[Year 2212] 200 years after the War of Worlds.
On a peaceful day in a bustling street of a large city, people went on with their days as usual. Families eating on a restaurant, teenagers laughing, and some mascots were handing out flyers for their stores.
A girl which looks to be around the age of 17 or 18 along with her parents can be seen smiling and chatting standing in front of an ice cream truck "here you go miss".
The vendor handed the ice cream to the girl which she quickly grabbed, however, just before she could relish the cold food a stray dog barked at her, the parents tried to shoo the dog away but to no avail as it continues to bark more aggressively.
"Mom" the girl called her mother and said "I hear horns" as her hands were covered in blood which clearly came from both ears she covered.
Just a few blocks away from the same street, on a rooftop of a luxurious and modern building, a group of four teenagers which looked to be around 18 years old can be seen surrounding a bloodied guy who was on the floor.
And yes I am the guy on the floor, let me introduce myself, my name is Frey Sinclair and if you're wondering why I'm in this situation, let me start from the beginning.
About two-hundred years ago people started hearing eerie trumpet sounds from the sky as their bodies glowed, turning into pillars of golden light shooting towards the sky.
The government called this phenomena as 'the revelation', as the pillars of light from human bodies subsided, unique halos of light around the size of an average wheel of a car can be seen floating behind their backs.
But even before they could inspect their own bodies, a rain of what appears to be red liquid started hitting the ground as humongous cracks started to form in the sky and from those same cracks emerged grotesque-looking creatures reminiscint of demons from the stories.
Some had wings which made them fly long distances and some fell from the sky and crawled on the ground, and then all hell broke loose as hundreds of thousands of these strange looking monsters started pouncing on every human they see.
The carnage went on for days and the government from around the world started to lose control of the situation. As these monsters moved with inhuman speed and their bodies are covered with thick unknown layer of material.
It takes at least 5 to 6 shots from a tank just to kill one of them which greatly demoralized the military as they struggled to hit them, but just before all hope is lost, a single man with 8 rings forming a halo floating behind him started a massacre against the monsters.
This person was my great-grandfather, Desmond Sinclair, the first person to harness the power granted by these halos, he went on a killing-spree for days, slashing every monster within his sight using a pitch-black sword granting him the title 'Black Swordsman' and gradually more and more people learned how to control their abilities.
People who gained abilities and superhuman strength and speed with their unique halos were called 'Arch-humans'.
Humanity started fighting back as these abilities helped them fight on equal terms against these monsters, the war lasted for 6 months and slowly but surely they subdued every monster, however, before they could even celebrate.
A single crack much larger than the usual suddenly revealed a human figure with pale white skin, black feathered wings with two horns in his forehead as though he represented the devil's appearance from history books.
What made him unique was a black halo with ten rings floating behind him, anyone who witnessed his appearance had only one word in mind 'Evil'. The creature who appeared from the crack introduced himself as Arachorn with his raspy voice reaching thousands of kilometers.
He spoke in an unknown ancient-sounding language but oddly enough everyone understood what Arachorn said as he arrogantly demanded that humans must submit to him which failed miserably as Desmond suddenly attacked him out of nowhere.
Arachorn and Desmond along with 11 others fought for 3 days non-stop. Fortunately Arachorn heavily underestimated them which he paid dearly for his mistake.
With the help of 11 other Arch-Humans, Desmond succesfully wounded Arachorn with a slash his from shoulder to his waist, heavily wounding him as he fleed towards the crack from where he came.
But before leaving, he looked back and pointed his finger at an old woman hiding under a rubble from destroyed buildings.
"Aelum dnoir fcea"
...
A buzzing black beam of light shot from his index finger towards the elderly woman, Desmond jumped in front of the old woman attempting to block the beam with his sword but he was a step slower as the beam hit his forearm instead of the sword
"We are now even, human.."
Arachorn said with a grin on his face as his figure slowly fades from whence he came.
But to Desmond's suprise the beam didn't leave any wound, not even a scratch, which confused him. Although worried, he didn't pay it any mind as they have no idea what Arachorn did at that time.
