Leon's soul slowly fades into the hopeless darkness of death.
But how and why is he dying? Of all people...
'How did this happen...?'
In a single instant, his entire life flashes before him—every mistake, every fleeting moment of happiness.
Everything, just to end like this...
As if destiny itself was... corrupted.
'Oh... now I remember.'
[17 HOURS BEFORE]
The voice of his friend fills Leon's ears.
"Wake up."
"WAAAKE UP!"
And then he answers:
"What is wrong with you? Let me sleep!"
"Did you seriously forget? We have to go to that dungeon."
"Oh yeah... fine, Adam, just give me a minute to get clean."
Adam rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, sure. See you at the training grounds."
His friend leaves, closing the door behind him.
"Ahh, it's so trashy here."
Leon looks around, seeing his room—full of trash and chaos. It's small but comfy.
"When did I last clean this room?"
He gets up from bed, eats his breakfast quickly, then leaves.
Leon arrives at the training grounds and sees his friend cleaning blood off his sword.
"Finally, I waited so damn long."
Leon comments:
"It was two minutes."
"Anyway, did they already start the raid?"
"No," Adam says.
"But in the next fifteen minutes they will, so let's go already."
He hands the sword to him.
Leon takes it, looking at the sharp blade made of steel—strong enough to take down dozens of monsters, but too weak to kill powerful mana beasts.
It doesn't matter anyway since they are going to a normal, newly found dungeon.
Pretty easy, right?
About eight minutes later, they are already in front of the dungeon opening. They call it a Mana Anomaly—a gate that breaks space, leading to a cave full of mana beasts.
But also full of items.
It's a risky job, sure, but very rewarding.
That's why Leon, as an average Awakener, has still been able to live well for the past year.
He doesn't think much, as someone starts to speak—the leader of today's raid
Mr. Brayson.
"Alright, today we plan on clearing this dungeon in about seven to eight hours"
He continues, the dominant look in his eyes already makes him feel powerful.
Not only that, he's also a Rank 1 Awakener.
'Another easy job. Hope I'll get some mana crystals' Leon thinks to himself.
"Alright, enough explanation. Let's get inside."
Brayson casts the opening spell—a very common and easy spell. Even someone with weak mana capacity could do it.
Even the worst warrior-class Awakeners can do it easily.
The dungeon gate opens, and light takes them inside.
Monsters already attack them.
Brayson easily clears the first few, and the rest of the team follows his lead, killing dozens of monsters in less than ten minutes.
A squad of eighteen men works damn well in situations like this.
"Hey, let's play a game!" Adam shouts.
"What game?" Leon asks.
"Whoever kills fewer monsters pays for the meal. Deal?"
"Sure, why not."
And they start attacking monsters, dominating them. Adam kills one with his sword, then another by casting ice spikes.
Leon keeps the tempo.
"Not so fast!"
He casts Fire Wave at the monsters, burning three out of four.
"Heh, easy—"
But Adam kills the fourth one. Now they both have three kills.
"Be ready, you will pay for the meal!"
Leon grumbles:
"Nuh uh."
They both continue, killing multiple monsters.
"That's my twenty-one, haha," Adam jokes, breathing heavily.
"Mine is twenty-four."
"Wait, no, that's not fair!"
"Cry about it. You'll be the one paying," Leon says.
Their rivalry could continue forever... sadly, everything has an end.
Both of them freeze in shock as they hear screams...
Leon asks
"Nine?"
"No... ten."
Ten... exactly ten screams.
Then eleven... then twelve, thirteen, fourteen—and then they hear Brayson.
"Get out!"
Adam rushes toward Brayson's voice. He slashes dark monster in the eye.
"Mr., are you alright?" Adam asks.
"Yes... watch out, idiot."
"Wha—?!"
The dark monster almost chops Adam's head off, but Leon saves him by blocking the attack.
"Quick! Adam, use your ice!"
Adam does so. The monster's body freezes, allowing Leon and Brayson to cut its hand off.
They almost kill it... but—
BOOM
From the black monster's skin emerges a dark, bloody aura.
Brayson pushes Leon away.
"Help me from a distance! This monster is using Soul Manifestation!"
"HOW?!"
Adam shouts, then creates ice bullets and sends them at the monster.
Sadly... they are crushed, and the beast dashes at Adam.
Adam's chest... it's pierced by the monster's claw.
Leon bursts in anger, using his mana nature.
A majestic flame bursts from his hand, rushing toward the monster with immense speed.
The monster uses that strange aura again, manipulating space around it—and stone from the wall defends it.
'This is Soul Manifestation?' Leon thinks.
"I will not let this beast kill that young man!"
[A/N: Both Adam and Leon are 17 btw]
Adam is on the ground, but he uses ice to stop the monster's leg from moving, giving Brayson a chance....a chance he wouldn't miss.
His blade strikes the beast's face, slashing its eye.
It seems like it's the end... the beast is on the ground.
Cold.
But something deep... unspoken awakens inside it.
The beast transforms.
Its second form has a mana pool bigger than Brayson's and Leon's combined, claws larger than a human hand, and eyes so bright you could mistake them for the sun.
Its the end for them, beast Bites Leon's face off.
{End of Chapter 1
Alright, it's a long chapter... but I hope you liked it.