The nervous murmurs of the crowd grew intensely as Arthur called for the first person to step forward.
The girl that boldly decided to go first — Kaira, approached the platform from the crowd.
Even as she walked gracefully towards the sphere, whispers followed behind her.
"It's head commander Arthur's daughter." One of the aspiring Soul-Hunters mumbled.
"I wonder what Soul-Core she will activate." Another member of the crowd whispered behind him.
She arrived at the platform, placed her dominant hand on the sphere confidently and almost immediately, the air crackled with energy.
The sphere pulsed with an intense golden light, a glow which covered both Kaira and the crowd.
Instinctively, they all shielded their eyes with their arms from the pulsating light.
And as the light died down, it revealed the bio-data of the candidate to the head commander and his associates.
"Kaira— A-rank Soul-Hunter — The Knight's Soul-Core." Arthur announced, leading to loud murmurs from the crowd.
"The Knight's Soul-Core!?"
"Holy shit..."
"I expected nothing less from the head commander's daughter, but to think she'd activate something like the Knight's Soul-Core..."
Commander Arthur cleared his throat, the sound sharp and commanding, their surprise was understandable, but not during the awakening ceremony. The crowd fell silent as he called for the next person to step forward.
'What!?' Kirito couldn't believe it, he already was next in line. "I'm already next!?"
With a quiet gulp, he stepped forward, climbed the platform, and placed his hand on the orb.
The light show began, with Kirito's body and the sphere glowing brightly in sync. As the glow faded, a faint smile stretched across his lips.
"Kirito Horigami — C-rank Soul-Hunter — Elementalist Soul-Core."
'C-rank Soul-Hunter? That's not bad at all!' He expected something like a D-rank Soul-Core, but fortunately for him, his luck had intervened.
"I don't recall how often Soul-Hunter's of C-rank and above were awakened from scratch." The head commander whispered to his associates with a warm smile, despite the low ranks, it was an impressive feat given the ratio of C-rank Soul-Hunters in the last five years.
"The world's changing commander, and with that change comes another change to offset the inbalance, this year's hunters are special, I can feel it." His right hand associate replied with a smile.
The next candidate was Mira, and she stepped forward and climbed onto the platform. She placed her dominant hand on the sphere, and once again, the same light show began to unfold—bright and radiant, just like before.
"Mira Ravenheart — B-rank Soul-Hunter — Support Soul-Core."
"Whoa!"
"B-rank!?"
The outcome wasn't entirely unexpected given the awakenings before hers, but few had imagined it would reach as high as B-rank.
"I'm a support Soul-Hunter? That's fine, I never liked fighting anyways." B-rank was good enough for her, and as long as she didn't have to fight, it was even more thrilling.
"Nice Mira, B-rank? That's awesome!" Kazuki congratulated her as she came down from the platform.
"Thanks! I know you'll awaken a Soul-Core even better than mine, after all you're the strongest guy I know!"
After Mira's awakening, more people stepped forward. Most awakened with ranks between D and C, while four out of the hundred ended up with the lowest possible—E-rank.
At long last, it came down to the final thirty aspiring individuals yet to activate their Soul-Core.
"So it's finally my turn eh?" Without second guessing it, Xander approached the sphere and placed his dominant hand on it. But even with his prideful nature, he was a bit scared.
No matter how strong you were physically, awakening your Soul-Core was highly dependent on just one factor, how much your bloodline was affected and it's tolerance with it.
Immediately, the same glow that lit everywhere up during Kaira's awakening illuminated the hall, but this time, it's sheer intensity was far greater than Kaira's, forcing everyone to immediately shield their eyes with their arms or the consequences would be fatal.
As the blinding light dissipated, Arthur couldn't help but laugh loudly. "Good grief, who could have guessed we had another prodigy on our hands?"
"Akira Xanders — A-rank Soul-Hunter — The Knight Soul-Core."
"What!?"
Kazuki's eyes went wide with disbelief and discomfort, he couldn't believe his ears. The worst person imaginable to him, activating a Soul-Core that so far, transcended the rest of the candidates.
"Shit! Shit!!" Even the crowd had a hard time believing, and based off the light that radiated from the sphere, Kaira and Xander might belong to the same Soul-Core. But his latent ability was leagues above hers.
Xander couldn't contain his excitement, and immediately directed a bloodlusted gaze at Kazuki whose eyes were shaking like a leaf.
The universe had given him a new way, a stronger way to torment him, and it was simply something he couldn't hide.
"You're up next... Dropout." Xander whispered in his ears after he climbed down the platform.
Finally, it was Kazuki's turn.
He gulped, squeezing his fingers into his fists as he slowly approached the sphere.
Yes, he was a dropout. After his parents died, his relatives refused to take the siblings in, especially Kazuki, they considered them as bad omen because of the way their parents died and left them to fend for themselves.
Kazuki ended up having to drop out from school, working odd jobs in order to take care of his sister. He barely ate, he barely slept, but now.
This was his chance to change all that, while others aspired to become Soul-Hunters to reap the financial benefits, Kazuki wished for something beyond that.
While reaping the financial benefits, he wished for the strength, the strength to do what he couldn't for his parents back then. The strength to protect the only family member he had left, to rid the world of the bastards that took their parents away from them!
He climbed the platform with fiery eyes, his determination was clear, and it put a smile on the head commander's face.
'This kid...'
Just as Kazuki placed his dominant hand on the sphere, a slight glow escaped it momentarily before the it's glow completely flickered and down instantly for the first time since the ceremony began.
[You-]
[You-]
"Huh?" He rubbed his eyes with his hands, he couldn't understand what was happening, he could see an interface, flickering before his eyes before it completely disappeared.
The atmosphere in the hall was intense as they all tried to understand what it meant, both chairman Arthur and his associates were completely stunned.
Such a display was rare, but it only meant one thing.
'All that fire for this?' One of the chairman's associates thought.
With a sharp exhale, Arthur faced Kazuki with a nonchalant expression. "Kazuki Matasuragi — F-Rank Soul-Hunter."
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[A/N: Information I can share so far, the atmospheric energy of the colossal gate combined with the DNA of each human, even when passed down from generations. Resulting in six distinct Cores within each individual. The Soul Sphere draws out an individual's Soul-Essence and activates one of these cores depending on which one he is affiliated with.]