The people and the government around the world considered Desmond and 11 other Arch-humans as heroes and a new type of organization was formed, known as the 'World Arch-human Guild' or 'WAG'.
And from that day onward WAG bestowed upon the title on Desmond and 11 others as the Pillars of Humanity or most commonly known as the 'Twelve Pillars'.
2 years after the 'Revelation' more space cracks appeared but this time, Elves, Beastkin, and a subspecie of demons called Daelus arrived.
Fortunately they came with peaceful intentions, seeking asylum as they escaped from the demon emperor called Azgoth who is now the overlord of their homes, we humans agreed to help them, in exchange, the Elves, Beastkin and Daelus imparted knowledge and technologies towards us.
According to them Azgoth already conquered multiple worlds over the span of a couple millenia and it will only be a matter of time before he reaches our world through space cracks or 'Gates' as they call it.
They also explained that Arachorn was Azgoth's right hand man tasked to set up a ziggurat which will help open a gate faster through human sacrifice.
Since Azgoth's existence is nigh godhood, a special gate is required for him to be able to pass through and opening a gate without the help of a ziggurat from the target world will take him a couple hundred years to establish one.
Therefore the other races were given roles within WAG and the organization changed its name to 'Allied Worlds Defense Organization' or 'AWDO' since it would be weird if there were other races in an organization specifically named for Arch-humans.
AWDO set up a system to prepare for the for Azgoth's descent and they established three academies to train children from young age to become future defenders of this world.
Now you might be wondering why the great-grandson of the famous 'Black Swordsman' is in this situation. After the Revelation, teens awaken their abilities at the age of 18.
I call it awakening since the novels I read call it awakening, however, rather than awakening, researchers today refer to it as evolution.
They discovered that due to the gates opening, it also allowed Mana from other worlds to permeate ours. The mana exposure allowed humans to unlock a certain part our brain but only after it developed past a certain age, which is 18.
This evolution of our brain also allowed us access to 'Akashic Records'. According to the Elves the Akashic records is the system that god bestowed upon them to be able to fight against beings like Azgoth who challenges the gods.
"So yeah, we can now access our status screens like in video games through the Akashic system."
Enough with the yapping, now back to me.
"Gugh..."
I clutched my chest in pain after a guy hit me with a front kick.
"Pathetic, to think that my almighty brother, who's considered to be the greatest genius of this generation only amounts this much."
"You acted so haughtily before but look at you now, the heavens really is fair."
He kicked me in the stomach one last time while on the ground, sending me a few feet away as they left while giggling.
"You're a waste of time Frey"
...
That person was my twin brother, Zach Sinclair, the girl with him was my childhood friend Elise Wagner and the other two guys were also my childhood friends, Andre Silva and Drew Moore.
All of them are descendants of the twelve pillar families, we were all close friends until the day of our awakening.
During awakening a halo with one ring will manifest behind you, however, other rings much more transparent than the first ring will also appear, indicating your potential.
Zach awakened first, a week before me. When he awakened, a halo with one bright ring and seven semi-transparent rings manifested behind him.
Our parents were ecstatic knowing Zach has a potential to be an eight-ringed arch-human, although the highest number of rings a person could manifest is twelve, according to elves.
However, even the strongest elves and daelus only possess nine rings, even ten rigns was a tale of legends at this point in time.
So for humans, Zach manifesting eight rings, he could be considered one of the hyper-geniuses in this era. Knowing that, naturally my parent's expectations of me were very high.
I dominated every Martial arts tournaments I joined ever since I was 8 years old and I was able to grasp advanced mana theorems and scientific theories like it was basic Math for me.
People considered me to be the second coming of Desmond Sinclair, but fate really is too cruel.
"You should know by now that this is a strong eat weak kind of world." My father said to me the day after my awakening.
During my awakening, I manifested one bright ring and four semi-transparent rings.
Both my parents were utterly disappointed, especially my mother who was an elf.
Elves were a prideful race as they believe that they are direct descendants of god and my mother was the daughter of the duke of the Elven Kingdom, Stella Alvanhëim.
