Atlus Academy

Prologue

Arcana Era 492

The air is filled with the smell of blood both fresh and dried. The land was soaked to the brim with blood from the tides of war . The bodies of many people were all that could be seen in view. They stacked like hills and formed like a sea. There was no way you could tell who was who from just looking from afar. The sky bled tears of blood as if it were weeping from the heart. The sun was no where in sight; yet you could still see the savage land that lay before your eyes. This was a sight that no man would ever hope to see again.

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I couldn't believe the state of the world. People were dead, blood was everywhere and most of the people I came with probably died. How did it come to this? Why does the pursuit of power always lead to conflict? I just couldn't wrap my head around why it had to go this far. I walked over to one of the bodies and knelt down to get a closer look at who it might be.

"A cultist huh? What made them turn to this way of life? What were they so unsatisfied with in life that they would turn to such... methods?"

I got up to look around. I couldn't see anyone. My eyes were being blinded by the red rain and my exhaustion. We've fought for many days and it finally came to an end. Or at least that's what I had hoped. I cast wind magic to help keep the rain out of my eyes. Small light blue lights started to form around my hands from activating the magic spell. A small wind barrier covered my eyes, but after a few seconds it disappeared. It was as if it were ineffective because of the red rain. What a strange phenomenon I thought. I didn't have a lot of mana to use left. I had to use it when absolutely necessary. I walked around a bit to see if I would run into anyone still left alive. Two minutes turned to five. Five turned to twelve. Twelve turned to thirty-three. I couldn't find anyone. Well, that was the case until I saw a figure coming towards me. I couldn't make out who was running towards me because of the rain and from how far they were. They seemed to be running at a pretty normal pace. I prepared my blade just in case it was an enemy that managed to stay alive, but when they got closer the figure became more visible. It was one of the soldiers from our army. He finally made it to me and he looked somewhat out of breath. He was covered in wounds and it seemed like he was using the last of his strength just to hold it together.

"You're alive!" he said happily. "That's such great news."

I was confused as to why me being alive was great news. I never thought I was anyone special. It was everyone else who saw me as some type of special existence.

"Whether I'm alive or dead wouldn't really make a difference," I said.

"Not true," he said. "You were our ray of light in this deathly war."

Even if that were true, I was still human like everyone else. I just had more elements at my disposal than others. Nothing special.

"Well enough of that," I said. "Are there any other survivors from our side?"

"I'm not entirely sure sir," he said hesitantly. "All I know is that both sides received heavy casualties."

This war was too much. Again I ask myself, why did it have to come to this? There isn't much left I can do at this point. The least I could do is gather everyone together with the last of my mana.

"Listen very closely to the question I'm about to ask you," I said seriously. "Does everyone have the pins I gave out before we came to this battlefield?"

"I believe so sir?" he said.

The look on his face said it all. Only a select group of people knew I was able to use Null magic. Let alone to the extent I use it. I just hope that everything is okay for everyone.