The streets of Avanancia were filled with all the scum you can find in the world. Beggars, prostitutes, drunks, the lowest of the low. The ugliest of the ugliest. If it could bring out disgust and pity in a human, it could be found here. Due to the perilous situation of the district, the city had abandoned the entire district, letting it die out by itself. One of the reasons the district had become so derelict was due to gangs. Two thugs were walking down an infected alleyway.
Boxed with inhabitants and large bins with fires burning away the cold winter air were lying everywhere. One of the thugs was small and had crooked teeth. He had a nasty temperament and kicked any object and or person in his way. Due to the presence of his overly large companion, no one did anything about it.
The inhabitants of the alley could only look on as their homes were being destroyed one kick at a time. The large brute was very intimidating. And did nothing except follow his smaller companion. His lack of activity only made him even more intimidating. "You pieces of garbage, get out lf my bloody way!" The little thug kicked a middle aged man in the stomach and made the latter roll over in pain.
The man wasn't even in his way, but the thug made it his mission to stamp his authority on these destitute by any means necessary. The middle aged man coughed up some blood and simply put his back to the wall. He made no complaints and he looked down, hugging his knees in terror.
The little thug snorted in disdain and continued his walk alongside his companion. It didn't take long before he found his next target. A young brown skinned man with blue hair. He was sprawled on the floor, sleeping as if he had no care in the world. All he had on his were rags that looked like robes and a wooden bow he was hugging in his sleep. He seemed to be about 15 years or so old.
The little thug fumed in anger at this sight a raised his foot to stomp down.
Thud!
He impressively missed by a large margin as the blue haired young man had rolled over. Before the little thug could react, the young man's figure flashed. Within a fraction of a second, a sharp dagger was on the little thugs throat.
"Speak one word, and you die." These words were dull and sounded apathetic, but the killing intent within them diffused into the little thugs body. The blue haired boy had somehow moved behind him and placed the dagger on his neck before he could even blink!
The little thug could only swallow his saliva, and hope his large companion could assist him.
Thud!
The little thugs eyes dilated in shock as he saw his large companions body fall from behind him, with the headless upper body appearing within the corner of his right eye.
It was at this sudden moment that the little thug realized something. The boy had not just appeared behind him. He had beheaded his companion first then put the dagger on his throat. Such a speed was inconceivable!
"Now listen, tell your boss that this alley belongs to me now. Understood?" The little thug nodded his head like a chicken pecking corn. Satisfied with the answer, the blue haired boy released his dagger and walked back to his original sleeping spot.
The little thug was too scared to move and watched as the boy placed a palm on the thugs chest. "Now go and deliver my message and don't disturb my sleep."
The thug saw his surroundings flash and suddenly felt his back smash into something. He immediately blacked out from pain. The beggars near by had seen everything. The boy had pushed the thug out of the alley and made his body fly like a rocket. They didn't event see where the thug landed. All they heard was a crashing noise at the end of the alley.
Whistles and gasps echoed through the alley as the boy slept on the ground again hugging his bow. He looked young and innocent in this pose. Adorable even, but within that young exterior, was the might of an expert!
......
The Great Enigma age was upon mankind. Enigma was an energy which allowed biological life to achieve impossible feats. Thanks to enigma humanity had reached new heights. Technology and magic had fused together to form a utopia on the face of planet earth. The entire planet had finally done something it had never been able to achieve before. Become one.
Wars between humans no longer occurred. Mankind's enemy was now something else entirely. Something much more fearsome. Enigma had not just mutated humanity, but it had mutated animals and plant life, giving rise to creatures that had the power to destroy entire cities.
Humans had to unite and face this threat together. Things like race or nationality no longer mattered. All that mattered now was showing unity in front of this threat.
In order to face this threat the world created a defense force. An army composed of people from all nationalities. The organization was simply called Vector. Vector took the warriors and trained them for the threats of enigma beasts. Even within Vector there were elites. Taken from the best of the best. They were a special organization within Vector called Vector's Edge.
One cannot join the upper echelons of Vector unless they become a member of Vector's Edge. A Vector's Edge or VE member was revered among men and women everywhere. There are no positions more honorable and no name more powerful.
