Past

“You know, maybe this isn't the worst way to go, '' said Nero, as he stared off into the sunset. His abdomen had been pierced clean through, and he knew that he didn't have any chance at all of surviving. His mana had all been drained, to the point where he couldn’t even light up a candle. He thought back to the day he had first stepped onto the path of a magic emperor and becoming the most powerful mage ever

8 years ago

WELCOME TO WHITE DEER INSTITUTE!. This is what every freshman entering the top magic high school in the entire world saw first as they walked through the grand gate. Students of every ethnicity could be seen entering, all excited for what was in store for them, and their careers in magic. All but one student. This student was Nero. Despite him having no interest in magic, he had been forced to come here by his parents. He was interested in the more primitive arts of math and science, as most people of this world of magic would call them. Only when his parents had promised that after one year if he didn’t like it, he was free to do what he pleased, did he grudgingly accept the invitation from the headmaster of the school.

“Hey there, what’s your name?” asked a girl in a uniform similar to his.

“None of your business,” said Nero, without stopping at all.

“Wow, you’re so approachable you know, like poison ivy,” she said dryly. “My name is  Hestia, and it seems that we need to take a different test when we enter, to be placed into classes. I’m from a royal lineage of magic, which means I will automatically be placed into the highest class. Almost everyone here is from an ancient lineage of magic, but they must take a test to get into a class. Only peasants and non-magic lineage people won’t be able to get into the top class.”

Nero thought to himself, “My family is not from an ancient lineage of magic, but I still got an invitation”. “Are there any cases of people who don’t have a lineage of magic joining the top classes?” he asked Hestia.

“There have been only a few special cases, where commoners have had great affinity with magic and a special core. There are 10 elements that a divine core can be. Wind, Fire, Water, Darkness, Lightning, Life, Demon, Light, Earth, and Metal. Your divine core will tell you what type of magic you are most adept in, and whether or not you would be able to grow higher. The special cores are Demon, Light, Darkness, and Life. Everything else is normal.” Hestia explained. “If you are a commoner, then you can only hope to get one of the special cores, and also have high talent in magic arts. Without that, you will be forced to attend a lower class,” she said, with a smug smile on her face.

“Are all people with magic bloodlines as annoying as you?” asked Nero. He didn’t care at all what class he got put in. He just wanted to get through this year, and then get on with the things that he wanted to do.

Hestia just looked at him one more time with annoyance, and then walked away. Nero continued walking towards the school and noticed how there weren’t as many adults around, and that there were a lot of defenses surrounding the building. “Well, let’s hope I don’t die here before I can get out,”  he thought to himself

Once everyone had sat down in the testing room, a woman wearing a white lab coat and glasses walked up to the podium and explained how the testing would work. They would call each student by his/her name and they would come up to the stage and place their hand on the magic circle. The circle would then release its results out loud after a few seconds. This would include their affinity with magic, out of 100, and their core type. If one of the 12 elders of the academy finds you to their liking, they can choose to take you in as a core student, who will get better teaching and perks compared to everyone else, even people in the top classes. As they started calling up people, Nero thought to himself, “Why would the 12 elders take their students under their wings, and what type of benefits do they get?”

“Hestia Armsworth!” shouted the lady

Nero looked up and saw Hestia walk up to the stage, and place her hand on the circle. After a few seconds, the results came up. 97/100 affinity with magic, and a Life core type. One of the 12 elders came up to her and asked Hestia if she was willing to come under her wing and learn from her. Hestia agreed. After a few more names, Nero heard his name being called.

“Nero Baskev!”

He walked up to the stage, aware of all the eyes that were staring at him, almost like they could see through him into his soul. He placed his hand on the circle and then waited for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, the circle turned a deep red, and the mana around started to become agitated. Everyone in the room started to look around, confused, and a little panicked. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Then, it all quieted down, all except for the magic circle, which stayed red and started to announce his results. “Nero Baskev, unknown affinity with magic, chaos core”.

It was dead silent. No one said anything. Then, the first elder, and the most powerful one, realized something. “I read in an ancient scripture that when someone has a chaos core, they can master any type of elemental magic, including chaos magic,” he said, astonished. “There has only been one other case of a chaos mage being born, and that was almost 100,000 years ago…Boy, do you want to come under my wing, and learn from me? With your talent, you may be able to become the next magic emperor of this generation.”

