In the late hours of the night, two young men who bore great resemblance to one another were engaged in close quarter combat. The youngest of the two appeared to have the upper hand, his body moved with grace and all his attacks landed while the older one was on the receiving end.
"I know you can do better than that Neil, stop holding back no one is around you know."
Neil blocked a jab to the face then smiled, his body relaxed and he took a formless stance. His piercing gaze locked on to his younger brother, Kyle.
"Finally."
Kyle murmured then he also took a formless stance, the stance belonged to their family. They exchanged quick blows and the flow of battle had changed into Neil's favor, although it was clear that Kyle was physically stronger than him.
"Let's end it here Kyle, I have to get my mundane sleep."
Neil spoke after a two hours of them exchanging blows, Kyle chuckled and nodded.
"Same time, same place tomorrow?"
Neil reluctantly agreed, Kyle grinned like an idiot. Neil could not understand why was kyle so fixated on wanting to spar with him every single night, although he did appreciate the time he spent withn his younger brother.
"You better get going before your wife comes looking for you."
Kyle checked his watch then grimaced.
"I am so dead."
He waved then then left the training room in a blur his supernatural agility on full display. Neil shock his head and left the training room after him.
Reaching his quarters he went straight to the bathroom to take a cold shower, after half an hour he stepped out of the shower and stood before the mirror. High cheekbones, and a slender nose, Messy, dark hair, and Intense, expressive eyes with an emotive depth stared back at him.
As good looking as he was, he felt utterly worthless. The man that stared back at him was a failure, he had failed to awaken his system at the age of 7 bringing shame to his family.
Although his family did not cast him aside because he had failed to awaken his system, he still felt like a disappointment. His father wanted him as a successor as it is his birth right, but he did not feel worthy and instead asked for Kyle to take his place.
Kyle had awakened the warpath system, this was the system members of his family awakened being direct descendants of the champion of the God of war. The system granted mastery in all forms of combat but then it diverged taking a path suitable for it's host based on their affinities and personality.
Kyle had great talent and potential, his growth rate was insanely high and his ability to adapt was amazing. He on the other hand had none of those, people often commented on his combat skills claiming they were top notch even greater than Kyle's but he knew that within a short amount of time Kyle was going to surpass him in skill. He was at the limits of what a human could accomplish.
He left the bathroom in a towel and went straight to bed, tomorrow was a big day after all it was the day of Kyle's inauguration. He was finally going to succeed his father as the patriarch of house Thorne and the leader of the country's military power.
His parents only had two children, him and Kyle. Kyle looked just like him though younger with their mother's blonde hair and blue eyes, although the both of them looked like younger versions of their father.
...
The systems first appeared in the world ten thousand years ago.
In the age of Walking Chaos, when abominations of shadow and teeth tore through mortal lands, the gods chose not to intervene directly. Instead, they bestowed upon their champions the Systems — mechanisms hidden in the soul that awakened latent potential, guided growth, and ensured mortals could fight back against the darkness.
Over generations, the descendants of these champions became known as the Blessed or the system bearers, inheritors of the Systems.
After the age of chaos came the age of champions, where the 12 champions of the gods began to fight back against the the creatures born of the Devouring darkness, The conspiracy. Although they were small in number they managed to change the course of events and stopped the rapid invasion of the Conspiracy.
No one knew where the devouring darkness came from but they knew that if they did not fight back, it was the end of their world.
The invasion of the Conspiracy still continued but they were no longer so frequent, the fight between the 12 heroes and the Conspiracy reached an equilibrium. The years went by and the 12 heroes had offspring which inherited the ability to awaken the systems, and over thousands of years more and more people inherited the systems .
The foundation of the abilities granted by the system were the same, but the growth of the ability diverged as the system bearers grew in strength taking a different branch from the main ability.
Every system path had different branches, mainly four derived from the corresponding God it came from. Although not all system system paths had four branches, so unlike their ancestors who could wield the full might of the systems, the Blessed of the modern world did not have the same privilege.
In the present word, about 40 percent of the people on the planet were system bearers while the general population was completely mundane. The rate of the attacks from the Conspiracy was even less now but whenever an attack happened the amount of casualties were the highest any generation after the age of chaos had ever seen, the Conspiracy had also grown in strength there were rumors that some had even infiltrated the human world passing off as humans and occupying important positions in goverments, churches and the military in all the 12 countries of the world.
