Chapter 1: Mark Vanitas
Chapter 1: Mark Vanitas
"Today marks four years since the apparitions occurred along with the Armageddon that threatened to end our world. All the Superhumans of the Federal Republic of America came together today to pay homage to those who lost their lives to the great destruction, as well as to celebrate the great act of the one man who risked everything and gave his life to give the superhumans a chance to regroup and win against the Anima invaders.
"As we remember the great deeds of KING and celebrate his life and the lives of all those that perished, we swear that we will never forget the sacrifices made to get us to this point today. There have been great challenges in our path, and I know that there will be even more challenges waiting for us in the future, but I know that if we all come together, there is nothing that can stop us."
"Mark! What are you doing out here!? You're late for class! I told you the teacher would be mad at me if I let you stay out again and you still ran away! How can you be this cruel!? Do you want me to come here and drag you to class every time!? I have things to do too!"
A young female voice rang out through the hallway in exasperation as a beautiful girl with large breasts and wide round hips rounded the corner of the hallway. She had blond hair tied in a ponytail and sharp black eyes! There was a small scar on her left cheek that ran all the way down to her neck, but that scar took nothing away from her beauty! In fact, it only added to the beauty, making her look more dangerous and exotic! She was wearing the uniform of Nature Academy, a black skirt and shirt that hugged her body tightly and made her assets stand out modestly, along with a black jacket with the school logo on it.
The girl's name was Arit, and she was the class president of class 2-A. She was an honor student who had many admirers in the school, and there wasn't a single boy in the school who didn't want to be with her! But she didn't care about all of that because most times, she was more focused on trying not to kill her only real friend!
Arit had a glower on her face as she stopped in front of a boy sitting on the ground at the end of the hallway. This area was hidden from the rest of the school, and no one used it to move to their classes anymore, so it was the perfect place to hide away. Arit regretted the day Mark found this spot with all her heart. Ever since then, he had done nothing but come here and hide whenever they were supposed to have class, and she was always sent to get him because she was the only one he would listen to. He was so annoying!
Yawn~
Mark yawned loudly and stretched his hand above his head tiredly before he finally turned to look at Arit. Mark was a handsome boy with black hair and eyes. His hair was short, and it only came down to frame the side of his face slightly. He was wearing the Nature Academy uniform as well, but he didn't have a jacket on, and his tie was loose around his neck, making him look more like a hooligan than a student. He smiled once he saw Arit and waved!
"Hey, Arit. You look beautiful as always. I really love what you've done with your hair, it looks different from this morning. I thought you would take a bit longer to come get me this time, but I guess you aren't my best friend for nothing. You always know exactly where I am."
Arit blushed crimson once she heard Mark call her beautiful, and she immediately grit her teeth and forced her blush to go back down! She couldn't allow this bastard to throw her off like that! He was always doing this! Mark would run away from class, and he would make her come here to find him! It would have been better if he was at least trying to improve his ranking in school, but his grades were not that great either! He was doing above average in the school, but it was far lower than Arit knew he could do!
"You're not going to talk your way out of this one, you hear me! This is the third time this week that you're making me come here! What do you have to say for yourself!?"
"I want a lap pillow."
"Be serious!"
Arit's blush deepened again once Mark said this, and she stomped her foot on the ground in anger! Arit's head was starting to turn very red, and Mark now knew that it was getting too much. He should get serious and stop teasing her already.
Mark just sighed as he heard her shout at him again; he was actually serious about the lap pillow, but she would only keep shouting at him unless he stood up and went with her. What man wouldn't want a lap pillow from a woman like her!?
Mark stood up, and he slowly placed his phone back in his pocket. As he did this, Mark could see the shadowed look that crossed Arit's face once she saw the content of what he was watching.
The video that was playing was the annual memorial held in remembrance of the lives that were lost during the Armageddon Class attack four years ago. Four years ago, monsters called Anima suddenly began to show up all over the world. No one knows how they came to be, and no one is sure what exactly they were! All people knew was that Anima only had one purpose in life! That was to kill as many humans as they could!
The Anima were dangerous creatures that were Animal-human hybrid in nature! They defied all laws of biology and physics, and their appearances were grotesque and twisted! They had immeasurable power, and they were invulnerable to any attacks below the force of a military tank! Even military tanks were not able to really harm them! The only things that the military tanks could do were to injure the Anima, but to really kill them, you would need far more firepower.
Everyone in the world thought that this would be the end for them! What could humans do against creatures that were strong enough to shrug off a military tank and could just walk through rains of bullets and grenades!? It was impossible for humans to think of fighting back!
But that was when the first Superhuman emerged! To this day, people still do not know what the first superhuman looked like! All they knew was that he was the one who gave them a fighting chance when they thought all hope was lost! He allowed them to raise their heads defiantly and fight back against the monsters that threatened to take everything from them!
This superhuman was given the name KING! He was a symbol of hope, and everyone in the world had great respect for him. After this superhuman came out into the open, many other superhumans also began to appear.
These superhumans all had something called a blessing. It was this blessing that allowed the Superhumans to use great power beyond what humans could even imagine. The blessing granted all superhumans strength in different magnitudes! Some superhumans were strong enough to destroy entire buildings in just one punch, while other superhumans were only strong enough to carry cars or move large rocks. But all superhumans with the blessing were far stronger than humans.
The fight between KING and the strongest Anima that attacked them during the Armageddon lasted for two days and three nights, and it ended up destroying one-third of the North American continent! But finally, after fighting for so long, the two monstrous behemoths destroyed each other, canceling out their power in equal measure! The fight was so intense that it shifted the entire North American continent closer to the South American continent. The two continents were now so close that they no longer called themselves North and South America, instead, they were simply the Federal Republic of America!
After KING killed the Armageddon Class Anima that was attacking Earth, the remaining superhumans were able to take care of the stranglers, and this allowed Earth to move into a new era where superhumans protected the citizens from the dangerous Anima.
Mark has always had respect for the superhumans and all that they do for the world, but Arit did not feel the same way! Arit didn't hate superhumans, she just disliked everything about them! Mark has always been curious about what exactly caused Arit to have this much aggression towards the superhumans, and when he asked her, it finally made sense to him in some way.
Arit and her parents were victims of an Anima attack three years ago! Arit and her parents went to a convention where the president of her father's company was giving a talk about a new branch that would be opening soon and trying to congratulate all his workers on their new achievement, but there was an Anima attack during the convention, and almost everyone there was killed by the monster!
When the superhumans arrived and finally killed the monster, rather than trying to take care of everyone properly, they prioritized the president and other important members of the company who were rich! Arit was lying under a pile of rubble, and her parents' broken and torn bodies were right beside her, but no matter how much she cried, the superhumans would not listen, and they continued to take care of the rich.
By the time Arit and her parents were taken out, her mother had already died, and her father was in critical condition as he was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, Arit only suffered a few broken bones, and the only scar she had was the one on her cheek. In a way, she was lucky to be crushed under that rubble because it prevented the monsters from seeing her! But ever since that day, Arit has disliked superhumans and what they stand for! They were all money grabbers who only cared about their hierarchy! They called themselves heroes, but she believed that there was nothing heroic about them other than their strength!
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A/N: There's an author's note in chapter two explaining more about the book and it's goal. You can find answers to most of your questions there.
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