As time went on, houses of nobility rose, formed with powerful enigma abilities as the basis. One such house, The House of Louw, was having two youths joining the VE academy.
There were many Vector Academies spread out across the world, but only a portion of those academies had a Vector's Edge section. In the city of Valdios, located at the edge of the city, right next to the city walls, was the humongous structure that was Valdios Vector Academy or VVA as it was more commonly known.
The City of Valdios itself was extremely large, spanning hundreds of kilometers, and the VVA took up a tenth of that space. Thus one could imagine the size of the school.
Large buildings of all shapes and sizes covered the campus. Students wearing trainee uniforms dotted the campus from end to end minding their own business.
"Juan, move quickly, you are slowing me down." A young 18 year old young lady was barking orders as she walked briskly through the campus with her attendant. She was a bit short, had fiery red hair and red eyes. Her body was extremely curvaceous and her chest was incredibly large. Her swaying bottom caused many a student to pause in their tracks and her cute face made one want to protect her forever.
Yet her personality was anything but cute. This was Sheri di Valdios Louw, the youngest daughter of Duke Louw, one of the most powerful nobles of Valdios. Normally many suitors would be queuing up to court a beauty with such a background. But unfortunately for her no man dared even step foot near her once they realized who she was.
"Princess there is no need to rush, its so warm. The weather is so friendly. One must appreciate such moments."
Behind Sheri was a young brown skinned man with blue hair. He had an average looking face and nothing about him stood out. Were it not for the perverted look on his face no one would even notice him. After all, in the Great Enigma age hair colours of all kinds were there.
Sheri stopped her tracks and carefully scrutinized Juan's face. "You were not walking behind me to stare at my butt were u? Because if you were..." A small ball of fire started forming in young woman's palm as she stared daggers at her attendant.
Juan immediately gulped and raised his hands defensively. "O-of course not Princess. This lowly servant would never do such a thing." Sheri knew his was lying, but today was an important day, thus all she could do was snort in disdain and walk forward. She could not make a bad impression on their first day.
Juan swallowed his saliva and sighed in relief. He quickly followed up to his mistress. The uniform for the academy was grey for normal students. But VE students wore different uniforms.
There were two types of VE students. Ranked students and unranked students. Unranked students wore a black uniforms different coloured markings, while ranked students wore white uniforms with silver or gold markings. Juan was only an attendant, thus he knew little about what the difference between a ranked and unranked student was. All he knew was that ranked students were incredibly powerful, and incredibly talented. Academies always put in all of their effort to groom their ranked students.
Juan was wearing a black uniform with bronze markings while Sheri was wearing a black uniform with silver markings. These colours were significant, because they represented the enigma origin one had.
Enigma origin was a term that essentially decided the amount of enigma one could control. This value was almost impossible to change thus talent played a big part in ones life as a Vector soldier.
Bronze was the lowest level of talent, 99 percent of people born had Bronze level origin. Silver was middle level. Less than 0.1 percent of humanity were born with this talent. Last but not least was gold level origin. Less than one in ten thousand people were born with gold level enigma origin.
Ranked students all wore either silver or gold, thus Juan made a deduction. There were no bronze origin ranked students!
Seeing this put a bad taste in Juan's mouth. As he was mulling over this, he didn't realise that the duo had already arrived at their destination. The school assembly hall!
...
Calling it a hall was rather inappropriate. As far as Juan was concerned it would make more sense to call it a stadium. It was extremely large and had the capacity to house a hundred thousand spectators.
The first year students were standing in the middle of the grounds filed in neat rows. Ready for the school's top brass to give speeches. The stands were packed with thousands of students making noise. Talking about all sorts of things from who they think is the strongest to who is the most handsome.
Juan was somewhat overwhelmed by the experience. He was standing in the section for bronze origin VE students while his mistress Sheri was standing in the section for silver origin VE students. There were no ranked freshmen, indicating that one had to start of as an unranked student first.
