Please check out my other novels, Cultivation Through Artifacts and Strings Of Domination! 

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Somewhere in the vast cosmos, a huge white crack started to slowly form in the void.

When it reached two meters in diameter, a man with a half-broken demon mask on his face suddenly jumped out of it, while blood flowed out of the wide holes from his body, which could be seen all around his body.

The man was wearing a long trench coat, which was faintly changing its color from time to time.

Sometimes it was blue as an ocean, sometimes it was black as an abyss, then red like the deepest color of blood, then it changed into white, yellow, and brown.

The man after jumping out looked behind him and after confirming that nothing followed him through the crack, he took out a strange-looking stone from his pocket.

The stone was black on the outside, but on the inside, a small colorful universe could be seen, which was rotating without stopping.

"Well I almost died in there just to get this, but luckily I could get out alive in the end.", said the man quietly and after putting the stone away he continued, "I only hope those bastards won't follow me or I'm as good as a dead meat."

Looking back he saw that the white crack started to shrink slowly. When it almost disappeared, suddenly it started to vibrate and it began to get bigger and bigger again.

"Not good!!"

Feeling the approaching danger the man wanted to run away by making a loophole, but what appeared before him was only a feet wide white hole.

"Sh*t! It seems that all of my powers got depleted running away from that place and now I can't even make a simple portal!"

Just as he was about to change plans, suddenly a voice that made him feel with dread and despair suddenly came from behind his back.

"Well, well, well. It seems our little rat couldn't run away in the end."

Turning around, the man saw as five different-looking creatures came out of the crack one by one.

The one who talked looked like the devil from the legends. Horns on the head, razor-sharp teeth, and ash black skin with blood-red eyes.

Next to it was standing a female fairy with a colorful crown on top of her head, a strange creature on a white cloud, a demon with an angry face, and a bald man with a sword in his hand.

All of them were looking at the already injured man with pity, while the evil continued, "Give us the stone and maybe you can die without pain."

As the five figures were getting closer and closer to him, the man sighed and said, "It seems I won't survive this, but at least I can do this."

Taking out the stone again, without hesitation, he threw it toward the small portal, making the five creature's faces to change in an instant, the moment they realized what was happening.

With the fastest reaction was the man with the sword. Under a blink of an eye, he was next to the stone, but just as he was about to grab it, suddenly a hand caught his wrist from the side, and in the next second he flew away hundreds of miles in an instant.

"Don't think that I will just sit around and watch as you bastards take what I gave my life for.", saying this he watched as the stone successfully passed through the portal, and with a snap of his fingers, he made it disappear, not knowing where the stone has gone.

"Y-YOU PIECE OF S**T!!!"

*BOOOM*

Hit in the stomach, the mysterious man flew out like a cannonball, while a huge amount of blood flowed out from his mouth.

But like that wouldn't have been enough for him, in the next second, he was hit in the face again by the female fairy, then punched in the chest by the demon and finally got kicked on his back by the strange creature.

He was bouncing all around between the creatures like a ball in a football match. 

After God knows how many punches and kicks, the creatures finally stopped attacking and watched as the man was fighting with his last breath.

He was coughing up huge amounts of blood while blood flowed out from every orifice, but the firmness in his eyes never disappeared.

Suddenly the man with the sword appeared behind him and with a cold look, he said, "Last chance. Tell us where the stone has gone or don't even think about a merciful death."

The man saw that he was surrounded and realizing he can't run away, looked behind and with a bloody smile he said, "Say something scarier...Loser."

*Swish*

With a smooth and silent slash, the man's head fell from his neck, but even after death, his smile didn't leave his face.

"Stubborn old wreck..." said the man while putting his sword back into its scabbard.

"What should we do now?" asked the female fairy, while looking at the man's dead body with disgust in her eyes.

"Let's split up and search for the stone no matter what. If the stone gets into someone else's hand no one can predict what will happen, not even me." answered the man and without any further hesitation, he disappeared.

The other four looked at each other and following the man's order, they disappeared also.

