"What...is this?"

Raising his hand, Killian stared at the mana that emanated from his fingertips.

Mana attunements were always a difficult topic, with how random they were. Forming the core was essentially spinning an infinitely massive wheel and hoping it landed on something good.

With how many possibilities there were, the chance of actually getting lucky was...low to say the least.

The environment only helped to shape the possible attunements, but it still relied on the individual in the end.

There were always ways to force the attunement. But letting it form naturally ensured that it was best catered to the individual, and for Killian. That was more important then ensuring he formed an attunement like fire or water.

With hundreds of thousands of awakened, the common attunements were all easily found and documented. With new rarer ones taking longer. Even with the same fire-attunement, it could look wildly different depending on the individual. Which was the main reason why it took to so long, they had to make sure they were truly different first.

But the current mana from his core looked unlike anything he had ever seen before.

For starters, it wasn’t one color only. It was iridescent, displaying rainbow-like colors that shifted constantly based on the angle he was viewing it from.

It was more like a canvas, consisting of the iridescent grey paper with an entire gradient of colors. Each of the colors blended into each other, layered on top of each other and sometimes even straight up appeared out of nowhere. Constantly mixing and creating new colors even when he did nothing.

Even comparing it to the other rare attunements, such as astral, light and gold. It was wildly different.

Flexing his fingers, he pointed at the ceiling. Shooting out a ray of his mana.

His mana fully lit up the room the moment he did so, making it resemble the inside of clubs or discos as his mana created a visual feast for the eyes.

If anything, it was at the very least—beautiful. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"I want to show it to her..."

Her striking purple eyes, like the purest amethyst crystals appeared in his mind. Twinkling as she smiled at him.

He remembered how she liked seeing fireworks during the end of year celebration. Wouldn’t she like seeing this as well?

They were close enough friends now right?

Lost in thought, he was completely unaware of his mana quietly pulsing. A few splatches of pink and red emerging. Materializing from the empty grey parts and coming out from underneath the other colors.

It wasn’t until very much later into the future, that he would finally learn of what this phenomenon meant.

---

"Killian?"

He grinned, since seeing her here. It meant that all of his efforts had finally paid off.

Even now, while he was still unsure about his mana attunement. He had managed to follow them, managed to catch up briefly to them.

Because now, he too was part of the special class.

The special class was still new, and there were only a few students in it right now. But just being here was proof enough that he, Killian. Possessed the talent necessary to walk alongside them. He just needed to work harder to do so.

But it wasn’t enough, they were still ahead of him. He wanted to truly walk next to them. Not just follow in their footsteps.

"I finally get to see you here Vivi."

"You actually made it here."

She seemed a little surprised, but also pleased that he was here. Inviting him to sit next to her. At the same time, she gestured at the person on the other side of her seat.

"Oh. By the way, this is Casper Hayes. He’s from the Hayes Family."

He stuck a hand out, "Nice to meet you here Killian."

"Nice to meet you here as well."

His eyes narrowed briefly, "I’ve heard a lot about you from Viviana."

"Good things I hope."

The two of them exchanged polite greetings, but the immense force coming from their hands was enough to crush metal flat.

Casper grinned, letting go and holding his wrist. "Seems like they were true."

"I’d hate to have false rumors spread about me behind my back."

One of them was a scion of a Family, the other. A still nameless boy from an outdated tribe in the world. Their positions in the world couldn’t be any more different.

Especially Killian, who had now received a bit of a reputation in the academy for beating up numerous of bullies that tried to bully him.

But for Casper, who had initially looked down on him. Only to find that this wolf had sharper fangs then he assumed. Was quite surprised, believing that Killian was just a bumpkin who didn’t know how modern society worked.

Their gazes clashed, black on gold as their wills fought.

"How about...we have a quick spar?"

"Sounds good..."

Even though a spar between them wouldn’t have been fair, they still wanted to spar anyways.

---

"Why are they making Casper out to be some kind of douchebag?"

Arthur shrugged at Zachary’s question, "Who knows. But doesn’t it feel even weirder seeing Thomas act bad?"

Arthur wasn’t referring to Thomas’s acting being bad, rather he was referring to how Thomas had to act in a manner that made him seem like a bad person.

"It is extremely uncanny. But Casper being an obnoxious and arrogant scion is just completely wrong."

If Casper was such an arrogant individual such as a certain Depont (cough Troy cough). Then he wouldn’t have been considered a Hero.