...
Neil woke up earlier than usual, the sun was not yet out and even the birds were asleep but it seems like the servants had already started preparing for the inauguration .
Getting up, he went to go clean himself up in the bathroom then he headed for the training room dressed in loose clothing. A baggy t-shirt and pants which he always found more comfortable to train in than the spandex the rest of the people wore.
They lived in a Grand manor deep in the secluded parts of the mountain, his family was after all the direct descendants of one of the 12 championships of old. If they wantedd to they could have been the ones running the country but instead his ancestor gave the responsibility to their close cousins the Vanderholts.
The country was named after it's first king, Vanderholt is a beautiful country with a chain of mountains surrounding its capital. The Thornes live in one of the mountains surrounding the capital, and their manor is heavily guarded it is the safest place in all of the kingdom.
Today every aristocrat within Vanderholt and other from other countries will be present, it was custom for all the heads of the 12 Blessed bloodlines to be present at an inauguration. They represented the real power in the world, and like the Thornes the rest of the great founding houses were also in positions of power in their respective countries.
Neil shook his head and focused on his training, it was not excessive he was only retaining his footwork. If any non combatant entered the training room they would think he was crazy, because to the untrained eye his movements had no rhythm or neither did they follow a specific pattern. They followed the formless principle, which stated that: No one can tell what type of painting will come from a blank canvas.
His movements were unpredictable yet deadly, he moved with a chilling grace he did not reveal while sparring Kyle. After two hours of repeated training the sun was already up, illuminating the dim training room. The birds chipped and the sounds of the servants working grew louder now that the sun was up and every one was awake.
Unlike every other day today he could not afford to skip breakfast, Mother had asked him to be present because father wanted to address the whole family. So he went to go clean himself up before heading outside to the garden where they usually had breakfast.
The garden was neatly kept and with beautiful flowers of all kinds, he took in the scent of fresh flowers and the gentle clean breeze of the mountains. The weather was very good today, it was a clear sky with no cloud in sight. It appeared as though the gods themselves had blessed this day.
He stepped under a beautiful white shed, where a long table filled all kinds of food awaited him. He was the first one to arrive, only the head maid was present at the moment, a middle aged woman with gray in her hair and brown eyes, she had ordinary features nothing about her stood out. She wore a pleasant smile as she greeted him.
"Good morning lord Neil."
She gave a small bow, he shook his head and smiled back.
"There is no one around Martha, address me like the boy you raised."
Martha smiled and shook her head softly.
"Yet you are no longer a boy now my lord. "
Neil chuckled softly and spoke nothing else, he sat in silence waiting for the rest of his family to show up.
A few moments later everyone was at the table, his father and Kyle sat at opposite ends while his mother sat next to his father followed by Grace, Kyle's wife. He sat all alone on the other side, everyone at the table was in high spirits especially his father who seemed relieved to be handing over his duties as family head to someone else.
"Such beautiful weather we have today, is it not?"
His father spoke with a smile, he looked exactly like Neil albeit older with gray hair and a full beard, his dark eyes scanned the table as he spoke his gaze resting on Neil who in his eyes appeared detached from the rest of the world.
" it certainly is my lord, Kyle darling how are you feeling, nerves?"
His mother responded and turned to Kyle with a smile, her excitement was apparent in her blue eyes yet there was another emotion hidden behind the smile. Sadness, Neil knew how much his parents loved him and he also knew that despite him failing to awaken the system they still wanted him to succeed his father.
Her beautiful yet aged face could not completely mask the sadness in her eyes, Neil saw this and decided to participate in the conversation.
"Do not worry mother, the boy has nerves of steel. And besides the only time I have ever seen him nervous was on his wedding day."
Everyone laughed and the atmosphere became more lively.
"Hey, I was not nervous. I was-uh excited."
Kyle responded shakily, earning another round of laughter. After the excitement died down his father cleared his throat grabbing all of their attention and began talking.
"Today is a g ood, a joyous day. Yet I have to tell you some very important things that will probably ruin the joyous mood..."