However, none of them noticed as the demon mask and the coat suddenly came alive and with a slow motion, they started to fly toward one direction, leaving the floating carcass behind in the space lonely...

***

[100 years later]

In Earth somewhere in a classroom of an Academy.

"Earth changed after Altars with strange stones in them all around the world appeared one after another.

As time went by people realized that by connecting one's soul to the stone they can gain powers beyond imagination. And with these, Soul Stones came into humanity's life, changing everything they believed in so far.

Godhood, immortality, and impossible dreams. Everything could become possible now, but unfortunately, nothing comes without a price.

Dimensional zones appeared with creatures like fairies, sacred animals, devils, demons, monsters, or demigods in them.

Because of this, humanity was brought into a calamity. However, as time went by, it turned out that after killing these creatures they leave unique crystals, which helps our Soul Stone's and Guardian's power to grow. With them, humans could finally fight back and turn the tide of the war with the creatures, bringing back some peace to the world.

Also with these energy crystals humanity-"

*Ding~Dong*

Hearing the dong, the teacher looked up from her book and said, "It seems our class ends here. But don't forget, this afternoon will be the ceremony where you get to step into one of the Altars and get your own Soul Stone, so don't be late. Class dismissed!"

After the teacher left the classroom everybody was full of spirits.

"Ahhhh~ Finally!!!"

"I can't believe we already grew up to this point. OOHH!! I can't wait anymore! I want to go now!"

"I hope my Guardian will be a water spirit or a demigod who can control some kind of element, that would be so cool!!"

As everybody was talking about the coming ceremony a boy sitting in the back right corner started to stretch his arms up into the air.

He was a 16 years old boy with a normal build-up and a common face. Not charming nor ugly, just a normal-looking kid. However, the only strange thing about him was his snow-white hair.

As the boy was enjoying the feeling of the stretching, one of his classmates walked over and asked with a smile, "Hey Greg. Wanna go together to the ceremony?"

Greg opened his eyes and looked at the other boy in front of him.

Deep black hair, black eyes, and smooth skin that even girls could get jealous of. His height was a bit smaller than him, but on the contrary, he looked much stronger than him.

After thinking for a bit, Greg answered also with a smile, "Sure, let's go toge-", but before he could finish his sentence, a flying book hit his head from the side.

Looking over from where the book came from, he saw a guy with a height almost as big as a mountain smiling at him.

"Hey Joe, why are you talking with trash like that? He is just a nobody. He doesn't even qualify to be here with us. I don't even understand how he is still alive, just go and die already you useless waste!", said a guy with a disgusted look as he watched Greg from afar.

The boy named Joe looked back at the guy without expression and said, "After saying that it seems your ego is as big as ever William."

Hearing this, it seemed that the air in the class just froze in an instant.

William stood up reaching over two meters in height and just as he wanted to say something, a voice came from the school's microphone.

"Attention kids! The ceremony will begin soon. All of those who have paid for the school bus come down to the hall! We will leave in 15 minutes."

Hearing this all the students who paid for the ride, started to go down to the hall.

William looked at the microphone and with a click with his tongue, he said, "You are lucky Joe. We will see what you will do after getting your Guardian. Let's see just how big your mouth will be then. And as for you Greg...". Looking at Greg, William made a slice in front of his throat and with that, he walked down to the hall.

Seeing that William walked away, Joe relaxed and turned back to Greg and said, "Don't even bother with him. You know him... All brawn, no brain."

Hearing this Greg laughed a bit, stood up, and said, "Well nice one, but it doesn't matter. His family hates commoners, cause he is from the Scepter Family, so I'm not so surprised that he hates me."

"Don't say that, even if he is from one of the Great Families he has no right to do whatever he wants. Well partly..."

Greg just smiled and walked over to the door and said, "Well... Shall we walk over to the ceremony?"

Joe hearing this just smiled and with a nod followed Greg out of the classroom.

However, none of the two noticed that a half-transparent figure disappeared in the tree's shadow behind the windows seconds after they left...