crossed out with an X, leading up to the date circled in red, it was today.
It was finally THE day!
"Alright!" He squeezed his fingers into his fist with determination flaring in his eyes, today was the day he had been waiting for a long time.
The day of his Soul Awakening.
Many, many years ago, a supernatural tradegy plagued humanity, making what was usually considered as nothing but fantasy, all too real.
The Advent Of The Gates.
The Advent Of The Gates was a result of the conditions being met, creating a portal that linked the human world to the other side, and from these gates, they came along. Creatures never thought to exist, creatures that could have only existed in fantastical settings.
Soul-Beasts.
They were given this name because of their unique abilities, the ability to grow stronger by consuming human souls. But that wasn't the only thing the Advent Of The Gates brought along, after being exposed to the human world for a long time, the atmosphere of the gate seeped in.
And after being exposed to the other side's atmospheric energy, humanity awakened extraordinary gifts that enabled them to fight against these beasts. Those gifts were referred to as Soul-Core, and the extraordinary superhumans who used this gift to defend humanity against these beasts were referred to as Soul-Hunters.
Soul-Hunters were revered as saviours of humanity, the ones who averted the apocalypse. After a lot of these saviours emerged, their abilities were eventually seperated into five different functions.
Elemental Soul-Core - Soul-Hunters with the ability to utilize the various elements and Sub-elements of nature.
Zen Soul-Core - Soul-Hunters with abilities that boosts that physical attributes or augmentations.
Alchemist Soul-Core - Soul-Hunters with the ability to manipulate the laws of nature and reason according to their will.
Support Soul-Core - Soul-Hunters with the ability to aid regeneration, or healing in general. While they don't fall under the combat class Soul-Hunters, their abilities also provides a buff in the strength of others.
Knight Soul-Core - Soul-Hunters whose abilities cannot be classified under the four functions, they are regarded as the strongest amongst the five and their abilities are said to be able to shake the world itself.
To prevent this calamity from ever happening again, they banded together, creating a large association with different branches and sections, gathering and training elite Soul-Hunters in other to prevent another Advent.
This association was known as the Soul-Hunter association, and in this association were different segments in different countries, which collectively, was referred to as the 14 Soul-Squads.
Each year they had their awakening ceremony, recruiting capable soldiers who will become strong enough to defend humanity.
And now, due to age limits, it was finally Kazuki's turn.
He had his bath, brushed his teeth and dressed in a simple white shirt, black pants and white sneakers.
As he came out of his room and into the living room, he eyes met with two familiar faces, a boy and a girl.
"Kazuki!" The girl rushed at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him in a warm embrace.
There were his friends who stood by him during difficult times since the death of his parents, Mira Ravenheart and Kirito.
"You're late, damn it, you're the one who keeps talking nonstop about today and yet here you are." Kirito spoke with a grin on his face, not once in his life did he decide to ever pass up the opportunity of mocking him.
"What the hell are you saying? The 1st selection isn't till 12 noon, you're all early. It seems your more eager to awaken than I am." Kazuki smirked, returning the favor to him.
"Oh shut up."
"Don't speak to Kazuki like that!" Mira said, wrapping her arms around his before drawing him closer to her chest.
"That's creepy, what the hell?"
Mira was fond of Kazuki ever since they were little, so it was no surprise her attitude now made her look... a bit clingy.
"Now then, let's get going."
[12:00PM]
[Soul-Hunter's Association]
The Soul-Hunter's Association was a towering structure with its black glass walls gleaming under the sun. It stood at the heart of the city, taking the role of it's backbone, it was were Soul-Hunters were assigned tasks, where orders were given to raid, and where humanity's saviours were born.
At exactly twelve noon, a multitude of people, reaching almost a hundred in number, were gathered in a hall large enough to contain hundreds of people at once within the building including Kazuki and his friends.
At the front center of the room, a platform rose above the crowd, and atop that platform, was a large glowing sphere.
"Holy shit... I never expected this many people..." Kirito couldn't believe his eyes, on average the Soul-Hunters association had only a total of not more than 30 individuals awakening per year, but this year, it was different.
"Yeah... It doesn't come as a shock to me, we all lost something that day."
For most people, becoming Soul-Hunters meant being set for life, it was the highest paying job in the country.
With each dungeon raid, if they were successful in defeating the final boss, they obtained something called a Soul-Essence, it was the essence of the boss which was useful for developing weapons they could use in raiding.
In a dungeon, every single item dropped by slaying beasts was expensive depending on the dungeon's rank, making hunting one of the most profitable jobs.
While it was beneficial to Kazuki, it wasn't his main goal, his main goal far transcended the wealth to care for himself and his sister and today, he would achieve it.
"Oh? What's this? I never thought you'd show yourself around here, drop out." A voice spoke behind the three friends, and their eyes widened a bit as they could never forget that voice.
They turned around immediately, and their gaze met with that of the boy who had bullied and traumatized people he considered below him throughout their school year. He was also the same guy that put Kazuki in the hospital the day his parents died.
"Xander." Kazuki squeezed his fingers, completely enraged just at the sight of him. To Kazuki, the death of his parents could have been avoided if Xander didn't put him in the hospital and delayed his going home.
Then again, no one could have predicted that the Advent Of The Gate would happen that early.
"Kazuki." Mira held his arm tight, nodding softly and Kazuki understood immediately, causing a ruckus now would only lead to him being kicked out of the building, and he wouldn't allow Xander to take that away from him again.
"Good day to you all." A voice echoed through the hall, drawing all eyes to the platform where the Orb rested. Behind it stood three men dressed in sleek black suits.
The one in the center stood out—older than the others, with white hair and a neatly trimmed beard, his presence was calm, yet commanding.
The candidates couldn't feel it yet, but they could tell. The aura emanating from the man in the center, it was powerful enough to choke them completely.
Calling him strong would be an understatement, he was a tidal force!
"Oh? They are quite a number of you, but now that we're all here we can begin. My name is Arthur Daemar and I'm the Head Commander of the 14 Soul-Squads and the two besides me are my associates. I'm sure many of you are aware that after today your life is about to change forever, but first I'll have to inform you on what is about to happen, the process of your Soul Awakening."
He began, clearing his throat as he effortlessly caught the attention of the crowd.
"Ever since the first Advent Of The Gates, humanity faced a threat so powerful that it could have annihilated our entire race, and we were reminded that we weren't alone in this cruel world, but with that calamity, came a gift. Soul-Core. I'm sure most of you are aware of the details so I'll skip it, we humans we all possess a Soul-Core as a result of the Advent, however with that core comes the energy to keep it alive. It's name, Soul-Essence."
Murmurs arose from among the crowd, they were all puzzled by his explanations.
"Soul-Essence?"
"That's right." The vice president's voice silenced the crowd once more, clearing the doubts in the air.
"After being contaminated by the Advent's atmospheric energy, This Soul-Essence is what keeps our core alive, although we can't sense it because it is dormant in our bodies, providing only enough power to sustain our core. But do you know that this essence can be drawn to the surface?"
"And how's that Commander Arthur?" One of men in the crowd asked.
"That's where this sphere comes in, It draws out an individual's latent Soul-Essence to the surface and activates his Soul-Core."
The vice president exchanged glances with his surbordinates, and after a nod of approval, he cleared his throat again.
"That's all the information I can share with you for now, this awakening ceremony is divided into three stages, we will now beginning the 1st selection. With that said, let the Soul Awakening begin."