There was a stage in front of the freshmen with members of the teaching staff and some of the top brass of the city. It was truly a sight to see. Only 30 or so people were on the stage, but their presence alone was more than enough to overwhelm the entire stadium. For in this city, only the powerful could look down upon others from above. A few people came up to explain things like academy rules etc. Each oozing power and having an extraordinary bearing. It is at this point that one of the strongest individuals stood up and approached the mic. The Academy Head!
Due to his history Juan naturally had a respect for the strong. There were many strong people he had met in the upper world, but Juan felt them to be shells. With strong abilities but weak wills. There were however a few exceptions to this rule, and the Academy Head was one of them.
The man was wearing a sleeveless white uniform with gold regalia all over. Countless medals where on his massive chest, shining so bright one would think they were producing their own light.
The man himself would no doubt be considered a giant among giants. Juan estimated him to be easily over 2 meters tall. His arms and legs, like the rest of his body, incredibly muscular.
Countless scars riddled the man's exposed arms and face. He had white hair and a white mustache but his face radiated with a youthful vigor that would put most of the youths here to shame. Indeed, this was the man who held the entire academy in his grasp. Wolfgang Voight!
Just mentioning his name would cause a disturbance in public. This man was a living legend. The epitome of strength. The amalgamation of human martial power. If this man called himself the second strongest man on the continent, then no one would have the courage to say they were the first. This was what people said about him.
"Ehem."
Wolfgang coughed slightly, but this 'cough' made the entire stadium so quiet that one could hear the sound of a pin drop.
Some of the freshmen were so overwhelmed by his mere voice that they could barely breathe. He did not even use a microphone, yet he was heard loud and clear by everyone in the stadium.
All of the bronze level students in Juan's sector were shivering, barely holding it together. Juan on the other hand was holding back the urge to whistle. He was just that impressed.
Just how many lives has that old man killed to generate such blood lust so naturally.
"So, welcome to school brats! Listen closely. I don't know what reason you came here for, and frankly i don't care. Just know this. Your main purpose in this school," Wolfgang then moved closer to the edge of the stage with his hands folded, "Is to survive! That is all!"
Since this was the freshmen ceremony many of the freshmen were expecting some sort of long speech from the Head. Nobles normally took such things seriously and could speak for hours. Wolfgang was a high ranking member of Vector thus he was obviously a noble. Yet he spoke like a ruffian. The freshmen were stunned. The other students resisted the urge to laugh at the reactions of the freshmen, for they too experienced the same thing and were waiting for it to happen. Such was Wolfgang Voight's character, straight forward and blunt!
Juan was once again impressed. He grew up in a world were such straightforward people were as common as a grain of sand, yet no he was surrounded by flowery and glib tongued nobles. Seeing a man such as Wolfgang in charge of the school gave him some hope.
Wolfgang looked over this batch of freshmen with a discerning eye. His eyes became so narrow one would think he was near sighted.
Just like little black said. This batch of freshmen isn't bad. Especially the girls. Not bad indeed, but sadly...
Wolfgang shook his head as he scanned through the batch of students like a hawk seeking prey. Many students shuddered while some nearly soiled their clothes.
Wolfgang's eyes briefly passed the bronze section of the VE section. He, like most, had little expectation for them, so he intended to shift his eyes until his sight inadvertently wandered unto a certain student.
...
Sheri stood in the VE section marveling at the sight of Wolfgang. She was a woman obsessed with strength. Men like Wolfgang who radiated power naturally were her ideal type, thus her eyes glazed over and her thoughts of him neared worship.
Ah! Its him! Its really him!
She had dreamed of this moment ever since she had first seen his visage at a gathering for nobles in the city a few years back. Wolfgang almost never attended such gatherings thus she had only seen him once. He was introduced to her by her father. She completely ignored the incredible age gap and fell in love at first sight.
She was looking forward to the moment his sharp eyes landed on her face, hoping that perhaps they would react it some way. Alas nothing happened. He merely looked on.
Its okay! This is not unexpected. I have not proven myself worthy yet. Powerful warriors with large Enigma reserves have extremely long lifespans so I will have a chance to prove my worth to him in the future!
Sheri was not one to give up easily so she straightened her posture and mentally cheered herself up. It was then that it happened. As she was staring at him, her vision, and the vision of almost every student in the stadium, went black....