The Employment Procedure...?

OM-Orb is the last hope for the leftover humanity. Legends say that it holds limitless potential and will instantly grant unimaginable powers to the wielder.

However, whoever dared to touch the almighty orb, whether in greed or grace, Heroes or even those damned Devils, all perished.

None spared.

None worthy nor powerful enough to bear even a fraction of its unlimited power.

'But worthiness or power never mattered.' Luna thought as she ran while panting and gasping for breath, she touched the small pouch hanging on her waist, feeling the same OM-Orb inside.

'It was compatibility that the orb wants.'

The platinum blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl hid behind the debris of a collapsed skyscraper and looked behind, she sighed in relief.

She pressed the large wound on her upper arm and winced in pain. Her entire team was wiped out but at least she was successful in shaking off her pursuers even though she had already exhausted her mana reserves and couldn't use her 'skill' anymore. Thankfully she had managed to steal a vial of Mana-Potion from her pursuers.

Her pursuers — The Devils.

Devils arose about seventy years ago along with the Dimensional Gates, a decent enough time for all flora and fauna to mutate due to the excess mana that the gates leaked.

Mana mutated the humans, enabling them to perform supernatural feats while also strengthening and enhancing their bodies, allowing them to defend themselves from the devils and monsters which came from the gates.

If it were not for mana, humanity would've perished long ago.

But few ultra-rare humans remained mana-less, for some reason their bodies seemed to resist mana... as well any phenomenon related to mana. Meaning they couldn't be harmed through mana-originated attacks, it was the only perk among many drawbacks.

And Luna had concluded from her research, 'Mana-less beings are compatible... Just wait a little more, Art!'

-------

Arthur pressed the buttons of a rusty and old but trusty oven which was just a hodgepodge of multiple parts from various equipment and possibly other ovens. Why won't he trust it when he was the one who made it?

Wearing the oven mitt, he carefully opened the lid and pulled out the dish above which his delicious... slightly burned pizza rested.

Not minding the 'extra crispiness' and after serving and decorating his plate with utmost concentration and precision, he wiped the nonexistent sweat on his forehead while releasing a pleased sigh.

'It was so hard to get my hands on these ingredients! Alas! Luna isn't here, and these ingredients will rot in 1-2 days.' He smiled helplessly. He'll have to eat alone today as well.

Luna, his cousin, works as a Gate Explorer, and it usually takes her five to six days to return once she leaves. Her job mainly revolved around mapping the areas, searching for treasures, and such. But in recent months, she has become somewhat obsessed with gate exploration saying that she would find a cure for him.

The skinny, Nineteen-year-old, black-haired and blue-eyed Arthur maneuvered his wheelchair towards his desk with the plate on his lap.

A year ago, after a strange dog-like monster bit him, his health has been deteriorating, and now that he can't even feel his legs, the burden on Luna's shoulders only increased due to his patheticness.

If only he had a mana core too, then his body would have healed itself long ago and he wouldn't be dying right now.

Still, he was glad he had Luna, not many people would like to stick around a dead weight like him in this post-apocalyptic era. Except for her. Both Arthur and Luna only had each other as a family.

He turned on the laptop and began watching the last episode of the second season of Demon Slayer anime as he enjoyed the taste of a slightly burnt pizza slice.

This hard drive that he discovered three years ago, in an underground basement of a collapsed building contained all sorts of entertainment resources that he couldn't even imagine. It greatly helped him pass the leftover he had in this world.

"Umhhh! Tastes okay, I guess? I wish she could taste it, dunno when I'll manage to find all the ingredients again." He said to no one as he eyed the pizza.

*Baam*

Arthur listening to the bang on the door, quickly wheeled towards the entrance, well, as quickly as the wheelchair allowed him to.

It was Luna, she was slumped in front of the door, she had a series of wounds on her face, exposed stomach, and arms, and her clothes were rugged, torn, and dusty.

Seeing her in this state Arthur's blood boiled, he silently gritted his teeth, cursing his inability to rush towards her on his legs, then pushed the joystick's lever on the wheelchair towards her.

.

.

.

"You mean, you went in the gate which pops once in a decade to find this so-called OM- orb, but the devils already had their hands on this, so you stole it from them and escaped while your teammates helped you escape, sacrificing themselves? Well done, sis!" Arthur sighed as he looked at the orb. Great, now they had devils on their fucking behinds!

