Chapter 1: Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

The sky falls to pieces while hope turns to ashes...

The last gasps of his mind came ready to calm his body, pierced by a black steel, while a serious laughter came from his assailant.

Memories of a hard, painful life, plagued by loss, but a life he treasures deep in his heart, filled every space in his memory.

"Here Fate closes its doors..." he murmured with a calm expression as his strength poured through lacerating, bleeding wounds.

He took a deep breath, filling the space left by the blood in his lungs.

"BUT BEFORE..." he shouted from deep within himself with great vigor "A FAREWELL GIFT, YOU FUCKERS." A black demon glared brazenly at the human at death's door under his blade plunging his sword deeper....

(Gritting his teeth in pain) "!I will be... the brightest blade... in this... world, scourged by death. Where the night is... (breathing heavily) darkest I will cut the darkness... with a slash." he said as blood spilled from his mouth and the wounds of his remaining body.

With a last effort he managed to scream:

"ANIMA EXTERMINATUS!" Every fiber of his remaining limbs tried to cling to the black scimitar thrust through his left shoulder and a bright light surged from his heart.

A shudder consumed those who heard the statement.

"BAST-!" tried to formulate the black demon on that man, only to be interrupted by a blinding light projected into space. It was followed by a concentrated whitish beam of energy that penetrated to the very core of the Earth, shining brightly for a few seconds until it faded away.

Soon a portentous recoil expanded sweeping everything around a thousand kilometers, a deafening and serious noise arose from the bowels of the planet along with earthquakes, devouring everything stuck to the ground. The rampant destruction made no distinction between allies and enemies, all were equal in death.

"The price of courage... is nothingness." filled the minds of the humans, they felt goose bumps on their backs as they heard and felt the consequences of the spell that consumed the greatest of their heroes. The poultry were soon devoured by the wolf. From deep within, wills were united with a single goal.

A sword fell.

A hand lit a cigar,

A pistol cocked.

Some girl wept,

Angry with her God.

An unborn life did not know,

His mother the words uttered.

The blood froze.

A chuckle among The Heavens arose and disappeared....

"Anima... exterminatus!"

Thousands of wrathful screams shook the planet, Thousands shone out exhausting their existence, Leaving needles and mushrooms of light, mowing down the surface.

Somewhere subway a sharp sound resounded.

From the stratosphere thousands of lights shone like stars in a world already devoid of electricity, countless minor explosions wiped out demons, beasts and humans, completely altering the landscape.

Humanity's last stand was not a defensive one but a total demonstration of greed. Their mother planet crumbled and fell apart to the core, slowly, leaving nothing but scattered pieces to be lost in the unfathomable void.

The bitterest of aftertaste settled in the mouths of the invaders who could only watch the destruction helplessly.

Those who did not perish rushed to the portals in the sky.

Heavy losses hit the victorious side, which was still suffering from the effects of the surprise attack on its ranks.

Their commander, a tall and imposing 6-foot tall black demon watched with his anger-injected red eyes and an expression marred by rage at the results.

"By all the Gods... how?" Thought.

To his surprise such a simple and weak race, compared to so many others he had conquered, was capable not only of taking them by surprise but also of committing the maximum existing sacrifice in order to make the conquest achieved futile. With such might that he brought about the extinction of his own world at the cost of his own blood.

His burned left side, with one arm missing and half disfigured, showed the aftermath of the powerful explosion that shook all and sundry.

[Several superior existences look expectantly at the end of a world].

Diverse expressions took place among The Gods, some laughed, others were grieved or powerfully surprised by the sacrifice of the humans who belonged to a world with insufficient capacities and development to achieve such destructive magic.

They especially noticed the shadow of the brave warrior who ignited the flame in the hearts of his people.

[(Notification sound) Is it time to challenge Fate? YES/NO (00:00:10). Cost: Divine Stroke]

A sudden vote was called, each of The Eternals was to choose one of two options at their disposal.

The last stand of the black-haired warrior made an overwhelming impression on existences accustomed to seeing galaxies and civilizations rise and fall for eons.

[Many Eternals await a thrilling spectacle.]

In The Endless Pantheon several were eager to bestow gifts for such a pleasing spectacle but there was a fundamental problem: There was no one left to receive them, thousands of lesser existences exhausted the strength of their souls in the blink of an eye.

They deprived their existences of the Cycle of reincarnation voluntarily, such a repercussion that no Supreme was able to change without a price. To modify such Regula Fundamentalis would bring serious consequences.

Souls subjected to such a process exploit the accumulation of power of their being to never reincarnate, taking those around them with them into the Void and then disappearing. Such was the ultimate sacrifice that humanity endured in order to strike back at the invaders, anima exterminatus...

The vote conceived its end soon, the order of 417926 Great Existences defied the majority.

"Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat?" someone guffawed as he stroked his braided beard, decorated with metal and runic engravings.

Tetsu's soul was the clear choice despite its deplorable state. To the surprise of many, the brightest light was among the last to be extinguished.

[Several Eternals recognize the resistance of the lower being.]

[Several Eternals look expectantly at the remnants of humanity.]

[A higher being is not surprised by the result.]

[(sound of notification) The price will proceed to be collected.]

In order to grant her a new chance, the Gods had to grant small traces of their power, these were transformed into fine silk threads to bake the small pieces of soul into a new whole.

It was not possible to rescue it completely due to the detriment caused by the anima exterminatus.

While the process was taking place, soul pieces among the other scattered ones had to be picked out and adjusted in order to achieve a coherent unity.

New planks had to be added to the broken ship with brute force and sanded to the extreme to achieve an apparent perfection of the whole.

[The sculptors look at their new work with satisfaction].

[Integrity of the soul: 76.81% - Rising...]

The renewed soul glowed quietly in cold white with slight tremors, traces of rainbow light coursed across its surface which transparent veins.

The new existence would be granted passage to the Endless Pantheon upon regaining strength, a place where it would take material form and then begin a new life in any of the worlds that Destiny had prepared for it.

[(Notification sound) A REQUEST has been raised]

Due to the commotion caused a pact had to be subscribed.

No God would openly support the mortal until he proved himself worthy and/or approached them by regular means. Only in case of exception, if a situation put their soul at risk in the time before their reincarnation, could they take any action openly.

They all agreed that making things easy from the start would only lead them to have a broken protagonist who could "Oneshot" the villain on duty quickly, they had already tried with a black-haired Korean who was the worst hunter in their world and an obsessed reader who memorized his indie novel on the way to work.

This time they would try for a different twist.

[A young lady looks expectantly at the future of the new creation.]

[Gods look expectantly at the future of the new creation.]

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