A party of five individuals looking exhausted could be seen surrounded by a tide of demons as they tried their best to keep the demons at bay. While sounds of explosion could be heard from a distance were a young man with golden hair covered in lightning was facing off against a throne.
A silvered haired man in the party rushed towards the demon tide with his twin swords slashing through them moving towards their leader, but was soon overwhelmed by their numbers.
So this is how I am gonna die, all those years of hard work and here I am gonna die from these low level demons; not even being able to face a single arch demon. So much for being a pro hero...
Guess this is the end, Ceras will fall to those damn invaders. It was fun fighting along you guys...many such thoughts passed through his head as he closes his eyes to prepares himself for the afterlife.
*Bang*
An explosion occurs right at that moment flinging the horde of approaching demons and the youth away. The force of the explosion propelled the youth towards the surrounding building where he smashed against the reinforced wall. The shock forced him to open his eyes as he throws up a mouthful of blood, pressing down his wound he slowly looks towards the source of explosion with his blurry vision.
At the site of explosion the youth with golden hair could be seen pointing his spear towards the throne; evidently the earlier explosion was the result of their clash. Right when it seemed like the stalemate would continue another throne ambushes the youth from behind ripping out his heart in one smooth move. After giving the dead body one last disgusted look both the thrones unfurled their golden wings and flew away towards the main battlefield.
Looking at this scene from the distance the silver haired youth completely lost his composure,
What have I been doing in my life to be dying like an ant from a stray explosion ...Pathetic. No I refuse to die in such a pathetic way; at least I'll take a few more of those lowly demons with me.
Having such thoughts pass through his head the youth tries to activate his mana circuit to stand up but to no avail, am I really that useless.
Just as the youth was about to give up his mana circuit started shifting sending waves of pain through his body, forming strange ruins all over his body which began to converge in his clear silver eyes. As the ruins kept on accumulating in his eyes causing his vision to became blurry as a strange pattern formed in iris.
The pattern looked like an Ouroboros marking with strange ruins on its body with a strange hourglass at its center. (Same as cover)
After the pattern was completed his mana circuit returned to normal but after this strange event his condition became worse, as now he was on death's door.
Looking completely dumbfounded by this strange event he finally snapped,
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA.....I finally awakened a stigma....HAHAHA."
Even though it seemed like the youth was laughing at his fortune but his sad face and tear filled eyes were a stark contrast to his happy smile.
Let's see what I got... just like before taking a deep breath he channeled all his mana through his mana circuit into his eyes to activate his stigma. As mana started to gather in his eyes the strange pattern reappeared glowing with deep silver luster making it hard to see, as it slowly started to rotate in a counterclockwise direction.
After not observing any change in condition other than additional pain he gave up, as his thoughts became sluggish his life flashing through his eyes before the youth finally closed his eyes accepting his fate...
*********
A teenage boy with silver hair could be seen lying on the ground surrounded by four other teenagers on a roof; who were taking turns kicking him down.
"I don't understand why do they even allow null attribute thrash like you here, make sure I don't see your filthy face once the lessons begin or you'll know real pain thrash!!!" said one of the boys looking down on him as he turned around and left followed by the other three teenagers.
Groaning in pain the silver haired teen slowly stood up, 'Hope it starts getting better' he wondered as he limped downstairs holding the rails for support.
Limping along the long corridors he arrived at the infirmary, it was well lit with neatly arranged beds and medicine shelves along the walls. He was way too familiar with this room because as soon as others found about his null attribute mana circuit he became their target for bullying.
"You know I am starting to think, you take this place for your home" an irritated voice greeted him as he looked towards the source he saw, a young lady with brown hair tied in a bun sitting cross legged on a stool reading something on a holographic screen her deep blue eyes scanning his appearance as he stood by the door.
"I can't help it they just can't leave me alone Dr. Lily" he smiled helplessly.
"So how long are you planning to let this continue without informing the staff. I get it you want to deal with them on your own but this is your 5th day in a row here and this is really starting to irritating me Ray, so one more time and you can continue without my help understood." Lily told Ray while casting a heal spell on Ray.
Ray's whole body was shrouded in green light as his wounds started to heal at visible pace. After a few minutes all his wounds were gone like he had never taken any beating to begin with.
"There all fixed up now shoo~ don't disturb me ever again" Lily waved her hand at him prompting him to go.
"Thank you" Ray said helplessly already used to her behavior as he turned around to leave but he hardly took a step when his vision blurred and he collapsed on the floor.
*thump*
Lily just stared at his collapsed body dumbfounded 'Didn't I just heal him is this supposed to be a joke cause if it is then he is dead' she closed the hologram she was reading and slowly approached his unconscious body.
After a quick inspection she found nothing wrong with it except for it to be drenched in cold sweat, placing his body on an empty bed she went back to her reading attributing the whole thing to fatigue.
While she was busy with her reading she failed to notice Ray's mana circuit shifting and the appearance of the strange ruins.