So being the son of George Sinclair a descendant of Desmond Sinclair, and my mother being Stella Alvanhëim, along with my achievements during my childhood.
This wasn't what they expected.
"Your brother wants to enroll in the World Awakened Academy, I know your relationship has gone sour."
He said as he looked at me with pitiful eyes.
"Therefore you can't go to World Awakened Academy."
"You can choose between Golden Dusk Academy or Royal Verde Academy, you can go to either of them, just inform the butler and he will handle the rest."
He took a glance at me one last time as he left the awakening chamber of AWDO.
Who cares if Zach has more rings than me, I never lost against him even once. Be it Martial Arts or academics.
I really don't understand what's so special about halos and the number of rings manifested. So for a month, I trained leisurely to challenge my twin to a duel and prove that rings are nothing.
However, fast forward to the present, here I am on the ground, clutching my chest in pain not because the kick hurt but the feeling of helplessness was much worse.
Zach's stats was already ahead of mine in just one month of awakening more potential rings than me thus I was on the ground after our duel.
Although I am an advocate of stoic philosophy, it's still frustrating if something is out of your control and you can't do anything to improve your situation.
"Sigh-"
I stood up and went down the parking area to get my car, although my potential is low, at least I still enjoy quite a lavish lifestyle being born in the Sinclair family.
As I was driving a through the streets, suddenly a bright light flashed my eyes.
"An awakening?" I thought to myself.
I can see a girl infront of an ice cream truck. With amythest colored eyes, long black hair, a face that would put hollywood celebrities to shame, and a snow white skin with shades of pink.
However what caught my eyes was not her beautiful face but the halo behind her, one bright ring and six semi-transparent ones.
"A future seven ringed arch-human.."
A hint of envy flashed in my eyes as I drove away since it's none of my business and I'm already feeling depressed as is, I just had to see someone awakened seven rings.
"Sigh.. this world is indeed too cruel."
I entered in my luxurious apartment with two floors, it was a gift from my father during my sixteenth birthday. I took a bath and looked at the mirror, sharp red eyes with long lashes, chiseled jawline, black hair and skin as white as pearl.
"At least I look good"
"Zach looks good too, sigh.."
Although we are twins and our facial features were identical, however, he inherited my mother's silver hair and golden eyes, while I inherited the Sinclairs' features so it was easy to distinguish us from one another.
I wiped my wet hair and went to bed.
"Access status"
A holographic screen appeared in front of my eyes as I laid in bed.
≈ STATUS ≈
Name: Frey Sinclair
Race: Arch-human/Elf
Strength: 102 (E)
Agility: 91 (F)
Intelligence: 573 (A)
Stamina: 86 (F)
Charm: 612 (S)
Halo Rank: Ein (1/???)
Affinity: [Dark] [Fire] [Lightning]
Class: Swordsman (????)
Techniques: [Orochi Breathing Technique] [Advanced Karate] [Intermediate Wushu] [Advanced Judo] [Basic Mana Circulation]
Spells: NONE
Cardinal Points: 0
My eyes went wide upon what I saw, since my awakening, I haven't checked my status screen even once due to the shock and disappointment of my Halo Rings.
As I was inspecting my status screen, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my upper chest where the necklace my grandfather gave me rested.
Suddenly, a purple glow emanated from the rectangular black gem about the size of a penny, black smoke trickled down my chest and on to my forearm where a strange symbol of a cross with a halo which appeared to be absorbing the smoke from my necklace.
"Urgh..!"
An instant wave of excruciating pain struck my whole body, like being pricked by millions of needles hitting every fiber of my muscles and bones, my heart even seems to vibrate instead of the usual beating.
After about 5 minutes of what felt like forever for me, the pain eased and my eyesight went dark as my body limped unconsciously on the floor.
At the same time a black halo with 11 rings appeared behind me unknowingly for a few seconds as it slowly faded in my back turning into a small tattoo in my left shoulder blade.
...
"So it begins." A smile reaching from one ear to another revealed from what appears to be a humanoid figure in dark throne room.