Despite there being several SS-ranks now still alive. None of them were considered heroes either. Because a real hero was a title only given when the people, from every level of society top to bottom collectively agreed upon.

Why did Casper deserve his title of Hero and not the current SS-ranks?

Because Casper’s actions single-handedly saved the lives of millions and millions of people. It was just an undeniable fact.

First of all, as the head of the Hayes Family, he lead the private army of the family to protect and defend countless crucial areas. From defending the demons sieges, to launching their own offenses. The private army of the Hayes Family saw some of the most action out of any other human force.

Secondly was Caspian himself, as the only other SSS-rank aside from Viviana. He had to constantly lead these armies into battle. Oftentimes having to go solo in order to defeat any foe that was too powerful for the other human forces to handle, such as the Harbinger of Dark Days—an SS-rank hydra with nine heads each the size of buildings.

In the end, he perished in an ambush from all seven Grand Dukes from the demons. Not before managing to severely wound three and kill five more.

He wasn’t just fighting the seven Grand Dukes however, he was also fighting their contractors at the same time. Since each opponent was at the extreme peak of the SS-rank. Casper was essentially fighting fourteen SS+ rank individuals at the same time.

Thirdly, despite the fact that Casper and the Hayes Family often struggled to get sufficient supplies for themselves. They still freely gave away anything they had to the more needy. Since they as awakened, could tolerate starvation a little better then regular people.

All of this combined and more was enough for Casper to be declared a hero by practically everyone who lived.

Unfortunately, despite everything he had done. He didn’t manage to get a good ending, even considering the entire party of heroes. None had managed to get a good ending.

Casper died in an ambush during the war, and the severely weakened Hayes Family soon fell without Casper to hold it up. With most members now merely carrying the name. Without any of the glory of being a Family.

Xanther died in a suicide attack in an attempt to take down the enemy he was fighting. Leaving the area permanently uninhabitable due to the poison that still lingered even to this day.

Aveline died while holding back an army solo. Defending the capital at the time for long enough until reinforcemenrs arrived. Before eventually succumbing to her wounds.

Arlo died in a similar way to Xanther, using an Art which forcefully burned away his life in exchange for power. All in order to take down a single foe.

Which left only Killian and Viviana as the two survivors of the party of heroes.

The second Human-Demon war ended around forty years ago. Which meant that Killian and Viviana would have still been around, even without the extended lifespan of awakened. The two of them would only have been entering their seventies now.

But even though the war was over, that didn’t mean that Killian and Viviana simply retired.

Rather, Killian spent his last few years on expeditions inside of the demonic realm. Mapping out the realm and taking out any threats in advance for humanity. Even going so far as to sabotage and destroy any demonic cities he could find.

In the end, he died during one of these expeditions inside the demonic realm. With the only witness being Viviana, who had followed him on his last one.

His body was left in the demonic realm, alongside his bow—The LPE Bow, which was short for logos, pathos and ethos.

It was unknown why Viviana chose to leave his body inside the demonic realm. But as the only witness, she was the only source of information. So the public had to take her word for it.

As for Viviana, she disappeared after Killian’s death.

It was entirely possible she was still alive, but the act of splitting the entire past supercontinent into the current continent and the demonic continent had left her half-crippled. Barely able to cast any high level magic unless she pushed herself.

In fact. None of the heroes celebrated by humanity had a good ending. Nada, none of them.

This was even named as the Cadence Effect. Based on the first hero Cadence, who was assassinated the day before his wedding. Who was also the character that Arthur was potraying in the play.

For Zachary however, the Cadence Effect didn’t deter him.

He wanted to be a hero, with or without the system. He would have pursued this dream anyways. Following in the footsteps of Casper whom he idolized.

In fact, his system had even recently issued him a new quest after Mirovia city. As well as a new reputation feature.

The quest was very simple as well.

Quest:

Create your own party of heroes!

-Create a party where you and at least two more individuals are considered as heroes. Quest reward is dependant on the amount of heroes in the party and total reputation.

To Zachary, who had looked up to heroes all his life. Especially Casper, who was considered the leader of the party of heroes. This quest was like giving him a cake and telling him it was for free.

He got to follow in the footsteps of his idol, and he got rewarded for it. Was there anything better in life?

Raymond would have said food, which was why it was a good thing he couldn’t hear Zachary’s thoughts right now.

He also would have immediately said no to joining the club because he was lazy, which was why Zachary had another plan for getting him into the party without him or any of the other planned members from knowing.