But if Luna's words about it granting him unlimited powers are to be true then it won't be a problem for long.

'She went through so much just for me, huh? How will I ever repay her...' He smiled.

"So, how do I... uh, you know, get this orb thing to give me power and all?" He asked as observed the orb's texture. "Nevermind got it."

At this Luna smiled, 'I knew he would figure it out, nice!'

Even she didn't know what to do next.

"You see these carvings. These are enchanted with some sort of spell. I think it's an Instant death spell. The death of your greedy teammate when he touched it even though you told them not to, can be taken as proof... If I disable it..."

He swiped his two fingers after wearing a special glove he made for enchanting items on the surface of the fist-sized orb first vertically, then horizontally, and finally zig-zag.

He didn't die.

"Then... it might reveal something else... entirely new..."

The blue stripes glowed following his touch. And the earlier minuscule crevices in the middle of the stripes enlarged. The orb opened revealing a floating black glowing stone.

"I won't die because I'm mana-less. Hence, mana-related offenses don't affect me." They both smiled.

Arthur took a deep breath calming his racing heart, he put his bare palm below the stone and as if waiting for him, the stone slowly dropped on his palm. Its glow dimmed and peaked rhythmically as if it was breathing.

'Depending on how this goes, I may live a long and full-filling life while also saving humanity or I'll just die at this same spot I'm standing.'

But still, what now?

Arthur didn't expect the orb to open and reveal some kind of pebble, does swallow this thing?

*Crash* *Boooooooooom* *Boooom* *Boooom* *Boooom* *Boooom*

A loud crashing sound erupted from the outside, following which an ear-deafening rumble of footsteps shook the entire house.

Arthur looked at Luna, "What was that!"

Luna gritted her teeth and glared towards the door, "The Devils. They're already here!"

As if waiting for her to say that, a titanic hand swiped across their ceiling, blasting it away. The mauve-colored sky with grey clouds was now visible from the living room. An equally huge red demonic face glared at them with crimson ominous eyes.

On the huge humanoid monster's shoulders, a figure stood looking at them with a lazed and uninterested look.

"Hey big guy, we're busy right now. Can you come an hour later and mind paying for the ceiling, it costs a lot these days, you know?" Arthur joked earning a glare from the figure and an eye roll from Luna.

Though Luna was also suppressing a giggle due to his joke.

The titan rolled its fists and launched its hands towards them.

"Luna!" Arthur screamed, worried that she didn't caught his signal.

But suddenly, a violet magic circle manifested below them. Luna teleported him along with herself a couple of hundred meters away from their house, evading the giant fist, just in time.

Thankfully, Luna had consumed a few vials of Mana Potion just after waking up, otherwise they'd be under that giant's fist crushed into minced meats.

"Shit, seriously man, couldn't they come an hour later!" Arthur groaned as he gasped for breath, still in his wheelchair. Teleportation is never a comfortable ride, more so when your constitution is as weak as Arthur's.

"Shut up~" Luna grinned, already used to this habit of Arthur's.

Arthur sighed, "Thank god, you still remembered my signal."

The enemies were out of their leagues that they had to admit.

"Yeah, "come back an hour later", it always makes me laugh, never gets old," Luna smirked.

"Hah~ Never saw a Devil as huge as him and by the looks of it, the one on his shoulder is stronger and possibly the leader. My damn weak eyes couldn't see that high clearly." Arthur analyzed, looking at the huge titan still visible from here.

The titanic Devil was still searching for them, it was probably just a puppet of the one standing on its shoulder.

"Guess so, these two weren't in the team which was pursuing me. But fucking shit! They found me so quick!" Luna replied, drinking a few more vials of potions of various colors.

"Oh, they weren't there, huh?" He thought out loud. "Then they didn't find you, no, they knew you were here. You told me that your whole team was wiped out, yeah? Guess what, someone survived and they fucking snitched on you, coz I don't think anyone has a way to extract information from a dead body!" Arthur shrugged, not that this learning the snitcher's identity will help him in any way but it still annoyed him.

He looked at his palm, 'If this goes right, it will be the end for them and their whole damned race and I'll finally be able to avenge Mom and Dad.'

The thought of gaining unsurpassable power excited him.

Closing his eyes, he did what made most sense at the moment of panic, he gulped down the black stone.

.....

...

..

.

'Huh?'

But fate... betrayed all his expectations...

Literally, nothing happened...!