Nero was taken aback. He hadn’t realized that a chaos core would create such a storm. And what was this about his affinity being unknown? Maybe this meant he could just get through this year quickly enough, and then get to what he wanted to do while having this just on the side.

“Yes, I will come under your wing, but under one condition. You must let me decide what I want to do with my power, and I choose what skills, how many, and everything else that goes along with this. I want to be in control of what I do with my learning.” said Nero

“That is fine with me,” said the first elder happily.

2 Years Later

Nero had now been here for 2 years. He had originally thought that he would only stay for a year but had changed his mind after realizing everything that was hidden in this world. There was a secret war going on between the demons of the demon god sect, and the magicians of the World Magician Corps. This war had been going on for almost 10 years, with no end in sight. The first elder had told him about this near the end of his first year, and how the demons had slowly started to swallow up the magician’s territory on this earth, which also meant that his parents were at risk. Nero had realized now that there was more to the magic world than just magicians. With this knowledge in mind, he stepped into his third year and his last year of high school. At this point, he had learned more than even the people under the other elders. His chaos core had allowed him to learn skills from every element, making him well versed in every aspect such as defense, offense, healing, and stealth. His most powerful element though was lightning, which meant offense was his forte in battle. Lightning and Fire were the two most explosive cores, which meant that trying to cultivate them and make them stronger, was hard and dangerous, which mean that at any time, your core could be destroyed, meaning you were a cripple. He had let go of that caution and focused primarily on lightning skills. After 2 years, he had become so well versed in lightning, that he was more powerful than some professional lightning mages. This year, he would be going to the front lines and battling the demons that plague the world.

“Nero! Come on!” shouted Hestia from the jet. Over these two years, they had grown closer, mainly because they were both students of the elders, so they spent more time together. As journeyed to the battlefield, he thought about everything he had done over the past 2 years. He had been on many small missions that had helped him gain battle sense and a sense of strategy. With these skills, he hoped that he would be able to survive

When they got to the war base, they were greeted by the Captain of the Magic Legion, Captain Brind. He told them that they would be sent to the fight almost immediately and that they should go and get their weapons now if they wanted to be able to fend for themselves in there. Hestia took her wand, and Nero took his twin daggers, both imbued with a lightning attribute for speed, and darkness attribute for stealth.

As they rode the magic-powered vehicles to the field, Nero thought about how his life had been turned around because of one small test, and how that test had opened up a whole new world of danger to him.

When they reached the battlefield, they saw the carnage. Demons and magicians littered the battlefield, all fighting for their lives. Nero jumped into the fray and started twirling his daggers, slicing up any demons that were close to him. Hestia stayed with the back row of healers, constantly healing any wounds that magicians got. As the battle raged on, Nero felt something trigger inside of him. His core was growing. This wasn’t something that had happened before.

He retreated from the battlefield, and into a tent not too far away. As he sat down and inspected his core, he realized that it had almost tripled in size, which meant his power had tripled. Suddenly, he felt a throbbing in his brain. A set of techniques had appeared in his mind. “Chaos...Divine...Arts” Nero said slowly. As he read through the manual in his mind, he realized that these arts were extremely compatible with his core, which means that his chaos core had more to it than just mastery of all elements. He got started right away with learning the basics of the techniques and reached the middle stages in a month. One day, while he was practicing outside, an alarm started ringing. That usually meant something bad had happened

There was news that the Devil Emperor was coming to the field, and they needed to mobilize every unit they had to be able to counter him.

 As he entered the field, he noticed that there weren’t many demons left, but there was a type of pressure that was making it hard for him to walk. Suddenly, he saw a red figure flash towards him. It was the Devil King himself

“It seems that you are the person responsible for the most deaths of my army,” said the devil king, ominously. He fired off a technique at Nero, but Nero was only so powerful, so all he could do was dodge. He then thought about a technique in the chaos manual.

“Chaos VOID” he shouted. Suddenly, a portal opened up and swallowed them both.

Everyone else on the battlefield stared in shock.

                                                 6 years later, present day

Nero and the Devil King had been fighting in the void for 6 years, though to them, it felt like only a few minutes. Everything had already passed. The war had finished, the demons pushed back. Everyone had forgotten about him and the Devil King. Nero had defeated the Devil King in the void, which then dropped him back where he was, but in the process, he had gotten severely injured, which brings us back to our current situation

As Nero slowly closed his eyes, he wondered. Would he have a chance at life again?